Rafael Ithier, founder of salsa group El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico, dies at 99 : NPR

Rafael Itier, founder of the legendary salsa group. Great combo of Puerto Ricodied at the age of 99. The pianist, composer and arranger, who was the orchestra's longtime musical director, has spent more than six decades building El Gran Combo into one of the leading salsa establishments in Latin America and beyond.

“Today we say goodbye not only to a great musician, but also to an architect of sound who marked generations,” the statement said. statement posted on the orchestra's social media on Sunday. “A leader whose discipline, vision and love of salsa shaped the history of El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico and Latin music in the world.”

Itier was born in San Juan in 1926 and began playing guitar when he was 10 years old. According to a Puerto Rican non-profit organization Fundación Nacional Para La Cultura Popular, Itier was forced to leave school at 14 in order to financially support his family. But he continued to master new instruments: Cuban threedouble bass and eventually piano, which would become his signature instrument for the rest of his career.

In 1952, Itje was drafted into the US Army and stationed in Korea. In 2016 interview with a newspaper First hourhe remembered how hard he struggled at first there.

“I have to admit that I cried when I was sworn in because I didn’t want to be a soldier,” he told the newspaper. “It was compulsory service. Every time I think about it, I think about how wrong I was. I am eternally grateful because I learned army discipline; I learned to be a man and take orders. This discipline is what I apply to my life and what I base my life on.”

Itier never left music far behind. After his service, he joined a New York group called The Borinkeners The Mambo Kings, named after a separate, all-Hispanic unit of the US Army, later returned to their home island where they began playing with Cortijo y Su Combo. The salsa orchestra, led by percussionist Rafael Cortigio, almost disbanded when the famous soloist Ismael Rivera was arrested for drug possession in 1962. But in its place stood El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico, led by Itier.

As salsa reached its golden age in the 1970s, combining elements of mambo, Afro-Cuban rumba and jazz in New York City studios and clubs, El Gran Combo became the voice of the genre in Puerto Rico. The 1975 song “Un Verano en Nueva York” paid tribute to the thriving Nuyorican diaspora on the mainland (and was given a second life in Bad Bunny2025 hit “NUEVAYOL”). About the 1979 classic “Witchcraft”, a booming horn section merges with the rhythmic texture of congas and timbales as vocalist Charlie Aponte cheekily accuses his lover of using witchcraft on him.

For decades, El Combo served as an informal training ground for dozens of salsa musicians, leading to the nickname “El Combo”.salsa university(Salsa University), which was also the name of the 1983 album. But even as the band's line-up changed, Itier remained its faithful leader, recording dozens of albums and performing on stages around the world. In 2015 El Gran Combo received Excellence Award at the Latin Grammys.

Following news of Itier's death, musicians, collaborators and politicians took to social media to express their condolences. “Itier leaves behind an everlasting legacy in salsa.” wrote Latin Recording Academy. “Thank you, maestro, for a life dedicated to music.”