Early 20th-Century Music and W.G. International Records
When discussing the Puerto Rican diaspora in Hoboken at public events, several people mentioned that music was very important in the city-at gigs or concerts around town, but also because Hoboken was the base for several Puerto Rican musicians who commuted to New York City in the last half of the 20th century.
Robert Eric Siebert wrote about the importance of salsa in Newark, New Jersey and briefly touched on the Puerto Rican population in Hudson County in his 2010 dissertation. As noted, he was principally concerned with Newark, but began his dissertation, “Salsa is a musical form integrated into the fabric of Puerto Rican communities throughout the NY-NJ areas and beyond…Music is a significant feature of Puerto Rican and Latin American communities and a marker of their ethnicity nearly as strong as the Spanish language” (Siebert 2010: iv).
We were fortunate to meet salsa enthusiast and record label co-owner, Deliz Gonzales during our outreach events. We met Deliz when we played ethnographic music from Puerto Rico, coupled with more modern tracks to senior citizens. We asked the seniors if they’d heard the older songs or if they liked them. The seniors were unenthusiastic about the ethnographic music, but receptive to the modern tracks.
The older tracks we played (and that you can play by clicking on them) were:
We learned that Deliz worked in the music industry. We asked if she worked for Fania. She didn’t work for Fania but worked alongside the Fania All-Stars. Her interview (here) touches on her life in the music industry and moving around Hudson County. She lived in Hoboken as a little girl and started out by liking doo-wop and rock and roll but came to like salsa. She operated a record label, W.G. International Records with her (now ex) husband William “Willie” Gonzalez, between 1987 and 1991.
W.G. International Records was operated out of West New York, a very small town approximately 3 miles northeast of Hoboken. Musicians who recorded for W.G. liked working with Deliz because she cooked for them when they were recording at Skylight Recording Studios. W.G. released many releases during its time of operation, those that are findable online include three LPs, one 12" and one 7", by Glen Vargas and Los Hermanos Moreno. Sadly, its back stock was likely thrown away towards the end of its run. We were able to acquire two of the releases W.G. issued and they are shown to the left.
During the 2000s, the Puerto Rican Cultural Committee held several events that featured musicians and their flyers and program schedules give you a cursory view of the musicians performing in Hoboken during that period.