Vol. 4 (New LP)

Label: Ansonia

"This album was originally released in 1963. Jesús Sánchez Erazo “Chuíto el de Bayamón,” also known as “el decano de los cantores” (the dean of the singers), was born in Bayamón, Puerto Rico in 1900. His mother, Aurora Erazo, died during childbirth, and his father, Ricardo Sánchez, passed away nine years later (Rodríguez León 1979: 56) (1). According to The Cuatro Project, he began working as a wagon driver learning to sing “cadenas” at a young age (2). Of humble origins, Chuíto also worked in the sugarcane fields, in sugar mill facilities and cigar factories thus enduring the exploitation common to the Puerto Rican peasantry (Rodríguez León 1979: 56). Chuíto’s calling for music, however, was always there: he wrote his first song at age twelve (Rodríguez León 1979: 57)."