La Rebelión
Joe Arroyo y La Verdad · 1986 · from the album Musa Original · written by Joe Arroyo
Salsa from Colombia's Caribbean coast: a Cartagena singer, a famous piano solo and an anthem of Black pride.
- coro and soneo
- piano
Why it matters
Joe Arroyo was born and raised in Cartagena, and he led his band La Verdad from 1981. La Rebelión came out in 1986 on Musa Original (Discos Fuentes). It became an international hit and an anthem of pride for Black people across Latin America.
It's a sign of how Colombian salsa stood on its own. The song reuses an earlier Arroyo song, “El Mulato”, from 1978. Billboard put it on its 2018 list of the 15 best salsa songs ever, and Viva Music Colombia ranked it first among the 100 most important Colombian songs.
What to listen for
- The piano solo by Chelito De Castro, one of the best-known parts of the recording.
- Joe Arroyo's soneos against the coro, with the title line coming back again and again.
- The coastal feel under the salsa. Arroyo mixed salsa with the music of Colombia's Caribbean coast, such as cumbia and porro, in a style fans call joesón.
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