By José Luis Calvete
joselocalvete
Yesty Prieto has been an icon of Uruguayan music for more than half of her life. Today, at 61 years old, he is preparing for a show scheduled for March 14 at the Summer Theater that has already sold out, and that will be a journey through almost four decades in a journey of more than three hours, marked by the successes that span different generations. Thirty-seven years after its creation, Karibe will perform again with K, the most popular musical group in the history of the tropical genre in the country of candombe and tango. And the full one too.
The repertoire is known by almost everyone, and is part of the magic of each reunion between the public and the three vocalists who keep Karibe alive. Guests like Alex Stella and Fata Delgado, who knew how to be part of the group, and others like Chacho Ramos, the main reference of the charanga that predominates in the interior dances, will join the hits that have been echoing on the walls of any nightclub since 1989.
Plus, there will be a surprise guest. “There is one who is reserved and we are not going to say it, but he is up there. If I ask you about three successful musicians from Uruguay, you will surely name him. He is not of the genre,” said Yesty, who promised a longer show than the one in December 2024 in the same place, where Mario Carrero, Anita Valiente and Carlos Malo knew how to take the stage.
The pre-infarction he suffered seven months ago did not prevent Yesty from being part of the event. In fact, a couple of weeks later, “I was already working” with a stent, beyond the surprise and pain of that clogged artery that generated fear among locals and strangers.
The 5,300 tickets that were put on sale were sold out, which increased Karibe’s anxiety. “It surprised the four of us and we have no words to thank the public that still admires, loves and respects us.” “There are four of us: Gerardo Nieto in the choirs, Miguel Ángel Cufos in the locker rooms, I was in charge of public relations, and Fernando Padrón, our manager and partner, was in charge of musicality. We have done a great job together and we are happy,” he acknowledged.
“That time, in December 2024, we did not fill the Summer Theater. Now we decided to do this on our own, because we can, and it was sold out with three weeks left. It’s not easy,” said Yesty, also happy with the confirmation that they will record again after 15 years. “We haven’t chosen the themes yet because we are focused on March 14, very excited and working hard on the next performance,” he explained.
Recording new songs will be the next step. Between 1989 and 1999, they released 28 albums, with a peak of up to four per year, and then they had to wait until 2011 to listen to Classic and Currentwhich was the last one. Sondor, the oldest record label in Uruguay, owns the title Karibe with K and did not want them to record again “because the mystique could be lost.” Between the pressure of Gerardo Nieto, who began to publicly declare that they were not allowed to record, and the negotiating power of Fernando Padrón, it will be a fact in the coming months.
Even though 15 years have passed since their last new song, they are still valid for many generations. “We get messages like ‘my grandmother was dying with you’ and you think: ‘I’m screwed’. I’m 61 years old and I’m the oldest. But it’s like this: the grandmother made her daughter listen to it, and through the daughter the songs reached the granddaughter.
One day we went to take some photos in Plaza Independencia and two boys of 14 and 15 years old arrived with Karibe’s vinyl records and cassettes. That excites me a lot. For my part, I have no words to thank you,” commented Yesty. Flavor Prieto, who provided the voice for “Woman of Life”, “The Cita”, “Without Feelings”, “Affection is Like a Flower” and his favorite: “Fantasma”.
They went through the “new band” stage, then they were the fashionable group, they became the rage orchestra and today they are a classic, something unimaginable by themselves when in 1989, in Yesty’s house in the Lezica neighborhood, the idea of the creator and director responsible: Eduardo Ribero took shape. “One day he came to my house and told me that he was going to put two security guards in black jackets and white shirts, six months after starting. You could already see a change. Within a year we were Karibe with K. We had beaten the female audience because we were three skinny hairy guys and we were hungry,” he said.
They had to go through an admission test to be allowed to work, despite a meeting of directors who tried to boycott them when “it was too late” because in every club they played “it seemed like a tsunami was coming.” The vocalists changed, but what did not change was the popular fury for the group that transformed the genre forever, based on the influences of parodism, romantic salsa and even some Camilo Sesto covers.
“I never found the secret of Karibe’s success with K, even though Eduardo Ribero was an advance, like Óscar Gómez, the musical director. I can assure people that they didn’t give us anything. We broke our backs. On Mondays we rehearsed choirs, on Tuesdays the orchestra, on Wednesdays choreography, on Thursdays general rehearsal and on Fridays we started working. Until we started doing 27 dances between Friday, Saturday and Sunday,” he recalled.
“I have no words of gratitude to the people. I have been lucky enough to sing for 40,000 people like rock does, against which I have nothing and I love it. But that Karibe, turning 37, is still in force and fills a Summer Theater, leaves me speechless. Or maybe it is, one word: gracias“, he said in closing, aware that a love like that of Karibe and her audience should never die.
By José Luis Calvete
joselocalvete
