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Miranda, Ismael - Salsa

Singer and salsa pioneer, Ismael Miranda was born in Aguada, Puerto Rico. He is often included in that select group of early salsa artists that performed what we now refer to as salsa vieja, or "old salsa".

By age 11, Miranda had formed various musical bands, demonstrating his great interest in music. Among these were the "Sexteto Pipo y su Combo" and "Andy Harlow y su Sexteto", where he sang and played congas. His debut recording was as a teenager in 1967 on "Let's Ball" with Joey Pastrana. His first hit song, "Rumbón melón" was from that album.

Andy's brother, Larry Harlow recruited Miranda into his orchestra and they recorded several albums together, beginning with "El Exigente". Harlow liked what he heard and the next year (1968) recorded "Orquesta Harlow presenta a Ismael Miranda", acheiving great success featuring Miranda. That led to a series of similarly successful recordings including "Electric Tribute to Arsenio Rodríguez", "Harlow"s Harem", Abran paso and Oportunidad.

Miranda's experience with Harlow and his orchestra also afforded him the opportunity to try his hand at sonwriting. He composed several songs with Harlow, including "La revolución", "Guasasa", "Arsenio", "El malecón" and "Lamento cubano".

Miranda joined the Fania All Stars when he was only 19 years old, the youngest of any member, earning himself the title of "El Niño Bonito de la Salsa" or, "the pretty boy of salsa". These were the early, heady days of salsa and Miranda's debut album with his own orchestra, Orquesta Revelación, on the Fania label, could not have been better timed. The album was Así se compone un son, released 1973, with the title track a smash hit in Latin America, the United States and Europe, among other great songs. The next year saw the release of En Fa Menor, again with the title track  En Fa Menor among other hits.

The hits continued for Miranda, with songs like "Borinquen tiene montuno", "La cama vacía", "La copa rota", "Como mi pueblo" and "Las cuarentas"; all widely played on the airwaves. His compositions also met with success with songs like "Señor sereno", "Abren paso", "Lupe, Lupe" and "Pa' Bravo Yo", made famous by the Cuban salsero, Justo Betancourt.

The 1980's saw Miranda record for his own independent label, including the highly successful "Versos de nuestra cultura" in 1986. Miranda was joined on that album of Christmas music by Puerto Rican singer and songwriter, Jose Nogueras, a popular singer that has recorded many such albums.

In the next decade, Miranda prematurely announced his retirement from music and then went on to record three highly popular albums with Andy Montrañez, featuring classic bolero tunes.

Over the course of his great career, Miranda has recorded more than 20 albums and performed with such noted artists as Nicky Marrero, Hector "Bomberito" Zarzuela, Renaldo Jorge, Ismael Quintana, Willie Colón, Ray Barretto, and Luis 'Perico' Ortiz.

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