Raphy Leavitt
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Raphy Leavitt
Raphy Leavitt (September 17, 1948 – August 5, 2015) was a Puerto Rican composer and founder of the salsa orchestra, La Selecta. Early years Rafael Angel Leavitt Rey, born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, was the second of four siblings in his family, José Manuel, Rafael Ángel, Lillian Rose and Jorge Luis, and was born to a Jewish father and a Catholic mother. He and his siblings became orphans at an early age and were raised by their aunt in the Puerta de Tierra section of San Juan. Leavitt was able to attend a private school, Colegio San Agustín, where he received his primary and secondary education. During his childhood, he was also able to take classes at The Academy of Accordions. He participated in an accordion orchestra and was named "premier" accordionist. Leavitt enrolled in the University of Puerto Rico to study Business Administration. It was during this period of his life that he debuted as a professional musician, when he joined two cousins who shared Rey as last nam ...
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San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the jurisdiction of the United States, with a population of 342,259. San Juan was founded by Spanish colonists in 1521, who called it Ciudad de Puerto Rico ("City of Puerto Rico", Spanish for ''rich port city''). Puerto Rico's capital is the third oldest European-established capital city in the Americas, after Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic, founded in 1496, and Panama City, in Panama, founded in 1521, and is the oldest European-established city under United States sovereignty. Several historical buildings are located in San Juan; among the most notable are the city's former defensive forts, Fort San Felipe del Morro and Fort San Cristóbal, and La Fortaleza, the oldest executive mansion in continuous use in the Americas. Today, S ...
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Jíbaro Music
The music of Puerto Rico has evolved as a heterogeneous and dynamic product of diverse cultural resources. The most conspicuous musical sources of Puerto Rico have included European, Indigenous, and African influences, although many aspects of Puerto Rican music reflect origins elsewhere in the Caribbean. Puerto Rican music culture today comprises a wide and rich variety of genres, ranging from essentially indigenous genres like bomba to recent hybrids like Latin trap and reggaeton. Broadly conceived, the realm of "Puerto Rican music" should naturally comprise the music culture of the millions of people of Puerto Rican descent who have lived in the United States, and especially in New York City. Their music, from salsa to the boleros of Rafael Hernández, cannot be separated from the music culture of Puerto Rico itself. Traditional, folk and popular music Early music Music culture in Puerto Rico during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries is poorly documented. Certainly it inclu ...
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2015 Deaths
This is a list of deaths of notable people, organised by year. New deaths articles are added to their respective month (e.g., Deaths in ) and then linked here. 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987 See also * Lists of deaths by day * Deaths by year {{DEFAULTSORT:deaths by year ...
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1948 Births
Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British Railways. * January 4 – Burma gains its independence from the United Kingdom, becoming an independent republic, named the ''Union of Burma'', with Sao Shwe Thaik as its first President, and U Nu its first Prime Minister. * January 5 ** Warner Brothers shows the first color newsreel ('' Tournament of Roses Parade'' and the '' Rose Bowl Game''). ** The first Kinsey Report, ''Sexual Behavior in the Human Male'', is published in the United States. * January 7 – Mantell UFO incident: Kentucky Air National Guard pilot Thomas Mantell crashes while in pursuit of an unidentified flying object. * January 12 – Mahatma Gandhi begins his fast-unto-death in Delhi, to stop communal violence during the Partition of India. ...
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Jewish Immigration To Puerto Rico
The Jewish immigration to Puerto Rico began in the 15th century with the arrival of the ''anusim'' (variously called '' conversos'', ''Crypto-Jews'', ''Secret Jews'' or ''marranos'') who accompanied Christopher Columbus on his second voyage. An open Jewish community did not flourish in the colony because Judaism was prohibited by the Spanish Inquisition. However, many migrated to mountainous parts of the island, far from the central power of San Juan, and continued to self-identify as Jews and practice Crypto-Judaism. It would be hundreds of years before an open Jewish community was established on the island. Very few American Jews settled in Puerto Rico after it was ceded by Spain to the United States under the terms of the 1898 Treaty of Paris, which ended the Spanish–American War. The first large group of Jews to settle in Puerto Rico were refugees fleeing German–occupied Europe in the 1930s and 1940s. The second influx came in the 1950s, when thousands of Cuban Jews ...
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Bayamón, Puerto Rico
Bayamón (, ) is a city, municipality of Puerto Rico and suburb of San Juan located in the northern coastal valley, north of Aguas Buenas and Comerío; south of Toa Baja and Cataño; west of Guaynabo; and east of Toa Alta and Naranjito. Bayamón is spread over 11 barrios and Bayamón Pueblo (the downtown area and the administrative center of the city). It is part of the San Juan-Caguas-Guaynabo Metropolitan Statistical Area and the second most populous municipality in both the metropolitan area and Puerto Rico. History The Taíno people, the indigenous peoples who encountered European explorers and settlers, were the long-time settlers in this area. The Spanish colonist Juan Ramírez de Arellano established Bayamón as a Spanish settlement on May 22, 1772. Two theories exist about the origin of the name Bayamón. According to one, it was named after the local Taíno chief, ''Bahamon''. The other theory states the name was derived from the Taíno word ''Bayamongo ...
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Luis A
Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic in Portugal, but common in Brazil. Origins The Germanic name (and its variants) is usually said to be composed of the words for "fame" () and "warrior" () and hence may be translated to ''famous warrior'' or "famous in battle". According to Dutch onomatologists however, it is more likely that the first stem was , meaning fame, which would give the meaning 'warrior for the gods' (or: 'warrior who captured stability') for the full name.J. van der Schaar, ''Woordenboek van voornamen'' (Prisma Voornamenboek), 4e druk 1990; see also thLodewijs in the Dutch given names database Modern forms of the name are the German name Ludwig and the Dutch form Lodewijk. and the other Iberian forms more closely resemble the French name Louis, a deriva ...
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Rafael Hernández Marín
Rafael Hernández Marín (October 24, 1892 – December 11, 1965) was a Puerto Rican songwriter, author of hundreds of popular songs in the Latin American repertoire. He specialized in Puerto Rican styles such as the canción, bolero and guaracha. Among his most famous compositions are " Lamento Borincano", "Capullito de alhelí", "Campanitas de cristal", "Cachita", " Silencio", "El cumbanchero", "Ausencia" and "Perfume de gardenias". Career Early years Rafael Hernández Marín was born in the town of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, into a poor family, on October 24, 1892. His parents were María Hernández Marín and Miguel Angel Rosa, though he was given only his mother's surname. As a child, he learned the craft of cigar making, from which he made a modest living. He also grew to love music and asked his parents to permit him to become a full-time music student. When he was 12 years old, Hernández studied music in San Juan, under the guidance of music professors Jose Ruellan Leq ...
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Bobby Valentín
Roberto "Bobby" Valentín (born June 9, 1941), is a musician and salsa bandleader. He is known as "El Rey del Bajo" (King of the Bass). Early years Valentín was born in Orocovis, Puerto Rico. He was taught by his father to play the guitar at a young age. When his mother died in 1947, he went to live with his older sister and was raised in the town of Coamo where he received his primary education and studied music. When he was 11 years old, he participated in a local talent contest with a trio that he had formed. He played the guitar and sang for the trio and they won the first place prize. One of his teachers suggested that he attend the Jose I. Quinton Academy of Music, which he did. It was there that he learned to play the trumpet. In 1956, Valentín moved with his family to New York City, United States, where he attended George Washington High School and continued to take music lessons. In 1958, he went to play for Joe Quijano but, shortly after, he played in the band of ...
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Tony Vega
Tony Vega Cesar, known professionally as Tony Vega (born July 13, 1957) is a Puerto Rican salsa music, salsa singer. Early years Vega was born in the town of Salinas, Puerto Rico, where he received his primary education. He was born into a family of musicians and therefore learned how to play the Bongo drum, bongos and conga at an early age. In 1967, when he was 10 years old, he played the conga for a children's band called La Prefeida. His family moved to New York City in 1968. In New York, Vega continued to go to school. In his free time however, he played the conga for various local Latin rock bands including City Trash. Latin music was popular in New York during the 1970s and while Vega played the conga for Latin rock bands, he started to become more and more interested in the afroantillano style of music better known as Salsa music, salsa. He listened to and was influenced by Ismael Rivera, Rafael Cortijo, Rafael Ithier and El Gran Combo. Vega started as a member of ...
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Reggaeton
Reggaeton (, ), also known as reggaetón and reguetón (), is a music style that originated in Panama during the late 1980s. It was later popularized in Puerto Rico. It has evolved from dancehall and has been influenced by American hip hop, Latin American, and Caribbean music. Vocals include rapping and singing, typically in Spanish. Reggaeton is regarded as one of the most popular music genres in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean, including Puerto Rico, Panama, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Colombia, and Venezuela. Over the 2010s, the genre has seen increased popularity across Latin America, as well as acceptance within mainstream Western music. Etymology The word ''reggaeton'' (formed from the word ''reggae'' plus the augmentative suffix ) was first used in 1988 when El General's representative Michael Ellis gave it that name to describe it as "''reggae grande''" (big reggae). The spellings ''reggaeton'' and ''reggaetón'' are common, although prescriptivist sources such ...
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