Los Cantores de Bayamon

About Los Cantores de Bayamon

Puerto Rico's Los Cantores de Bayamon are an award-winning large group of musicians and singers who spread their nation's musical traditions -- both sacred and secular -- throughout the Caribbean, Southern Europe, North America, and Hawaii. Their debut single "Te Llego la Parranda" was a Christmas rap fused with aguinaldo, the folk genre of Latin Christmas music based on traditional Spanish Christmas carols. It became a hit. The album Pa' Ver Si Me Prendo won Puerto Rico's Diplo Award for Best Christmas Album. They spent the next season touring and promoting their music and message. Released in 1994, Que Rica la Parranda, Oe, Oe, and won another Diplo, this one for Christmas Group of the Year. The following year they presented a nationally broadcast Christmas program on Puerto Rican television. On their albums the group highlighted various styles from bomba and plena to salsa and even tango, proven by chart successes Parranda y Tradicion in 2000, 2010's Que Viva La Bayoya, and 2017's Puerto Rico Es una Fiesta. Los Cantores de Bayamon formed with a wide range of professional musicians in 1992 around a simple credo: to preserve the sacred music of the Puerto Rican Christmas tradition during an era of secular and double-entendre seasonal songs. They chose contemporary forms, but kept the message direct. They made their first international trip in 1996, playing Orlando and Tampa, Florida. News of the performances and yearly recordings spread, and they were invited to Hawaii the following year by the Association of Puerto Ricans in Hawaii. The group's annual albums were picked up by radio across Latin America and the United States, and word spread of their festival-like concerts. In 1998, they performed in Anchorage, Alaska, followed in 1999 by trips to Spain and the Canary Islands. Each year, Los Cantores de Bayamon albums, such as 2000's Parranda y Tradicion, sold better and were distributed more widely. A year later, they performed in Chicago and New York City. At home, they played not only Christmas events, but those celebrating national heritage and other sacred holidays. They continued to issue roughly an album a year through 2011, highlighting various styles from bomba and plena to salsa and even tango (on the album Del Tingo al Tango). In 2012 and 2013, Los Cantores de Bayamon began reissuing their catalog through their own label while continuing their yearly travels and recording singles. In October 2016, they issued Puerto Rico Es una Fiesta, a new studio recording. It topped the tropical albums chart in January 2017 followed by volume two. In 2018, they issued the successful Puerto Rico Es una Fiesta #3, and in 2019, Puerto Rico Es una Fiesta #4. ~ Thom Jurek

ORIGIN
Puerto Rico
FORMED
1992
GENRE
Holiday

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