Rafael Cortijo

Who was Rafael Cortijo?

Rafael Cortijo, was a Puerto Rican musician, orchestra leader, and composer.

As a child, Cortijo became interested in Caribbean music and enjoyed the works of some of the era's most successful Plena music musicians. Throughout his life, he had a chance to meet and work with some of them, and learned how to make his own congas and pleneras, the handheld drums used in plena music.

Salsa composer and singer Ismael Rivera met Cortijo when both were youngsters, as they both grew up in the Villa Palmeras neighborhood of Santurce; they became lifelong friends. Rivera was impressed with Cortijo's conga-playing skills and asked him to join his orchestra, which played at Fiestas patronales all over Puerto Rico.

After playing in Rivera's orchestra, Cortijo wanted to have an orchestra of his own, and play the music he first loved: plena. So he left Rivera's orchestra and formed his own, plena-only orchestra, complete with trumpet and saxophone players.

Rafael Cortijo became well known across Latin America. He attributed his success to the sound of his percussion and because, according to Cortijo himself, African music was known worldwide. Cortijo was also a member of the Conjunto Monterrey, based in Monterrey, Mexico.