Tomás Rivera Morales, simply known as "Maso Rivera" (November 13, 1927 – February 4, 2001), was a Puerto Rican musician and a major exponent of Puerto Rico's Jíbaro music. Rivera composed over 1,000 instrumental compositions for the Cuatro, Puerto Rico's national instrument.

Early years

Rivera was born in the barrio Galateo in the town of

Toa Alta Toa Alta () is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico located in the northern coast of the island, north of Naranjito; south of Dorado and Toa Baja; east of Vega Alta and Corozal; and west of Bayamón. Toa Alta is spread over eight barrios an ...

. His parents were Ramón Rivera Nieves and Secundina Morales Rolón. When he was five years old, under his mother's encouragement, he began to play the cuatro.Music of Puerto Rico
/ref> The cuatro is a Puerto Rican indigenous instrument derivate from the guitar family. It is smaller than the guitar and originally had four strings evolving to its modern version of 5 pairs of strings. Rivera built his first cuatro when he was nine years old. His first teacher was Felipe Morales Rolon, Rivera's uncle and Puerto Rican cuatro player and maker. Even though he did not know how to read music, he was a good listener, and learned how to play whole musical compositions by ear. While Rivera was in the sixth grade, his family found themselves in a difficult financial situation, and he was forced to leave school. He worked with his father on a farm, and helped his mother in a small family-owned store, where he found the time to play the cuatro. He was often asked by the local neighbors to play his instrument at parties and funerals.Puerto Rico Popular Culture
/ref>

Musical career

When drafted into the United States Army in 1950, Rivera took along his cuatro instrument, with which he entertained the troops overseas during his free time. Upon his honorable discharge from the Army in 1954, Rivera returned to Puerto Rico. Rivera began to write musical compositions, and his first was titled ''Sobre mis Colinas.'' He joined other musicians of typical genres from Puerto Rico, such as Florencio "Ramito" Morales Ramos, Jesús "Chuito de Bayamon" Sanchez Erazo, and Guzmán Rosario. He befriended Abelardo Díaz Alfaro, who played an important role in the development of his musical potential. Rafael Quiñones Vidal, a pioneer in Puerto Rico's television, became aware of Rivera's musical talent and introduced him to the Puerto Rican public via television and radio. Soon, he was serving as the master of ceremonies of various radio programs such as ''Maratón,'' ''La Infancia'' and ''Radio Borinquen.'' In the mid-1950s, Rivera went on a musical tour with Ramito and served as a goodwill ambassador of the ''Jibaro'' music in New York City, with presentations in such places as the

Teatro Puerto Rico The Teatro Puerto Rico was a music hall focused on the Latino community in the South Bronx section of New York City. During the 1940s to 1950s it presented ''la farándula,'' a vaudeville-style package of Spanish-language events, and attracted ...

. He returned to Puerto Rico and married Carmen Rosado, with whom he had two children, named Carmencita and Edwin Tomás. Rivera composed more than 1,000 instrumental compositions for the cuatro, including the danzas "A mi Madre" and "Nélida", also the décima ''Lo que Dios me ha Dado.'' His musical contributions were primarily in the fields of ''jibaro'' music, but he interpreted with equal dexterity most of the other Afro-Caribbean and Latin American genres popular in the last few decades.

Later years

Rivera was very innovative using cuatros of different sizes and shapes called 'tiples'. While he was alive, Puerto Rican

Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...

r Roberto Clemente presented him with one of his baseball bats. Upon Clemente's death in a plane crash in 1971, Rivera asked a local instruments luthier to assemble a cuatro out of that same bat, which he called "bate cuatro" (bat cuatro). Rivera died on February 4, 2001, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. During his lifetime, he had been the subject of numerous tributes. After his death, his hometown of Toa Alta honored his memory by naming a middle school and the Municipal Theater after him, and by commissioning a statue in his likeness.Tomas Maso Rivera Morales – Toa Alta, Puerto Rico – Middle School
/ref>

Musical compositions

Among his many musical compositions were the following: *''Maso Rivera vs. Santos Rolón y sus Conjuntos de Cuerdas'' *''Maso Instrumental'' *''Felicitaciones Cantan: Juaniquillo, Paquito, y Luisito con Maso Rivera'' *''Trullando por San Juan con Maso Rivera y Nieves Quintero'' *''Mi Puerto Rico Querido: Maso Rivera y su Conjunto de Cuerdas'' *''Aguinaldos con Sinfonía: Canta el Indio de Bayamón con Maso Rivera'' *''Navidades con Maso Rivera y sus Conjuntos'' *''Maso Rivera Alegres Navidades Borincanas'' *''Maso Rivera: 60 Años de Música y Arte''

Notes

References