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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZBOLEROA universal, sentimental ballad style, rooted in Spanish-derived African-influenced fusion from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, later Mexico. The Puerto Rican style is more closely related to its Spanish root than the syncopated Cuban. The visit of an Italian opera company to Cuba in 1842 is still heard in the high, passionate voices of the best exponents of bolero; the Cuban middle classes exported it back to Europe in a slowed-down style which held sway in salons and dance halls for decades, its influence heard in songs by George Gershwin and Xavier Cugat; there are still traces in USA country music, especially in the work of Freddy Fender, Linda Ronstadt, Maria Muldaur. (Marice Ravel's Boléro in 1927 was an instrumental experiment in orchestral dynamics, inspired by the dance hall but having little to do with the Latin style.) Beginning in the 1950s Celia Cruz and Tito Rodriguez successfully combined the smooth romantic qualities of bolero singing with the improvisational nature of mambos, rumbas etc. But Lucho Gatica (b Luis Enrique Gatica Silva, 11 August 1928, Rancagua, Chile; d 13 November 2018, Mexico) was the foremost practitioner of the pure romantic ballad style. His first hit was 'Me Importas Tú' in 1951 and he was said to have sold 22 million records around the world by the mid-1960s. Singing in Spanish, Portuguese and English, he played at Carnegie Hall with Lalo Schifrin's orchestra in 1962, and was presented by Nat King Cole at the Hollywood Bowl. He also became a film star; his first movie was No Me Platiques Más (“Don’t Tell Me Anymore”) in 1956. He made his last album, Historia de un Amor, at 85, joined by guests like Michael Bublé and Nelly Furtado. When Lucho died the president of Chile ordered the flags at half-staff and a day of mourning, although he had lived in Mexico for half a century. Bachata, originating in the Dominican Republic as a folkish, romantic descendent of bolero, Antony Santos a legendary exponent, hit the Latin charts as played by the Bronx-based quartet Aventura, all of whom are named Santos, and who it was thought might cross over into the mainstream. The first collaboration by Romeo and Lenny was Generation Next in 1999. Henry, Romeo's cousin, came from DR at age 13; the others are all Bronx-born, bassist Max completing the group. Their album The Last (June 2009) was immediately the best-selling Latin album of the year, 'Obsession' an international hit. Romeo and Henry aren't related to Lenny or Max, and none of them is related to Antony.
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