Roberto Roena

Roberto Roena
El Gran Bailarín
Born	(1938-01-30) January 30, 1938 (age 79) Mayagüez, Puerto Rico

Roberto Roena (born January 30, 1938 in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico) is a salsa music percussionist, orchestra leader, and dancer. Roena was one of the original members of El Gran Combo. He later became the leader of his own band, "Roberto Roena y Su Apollo Sound", arguably one of the best Latin salsa bands in Puerto Rico. Roena has also been a long-time member of the Fania All Stars, a salsa supergroup that has enjoyed worldwide success since the 1970s.

Born in the Dulces Labios neighborhood of Mayagüez, Roena took his first steps in the art of dance by staging dance routines with his brother Cuqui at his hometown. When Roberto was nine years old, his family settled in Santurce, where the brothers continued to refine their mambo and cha-cha-chá routines, delighting their public in talent contests. This led to their contract of weekly performances on the television program “La Taberna India” on WKAQ-TV. During the broadcasts, percussionist Rafael Cortijo saw Roena in action. Roena, aside from being a dancer, was a talented at playing percussion Conga drum. Raphal Cortijo took him under his wing and though him how to play Bongos later to become the bongo player for his band. He also Played occasional baseball.

When Roberto was 16 years old, Cortijo was in need of a bongo player for a group that he was forming. Visualizing a bongo player that could dance and play the cowbell at the same time, Cortijo recruited Roberto to join his new band, and personally taught Roberto how to play both instruments. The group's name derived from the name of an existing band named "El Combo" in which many of the original band members had been involved. For seven years, Roena was part of Cortijo’s group and his Combo, with Ismael Rivera as vocalist. With that lineup, they toured the major stages of the United States, Europe, and South America. It is worth noting that "Cortijo y Su Combo", mostly made up of black musicians (of Puerto Rican descent), was the first of its kind to succeed in gaining access to the stages where only white artists were performing, within and outside of Puerto Rico.