Cortijo's Tribe: La Tribu de Cortijo Celebrating Ismael Rivera Tradition Lives On

W.Houston (Top40 Charts/ Fania/ UMGD) - One of Latin music's most accomplished singers, Ismael Rivera, together with his compadre Rafael Cortijo & Sammy Ayala created a blended sound in salsa incorporating the native rhythms of Puerto Rico with the Caribbean sounds from Cuba, Dominican Republic and the West Indies. The first all-black band to be featured on television for more than five years daily starting in 1954, Cortijo y Su Combo broke down color barriers while playing to the pride of Afro-Caribbeans throughout the Americas and the U.S. At a time when musicians were imitating the commercial sounds that sold out dance clubs, Cortijo y Su Combo broke out with something completely new, danceable and with tremendous swing. Their engine was rhythmic, their singer was incomparable and their message was to bring their native sounds out of the streets and onto the stages.

On Friday, May 11 @ 8 pm, Coritjo's Tribe will rise again with a special performance by Zon del Barrio featuring Sammy Ayala, an original Cortijo alum joining this new septet in tribute to the Boricua forefathers of salsa: Rafael Coritjo & Ismael Rivera at SOBs, 204 Varick St. @ W. Houston, https://www.sobs.com/212.243.4940.

A true " Nuyorican Culture Club," this performance will recall the music of Ismael Rivera & Cortijo through one of their original members, singer/songwriter Sammy Ayala while also featuring the fresh, young vocals of "Papote," lead vocalist for Zon del Barrio and the only young Nuyorican following in the steps of the masters, improvising bilingually while singing the standards lyrically in his own particular style.

Watch while the torch of masters is handed down to the following generation in this historic evening of salsa and song.