In 1976 he started with a group of amateurs in Puerto Rico, and his first recording was with the Mario Ortiz Orchestra. He then moved on to Orquesta La Grande, and during the two years Gilberto was with them, he met Mr. Elias Lopés who later helped mold and polish the promising young singer, releasing three recordings.
In 1980, he got an important opportunity recording "Homenaje a Eddie Palmieri" with the Puerto Rico All Stars. He then went on to record with Tommy Olivencia. From 1981 through 1986 he was with the Willie Rosario Orchestra where he recorded six albums.
Santa Rosa then signed with Ralph Cartagena's Combo Records. In 1986, he debuted on Good Vibrations fronting his own salsa orquesta. After releasing three more albums on Combo, including "De Amor y Salsa", he switched to CBS Records and issued the chart-topping salsa romantica set Punto De Vista in 1990, which went platinum and spawned the smash hits "Vivir Sin Ella" and "Perdoname". Santa Rosa's 1991 CBS/Sony follow-up, Perspectiva, was another monster hit.
Since the mid-80s, the mainstream salsa recording industry in Puerto Rico and the USA has been largely preoccupied with developing and marketing the images of "good looking" young male vocalists, rather than producing solid, stimulating music performed by swinging soneros (improvising salsa singers). Santa Rosa, however, who was one of the first of this new crop of solo singers, is regarded as being amongst the small number who deserve to be called a sonero.
In 1990, Santa Rosa was in the illustrious company of Andy Montañez and Pedro Brull (from Mulenze ), as one of the contemporary soneros assembled by bandleader Don Perignon for his all-star La Puertorriqueña project. In 1990, he won the Billboard Lo Nuestro award for Best Male Singer. He has also performed at New York's prestigious annual salsa festival. But 1990 was an important year in other respects. Santa Rosa made acting debut in the play "La pareja dispareja", where he was joined by Rafo Muñiz and Luis Vigoreaux.
He visited Japan in 1995 as Puerto Rico's musical ambassador and sang one of his songs, "De cara al viento" in Japanese in his effort to bridge the cultural barriers. Since then Santa Rosa's fame reached across borders and continents; commanding recognition as salsa artist in most demand. In 1996 he released yet another smash album Esencia which included hit songs such as No Quiero Nada Regala'o.
Santa Rosa's recent work has not been limited to soloist recordings. He joined other artists in the First President's Festival in the Dominican Republic; Andy Montañez in New York's Lincoln Center, in 1997; and Olga Tañon in the Universal Studios Amphitheater in Holloywood, in 1997.
In 1999, he released Expresión, which reinforced his international fame. The album included the hit song "Que alguien me diga", written by Omar Alfanno, which was at the top of Billboard‘s latin chart for various weeks. The album also included the song Fulana, unlike his well known salsa, demonstrating his wide range of interests and ability. The album was selected as one of the 20 best recordings of the year by the National Foundation Popular Culture of Puerto Rico.
Nuestro Balance
Gilberto Santa Rosa Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
A conversar serenamente
Echemos un vistazo desde aquí
A todo aquello que pudimos rescatar
Hagamos un balance del pasado
Como socios arruinados
Sin rencor
Hablemos sin culparnos a los dos
Ha pasado solo un año
Y el adiós abrió su herida;
Un año nada mas,
Un año gris
Que en nuestro amor duro una vida
Lentamente fue creciendo
La visión de la caída
La sombra del ayer
Nos envolvió
Y no atinamos a luchar
No ves!
Estoy gritando sin querer
Porque no puedo contener,
Esta amargura que me ahoga
Perdona, no lo puedo remediar
Mi corazón se abrió de par en par
The lyrics of Gilberto Santa Rosa's song Nuestro Balance are about reflecting on a past relationship with a former partner, about revisiting the memories of what they were able to save from their failed partnership. The lyrics urge the former lovers to sit together in a bar and speak with each other serenely, to look back from their present vantage point and see all that they have managed to salvage of what they once had. They are called upon to balance the past, recognizing that they were like ruined partners, without bitterness, and to speak without blaming each other, because in the end they were able to rescue the best of what they had. The song talks about how just one year has passed since their separation, but the goodbyes that were said had left a deep wound that still hurts.
The song goes on to describe how the pain of the separation has lingered, almost as if time has stood still for both of them, as if they have aged a lifetime in the past year. The vision of the fall has gradually grown and the shadow of yesterday surrounds them. Despite this, they did not fight to save what they had, and as a result, their love has been lost. The singer of the song is overcome with emotions, and the lyrics describe how he is shouting unintentionally, unable to contain the bitterness that is choking him up. He apologizes, acknowledging that he cannot help but be completely and vulnerably open.
Line by Line Meaning
Sentémonos un rato en este bar
Let's sit for a while in this bar
A conversar serenamente
And talk calmly
Echemos un vistazo desde aquí
Let's take a look from here
A todo aquello que pudimos rescatar
At everything we managed to rescue
Hagamos un balance del pasado
Let's take stock of the past
Como socios arruinados
As ruined partners
Sin rencor
Without resentment
Hablemos sin culparnos a los dos
Let's talk without blaming each other
Porque al final salvamos lo mejor
Because in the end, we saved the best
Ha pasado solo un año
Only one year has passed
Y el adiós abrió su herida;
And the farewell opened its wound
Un año nada mas,
Just one year
Un año gris
A gray year
Que en nuestro amor duro una vida
That in our love lasted a lifetime
Lentamente fue creciendo
Slowly it was growing
La visión de la caída
The vision of the fall
La sombra del ayer
The shadow of yesterday
Nos envolvió
Enveloped us
Y no atinamos a luchar
And we didn't manage to fight
No ves!
Don't you see!
Estoy gritando sin querer
I'm shouting unintentionally
Porque no puedo contener,
Because I can't contain
Esta amargura que me ahoga
This bitterness that suffocates me
Perdona, no lo puedo remediar
Forgive me, I can't help it
Mi corazón se abrió de par en par
My heart opened wide
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: BERNARDO MITNIK
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
MIGUEL BRITO
En mi opinión el mejor álbum de Gilberto ! Placentero regalo musical
persiano13
Exacto, síi puede ser, este álbum A DOS TIEMPOS DE UN TIEMPO es del año 1992...
Herbert Palma
De las mejores canciones que grabó Gilberto Santa Rosa.
Herbert Palma
Esta es la mejor versión de este tema, fue hecho para Gilberto Santa Rosa.
Ricaurte Escala A.
Unico total en su genero.👍
GROVER JUAN MENDOZA PETROVICH
OTRA DE LAS MAGISTRALES OBRAS ESCRITAS DEL MAESTRO CHICO NOVARRO,UN GRANDE PARA ESCRIBIR ESTE TIPO DE BOLEROS ROMANTICOS
Claudio Grijalva
Es un arreglo finisimo y elegante, un digno marco para una ejecución magistral del caballero de la salsa: Gilberto Santa Rosa. Estupendo!