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."
Como Tiembla El Alma
El Gran Combo De Puerto Rico Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Es un regalo de muy poco valor,
Se muy bien que si yo fuera a medir
La alegría que me ha dado tu amor,
No, no habría forma de empezar
A contar cada mañana, cada luna y cada sol.
Esta canción no te puede decir,
Como duele que ya no estés aquí
Lo difícil que fue verte marchar.
No, yo no pretendo que sea así
Me conformo con que te haga recordar.
Oye como tiembla el alma
Gritando, que tu eres entre todas las mujeres
Que de amor llenan el mundo
La que más amor me dio.
Oye como tiembla el alma
Gritando, que entre todas las que pueden
Decir que me amaron mucho,
Sin tu saberlo, fuiste quien más ame yo...
Esta canción tiene un triste final
Y yo no sé si la vuelva a cantar.
Tiene que ver con el ayer que viví
Y que quisiera hoy poder olvidar.
No, no es culpa tuya o mía es
Esta manía de ponerme sentimental.
ESTRIBILLO
Oye como tiembla el alma
Cuando recuerdo ese amor que se fue.
Nos conocimos, conversamos, nos enamoramos,
Único el amor aquel.
Todavía, todavía tiembla el alma,
Recordarla es un placer.
Fue la que más me quiso, la que más me amo
Y fue la que más ame.
Yo con ella me sentía en el Paraíso
De repente desperté
Nos dejamos amándonos
Y aun no lo puedo entender.
The song "Como Tiembla El Alma" by El Gran Combo De Puerto Rico is a heartfelt tribute to a lost love. The lyrics express the singer's feelings of gratitude and sorrow towards the person who has left them. The song opens with the singer acknowledging that the gift of this song is of little value compared to the joy that their loved one brought them. The singer then goes on to describe the difficulty of coping with their absence and how they will never be able to count all the mornings, moons and suns that they shared together. Despite this pain, the singer accepts that the song cannot fully express the extent of their hurt and instead hopes that it will bring comfort to their lost love's memory.
The chorus of the song repeats the line "Oye como tiembla el alma" (Listen to how the soul trembles) which highlights the emotional depth of the singer's feelings. The lyrics suggest that their loved one was the most generous and loving person in the world, and that they gave the singer more love than anyone else. The song ends with the statement that the singer still trembles at the memory of their lost love, even though they both parted ways still loving each other.
Overall, the song captures the pain and nostalgia that comes with heartbreak, while also celebrating the love that once existed between the two people. The lyrics deliver a poignant message about the power of love and how it can ultimately shape our lives.
Line by Line Meaning
Esta canción que canto yo para ti
This song that I sing for you
Es un regalo de muy poco valor,
Is a gift of little value,
Se muy bien que si yo fuera a medir
I know well if I were to measure
La alegría que me ha dado tu amor,
The joy your love has brought to me,
No, no habría forma de empezar
No, there wouldn't be a way to begin
A contar cada mañana, cada luna y cada sol.
To recount every morning, every moon, and every sun.
Esta canción no te puede decir,
This song cannot tell you,
Aunque puedan mis palabras hablar,
Although my words can speak,
Como duele que ya no estés aquí
How much it hurts that you're no longer here
Lo difícil que fue verte marchar.
How difficult it was to see you leave.
No, yo no pretendo que sea así
No, I don't expect it to be so
Me conformo con que te haga recordar.
I am content with making you remember.
Oye como tiembla el alma
Listen to how the soul trembles
Gritando, que tu eres entre todas las mujeres
Screaming that you are, among all women,
Que de amor llenan el mundo
The one who fills the world with love,
La que más amor me dio.
The one who gave me the most love.
Oye como tiembla el alma
Listen to how the soul trembles
Gritando, que entre todas las que pueden
Screaming, that among all those who could,
Decir que me amaron mucho,
Say that they loved me a lot,
Sin tu saberlo, fuiste quien más ame yo...
Without your knowing it, you were the one I loved the most...
Esta canción tiene un triste final
This song has a sad ending,
Y yo no sé si la vuelva a cantar.
And I don't know if I will sing it again.
Tiene que ver con el ayer que viví
It has to do with the past that I lived,
Y que quisiera hoy poder olvidar.
And that I wish I could forget today.
No, no es culpa tuya o mía es
No, it's not your or my fault,
Esta manía de ponerme sentimental.
This habit of making me sentimental.
ESTRIBILLO
CHORUS
Oye como tiembla el alma
Listen to how the soul trembles
Cuando recuerdo ese amor que se fue.
When I remember that love that is gone.
Nos conocimos, conversamos, nos enamoramos,
We met, talked, fell in love,
Único el amor aquel.
That love was unique.
Todavía, todavía tiembla el alma,
The soul still trembles,
Recordarla es un placer.
Remembering her is a pleasure.
Fue la que más me quiso, la que más me amo
She was the one who loved me the most, the one I loved the most
Y fue la que más ame.
And she was the one I loved the most.
Yo con ella me sentía en el Paraíso
I felt in paradise with her
De repente desperté
Suddenly, I woke up.
Nos dejamos amándonos
We left each other still loving,
Y aun no lo puedo entender.
And I still can't understand it.
Writer(s): Rafael Monclova De Jesus
Contributed by Violet V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@marlenyfranco8824
Este maravilloso tema no me canso de escucharlo , recuerdos de un gran amor que ya no está .que viva este temazo ,para mí un poema hecho canción .👏👏👏👏👏para quien compuso esta maravilla.se que cuántos la escuchen les tiembla el alma como a mi.
@freddypimentel6336
Concuerdo completamente. Hace ya varios años que prometí no volver a escuchar esta canción, hoy vuelvo a escucharla y vuelvo a sentir la razón por la que no la volví a escucharla. Gracias por tu comentario.
@palmira1023
Este es el tema mas sublime que he escuchado en mi vida y salio precisamente cuando mi esposa murio de cancer..... nunca te olvidare.....te ame , te amo y te seguire amando.
@carlostovar1450
verga que arrecho yo pase por esa también Hermano y todavia después de 4años lo recuerdo como si fue ayer mucha fuerza de voluntad
@carolinanava9636
Tienes mucha razón amigo, como anillo al dedo, mi esposo también falleció y parecía q fuera escrita para el, ya hace cinco años y medio y no mas escucho esta canción se me quiebra la voz y se me arruga el corazón.
@lydaperez5952
😥😢
@jhoinerflores8705
Hace 2 meses perdi a mi.esposa.mano creeme.que.esto no tiene cura.una trizteza tan grande me.dejo.junto a mi hija.como.la extraño acada.momento.esto me.a.dolido.mas.que.otra.cosa.
@nestorbautista9166
Uy si tambn vivo con ese dolor y recuerdo esa canción con el mismo sentimiento nada q hacer nos toca seguir con el alma rota ...todo por nuestros hijos
@alexisbrown5541
Quien la escucha en el 2024?
@edwingirldogarcia7855
Hermosa canción