Today my mother and I went to go see the new movie ‘El Cantante’ that stars Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez. The movie is a biopic on the legendary Salsa artist, Hector Lavoe (Marc Anthony). It is told from the point of view of his wife, Puchi (Jennifer Lopez) years after his death. Although I was only about 5 years old when he died (1993), I grew up listening to most of his songs with the Fania (famous New York/Puerto Rican record label) All Stars. So every time during the movie I would hear his songs, I would sing along.

During the making of this movie, there was much controversy and problems between family and friends of Hector. Many things in the movie were left out and a lot of people in Puerto Rico had problems with that. I heard that his family was angry about how they (directors, producers, and writers of the movie) had the focus more on his drug abuse then on his accomplishments during his lifetime. That’s where Puchi, his recently deiced wife, comes in. She wanted the movie to be told from how she saw it, the raw way. What not many people saw behind the closed doors, and I think she did an amazing job!

Both Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez did a remarkable job with this movie and if you are a latino or even a music lover, I highly recommend this movie to you.

What I love most about this whole story is that it adds on to stories I’ve heard since the day I was born. My mother grew up with most of those people in both Puerto Rico and New York. For the Latinos out there who know who Roberto Rohena/Roena is, well, he’s my mother’s cousin and another member of the Fania All Stars. He played with Hector Lavoe and all of those big time Newyoricans! It just gets me so excited to learn more about all of these legendary people and I’m so glad to be apart of it all, even if just a little bit. =)