The career of Efraín ‘Mon’ Rivera was revitalized in 1975 with the release of Se Chavó El Vecindario, an album that the singer/songwriter recorded with Willie Colón. Personal problems such as his addiction to drugs had kept him away from the concert stages and recording studios. In those days, however, Mon Rivera was considered to be one of the most visionary and astute performers in Afro-Caribbean music. He had demonstrated those qualities almost fifteen years ago with the album “Que Gente Averiguá,” recorded between 1961 and 1962 –according to the original LP credits- for Al Santiago's Alegre label.

Mon's career took off during the mid-'50s in his native Mayagüez, where he performed with the Dúo Huasteco. In New York, he played with the orchestras of Moncho Leña and Joe Cotto and pioneered the sound known as trombanga, a group marked predominantly by its use of roaring trombones. Contrary to popular belief, this instrumental configuration was not invented by Eddie Palmieri's La Perfecta, since this orchestra started as a trumpet and trombone combo.

Boasting trombonists such as Antonio Castro, Joe Orange and Steve Pulliam, Mon's trombanga motivated Palmieri to focus on the trombones, inspiring other bands such as Willie Colón's and Orquesta Narvaez.

“Que Gente Averiguá,” a title that refers to people who get involved in other people's business, is one of the great classics of the pre-salsa era. Even though Mon was a virtuoso of the plena, the genre that stands as a musical newspaper of sorts in the working class barrios, “Que Gente Averiguá” pioneered the fusion of Puerto Rico's folkloric style with other genres such as pachanga, guaguancó, mambo and merengue.

This recording gives us an opportunity to appreciate Mon's talent for performing the güiro; his ability to generate ‘trabalenguas’ (humorous tongue twisters), and, most importantly, his musical concepts as applied on the trombones, in descargas (jam sessions), moñas and mambos in counterpoint or developed as two parallel melodies. His contribution to the jazz-mambo hybrid is evident on “Lluvia Con Nieve.”

Mon Rivera also contributed to the art of salsa storytelling with narratives that take place in big cities. On “Monina,” he sings about a guy who orders drinks at a cantina without having any money to pay for them, and who ends up doing the dishes in the establishment's kitchen. “En Casa De Pepe” tells the story of a few men who crash a party, flirt with the host's daughters and end up causing a big brawl.

Dark humor and the double entendre, two stylistic devices which were particularly in vogue during the '60s, where also handled with elegance by Mon. “La Cuca,” for instance, tells the story of Ramonita's daughter, who goes to Machuca's market to buy a cuca (a sweet cookie) and comes home crying after a gang of teenagers ‘la cuca me la comieron’ (ate my sweet cookie), a direct reference to a rape.

During an interview conducted for my Héctor Lavoé book Cada Cabeza es un Mundo: Relatos e Historias de Héctor Lavoe, Willie Colón said that he had discovered Mon thanks to his interpretation of Dolores, La Pachanguera with Joe Cotto.

Willie developed his style under the influence of Mon's trombanga. In 1975, when he had become salsa's premier producer, he expressed his admiration and respect by producing Se Chavó El Vecindario. The success of this album resulted in the reissue of “Que Gente Averiguá,” retitled Mon Y Sus Trombones and with a new cover.

South America, the Caribbean and the Hispanic communities in the U.S. fell under his spell, but Efraín Mon Rivera could not cope with so much activity. He died of a heart attack in 1978 while in Manhattan. That same year, Vaya Records released the album Forever as a tribute. It included previously unavailable tracks from the Se Chavó El Vecindario sessions.

Credits:

Charlie Palmieri – Piano
Eddie Palmieri – Piano (“Lluvia Con Nieve”)
Barry Rogers – Trombone
Mark Weinstein – Trombone
Manolin Pazo – Trombone
Kako – Timbales
Leo Fleming - Bass


Producer – Al Santiago
Recording Studio – Beltone Studios
Original Cover Art – Abel Navarro



Written by Jaime Torres Torres
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