Notes on My Time in a Lorain Salsa Band in the 1970s

From Journal's weekly Latin News column – May 22, 1976 

Did you know that for a time in the 1970s, Lorain was a hotbed of local salsa bands and other Latino musical groups?

I had a ringside seat for some of it, because during my junior and senior years at Admiral King High School, I was a trombonist in a Lorain-based salsa band.

It started when our old trumpet teacher Alex Visci called our house. One of his former students, Tony Delgado, had started a salsa band, Orquesta Charambo, and was looking to add another trombonist.

Would I be interested in sitting in at a band practice, asked Mr. Visci?

Since I was already in a polka band, I wasn't particularly interested in joining a Puerto Rican band. But Mom convinced me to at least go to one practice as a favor to Mr. Visci. 

I was a little anxious when I entered the rehearsal, which was in the basement of a house on Lorain's east side. Almost everyone there was Puerto Rican, and I didn’t understand a single word that was being said. But I was quickly put at ease by Tony. Dominic, the other trombonist (and the only other white guy in the band) also went out of his way to make me feel comfortable with a steady stream of funny remarks. In fact, all of the band members – including Anibal (piano) and brothers Elmer (on bass) and Ivan Arocho (on trumpet) – made me feel welcome. 

At my first practice, we ran through a few tunes in a way that became the standard procedure. Tony would pass out the music that he arranged. Then he would play a record of the tune, over and over again. By listening to it several times, everyone was able to learn their parts, including those band members who couldn't read music.

Here's one of the first salsa tunes I played at that practice: El Que Se Fe, performed by Roberto Roena y su Apollo Sound.

I quickly learned that salsa tunes had a definite structure. There was an intro, a main melody line and a series of repeated choruses separated by the singer’s improvised verses. There might also be a bridge and key change to another melody line, which was broken up by horn solos and more improvised verses by the singer. Whether to keep repeating a section or move on was communicated by hand gestures by the singer or the leader, such as an arm extended in the air. So you had to pay attention.

If I had any thoughts of just going to that first practice and then never going again, the idea was quickly abandoned. At that first practice, I discovered that I loved the catchy melodies, the bold horn parts and the sound of the percussion instruments: the timbales, conga drums, cowbell, etc. Thus I was very pleased when I was invited to join the band. 

When Tony found out that I was an art student at Admiral King, he had me do a drawing of the band for one side of our business card.

Many of our gigs were at Gargus Hall on Route 254, where huge holiday dances and fund raisers were held. Many other local bands often shared the bill with us on these jobs, including Latin Explosion and Trio Puerto Rico. We would also back up nationally known performers (such as Bobby Rodriguez) or share the bill with them and take turns performing. 

From Journal's weekly Latin News column – Nov. 20, 1976

Here are a few more samples of the music we played. These YouTube videos feature the original artists, but since Tony made his arrangements from these recordings (minus any saxophone parts) to me it sounds like Charambo performing. Hopefully you can get a taste of why I loved this music so much. You could hear it on WLRO on the weekends during special Latin programming segments.

We also played some novelty songs, like this one from Bobby Rodriguez, who as I mentioned, we backed up at one dance. Sunday Kind of Love is an old standard from the 1940s, and one of the few tunes we played with English lyrics. 

For some variety, we also played hits like Santana's "Oye Como Va" and "Low Rider" by War.

I also remember going into the Rebman recording studio (which was in a house next to the bowling alley on Oberlin Avenue) and recording a demo tape for the band. It was all very exciting.

Although my time as a member of Orquesta Charambo was brief, it made my senior year of high school very memorable. Wherever there were cities with large concentrations of Puerto Ricans, there were bookings, and we would travel there to perform, sometimes renting an RV for the trip. Besides many gigs in Lorain and Cleveland, we went on road trips to Detroit, Youngstown, and Rochester, New York. It was fun and exciting and often we were treated like minor celebrities.

We were paid well too. I remember making a hundred bucks on some of these out-of-state gigs.

Looking back, I'm surprised that my parents allowed me to go on these overnight gigs, seeing that I was only 17 or 18. But they had complete confidence in Tony, who kept an eye out for those of us that were still in high school and made sure we were always safe and out of trouble.

From Journal – May 28, 1977

Besides the music, I became very fond of Puerto Rican culture, especially the food (pastelitos, alcapurrias, etc.) served at the dances. I also came to appreciate just how beautiful Latino women are. The language barrier was a problem, though; at one dance, I tried to talk to one particularly cute young lady – only to learn that the reason she could only giggle and smile was because she didn't speak a word of English! (Maybe I should have taken Spanish instead of French all those years.)

But in the fall of 1977, I was heading off to college and my secret life as a member of a salsa band was drawing to a close. The band gave me a generous gift towards my college expenses, and I was sad to have to quit. I did get one last opportunity to perform with them during my freshman year when they played at Ohio State for a Hispanic function at the Ohio Union. 

I would rejoin Lorain's Latin music scene after college with another band. But that's another story.

****

Charambo carried on well into the early 1980s, becoming more and more popular and performing alongside even bigger name acts out of New York. By the time the band was winding down, it was generally advertised and accepted as the best salsa band in Ohio.

Dec. 17, 1977 Journal ad

From Journal of July 28, 1978

From Journal of July 20, 1979

Today, a few members of Charambo are still performing! Former Charambo leader Tony Delgado and bass guitarist Elmer Arocho are members of the popular Latin City Soul (of which Elmer is the band director). Click here to visit the band's website.