Yomo Toro, Interview

. . . . . . . . Yomotaro is a Puerto Rican musical sensation. Yomotaro was born in Sanata, Puerto Rico in 1933. He came to stay in Manhattan in 1956. He has been a part of musical history ever since. He's featured with his Crattler guitar on more than 150 albums.

Victor Rodriguez talked to Yomotaro from the studios of KU and M radio in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and had this interview with him. The interview was humorous and informative, a dialogue with one of the modern greats of salsa music. Okay, yomot. Okay, yomot.

Okay, yomot, yomot, yomot. Let's see. We're going to have six strings and the quarter half, five double strings, which means the half ten strings, five double strings. And the definition, the way that you have to tune the quarter is G-D-A-E-B-G-D-A-E. That's the way you have to tune the quarter with the piano, the regular tune.

And the quarter is making with the woods of three of the elementary trees of Puerto Rico. And they have to water well, they have gluuma, they have the piano blanco, they have the uh, they have the uh, they have a lot of ten different ones which are very important to make quarter because of this one. The wood from this tree produce be better, quality of sounds. Supero music, the joyous celebration of the car music which comes from the mountain villages of Puerto Rico, wild, cascading rhythm of mountain guitar, played for the dances, every

fiend this amount. There is nobody which has more heatiness fingers than Yomotaro. The next selection is the title track of his new album, Funky Heave It Roll. Listening to Yomotaro play this selection and understanding the history of this Puerto Rican mountain musical celebration. You can see why Yomotaro is the ultimate Funky Heave It Roll. Hey Yomotaro, who brought the idea for the quarter to the island?

They put four strings and they named it the Quattro. And now they put five total strings to produce one note, you know, but they say it's the name the Quattro. That's very possible. The New York Times, one of America's leading newspapers, had this to say about Yomotaro.

Mr. Toro, a jocular, almost spherical man, balanced the Quattro and his belly, introduced songs alternately in Spanish and English, and cheerfully picked out Quattro lines that move from jock the arpeggios to blisteringly fast runs. His band with its light but unstoppable swing is rooted in the Pachanga and Charanga bands of the early 1960s, replacing the Charanga's flute with the twang of the Quattro. But in Thursday's early set of the material, he breathed from a Puerto Rican planar to a quasi-flaminco solo to a Cuban rumba to a driving New York Pachanga to a galloping to Dominican meringue and his own Caribbean, Mediterranean-hybrid, Mumbo Oriental. The New York Times, the New York Times, the New York Times, and the New York Times.

The New York Times, the New York Times, the New York Times, and the New York Times. The New York Times, the New York Times, the New York Times, and the New York Times. The New York Times, the New York Times, the New York Times, and the New York Times.

The New York Times, New York Times, is the first part of our Beats, the Moldof. program in crue's F gotta turn part of the cab. I see. Very funny. Very funny. Mm-hmm. You have to go to Quattro. For an illegal man. Mm-hmm. You have to go to Quattro from very very shortly. You have to go to Quattro from Paul Fima.

See. You have to go to Quattro from Linda and Rhinsppe. You have to go to Quattro from Barry Cister. You have to go to Quattro in Pemicula, Americana. am Europe, Japan, England, and the Wilmaad Festival presented by Peter Gabriel.

His latest recorded work will be part of the new album by Paul Simon. However Yomotoro travels, he's recognized as the major Caribbean musical stylist. His music has touched many people and influenced many recording artists in the world. This music carries the spirit of Yomotoro. He is a free spirit, walking and playing in the lush, green tropical mountains of Puerto Rico. Nothing but the broad expanse of green on top of green. With the music of Yomotoro's guitar passing through, una plana, a la verde gay. The music of Yomotoro's guitar passing through, una plana, a la verde gay.

The music of Yomotoro's guitar passing through, una plana, a la verde gay. The music of Yomotoro's guitar passing through, una plana, a la verde gay. The music of Yomotoro's guitar passing through, una plana, a la verde gay. The music of Yomotoro's guitar passing through, una plana, a la verde gay.

The music of Yomotoro's guitar passing through, una plana, a la verde gay. The music of Yomotoro's guitar passing through, una plana, a la verde gay. The music of Yomotoro's guitar passing through, una plana, a la verde gay. The music of Yomotoro's guitar passing through, una plana, a la verde gay. The music of Yomotoro's guitar passing through, una plana, a la verde gay.

The music of Yomotoro's guitar passing through, una plana, a la verde gay. The music of Yomotoro's guitar passing through, una plana, a la verde gay. The music of Yomotoro's guitar passing through, una plana, a la verde gay. The music of Yomotoro's guitar passing through, una plana, a la verde gay.

The well-respected music critic at the New York Times, Robert Palmer, had this to say about Yomotoro and his unique guitar style. Small guitars, like the Quattro and the African Trace, have long been important solar instruments and Caribbean music. According to the Latin musicologist Renee Lopez, Cuban string and percussion bands playing in the influential sewn idiom began visiting Puerto Rico as early as the 1920s.

But it was our senior Rodriguez, who almost single-handedly created a modern style for the trace, which has three courses of double strings instead of the Quattro's five. Mr. Toro has absorbed all these influences, plus the African Spanish and Creole folk traditions of his native Puerto Rico. The richness and variety of these sources is at least partly responsible for the depth, range and vitality of Mr. Toro's playing. As heard in this selection called Raging Toro, or as seen through the eyes of Mr. Toro, Raging Bull. This is the same production have got, and of course what we're like on our knees is a production of the

different parts of our Very few guitar players can cover the wide range of guitar styles like

Yomotoro does. Most musicians take an entire record to change guitar styles. Yomotoro changes major guitar styles in alone one selection. This selection, Quattro feeling, is Yomotoro alone with his guitar. Yet, you can hear the rhythms, and in one selection, Yomotoro covers a multitude of guitar styles from flamenco through decimas. Then, Yomotoro states, the future of the Quattro.

The future of the Quattro is forever. He explains in this part of his interview with Victor Rodriguez that he has not only opened the way for the Quattro guitar, but the wide critical acceptance of Yomotoro has opened up a new future for the generation after generation of Quattro guitar players. A member of Quattro, Yomotoro is rank for LA. And, a proud Quattro by Quattro with the back.

My name is Mo Armstrong, and I'd like to thank Victor Rodriguez for a fine interview with Yomotoro, Pablo Teo as engineer and Yomotoro for being the fun-loving, generous, excellent musician who is Yomotoro.