Grupo Niche’s first album, “Al Pasito” was released in 1980 to lukewarm reviews and radio play. Especially since at the time, the hot band was the spectacular Fruko Y Sus Tesos (a descendant of the awesome Latin Brothers). In 1984 they released their fourth album, “No Hay Quinto Malo” which contained what is now their most well known, salsa-cult-following “Cali Pachanguero”. That’s when Niche really came on the salsa scene.

Since then, this quintessentially “estilo Colombiano” band has released some super smash hits, many of which have become staples in clubs all over Colombia, The United States and the world. As far as I am concerned, you can’t have a dance, or as the Colombians would say “una rumba” without Grupo Niche in your repertoire.

Today’s featured song is “Ana Mile”

GRUPO NICHE FAVORITES:

• Cali Pachanguero
• Ana Mile
• Un Caso Social
• Sin Sentimiento
• Una Aventura
• Buenaventura y Caney
• Bar Y Copas
• Mecanico
• Cali Aji
• Etnia
• Gotas De LLuvia
• Canoa Rancha (Cumbia)
• La Negra No Quiere
• A Preuba de Fuego
• Busca Por Dentro

His sophomore disc ‘Solo Contigo’ cleared any doubt in my mind that this guy was going to be a bona fide star. The first single from this album, ‘Apiadate De Mi’ slowly but surely became a smash hit in the Salsa world. I don’t think that throughout the late 90s and early 2000s, there was ever a dance party where someone who knew their salsa, would not ask me for this song. ‘Solo Contigo’ went on to produce the hits ‘La Escena’, ‘Te Llevo Dentro’ and ‘Voy a Prometerme’.

Before I go on with more of his discography, I thought I’d tell you a little bit about what it was about the Victor Manuelle sound that drew me to his music. Victor is known as “El Sonero de la Juventud”. Aptly called this because of his allure to the younger generation because of his smooth voice, the energy of his music which inevitably causes your hands to make the maraca motion that you see him do in many of his videos, etc. But perhaps, more importantly, the musicality of his songs transcends (or at least it did in his earlier work, in my opinion) the instruments and the voice. His ‘sonero’ ability is remarkable inasmuch as, if you really listen to his work, you will notice a careful attention to the lyrics really filling out the bars of the music. This is a little difficult to express in words, but what I mean is that his lyrics seem to be like musical notes themselves. I am not musically trained, but with almost 20 years of experience in the Latin DJ world, I think I can say that many artists have a lyrical pattern that is noticeably separate from the instrumentation. It’s almost as if the lyrics are an after thought. Being a true sonero, Victor writes lyrics that fit just right… again, as if his voice were one of the instruments (all I can say is imagine listening to a song where random instrument notes were not played.) I digress…

Rather than continue on with a wordy homage to each and every one of Victor Manuelle’s albums, I thought I’d pick a few of what I think are his best songs and let you be the judge. You may just wind up with all his records too. Here are my bangin’ Victor Manuelle smash hits (in random order): But first, check out one Victor’s most popular songs…

VICTOR MANUELLE FAVORITES
1. Que Habria Sido De Mi
2. Apiadate De Mi
3. Instinto y Deseo
4. Tengo Ganas
5. Hay Que Poner El Alma
6. Al Igual Que Yo
7. Llore, Llore
8. Si La Ves
9. Por Ella
10. En Nombre De Los Dos
11. El Tonto Que No Te Olvido
12. Te Propongo
13. Asi Es La Mujer
14. He Tratado
15. No Hace Falta Nada