Trio Vegabajeño
Trio Vegabajeño was a legendary Puerto Rican popular music trio that existed from the 1930s to the 1990s. This group marked an era of popular music in Puerto Rico, when the genre was widespread in the Americas, they were considered the island's best representatives. Vegabajeño is the demonym for people of the town of Vega Baja, where the first version was organized during the 1930s by Fernandito Álvarez, who eventually disbanded the group due to fatigue and personal commitments. In 1943, the Trio Vegabajeño was reformed by Álvarez at the Tortuguero Military Camp of Vega Baja, after he gathered a few co-workers (Octavio González and Benito de Jesús) to put together a few musical numbers. Rafael Quiñones Vidal played a role in introducing them to the public by including the group in his radio show. Shortly after they recorded their first song "Llanto de mar". At the time only Álvarez and Benito de Jesus did both vocals and guitar while Octavio González only played guitar. En mi Viejo San Juan (lit. "In my Old San Juan") was first recorded by El Trio Vagabajeño in 1943 under the label RCA Victor. The song had an immediate impact and many other versions followed. The composition was written by Puerto Rican composer and singer Noel Estrada and has been translated into various languages. The song is "widely known around the world".
In 1945 Octavio González was drafted for military service and the trio brought Pepito Maduro, also a singer, as the replacement. The group now had an all singers line-up and became pioneers of this new style. Despite beginning as a trio, the group became a quartet in 1952 when Jorge Hernández (requinto player) joined the group. They didn't change the name of the group. This was one of their most successful line-up and even though was not the original, it was sometimes referred to as the "original" or "authentic" line-up. After the departure of Jorge and Benito, the trio had different line-ups, which continued performing until the 1990s. In 1986 one of the classic line-ups (Fernandito, Benito, Pepito and Jorge) reunited to record a song ("Medley Trio Vegabajeño") with Danny Rivera for the album Ofrenda. Aside from that, two of the other songs were composed by members of the trio: "Meleque" (by Pepito Maduro) and "Que Lindas Son Las Mañanas" (by Benito de Jesús). Eventually they were recognized as the National Trio of Puerto Rico and on October 26, 1996, a monument was inaugurated in Vega Baja. The group was also popular throughout Latin America and New York, where they first played in 1947 and continued visiting annually for two decades.
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