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Speaker 1: While playing with my son blows me away. I never

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Speaker 1: thought I would have members of my family be musicians.

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Speaker 1: You know, it's like every parent, you know, you never

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Speaker 1: want your kids to do what you do because you

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Speaker 1: think they can do better. But my son plays the

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Speaker 1: drums and my youngest son is a heck of a

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Speaker 1: bass player. So God said, I'm going to give you

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Speaker 1: two children who are musicians. And I used to have

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Speaker 1: a band with them called two Kids and a Blind Guy.

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Speaker 2: From Futuro Media, It's Latino USA. I'm Maria ino Josa today.

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Speaker 2: A portrait of Jose Feliciano. When I first met Jose Feliciano,

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Speaker 2: it was the year nineteen eighty six. It was a

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Speaker 2: concert of his in southern California and I was doing

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Speaker 2: my first ever interview with him.

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Speaker 1: Now.

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Speaker 2: At that time, Jose Feliciano was one of the most

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Speaker 2: famous Latinos that I had ever met, and what I

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Speaker 2: remember the most was that he wasn't afraid to be himself.

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Speaker 2: He was eccentric and a true Bohemian artist that was

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Speaker 2: truly one incredible guitarist.

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Speaker 1: We couldn't get my child my file. I'man Darlin lied

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Speaker 1: my file.

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Speaker 2: I have said that not a file, and that air

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Speaker 2: of confidence translates musically to everything Jose touches. And if

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Speaker 2: this is the first time you've heard of Josse Feliciano

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Speaker 2: and you're not sure you know him, well, listen to

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Speaker 2: this Fairleiz.

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Speaker 3: Navid Fairley's Navid felis Navidso.

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Speaker 2: That's Hosse Feliciano's mega nineteen seventy Christmas hit, Felis Navidad,

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Speaker 2: one of the all time most famous Christmas songs in

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Speaker 2: the world. But with a career that spans almost six decades,

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Speaker 2: jsays major milestones have come from him putting his own

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Speaker 2: personal stamp, a mix of soul, folk, Latin and blues,

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Speaker 2: unwell known songs, whether that's boleros of the past, Ye.

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Speaker 4: La caseld sing sing yeng Naus.

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Speaker 2: Or classic rock songs.

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Speaker 4: O caa Funian Framement, Man Sachio.

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Speaker 2: And and even this star Spangled banner. Here's his iconic

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Speaker 2: performance from a World Series game in nineteen sixty eight.

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Speaker 5: And a.

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Speaker 2: Bread That may sound like an average gain day performance,

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Speaker 2: but it was a risk that then twenty three year

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Speaker 2: old Jose took during the height of the Vietnam War

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Speaker 2: with his soulful rendition, Josse opened the door for other

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Speaker 2: artists to perform the national anthem in their own unique ways.

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Speaker 2: Josse was born in nineteen forty five in Lattice, Puerto Rico,

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Speaker 2: and has been blind since birth. He was five years

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Speaker 2: old when he and his family migrated to Spanish Harlem,

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Speaker 2: and it was in New York City where he developed

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Speaker 2: his love for music and crafted his skills on the guitar.

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Speaker 2: In the nineteen sixties, Jose went on to become an

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Speaker 2: international sensation, especially in Latin America, and since then he's

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Speaker 2: performed on fame stages around the world. He's recorded over

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Speaker 2: sixty albums and has won multiple Grammy Awards. Josse Feliciano,

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Speaker 2: now in his seventies, join me in the studio to

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Speaker 2: talk about how humor is one way he has of

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Speaker 2: coping about his almost sixty year career, and to talk

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Speaker 2: about one of his favorite relationships, the one he has

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Speaker 2: with his guitar. I'm wondering, Josse, when was the first

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Speaker 2: time that you remember hearing the sound of the guitar

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Speaker 2: and was it an instant Was it.

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Speaker 1: Just like, yes, it was you hit the nail on

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Speaker 1: the head.

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Speaker 6: How did you know.

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Speaker 1: Did you live with me? Wait?

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Speaker 2: Have you always?

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Speaker 3: What? Are you?

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Speaker 2: Just like? You just like telling jokes all the time?

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Speaker 2: Is that it?

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Speaker 1: Well, I'm sorry to say that has been my way

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Speaker 1: of accepting the fact that I was blind, that I

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Speaker 1: wasn't normal or what at least people around me thought

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Speaker 1: normal should be. Because in a Latin family, if you

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Speaker 1: have some kind of disability, they start thinking, Oh my god,

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Speaker 1: what's gonna happen, which happened to me. I remember hearing

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Speaker 1: my parents discussing my future. Oh poor jose what are

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Speaker 1: we gonna do about him? He can't see, he's blind?

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Speaker 1: And I heard that, and I made up my mind

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Speaker 1: right then and there that I was gonna be different.

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Speaker 1: When I was nine and I heard the guitar, I

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Speaker 1: fell in love.

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Speaker 4: It was like.

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Speaker 1: It was like the most beautiful woman had come into

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Speaker 1: my life. I had no teachers because I had no money.

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Speaker 1: So I went to a place called the Lighthouse for

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Speaker 1: the Blind in New York, and that's where I studied

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Speaker 1: classical guitar. Was a great teacher by the name of

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Speaker 1: Harold Morris. And Harold Morris was wonderful because not only

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Speaker 1: did he play classical guitar, but he also played a

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Speaker 1: little jazz and things like that, and we had great

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Speaker 1: times together.

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Speaker 2: So did this sound of the guitar, did the feeling

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Speaker 2: of the guitar? Did it feel like it would be

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Speaker 2: something that would bring you, I mean, calm, peace, liberation.

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Speaker 1: I would say, calm, ease, liberation, and happiness. It wasn't

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Speaker 1: that I was trying to use my guitar as a crutch.

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Speaker 1: I just loved it. And then I thought to myself,

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Speaker 1: here is something you can do, Jose, that nobody else

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Speaker 1: around you can do, even my brothers. But you know,

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Speaker 1: I practiced when I'd come home from school. The guitar

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Speaker 1: was my interest.

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Speaker 2: Let me ask you about when you're now a musician,

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Speaker 2: you know, and you're doing like, for example, the cover

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Speaker 2: of Flight of the Bumblebee or La Malaginya, and this

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Speaker 2: is when it's like, yeah, you become one with your guitar.

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Speaker 2: What does that feel like? Jose?

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Speaker 1: Well, when I played in the village, a lot of

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Speaker 1: the guitar players that were playing there I call strummers

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Speaker 1: because they only bothered to learn enough to get around

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Speaker 1: in the folk world and they didn't learn the rest

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Speaker 1: of things on their guitar. So for me, when I

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Speaker 1: played Maragenya. I did it with a certain amount of

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Speaker 1: vengeance because I thought to my son, I'm going to

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Speaker 1: play something that none of you can play.

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Speaker 2: So Jose, You've always had this really beautiful knack for

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Speaker 2: taking a song and completely making it into your own.

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Speaker 2: You look for a genre that your parents listen to,

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Speaker 2: for example, boleros. Yes, you hooked it up with blue

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Speaker 2: use and folk. Oh my god, la copota.

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Speaker 4: Yes.

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Speaker 2: I was like, oh my god, memoir roki, I'm done

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Speaker 2: a tour.

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Speaker 4: Dis severi la cantina a jazz in fit.

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Speaker 2: This notion of like kind of taking boleros and making

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Speaker 2: it your music. Why did you want to do it

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Speaker 2: with laparota? Is the pa fe.

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Speaker 1: What I have to say might be too long for you.

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Speaker 2: Okay, well then give us a short version.

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Speaker 1: But I'm gonna try.

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Speaker 4: Oh no, no, mordolo guestrosolvino gel la cantino a.

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Speaker 1: When I left home, I was only eighteen, and so

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Speaker 1: I wanted to record a Spanish album that my parents

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Speaker 1: would be proud of. Well I did. My first album

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Speaker 1: was Sombras Unavo's Unagitara. Dad introduced me to Argentinian music,

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Speaker 1: which in the fifties, the tango was very popular. I

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Speaker 1: even recorded one of the tangos that Carlos Gardel made famous, which.

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Speaker 6: Was La.

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Speaker 1: La, and Carlos was the Elvis Presley of Argentina. So

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Speaker 1: I recorded my first Spanish album with my folks in mind,

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Speaker 1: and when they released it in Argentina, the album took off.

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Speaker 1: It was like Beatlemania, and you don't know what I

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Speaker 1: went through as a blind person trying to run into

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Speaker 1: a limousine. It was wonderful and funny at the same time.

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Speaker 2: Coming up on Latino USA, my conversation with Jo continues.

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Speaker 2: Stay with us, Hey, we're back, And when we left off,

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Speaker 2: Jose Feliciano told us about his rise to fame in

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Speaker 2: Latin America. Now we're going to jump right into another

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Speaker 2: one of his famous covers. There's another cover that did

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Speaker 2: huge as well, the Star Spangled Banner. This was nineteen

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Speaker 2: sixty eight.

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Speaker 6: Please please ride and join in the singing of our

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Speaker 6: national anthem, which will be played by Merle Albe's ban

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Speaker 6: and we'll be sung by Jose Feliciano.

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Speaker 2: It's Game five the World Series in Detroit, and you

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Speaker 2: begin to strum an acoustic guitar and sing.

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Speaker 7: Oh Carus by the God.

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Speaker 2: And then it becomes this huge controversy because you were

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Speaker 2: taking this star spangled banner and you know, saying it's music.

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Speaker 2: I'm gonna play it my way. So take us back

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Speaker 2: to that moment in.

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Speaker 1: The star Spangled banner. I decided not to have the

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Speaker 1: band that they usually have accompany me, and the fellow

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Speaker 1: who invited me, Ernie Harwell, didn't even know what I

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Speaker 1: was going to do. So when I got introduced, I

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Speaker 1: went into it and I had long hair. Then I

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Speaker 1: wore glasses, and I played the guitar, which the guitar

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Speaker 1: was only appreciated in folk music, not in just regular music.

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Speaker 2: The rock.

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Speaker 6: Well going.

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Speaker 7: Revery gay, crude, rude, nast that are plant was fire.

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Speaker 1: I remember that I had worked on a different version

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Speaker 1: of it, and then I decided, Jose, you have to

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Speaker 1: tone it down.

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Speaker 2: And I did all the land and on the bree.

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Speaker 1: And I decided to do it in a soulful gospel.

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Speaker 1: And of course at that time in sixty eight, people

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Speaker 1: were tired of things that were going on, and I

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Speaker 1: got swept along with that, and I remembered being told

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Speaker 1: that people through shoes and things at their television sets,

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Speaker 1: including the war veterans. They weren't too happy, and as

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Speaker 1: soon as that happened, radio stations stopped playing my records.

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Speaker 2: What's kind of incredible is that you actually, in September

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Speaker 2: of twenty eighteen, the Detroit Tigers invite you to come

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Speaker 2: back to the field and perform the national anthem.

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Speaker 5: Fifty years later, his performance stands out as one of

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Speaker 5: the most memorable anthems in the history of sports. Initially

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Speaker 5: met with some criticism, the performance of the Star Spangled

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Speaker 5: banner on that day is now recognized as helping pave

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Speaker 5: the way for future performers to express their patriotism with

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Speaker 5: their own artistic flair. Ladies and gentlemen, here to perform

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Speaker 5: our national anthem, Please welcome, jose Feliciano.

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Speaker 2: Is time instead of the jeers, you were met with cheers.

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Speaker 1: I was and I almost cried because what a turnaround,

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Speaker 1: you know, Oh say, can you see.

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Speaker 2: By what a turnaround? And you end up donating that

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Speaker 2: guitar that you used in nineteen six money.

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Speaker 1: I said, I don't need this guitar anymore. It's nice

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Speaker 1: to be in a museum. Not that I wanted to

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Speaker 1: be a relic, although I enjoy mustard with relic.

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Speaker 2: You need to stop, all right, So Jose your latest

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Speaker 2: album titled Behind This Guitar. I was able to listen

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Speaker 2: to your new album, and then I was able to

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Speaker 2: listen to your version of Fleetwood Mac and the Chain,

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Speaker 2: and I was screaming, oh, I love it so much.

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Speaker 1: Well, thank you, Darling. I happen to be a huge

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Speaker 1: Fleetwood Mac fan. I love Christine McVeigh, I love Stevie Nicks.

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Speaker 1: I think she is super talented. I think Lindsey Bookingham

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Speaker 1: is a great guitarist, and so why not cover something

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Speaker 1: that you love and have? You don't love me now?

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Speaker 1: You never love me again?

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Speaker 3: Hag still hear you say you would never break the jay.

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Speaker 2: Thank you for keeping the nineteen seventies and eighties so

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Speaker 2: alive for everybody else. Also, o'se well, thank you.

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Speaker 1: You know I'm keeping me alive for me because you know,

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Speaker 1: one of the great things that happened, which I want

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Speaker 1: to mention during the Star Spangled Banner, The best thing

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Speaker 1: that ever happened was when I met my wife, Susan.

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Speaker 1: She started my fan club, and you know, we love

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Speaker 1: each other. I love her to death. I don't think

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Speaker 1: I could have done any better.

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Speaker 3: I love the towns, I love the crowd, love the

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Speaker 3: way my life turned out the way it has.

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Speaker 2: I want to say that I heard the title track

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Speaker 2: to the album Behind this Guitar, Yes, and it really

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Speaker 2: brings everything full circle. The name of the song, the lyrics.

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Speaker 1: You know, it's all true. Rick Gerard was the culprit

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Speaker 1: who had me do this song. He heard it three

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Speaker 1: years ago or more, and he talked to the writers

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Speaker 1: and he said, listen, would you let me keep the

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Speaker 1: song because I intend to have an artist recorded. And

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Speaker 1: it was me he was thinking of.

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Speaker 3: Behind this guitar, just the boy who had it ebing.

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Speaker 1: Is harm.

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Speaker 7: Behind this guitar, just a guy. Didn't believe I'd kid

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Speaker 7: this farm.

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Speaker 1: And I cried when I was singing the lyrics, because

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Speaker 1: it's true. I used to sit up on my twin

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Speaker 1: bed at night and practice chords. I was always interested

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Speaker 1: in learning something new.

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Speaker 7: Sitting on the edge of my twin bed weak until

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Speaker 7: my fingers played and it got in mind blow and

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Speaker 7: my mother would come into the bedroom and find me

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Speaker 7: sleeping with my guitar in my arms.

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Speaker 1: So all this is true, and it hit home.

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Speaker 3: From the age of nine till right here tonight.

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Speaker 1: You might say I pretty.

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Speaker 6: Much grew up behind disco, behind his guitar, just a

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Speaker 6: boy who had a dream in his hall, behind pistons.

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Speaker 7: Are just a guy who didn't believe I'd get this smart.

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Speaker 2: As I was reading and thinking about our interview, I

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Speaker 2: realized that you know, in media hoo, San Juan, which

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Speaker 2: is like, oh my god, it's like the you know,

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Speaker 2: ode to Puerto Rico, Puerto Ricans, the island memories. You

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Speaker 2: have performed this song for decades, and then you performed

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Speaker 2: this song on the Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon Erund

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Speaker 2: and you brought the Internet to tears.

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Speaker 8: I will stam get it a sand tramish and mean,

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Speaker 8: San Juan.

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Speaker 2: You re released this song last year in order to

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Speaker 2: raise money for charity. You know, as you think about

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Speaker 2: Puerto Rico, your island that has gone through so much,

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Speaker 2: how do you still after playing it? So? I mean,

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Speaker 2: do you still just get back to that? Oh my god,

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Speaker 2: I wish I was back on the island.

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Speaker 1: It makes me cry when I say it. I feel

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Speaker 1: what the writer felt. My goal in my life is that,

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Speaker 1: let's say, I hope it doesn't happen I hope I

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Speaker 1: am with my wife forever. But let's say the day

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Speaker 1: that my wife leaves this earth, I want to go

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Speaker 1: live the rest of my life in Puerto Rico, so

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Speaker 1: I don't die. Oh, let's say in Connecticut. I want

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Speaker 1: to die where I was born, and I don't want

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Speaker 1: to do it right now as long as my wife

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Speaker 1: is still alive. So you better stay living a long time, Susan.

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Speaker 1: I want to go back to Puerto Rico. That's my home,

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Speaker 1: and I hate winter to begin.

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Speaker 2: With Jose Feliciano, thank you for joining me on Latino USA.

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Speaker 2: We so appreciate all of your work.

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Speaker 1: Thank you for having me.

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Speaker 2: Jose Feliciano is a Grammy Award winning artist from Puerto Rico.

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Speaker 2: His latest album, Behind This Guitar is currently available for

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Speaker 2: streaming and Dear listeners, we have such a special treat

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Speaker 2: for you now. After our interview, Jose played a live

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Speaker 2: acoustic cover of a song that's dear to his heart.

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Speaker 2: So here's a special treat from our Live from Latino

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Speaker 2: USA series. We leave you with Jose Feliciano performing Embia Hossan, Juan.

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Speaker 3: Emivie Hossan, Juan Quanto and Misano's De Fancia, Mi Primer, Lusium,

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Speaker 3: ms quit Asamour songdos.

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Speaker 1: De lal Ma.

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Speaker 3: Aci Extanjanassium Bus, Lucky Soldesty, no Perro, Mikurassum, second old Friend,

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Speaker 3: Willmar and Me die Usan Guanga, Avo, Boikiza.

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Speaker 1: Ave your.

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Speaker 3: Me, your Son, Maga Mavo, Verundia boy, many Asugnaro, Travis Ojama,

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Speaker 3: Who's Karami Career? And mebe O San Juan.

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Speaker 2: To view the rest of Jose's from Latino USA performance,

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Speaker 2: visit our website Latino USA dot org. This episode was

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Speaker 2: produced by Janie Jamoca and edited by Sophia Palisaka. The

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Speaker 2: Latino USA team includes Miel Masias, Andrea Lopez, Grusado, Juieta Martinelli,

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Speaker 2: Alisa Escarce, Gini Montalbo, Alejandra salasad Renaldo Leanos Junior and

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Speaker 2: Julia Rocha, with help from Marta Martinez, Andre Uperees. Our

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Speaker 2: engineers are steffanie Lebou, Julia Caruso and Liah Shaw, with

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Speaker 2: help from Alisioba YouTube and Gabriela Baez. Our digital editor

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Speaker 2: is Louis Luna. Our interns are Samantha Friedman and Carl Rubin.

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Speaker 2: Our theme music was composed by Saniel ro Reinos. If

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Speaker 2: you like the music you heard on this episode, stop

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Speaker 2: by Latino Usa dot org and check out our weekly

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Speaker 2: Spotify playlist. I'm your host and executive producer Maria no Josa.

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Speaker 2: Join us again on our next episode. In the meantime,

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Speaker 2: I'll see you on all of our social media. Hi

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Speaker 2: los BeO astella proxima Jao.

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Speaker 9: Latino USA is made possible in part by the John D.

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Speaker 9: And Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the wind Coat Foundation, and

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Speaker 9: the Ford Foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines

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Speaker 9: of social change worldwide.

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Speaker 1: Baby coll Lobbyza Aun dul Kaduo, Oh my God.

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Speaker 2: I feel like I'm like, I'm like, oh my god.

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Speaker 2: Hosa Feliciano is like serenading me and my studio. Well,

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Speaker 2: I am is good.

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Speaker 1: I'm a ticket.

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Speaker 2: I'm Mariaojosa. Next time on Latino USA, La based poet

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Speaker 2: Jessica Salgado writes a lot about love, lust and her body.

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Speaker 2: We'll talk with her about her favorite sexy fruits and situationships.

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Speaker 9: And I'm like, if after this he doesn't want to

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Speaker 9: marry me, or at least he go like, there's nothing if.

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Speaker 2: I can do. That's next time I'm not. You know,

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Speaker 2: USA M