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."
Yo No Mendigo Amor
El Gran Combo De Puerto Rico Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Yo no mendigo amor
La que me quiera querer que me busque y me llame
Que yo no mendigo amor.
Yo no mendigo amor
Y mucho menos una caricia.
Ni un beso con sus delicias
No espero su aprobación,
Tampoco la opinión de nadie
Así es que me siento yo,
Así es que me siento yo y por eso...
Yo no mendigo amor
ESTRIBILLO
Ya lo intenté una vez
Y le rogaba por un abrazo.
Me hacía señas con el brazo
Que no lo podía hacer.
Siempre tenía un deber
Que si la casa, que la cocina
Y las llamadas allá en la oficina
Tenía ella que atender.
De esta manera aprendí
Que si el amor lo das por entero
Se te acaba por completo
Y nada te queda pa ti.
Dalo poquito a poco
Y con poco te quedarás.
Y no tendrás que mendigar
Igual que un corazón loco
Y te digo que...
ESTRIBILLO
De ahora en adelante no voy a rogarle a nadie
Y menos pedir un favor.
Me voy a dar mi lugar
Primero, segundo, tercero soy yo!
Mis palabras son sencillas, sabes donde estoy?
En las páginas amarillas.
Que lo sepa todo el mundo que
Yo no mendigo amor
No quiero que me den limosna
Yo no soy pordiosero.
Si me dan amor
Que me lo den por entero
Que no me vengan con migajas
Que eso no lo quiero yo.
The lyrics of El Gran Combo De Puerto Rico's song Yo No Mendigo Amor express a sentiment of self-love and independence from the need for validation or affection from others. The singer proclaims that they will not beg for love, nor even a touch or kiss, but instead will wait for someone who wants to love them and call them of their own accord. The chorus serves as a proclamation that the singer will not beg for love, highlighting the freedom and power in making the decision to not settle for less than what they deserve.
The song then traces the singer's journey towards this self-empowerment, describing a past relationship in which they begged for even a hug and were constantly pushed aside due to the other person's other obligations. Through this experience, the singer learned that giving all of one's love away leads to emptiness and that holding onto some of that love can be enough. In the end, the singer declares that they will no longer beg for anyone's attention or favor but instead will put themselves first and will not settle for crumbs of love but instead seek someone who will love them fully.
Overall, Yo No Mendigo Amor is a song that encourages listeners to value themselves and not settle for less than what they deserve in their relationships. It is a song of independence and self-empowerment, celebrating the freedom that comes with refusing to beg for love.
Line by Line Meaning
Yo no mendigo amor
I do not beg for love
Yo no mendigo amor
I do not beg for love
La que me quiera querer que me busque y me llame
If someone wants to love me, let them seek me out and call me
Que yo no mendigo amor.
Because I do not beg for love
Y mucho menos una caricia.
And much less a caress.
Ni un beso con sus delicias
Or a kiss with its delights
No, no mendigo no.
No, I do not beg, no.
No espero su aprobación,
I do not expect their approval
Tampoco la opinión de nadie
Nor the opinion of anyone
Así es que me siento yo,
That's how I feel
Así es que me siento yo y por eso...
That's how I feel, and that's why...
Yo no mendigo amor
I do not beg for love
Ya lo intenté una vez
I already tried it once
Y le rogaba por un abrazo.
And begged for a hug
Me hacía señas con el brazo
She gestured with her arm
Que no lo podía hacer.
That she couldn't do it
Siempre tenía un deber
She always had a duty
Que si la casa, que la cocina
Be it the house or the kitchen
Y las llamadas allá en la oficina
And the calls over there in the office
Tenía ella que atender.
She had to attend to them.
De esta manera aprendí
That's how I learned
Que si el amor lo das por entero
That if you give love entirely
Se te acaba por completo
It ends completely
Y nada te queda pa ti.
And nothing is left for you.
Dalo poquito a poco
Give it little by little
Y con poco te quedarás.
And you will have a little left for yourself.
Y no tendrás que mendigar
And you won't have to beg
Igual que un corazón loco
Just like a crazy heart.
Y te digo que...
And I tell you that...
ESTRIBILLO
CHORUS
De ahora en adelante no voy a rogarle a nadie
From now on, I will not beg anyone
Y menos pedir un favor.
And least of all ask for a favor.
Me voy a dar mi lugar
I'm going to give myself my place
Primero, segundo, tercero soy yo!
First, second, third, it's me!
Mis palabras son sencillas, sabes donde estoy?
My words are simple, do you know where I am?
En las páginas amarillas.
In the yellow pages.
Que lo sepa todo el mundo que
So that everyone knows that
Yo no mendigo amor
I do not beg for love
No quiero que me den limosna
I don't want them to give me alms
Yo no soy pordiosero.
I am not a beggar.
Si me dan amor
If they give me love
Que me lo den por entero
Let them give it to me completely
Que no me vengan con migajas
Don't come to me with crumbs
Que eso no lo quiero yo.
That's not what I want.
Writer(s): CASTRO JULIO
Contributed by Anna F. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Galgo Carreras
Esto es un himno al hombre moderno!
Jhonattan
Rica salsa!!!! 👍🏻
Alexis Valenzuela
Verde o Roja?
FISIMAX
que tema me hace morir lo escuche por primera vez, hoy y repito su coro muchas veces, que temazo.
William Morales
Yo mendigue hace rato cuando era pelao ahora se las dejo en las manos ,buen tema
Miguel Angel Montero Rodrigues
Me encanta esa musica
Irma Santos
WOW un flechazo directo al corazón pues no vamos para las paginas amarillas !!Jajajaja!
DUBER ALEJANDRO SALAZAR PERDOMO
ese Gra combo es unico vaya que tema....y sabrosura...biennnn
XV1978
In salsa veritas
Gabriela GC
no no mendigo no ..
no espero tu aprobacion jajaja