Nieves Quintero

"My name is Manuel Quintero Maldonado, but I'm known as Nieves Quintero, which are my father's two last names." "I created a new flavor for the cuatro. And I always said to my self that I was going to play the cuatro differently from the way Ladi and Archilla, my cousin, played it. That's what was on my mind...yes, it's true: I'm going to create a diferent style."

Our page dedicated to Nieves Quintero here
(as yet untranslated)

Yomo Toro

   "I was the first to bring the cuatro into Salsa music and I've had the opportunity to travel the world around playing the cuatro: I've been in Japan, in Europe, [in Africa] and I've been to these places repeatedly, and these countries already know Yomo Toro and what I've carried in my hands is the cuatro. I haven't taken a guitar, or an electrico guitar, or a requinto, none of those things. I carry the Puerto Rican cuatro because you've got to honor Puerto Rico and the national instrumento of Enchanted Island Puerto Rico is the cuatro..."

Our page dedicated to Yomo here

Tuto Feliciano

   We are preparing a page dedicated to the great cuatro and tres player, Tuto Feliciano who, among many other things, backed Ramito for many years.

Iluminado Dávila

"We we had to play a rosary [event] where verses were sung ...that was a tradition that there was. There wasn't any equipment, nothing electric. Now, just try to play without equipment--with all the noise! But back then we were respected, you began to play and nobody talked. But now, you go and try to play and it's like being in a cockfight, that is, people don't realize any more that music is for listening to."

Our page dedicated to Iluminado Dávila here
(as yet untranslated)

Neri Orta

Nicanor Zayas

"...and we played the dance--a great harvest dance, and in the morning he tells me, 'caramba, Zayita (because they used to call me Zayita) I don't have enough money to pay you for playing' and I said, 'caramba, Don Pedro, the place was filled with people.' 'Yes, but most of them paid on credit'. So instead he gave me a pig and a goat. And we dragged that pig and that goat down the road, with the goat bleating and the pig squealing. And in that way we walked with the animals towards town."

We recently acquired a large number of personal recordings of don Nicanor (he never recorded commercially) and are preparing a page dedicated to the great cuatrista.

Millito Cruz

  Cristobal Santiago