# @wmnf885 on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DVHS5iIjUUN
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/70139873-wmnf885-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/863444f986.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-02-23T20:34:23.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** WMNF Community Radio (@wmnf885) — https://gondola.cc/wmnf885

## Caption

🎺 From the South Bronx to legend

On February 21, the world of Latin music lost one of its most important architects. Willie Colón passed away, leaving behind more than songs, he left a way of understanding Salsa: as storytelling, as barrio testimony, as identity, and as social conscience.

For many, he was a legend. For others, a cultural force.
For me, and for an entire generation, he created the record that changed everything.

Caracas, 1978: When It All Began for Me

It was 1978 when my world first opened to the sounds and sights that would shape my tastes forever. Late-’70s Caracas buzzed with energy and possibility, at least to an 8-year-old boy. I remember the warm streets alive with chatter, the scent of mango trees, the roar of my friends playing futbolito and baseball with pelotica de goma in any empty space available in the middle of the urban sprawl. I remember watching “El Matador” Mario Kempes win Argentina its first World Cup on a black-and-white television that seemed to shout with joy as paper confetti filled the screen. Record stores overflowed with vinyl, their covers bursting with color and promise, and the music spilling from them felt like a secret language I was only beginning to understand. Every note, every rhythm, every story whispered that the world was bigger, louder, and more exciting than I had ever imagined.

Caracas had incredible record stores. My brother Bernardo, a teenager at the time, would come home with LPs tucked under his arm from a shop called Maracaibo Imports. One day, he walked in with an album cover showing babies of every color
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Read the full tribute 👇
#WillieColon #SalsaLegend #MusicHistory #WMNF

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## Tags

williecolon, salsalegend, musichistory, wmnf

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