Danilo Cajiao was born on February 9, 1969 in Cali Colombia son of Marina Munevar and Antonio Cajiao family with three siblings Walter, Patricia and Raul.

From my father I inherited the musical taste for Afro Antillean rhythms, we listened at home to the Sonora Matancera, Benny More, Arsenio, Daniel Santos and many more.

There was always a taste for good music: the tangos and ballads of the 50s and 60s.

When I was a student I participated in several music festivals at school and I was part of several dance and Andean music groups.

I always liked salsa and my favorite artist of the genre will always be Angel Canales.

After the appearance of the program “YO ME LLAMO” in Colombia I was motivated to start the process to achieve the perfect imitation of Angel Canales.

I began my presentations in small salsa bars with a dance floor and I did about 4 songs of Diferente, as I went along the character was being perfected and the public and the owners of the bars were asking for something more.

I then created “the Orchestra SON DE LA 8″ in 2013 with the purpose of making the accompaniment and mount all the music of the different Angel Canales.

The market was opening and the support of the salseros was very large, We have had much acceptance in the salsero environment in Colombia.

Participating in major events locally, nationally and internationally:

Leyendas Vivas De la Salsa in Medellin Colombia,

Salsa al Parque Cali, Salsa al Parque Bogotá, Homenaje a la Salsa, Tributo a los salseros and Noche Blanca.

I have alternated and shared stages with several national and international artists and orchestras.

Orquesta Brodway, Orquesta Colon, Nelson y sus Estrellas, Gran Combo de Puerto Rico, Henry Fiol, Adalberto Santiago, Luisito Carrión, Papo Cocote, Cano Estremera, Moncho Santana, Orquesta Zodiac, Luigui Texidor, Frankie Vásquez, Tony Molina, Orlando Marín, Orquesta la Inmensidad and Orquesta la 33.

International presentations:  

Guayaquil Ecuador and Caracas Venezuela.

Endorsed and supported by the family of ANGEL CANALES and by him I have taken my tribute to the most recognized places and salsa clubs in Colombia.

Apart from accompanying the Diferente Angel Canales with the orchestra Son de la 8 we have made our own music always keeping the line of heavy salsa and with good taste.

Angel Luis Canales “El Diferente”.

There were nine record productions by Angel Canales between 1975 and 1987, twelve productive years.

By 1970 Angel Luis Canales had put his voice on an album by African-American pianist Mark Dimond, and five years later Dimond’s orchestra was renamed “Angel Canales y Sabor”.

The immense musical freedom of Ángel Luis Canales Canales has much to do with the determining influence exerted on him by Rafael Cortijo, Ismael Rivera and the irreverence of the Combo de Cortijo as a whole.

The difference was that those two masons did not have enough money to support their ideas economically (discographically speaking) while Canales had enough because of the money he earned from his profession as a jeweler and diamond cutter.

That’s why he didn’t lower his head to anyone, that’s why he didn’t give in to any advantageous record contracts and made his own record label, that’s why he never paid or bribed radio producers, and he dressed the way he wanted.

That’s why the conservative salseros kept a CIA-like eye on him. And Canales revolutionized everything in his path: from his clothing to his vocal and orchestral arrangements, his presentations and his choice of repertoire.

By 1970 Angel Luis Canales had put his voice on a record by the Afro-American pianist Mark Dimond, and five years later Dimond’s orchestra was renamed “Angel Canales y Sabor”, and with it he would make a mark like few others in the world of salsa, from his total independence, to the freedom for the musicians, his revolutionary shaved head, and a wardrobe that had nothing to do with the salseros, in addition to his voice, repertoire and arrangements. Ángel Canales recorded in 1979 the album “El sentimiento del latino en Nueva York”, and an exquisite version of “Dos Gardenias”, by Cuban composer Isolina Carrillo.

“El sentimiento del latino en Nueva York” was a clarinada similar to “Imágenes Latinas”, the song by Argentine Bernardo Palombo presented a year earlier by Conjunto Libre, in terms of its contents of denunciation and clamor for justice. “Es el sonido que el americano oye/ y no entiende” (It’s the sound that the American hears/ and doesn’t understand).

Musical childhood

Ángel Luis Canales was born on June 29, 1950 in Santurce, Puerto Rico, son of Ángel Luis Canales and Ana Ilda Canales.

At the age of 8 he was already in New York with his parents, who liked to listen to romantic music and also to Cortijo y su Combo.

The Puerto Rican country song was also among his favorites; it was the jíbara song of his people. In time Canales would indicate that Cortijo and Ismael were determining influences in his musical and social journey.

Much has been said that his current retirement is due to Parkinson’s disease, but Ángel Luis Canales is there, he attends private invitations of his friends and remains in the battle line of salsa and life. He is currently 73 years old.

In those years and in school he was more inclined to practical workshops than books and that is why he went to work, recommended by one of his teachers in a jewelry store where from being a messenger he would learn all the secrets of the art of cutting, polishing and mounting diamonds. He became a professional, solvent, and with an extraordinary clinical eye that would serve him a lot later.

Vista larga, his new friends did not speak Spanish, his native language, but fortunately Angel Luis had peers of his generation, and Latinos like the Lebron brothers and Willie Colon himself.

He also took a long view of his internship in the U.S. Army and later assimilated the new trends that emerged in the music being made in New York.

He started out firmly, as we have already mentioned, with pianist Mark Dimond (Markolino), who had been linked to Willie Colón. With Mark he added his voice to some of the songs on the album “Brujería” and later, with the departure of the pianist, the orchestra was renamed “Ángel Canales y Sabor”.

With this band he would record “Sabor” in 1975 and other albums until “El Sentimiento del latino en Nueva York” in 1979.

Two years before the recording of this album, in 1977 Angel Canales made his first visit to a Latin American country, Panama, and the reception he received was such that he would later write a song dedicated to that country.

The same happened during his visit to Venezuela on November 13 and 14, 1981, which became a musical commotion of great proportions at the Poliedro de Caracas.

Likewise in Colombia and Peru he felt the devotion of the public of those nations. Perhaps he did not know the scope of his work and the projection he already had.

Much has been said that his current retirement is due to Parkinson’s disease, but Angel Luis Canales is there, he attends private invitations of his friends and remains in the battle line of salsa and life. He is currently 73 years old.

Source: TeleSurTv

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