VIA PRESS RELEASE | Craft Latino proudly announces a 50th anniversary reissue of the electrifying salsa album, Sabor Sureño, the seventh album from Puerto Rico’s iconic band Sonora Ponceña. Initially released on Inca Records (a subsidiary of Fania Records), this recording boasts the lovely, bittersweet standout “Juana Bayona,” the jazzy-guaguanco “Ecue Baroni,” and the breezy, island-life anthem “Las mujeres son de azúcar,” which was penned by famed composer Tite Curet Alonso.
Available for pre-order today and due out October 18th, Sabor Sureño has been pressed on 180-gram vinyl and features lacquers cut from the original master tapes (AAA) by Clint Holley at Well Made Music. Fans can also find a “Morado Oscuro (Dark Purple)” 180-gram color vinyl variant (limited to 300 copies), with a bundle option that including a Sabor Sureño T-shirt, at Fania.com. Additionally, Sabor Sureño will make its debut in 192/24 HD digital audio.
Throughout 2024, Craft Latino is dedicated to celebrating Fania Records’ monumental impact on Latin music—a legacy that continues to resonate and shape music worldwide via. reissues, new releases, and exclusive content Visit fania.com/fania-60th for more details.
Before Sonora Ponceña became the salsa powerhouse it is today, the group started out in 1944 as El Conjunto Internacional, the passion project of Enrique “Quique” Lucca Caraballo, a musician from Ponce, a city on Puerto Rico’s Southern coast. A decade later, Quique renamed his band Sonora Ponceña, said to be a nod to both his hometown and his favorite Cuban group (with a trumpet-dominated horn section), La Sonora Matancera.
Sonora Ponceña only really found fame after Quique’s son, Enrique Lucca Quiñonez, Jr. (better known as Papo), started performing as a pianist with the group at age eight. The music prodigy dazzled crowds, most notably at age 14 during their acclaimed 1960 performance at New York City’s Manhattan Center.
Eight years later, with his father’s encouragement, the wildly talented young pianist would replace Quique as the group’s bandleader and music arranger. This came just in time for their debut album, Hacheros pa’ un palo. A big fan of Afro-Cuban and jazz, Papo’s musical passions would help define Sonora Ponceña’s unique, dynamic sound, which drew from those influences (his father, Quique, would pass away at the age of 103 in 2016).
The group was on a roll, with one acclaimed album following the next, by the time they released Sabor Sureño. The pass-the-mic dexterity of Sonora Ponceña’s horn and rhythm sections (not to mention lead vocalists Luigi Texidor and Miguelito Ortiz, at turns velvety and agile) were unmatched. “Juana Bayona,” arguably Sabor Sureño’s biggest hit at the time, is still considered a milestone in salsa.
Billboard named “Fuego en el 23”—a classic on summer block-party playlists—as one of the best salsa tracks of all time. Papo’s “tight orchestrations for the ensemble are marvelous, peaking with his elegant ending to ‘Las mujeres son de azúcar,” wrote AllMusic. In the same review, the outlet referred to the band as “Puerto Rico’s gift to the world.” Five years later, still reverberating with relevance, the group would even collaborate with iconic Latin vocalist Celia Cruz on an album, the exquisitely rousing La Ceiba.
Sonora Ponceña remains a vibrant act to this day, with a now 78-year-old Papo at the helm. In 1993, they received the Congo de Oro for best international band. A little over a decade after that, in 2004, the Legislature of Puerto Rico officially recognized their musical contributions by dedicating its annual “Día Nacional de la Salsa” to them. All told, Sonora Ponceña has recorded more than 35 albums, with dozens of their releases reaching platinum and gold status.
