On June 23, 2009, Jose L. Rivera-Pietri of Ponce, Puerto Rico, the birthplace of Juan Morel Campos, wrote in the Guest Book at AfriClassical.com:
“I am very sorry to inform you that don Juan Morel Campos - the foremost Puertorican musician of the 19th century - was not Afro Caribbean. His father was a prominent notary public of Catalonian (Spanish) ascent and his mother while born in Mexico was also from a Spanish family. Morel Campos was born in a very handsome house right across Union Street from the Cathedral of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe in Ponce's Plaza de las Delicias. In 1857, the year of Morel's birth, only well to do persons could live in such centric and prominent addresses. This was mandated by law. Poor and Afro-Puertorican families were relegated to secondary streets and the outskirts of the city. If don Juan Morel Campos had been Afro-Puertorican this in no way would diminish his historic importance in our National culture. It just happens that he was not.”
We have subsequently reviewed the academic and reference sources which originally supported inclusion of Juan Morel Campos, and have also consulted the Center for Black Music Research, Columbia College Chicago, http://www.colum.edu/cbmr Suzanne Flandreau, its Head Librarian and Archivist, informs us that Juan Morel Campos is not listed in the International Dictionary of Black Composers, edited by Samuel A. Floyd, Jr. and published by the CBMR in 1999, or in other “standard reference sources.” The web page on Juan Morel Campos has been removed from AfriClassical.com. We thank Jose L. Rivera-Pietri for his entry in the Guest Book.
Juan Morel CamposPuerto Rican Composer
Composer of Danzas
Removed from AfriClassical.com
African Heritage
Center for Black Music Research
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