Salsa orchestra from Puerto Rico. The legendary Puerto Rican band popularly… Read Full Bio ↴Salsa orchestra from Puerto Rico. The legendary Puerto Rican band popularly known as El Gran Combo played their first gig in San Juan in 1962 and soon became the island's most popular salsa group. While many bands formed and dissolved during the 1960s and 1970s, El Gran Combo had unusual staying power. Throughout the next several decades, the band's style altered and evolved to fit Latin dance-music trends, from boogaloo and merengue to tango and bomba. While an influx of talented young singers and musicians kept the 12- or 13-member band sounding fresh, the steady presence of a few founding members—including the pianist-songwriter Rafael Ithier—gave El Gran Combo their signature style and their venerable reputation as a premier salsa band.

El Gran Combo originated as an offshoot of the popular Puerto Rican band El Combo de Rafael Cortijo. Invited to start a new group with Joseito Mateo, a singer from the Dominican Republic, Ithier and six fellow musicians dropped out of Cortijo's band to start their new enterprise. The move shocked the Latin music world. "You were not supposed to leave Puerto Rico's favorite group like that," Ithier told Montreal's Gazette, "but the discipline was not very good anymore…. I did not want to be with a band that was not ready to work."

The new band was not lacking in discipline. Its members—including Rafael Alvarez Guedes (who chose the band's name), Eddie Pérez, Héctor Santos, Roberto Rohena, Rogelio Vélez, Martín Quiñones, and Miguel Cruz —prized teamwork and organization as much as they did musical talent. In 1962 the group recorded its first album, Meneame los Mangos (Shake My Mangos). The album was not a hit and the band was not an overnight sensation, but El Gran Combo were willing to work for their success.

It was three or four years before El Gran Combo reached that success, which arrived not long after the group recruited a promising young singer named Junior Montañhez (later known as Andy Montañez). With Montañez joining singer Pellin Rodriguez on vocals, the band turned out hit after hit—catchy dance tunes with such names as "El Menu," "Telefono," and "Goyito Sabater." The songwriting talent behind these and other hits was Perin Vazquez, whose lyrics told tales of everyday passions and universal longings. Working closely with Vazquez, Ithier created lively arrangements for piano, bass, trumpets, saxophone, congas, timbales, and bongos.

The group had released the album Acangana in 1963, just two days before the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. Although distribution of the album was postponed because of the tragedy, the recording eventually reached gold-record status. In 1970 the band created EGC, an independent record label under which they released a number of albums, beginning with that year's recording, El Momo de Oro.

El Gran Combo gradually rose to become the first name in salsa within Puerto Rico, winning the island's prestigious Agueybana de Oro prize for the Best Band of 1969. Slowly, word about the band began to spread beyond the island's borders, and from 1971 to 1986 the band's international popularity was at its peak. During this time, El Gran Combo attracted a series of gifted young salsa performers—including singers Charlie Aponte, Johnny Ventura, Celia Cruz, and Jerry Rivas, and musicians Miguel Marrero, Milton Correa, Edwin Cortes, and Martin Quinones. In fact, so many exceptional salsa performers "graduated" from El Gran Combo that the band became affectionately known as the University of Salsa.

For many fans, El Gran Combo is synonymous with salsa—a musical genre that fuses Cuban and Puerto Rican sounds. Headed by three lead singers, El Gran Combo has always drawn dynamic energy from vocals. True to the salsa style, the group balances a vibrant horn section and a rhythmic percussion beat, tempered by the less-prominent bass and piano. One secret to El Gran Combo's long-lived success has been the group's ability to keep its music evolving and to remain open to new, fresh sounds. In 1971 the band added a trombone to its repertoire, played by Epifanio (Fanny) Ceballo. The recording De Punta a Punta, which won best album at Miami's Gold Record Festival, marked the debut of Ceballo, who remained with the band until his death in 1991.

More changes came for El Gran Combo in the mid-1970s, when Pellin Rodriguez left the band and was eventually replaced by the popular vocalist Charlie Aponte. By 1977 the vocalist Montañez also departed, joining the Venezuelan group La Dimensión Latina. Montañez's departure shocked and saddened fans, but his replacement, Jerry Rivas, soon won over audiences.

In 1984 El Gran Combo toured Alaska, where they produced Breaking the Ice—El Gran Combo en Alaska, which received a Grammy Award nomination. The band toured internationally throughout the 1980s and celebrated its 25th anniversary in 1987 with a historic concert at New York City's Madison Square Garden.

Although many music critics thought El Gran Combo was past its peak by the 1990s, the band held on to its core group of devoted fans. "When they had singer Andy Montañez, they used to be the music machine of the Caribbean," Rudolph Mangual, publisher of the Los Angeles dance-music magazine Latin Beat, told the Los Angeles Times in 1996. "Obviously, they're way past their prime, but they're so good that they still matter…. [T]heir collective presence has a unique magnetism."

Although the band is an ensemble, one key figure stands out in El Gran Combo: Ithier, who has either outlasted or outlived the band's other cofounders. Many fans regard him as the group's heart and soul, yet Ithier has always emphasized the band's lack of hierarchy. "[El Gran Combo] has persevered because of its system," Ithier told Billboard magazine. "We share everything: our successes, our failures, our earnings. Everything is evenly distributed. And this is an incentive for the band. Everything we make, we divide."

Azuquita Pa'l Cafe
El Gran Combo De Puerto Rico Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Qué inspirado el creador cuando hizo la mujer
Ay, qué bueno que le encargó que se dejara querer
Y trajo el mundo esa miel, ese debe ser su nombre
Y le regaló a los hombres azuquita pa'l café

¿Que qué? ¿Que qué? ¿Qué fue? ¿Qué fue?
Azuquita pa'l café
¿Que qué? ¿Que qué? ¿Qué fue? ¿Qué fue?

Azuquita pa'l café

Y qué hermosa variedad, qué mucho hay para escoger
Y a mí no me importa cuál, siempre que sea una mujer
Y no hay oro ni diamante, que compare con su amor
Ahí se rinde el más valiente, el más lindo y el mejor

¿Que qué? ¿Que qué? ¿Qué fue? ¿Qué fue?
El más lindo y el mejor
¿Que qué? ¿Que qué? ¿Qué fue? ¿Qué fue?
El más lindo y el mejor

De la costilla de Adán, oiga, hizo Dios a la mujer
Y le regaló a los hombres un huesito pa' roer
Qué sabroso es tener frío y arrimarse a una mujer
Qué buena es la sinvergüenza cuando se deja querer

¿Que qué? ¿Que qué? ¿Qué fue? ¿Qué fue?
Cuando se deja querer
¿Que qué? Pero ¿Que qué? ¿Que qué? Diga ¿Qué fue?
Cuando se deja querer

Cómo le gusta a usted, azuquita pa'l café
Miel, ese debe ser su nombre porque endulzan a los hombres con su querer
Cómo le gusta a usted, azuquita pa'l café
El que tenga la suya que la cuide bien, si el que tiene tienda la debe atender

Cómo le gusta a usted, azuquita pa'l café
Ay, porque aquel que no la atienda a su tienda la puede perder, perder
Cómo le gusta a usted, azuquita pa'l café
Cuando, cuando la tarde languidece, renace la sombra moliendo café

Cómo le gusta a usted, azuquita pa'l café
Yo, yo quiero que le den, que le den, que le den
Azúcar, que le den, que le den, que le den

Cómo le gusta a usted, azuquita pa'l café
Cómo le gusta a usted azúcar, azúcar

Overall Meaning

The song "Pa' Brava Gente" by El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico celebrates the beauty and importance of women. From the outset, the lyrics express awe and admiration for women, who are described as "miel" (honey) and "azuquita pa'l café" (sugar for the coffee). This praise continues with the idea that women are a gift to men and that they bring variety, love, and companionship into their lives. The song suggests that women are essential to a man's happiness, and that nothing can compare to their love.

Furthermore, the lyrics paint women in a sensual and alluring way, describing their effect on men as something that can make even the bravest and most handsome man kneel. The song also describes how women have been an integral part of creation itself, being created from Adam's rib by God. Moreover, it extols the virtues of women who are confident and unafraid to express their own desires, suggesting that a woman who knows her own worth and does not betray herself is a great prize to be cherished.

In summary, the song "Pa' Brava Gente" is a passionate celebration of women and their impact on men's lives - a reminder of their beauty, sensuality, and importance.

Line by Line Meaning

Qué inspirado el creador cuando hizo la mujer
The creator was so inspired when he made the woman

Ay, qué bueno que le encargó que se dejara querer
It was good that he charged her to be loved

Y trajo el mundo esa miel, ese debe ser su nombre
And he brought honey to the world, that must be her name

Y le regaló a los hombres azuquita pa'l café
And he gave men sugar for their coffee

¿Que qué? ¿Que qué? ¿Qué fue? ¿Qué fue?
What? What? What happened? What happened?

Azuquita pa'l café
Sugar for the coffee

Y qué hermosa variedad, qué mucho hay para escoger
And what a beautiful variety, so much to choose from

Y a mí no me importa cuál, siempre que sea una mujer
And I don't care which one, as long as it's a woman

Y no hay oro ni diamante, que compare con su amor
And there is no gold or diamond that compares to their love

Ahí se rinde el más valiente, el más lindo y el mejor
The bravest, the most beautiful, and the best surrender there

De la costilla de Adán, oiga, hizo Dios a la mujer
God made the woman from Adam's rib

Y le regaló a los hombres un huesito pa' roer
And he gave men a little bone to chew on

Qué sabroso es tener frío y arrimarse a una mujer
How delicious it is to be cold and snuggle up to a woman

Qué buena es la sinvergüenza cuando se deja querer
How good the shameless woman is when she allows herself to be loved

Cómo le gusta a usted, azuquita pa'l café
How you like it, sugar for the coffee

Miel, ese debe ser su nombre porque endulzan a los hombres con su querer
Honey, that must be her name, because she sweetens men with her love

El que tenga la suya que la cuide bien, si el que tiene tienda la debe atender
He who has his own, take care of her well, if the one who has a shop must attend to her

Ay, porque aquel que no la atienda a su tienda la puede perder, perder
Because whoever doesn't attend to her, may lose her, lose her

Cuando, cuando la tarde languidece, renace la sombra moliendo café
When the evening languishes, the shadow is reborn grinding coffee

Yo, yo quiero que le den, que le den, que le den
I, I want them to give it to her, give it to her, give it to her

Azúcar, que le den, que le den, que le den
Sugar, give it to her, give it to her, give it to her

Cómo le gusta a usted, azuquita pa'l café
How you like it, sugar for the coffee

Cómo le gusta a usted azúcar, azúcar
How you like it, sugar, sugar

Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: Perin Vazquez

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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