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."
Julia
El Gran Combo De Puerto Rico Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
busco un amor sincero por eso canto para olvidar
con unos ojos negros ojos que maten con su mirar
sino me miran muero por eso canto para olvidar
Ay Julia porque me dejaste Julita porque me abandonaste
ahora yo voy a bailar ahora yo voy a gozar
ay que bueno va oyelo que bueno esta
eh eh eh que bueno va
Ay Julia Julia Julia Juliona
Ay Julia Julia Julia Julieta
Ay Julia ay que bueno va
Julita oyeme que bueno esta
ahora yo voy a bailar
ahora yo voy a gozar
porque me dejaste
porque me abandonaste
despues no vengas a pedir amor
porque yo me voy
pa el Mara
The lyrics of El Gran Combo De Puerto Rico's song Julia are about heartbreak and using singing as a way to cope. The singer is described as someone who is known to be happy and joyful, but despite this, he is still searching for sincere love. He sings about longing for a woman with black eyes that can captivate him with just a look. He shares his pain and how singing helps him to forget.
The song then focuses on Julia and how she left the singer, causing him heartache, but he is determined to dance and enjoy life despite the pain. The chorus is repetitive, emphasizing Julia's name and how good it feels to dance and enjoy the music. The lyrics encourage Julia not to come back to ask for love because the singer is leaving for Mara.
Overall, the song is about the pain of loss and the power of music to help forget the pain. It is a song that celebrates life and encourages people to dance and enjoy themselves, even in the face of heartbreak.
Line by Line Meaning
Dicen que soy dichoso que alegre vivo y me oyen cantar
People say that I am fortunate and live happily singing
busco un amor sincero por eso canto para olvidar
I am searching for true love, and that's why I sing to forget my sorrows
con unos ojos negros ojos que maten con su mirar
I long for someone with black eyes that can kill with just one look
sino me miran muero por eso canto para olvidar
If I don't find someone who can look at me that way, I will die, and that's why I sing to forget my pain
Ay Julia porque me dejaste Julita porque me abandonaste
Oh Julia, why did you leave me? Julita, why did you abandon me?
ahora yo voy a bailar ahora yo voy a gozar
Now I am going to dance and have fun
ay que bueno va oyelo que bueno esta
Oh, how good it is! Listen to how good it is!
Ehehehehehehah
Sound of joy and excitement
eh eh eh que bueno va
Oh, it's so good!
Ay Julia Julia Julia Juliona
Oh Julia, Julia, Julia Juliona
Ay Julia Julia Julia Julieta
Oh Julia, Julia, Julia Julieta
Ay Julia ay que bueno va
Oh Julia, it's so good!
Julita oyeme que bueno esta
Julita, listen to how good it is!
ahora yo voy a bailar ahora yo voy a gozar
Now I am going to dance and have fun
porque me dejaste porque me abandonaste
Because you left me, because you abandoned me
despues no vengas a pedir amor
Don't come back to ask for love later
porque yo me voy pa el Mara
Because I am leaving for Mara
Contributed by Owen I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@lisandroalomia9332
Como quisiera que andy nunca se fuera y siguiera cantando
@mariangemoralesdelacruz2205
Yo también. Andy es Andy. Lo mejor que tuvo El Gran Combo 💜
@abimaelenrriquesanchezvill8643
Hermosa ayer hoy y siempre juliaaaa
@georgemartinez3021
Esta Cancion yo siempre se la dedico a mi madre que se llama Julia que descanse en paz.
@juliocueto6348
Cuanto bailé con esta música en mi querido Perú, que recuerdos, hermoso tema, y para mi gusto, Andy Montañez fue el mejor vocalista que tuvo el Gran Combo
@1986SSMONTECARLO
I blasted this with the top down last night cruising up Whittier Boulevard in Boyle Heights, Them Mexicans couldn't believe me!!!....EGC FOREVER!!!
@luchm4046
they're not aware of serious Latin music there.
@richardjani832
Quién duda que la Salsa es la Reyna del ritmo... Que voz de Andy Montañez
Que Orquesta
Que arreglo...!!! Caramba eso es
Salsa 🎵🎶🎵💯X %
@fabiannavas4004
Una voz inconfundible. Excelente canción
@lopz33
Un día como hoy, hace 58 años (26 de mayo de 1962), se funda El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico, Los Mulatos del Sabor. ¡Felicidades!🎵🎂🎹🎺🎷🎶