Trio Vegabajeño was a legendary Puerto Rican popular music trio that existed from 1943 to the early 80s. This group marked an era of popular music in

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

. When trios were very popular in the Americas, Trio Vegabajeño was considered the ambassadors from Puerto Rico. ''Vegabajeño'' is the

demonym A demonym (; ) or gentilic () is a word that identifies a group of people (inhabitants, residents, natives) in relation to a particular place. Demonyms are usually derived from the name of the place (hamlet, village, town, city, region, province, ...

for people of the town of

Vega Baja Vega Baja (, ) is a town and municipality located on the coast of north central Puerto Rico. It is north of Morovis, east of Manatí, and west of Vega Alta. Vega Baja is spread over 13 barrios. The population of the municipality was 54,414 at t ...

. Eventually they were recognized as the National Trio of Puerto Rico and on October 26, 1996, a monument was inaugurated in Vega Baja.

History

Trio Vegabajeño was informally formed in 1943 at the Tortuguero Military Camp of Vega Baja by Fernandito Álvarez who gathered a few co-workers (Octavio González and

Benito de Jesús Benito de Jesús Born on October 25, 1912, in Barceloneta, Puerto Rico, was a legendary Puerto Rican songwriter of romantic ballads, including "Nuestro Juramento", "La copa rota", "Sigamos pecando". He was also founder of the group Trio Vegaba ...

) to put together a few musical numbers. A friend, Rafael Quiñones Vidal, came up with the name for the trio. Shortly after they recorded their first song "Llanto de mar". At the time only Fernandito Alvarez and Benito de Jesus did both vocals and guitar while Octavio González only played guitar. In 1945 Octavio González was recruited by the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

and the trio brought Pepito Maduro, also a singer, as the replacement. The group now had an all singers line-up and became pioneers of this new style. During this line-up

Guillermo Venegas Lloveras Guillermo Segundo Venegas Lloveras ( Quebradillas, Puerto Rico October 12, 1915 – San Juan, Puerto Rico July 23, 1993) was a Puerto Rican songwriter. After success in his youth with popular boleros, waltzes, tangos, marches, and danzas, in lat ...

composed their theme song ''Tema - Trío Vegabajeño'' in which aside from describing the town of Vega Baja they also state what town is each one from: ernandito''"Yo soy de

(I am from Vega Baja)''
enito'' Barceloneta es mi pueblo (Barceloneta is my town)''
epito'' Humacao fue mi cuna (Humacao was my cradle)..."'' Although being a trio, the group became a quartet in 1952 when Jorge Hernandez ( requinto player) joined the group. They didn't change the name of the group. This was one of their most successful line-up and even though was not the original, it was sometimes referred to as the "original" or "authentic" line-up. After the departure of Jorge and Benito, the trio had different line-ups. The only living member of the quartet line-up (1952–65) is Jorge Hernandez. In 2002, the group was inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame.

En Mi Viejo San Juan

"En mi Viejo San Juan" (''In my Old San Juan'') was first recorded by El Trio Vagabajeño in 1943 under the label

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...

. The song had an immediate impact and many other versions followed. The composition was written by Puerto Rican composer and singer

Noel Estrada Noel Epinanio Estrada Suárez (June 4, 1918 – December 1, 1979) was a Puerto Rican composer. He was the author of "En mi Viejo San Juan", a song "widely known around the world". Early years Estrada was born in the town of Isabela, Puerto ...

and has been translated into various languages. The song is "widely known around the world".''Noel Estrada.''
Clarissa Santiago Toro. Fundación Nacional para la Cultura Popular

Line-ups

''Note: this list of line-ups is incomplete.'' 1943-45: * Fernandito Alvarez * Benito de Jesús * Octavio González 1945-52: * Fernandito Alvarez * Benito de Jesús * Pepito Maduro 1952-65: * Fernandito Alvarez * Benito de Jesús * Pepito Maduro * Jorge Hernandez 1965-80: * Fernandito Alvarez * Ruben Maldonado * Guillermo Rivera 1980: * Fernandito Alvarez * Ruben Maldonado * Nacho Carrasquillo 1986 reunion ''(same as 1952-65)'': * Fernandito Alvarez * Benito de Jesús * Pepito Maduro * Jorge Hernandez

Discography

The original line-up (Alvarez, De Jesús and Maduro) only got to record 78 RPM records. The following discography only covers the records in LP format with the Marvela label which started once the fourth member, Jorge Hernandez, joined in 1952. * ''Canta El Trio Vegabajeño'' (c. 1952) * ''Canta El Trio Vegabajeño Vol. 2'' (c. 1954) * ''Canta El Trio Vegabajeño Vol. 3'' (c. 1955) * ''Canta El Trio Vegabajeño Vol. 4'' (c. 1957) Their song "Cantares de Navidad" was featured as the last song of Bad Bunny's album El Último Tour Del Mundo.

Reunion

In 1986 one of the classic line-ups (Fernandito, Benito, Pepito and Jorge) reunited to record a song ("Medley Trio Vegabajeño") with Danny Rivera for the album

Ofrenda An ''ofrenda'' (Spanish: " offering") is the offering placed in a home altar during the annual and traditionally Mexican ''Día de los Muertos'' celebration. An ''ofrenda'', which may be quite large and elaborate, is usually created by the fam ...

. Aside from that, two of the other songs were composed by members of the trio: "Meleque" (by Pepito Maduro) and "Que Lindas Son Las Mañanas" (by Benito de Jesús).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trio Vegabajeno Puerto Rican musical groups Musical trios Musical groups established in 1943 1943 establishments in Puerto Rico