One of the first Puerto Rican composers, vocalists, and bandleaders to achieve success in the United States, Manuel Jimenez, or Canario as he was best known, recorded at a prolific rate between 1914 and 1964. Although he claimed to have written more than 1,000 romantic tunes, he is remembered more for helping to establish the planero as a popular, Afro-Puerto Rican style of tropical song. A native of Orocovis, Puerto Rico, Canario grew up in the town of Manati. After working for numerous sugar-processing companies in Manati, he moved to San Juan to serve an apprenticeship. He ...