As we continue to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month I've chosen to salute El Cantante delos Cantantes, aka Hector Juan Perez Martinez. To the masses he is known as HectorLavoe or as Felipe Rodriguez called him, 'La Voz' ('The Voice').The most I know about Hector Lavoe is from the brilliant movie El Cantante, thatstarred Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez and John Ortiz. The film was based on HectorLavoe's rise to fame, his battle with drugs, his impact on music and family and hisuntimely death.The film drew huge criticism and actually sparked a comment from Hector's long timefriend Willie Colon stating 'The creators of El Cantante missed an opportunity to dosomething of relevance for our community. The real story was about Hector fightingobstacles of a non-supportive industry that took advantage of entertainers with hischarisma and talent. Instead they did another movie about two Puerto Ricanjunkies.'I thought that was an interesting statement being that when I saw the movie, I wasalmost certain I'd see more things Hector Lavoe contributed to Hispanic Heritage. But Iwasn't mad at the 'junkie' parts either because if its true, its true. You shouldn'thide the bad to make a good movie. Just tell the story the best way you know how.
Ultimately, the music was INCREDIBLE!! Enough to win a Latin Grammy for Best SalsaAlbum Of The Year (circa 2007). Ruben Blades, Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez did aphenomenal job producing the El Cantante Soundtrack. Songs like 'Aguanile', 'El Diade Mi Suerte' and 'Mi Gente' had the essence of Latino pride.So I say, if you get a chance, check out El Cantante, and for the critics..
'¡PARA TI…MOTHERFLOWER!'
Rasheed Young
Follow me on Twitter @Hasenpfefferinc
