Victor Manuelle, Instinct and Desire
by
Nestor Louis


The great thing about being a collector is that, unlike the fans of Johnny-come-lately pretty-boy salseros, sometimes, we buy recordings, regardless of how good or how bad they are. I've found myself buying a recording for just one song, and many more times I bought a recording just because I recognized a name in the credits. The intuitive and influential power of a music collector was such, that it caused a small commotion at Sony Discos. When I showed up with the first 2 releases by Don Perigñon and his band, featuring Luisito Carrion, Luis Mendez, and a seventeen-year-old Victor Manuelle, this collector, and consumer of music, mesmerized everyone in the room, including the subject of this interview. "Very few people know my history. For the most part, other than collectors like you, people think that my first records are the ones I did with Sergio George. In Colombia, people know me from Apiadate De Mi," said Victor Manuelle, while in New York City promoting his seventh CD for Sony Discos entitled INSTINTO Y DESEO.

The Victor Manuelle story is one that's ripped right out from a storybook. Victor Manuelle was his high school's resident-crazy-diehard-salsa-fan, the one who probably bought one too many Gran Combo, Top Hits, and Fania record. As a result, you can rest assured that whenever, and wherever there was a school salsa jam; you could count on Victor being there. Faith would have it that his high school would hire Gilberto Santa Rosa to play at the school's graduation party. "My schoolmates and others were telling Gilberto about this guy who claims to be a hard core salsero...that he sings...this and that...and next thing you know he asked me to come up on stage." Thinking it was a put up or shut up situation, Victor Manuelle got on stage without thinking or even expecting to become anything, other than to have a good time in his school's graduation party. "Gilberto thought I was going to sing his soneos the way they were on the records, but I started making up stuff on my own. He liked that, and we were trading soneos back and forth. Next thing you know, he's asking me if I sing with anybody right now. I'm thinking Gilberto is asking me questions just to make me feel good. So I tell him no, I'm not singing with anyone other than kiddie groups here in school, this and that. He goes on to ask me if I would be interested in doing some stuff. He took my number, but like I said before, I didn't give it much thought. This happened on a Thursday, and Gilberto called me home on that Saturday."

The call turned out to be Victor's entry into a professional singing career with Andy Montañez's bandleader/timbalero, who at the time was planning to launch his own recording, leading his own group. "Gilberto tells me that his compadre, Don Perigñon, has a project that's all done but is in need of one more singer. So on Gilberto's recommendation, I went to Barceloneta the next day, where Don Perigñon was scheduled to play. At that time he was still playing with Andy Montañez. I get there; Perigñon gives me this tape with songs he asks me to learn. On Tuesday I go to the studio, thinking I'm just going to an audition, but I end up recording and becoming a member of Don Perigñon's band with Manuel Mendez and Luisito Carrion. I explained to Perigñon that I was under the impression I was just auditioning, to which he replied that 'Gilberto said you're the man, and I trust in him. So you're the man!'"

With Don Perigñon as his musical director, Andy Montañez won many awards, including Colombia's Congo De Oro in 1987-88. After exiting Andy Montañez's band to form his own, Don Perigñon with Miguel Mendez and Victor Manuelle on coro, backed many artists, some which included Cheo Feliciano, Tito Allen, Ismael Miranda, and Camilo Azuquita. "A lot of people have those two Perigñon records, and even they fail to see that I'm in them. I mean the star vocalist there was Luisito Carrion! Victor Manuel? Who is he?" On his own and for the next six years, Victor sang and did coro for Pupy Santiago, Rey Ruiz, Domingo Quiñones and the late Mario Ortiz, until 1993 when he debuts as a solo artist for Sony Discos.

Produced by Gilberto Santa Rosa, Victor Manuelle's debut CD for Sony Discos entitled JUSTO A TIEMPO went by totally unnoticed. Except by me. Here in New York, I saw Victor Manuelle's beginnings as a soloist, at the original Les Poulets in lower Manhattan, backed by member of Son Del Solar. A few years later, Victor returns to the new Les Poulets in midtown Manhattan, along with Wichie Camacho, Pupy Santiago, Giro, and Pete "El Conde" Rodriguez, with his own orchestra. A year later Victor faces off, in a respectful and skillful duel, with Oscar D'Leon at S.O.B's. On all occasions, Victor Manuelle managed to live up to his nickname - El Sonero De La Juventud.

El Sonero De La Juventud, as Gilberto christened him on a show hosted by the late Anibal Vazquez, dared to do something on this new record that nowadays is almost taboo within the genre. He decided to keep the dancer in mind. Were there any concerns? "Certainly, those concerns never fully go away, and after having successful recordings with Sergio George and Ramon Sanchez you become more cautious about changing your sound - even a little. My records with Sergio were totally different from what he was doing at the time with India and Marc Anthony. They had that Sergio George New York sound/edge, but they also had me doing my thing with the soneos a la old school. That's what made those records totally different and so likable. We had that modern New York Salsa sound with a conjunto flavor. That's what Ramon Rodriguez in the coros did for us. Fast-forward to the present and what we find is that too many people are doing the same thing, the same sound, the same breaks, the same nasal coro style, the same everything. There are no variants. That's why in this record I opted to work with Jose Lugo, who changed the sound and kept my style. We toned down the nasal coro a bit, and aimed directly at the dancer. As expected many people were asking, 'Why would you want to change your sound? Your sound has brought you a lot of success.' However, in this business, you do not have to always guide yourself with what's commercial. As an artist you need to add something new to your art.

There comes a time in your career as an artist, where you can't just think of being, as we say in the business, pegao' (a hit). You have to start thinking about your next contribution to the genre, whether it's commercial or not. I've been fortunate to have the liberty with Sony Discos to choose the producer, the arrangers, and the songs. Bobby Valentin, Luis "Perico" Ortiz, Marc Quiñonez, Jon Fausty, and many other talented musicians lent their creativity to make this happen for the dancer. It didn't happen overnight. It's just that as time went by, little by little, Sony opted to trust me, and my choices. I am very happy, and very satisfied with the record in all its details, the sound, the lyrics, and the aggressiveness. I find this record to be very dancer friendly, and more fluid with less breaks. I definitely wanted to keep the dancer in mind, and with Lugo's and Bobby's help, I think I captured that seventies salsa feel without losing my style."

A lot is at stake for Victor Manuelle. As a fan, and a collector, INSTINTO Y DESEO, meets and exceeds my expectations. This is the closest thing to a "real" salsa record from Puerto Rico. With the exception of his signature 'ehhhhh' screech, which has been drastically reduced, hard-core salseros will find very few things to not like in INSTINTO Y DESEO. But, how about his incredibly huge female fan base? Will they like the raw musicality of this CD?

"Believe it or not many women, both young and old, that come to see my shows ask me to 'do that thing that I do.' They might not know that it's called improvisation or sonear, but things like that tell me that women know and appreciate the art of the soneo. I don't think they are collectors of music, like men tend to be, but that sort of creates a nice balance. The women come to see me perform the romantic stuff, and the men come to see me, and my band, do the improvised stuff. Some women might buy my music because they like the lyrics. Some men might buy my music because they like the aggressiveness of it. But I'm sure both men and women are listening. The thing with our generation of performers is that many, due to the fear of not being commercial perhaps, have ceased from soneando on records and on stage. I guess I wasn't afraid to sonear, within what's considered salsa romantica. Salsa, that I consider salsa moderna. I've gotten my share of criticism for that, 'oh he claims to be a product of salsa gorda, the seventies, Fania, etcetera, etcetera. The fact is that, while I'm a fan of that era, I'm part of this era - my generation. I am not here to turn the clock backwards. If you look into my huge record collection, you'll find many records by Cheo, Hector, Justo, and all the giants of that era. My duty is to apply what I love from that era into my music, my era, and my generation. And so far, the women who are the packing the clubs to see me seem to like what I do. Maybe due to the romantic lyrics, but I'm certain that there is a core of them that appreciate the improvisational aspect of my show."

Need to be creative, to not be commercial? If you've read any interview with any artist, then you've heard those clichés already. It's sort of like the set up for their escape clause, just in case their record bombs. You'll start reading in the newspapers how the fault for the record's failure lies with the producer. Or that the label didn't promote it, or radio didn't pick it up...blah, blah, blah. 'You shouldn't be creative for the sake of being creative', we've heard this before. "I'm sure many have! But, I think it should be obvious to musicians, arrangers, and producers, that changes in the music cannot, or better yet, should not, be sudden and abrupt ones, I mean you don't want to loose an audience. But changes should still take place while one still has the public's approval. It's all a slow and subtle process of adaptation, that's tweaked and adjusted very slowly. The best example I can think of, that best describes what I'm talking about is Ruben Blades. From his early days with Ray Barretto and Larry Harlow, his records with Willie Colón, on to what became Son Del Solar from Seis Del Solar, to his record with the Panamanian group and Editus, indicate precisely the evolution I'm talking to you about right now. I would love to record a Ruben Blades song. If I'm blessed right now to have the public's approval, they like my music and all that other good stuff, then it is my duty to evolve and offer them something I think they'll approve of. As an artist you have to evolve, otherwise you die."

The staff at Sony, after having shared with everyone in the office the picture of a seventeen year-old Victor, remembered that CNN was waiting in the wings for an interview with the man. Daisy De La Cruz politely opened the conference room doors and gave me a quick "cut" sign. In the midst of rushing, I'm almost yes-ing Victor Manuelle to death, while I'm packing up my stuff, my audio recorder, my digital camera, and my two Don Perigñon records. Records whose credits detail an almost exact chronology, from Andy Montañez on to Don Perigñon, with Salsa Fever and Bobby Valentin, Luisito Carrion, and give birth to Victor Manuelle's career. As you can clearly see, having the recording credits prominently displayed outside the LP helps with the development, marketing, and promotion of an artist. Besides if I'm paying for what today is a CD, I should at least be given the option of making an educated guess, based on reading who played what. I shouldn't have to pray, and hope that a CD is good, just because it was too expensive for the labels to write the credits outside the CD. Because of credits we become curious, and many times by accident, we discover a new talent that's only a few years away from being an artist in his own right. "It's all about cycles. Salsa goes through many cycles. Within those cycles artists come and go. Many go totally unnoticed! And right now the cycle we are witnessing is the one where we as salseros are out to rescue the dancer."