{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox album | name = Funky Jibaro | type = studio | artist = Yomo Toro | cover = Funky Jibaro.jpg | alt = | released = 1988 | recorded = | venue = | studio = | genre = | length = | label = Antilles/Island<ref>{{cite news |last1=Holden |first1=Stephen |title=The Pop Life |work=The New York Times |date=11 May 1988 |page=C23}}</ref> | producer = Robert Musso | prev_title = | prev_year = | next_title = Gracias | next_year = 1990 }} '''''Funky Jibaro''''' is an album by the Puerto Rican musician Yomo Toro.<ref>{{cite news |title=Yomo Toro Puerto Rico Folk with a Pop Pulse at Baird |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1990/08/13/yomo-toro-puerto-rico-folk-with-a-pop-pulse-at-baird/12b21c30-8eda-4722-9abe-4ae5739e00d2/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=17 May 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Smith |first1=Will |title=Jazz in the Latin Genre Moves into the Spotlight |work=Omaha World-Herald |date=July 24, 1988 |department=Entertainment |page=SD}}</ref> Released in 1988, it was his first widely distributed album.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Milkowski |first1=Bill |title=Yomo Toro |magazine=Spin |date=Jan 1988 |volume=3 |issue=8 |page=8}}</ref>
==Production== ''Funky Jibaro'' was produced by Robert Musso.<ref name=MH/> Toro used a 10-string cuatro on the album, which he played left-handed and upside down.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Palmer |first1=Robert |title=Yomo Toro Blends Latin And Cuban |work=The New York Times |date=25 Dec 1987 |page=C27}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Mitchell |first1=Rick |title=Cuatro master offers vision of Puerto Rico |work=Houston Chronicle |date=August 9, 1990 |department=Houston |page=1}}</ref> Daniel Ponce played congas.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Joyce |first1=Mike |title=Playing Out the Guitar Strings |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=1 July 1988 |page=N23}}</ref> ''Funky Jibaro'' combined elements of salsa, folk, and charanga with Toro's expert cuatro playing.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Niester |first1=Alan |title=World Beat |work=The Globe and Mail |date=10 Sep 1990 |page=C4}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Williams |first1=Richard |title=Defining new boundaries – International records |work=The Times |date=September 24, 1988 |location=London}}</ref>
==Critical reception== {{music ratings |rev1 = AllMusic |rev1score = {{rating|3.5|5}}<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/funky-jibaro-mw0000652020|title=Funky Jibaro|website=AllMusic}}</ref> |rev2 = Robert Christgau |rev2score = B+<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=Yomo+Toro|title=Yomo Toro|website=Robert Christgau}}</ref> |rev4 = ''MusicHound World: The Essential Album Guide'' |rev4score = {{rating|4|5}}<ref name="MH">{{cite book |title=MusicHound World: The Essential Album Guide |date=2000 |publisher=Visible Ink Press |page=771}}</ref> }} Robert Christgau deemed the album a "sweet mountain record," contrasting it favorably to then recent "city" and "ethnomusicological" salsa albums.<ref name="auto1"/> ''The New York Times'' noted that, "with his electrified cuatro, which sounds like a mandolin that's been pumping iron, and his speed-demon technique, [Toro] makes the cuatro a lead instrument for salsa and hybrids of other pop styles from all around the Americas."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Pareles |first1=Jon |title=A Puerto Rican Touch |work=The New York Times |date=19 May 1988 |page=C20}}</ref>
The ''Chicago Tribune'' determined that, "though the few ballads are an acquired taste, the rest of the numbers, nearly all lively, Latin-inflected Toro originals, are a jaw-dropping display of facility, funk and feeling."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Heim |first1=Chris |title=Yomo Toro, Funky Jibaro |work=Chicago Tribune |date=27 May 1988 |department=Friday |page=47}}</ref> The ''Edmonton Journal'' stated that ''Funky Jibaro'' "balances out the flamenco flavor of his remarkable cuatro playing with a spicy mix of percussion and warm melodic backing from the violin."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Levesque |first1=Roger |title=Toro's pushing people to dance to his music |work=Edmonton Journal |date=22 June 1992 |page=B5}}</ref>
AllMusic wrote that Toro uses "the cuatro for catchy riffs, for backing the vocalists, for extended solo displays of virtuosity, and for laying out grooves when he isn't busy with other duties on the instrument."<ref name="auto"/>
==Track listing== {{Track listing | all_writing = | title1 = Funky Jibaro | length1 = | title2 = El Sapo | length2 = | title3 = Cuatro Pachanga | length3 = | title4 = Tributo a Los Angelitos Negros | length4 = | title5 = Recuerdame | length5 = | title6 = Mambo Oriental | length6 = | title7 = A la Verde Gue | length7 = | title8 = Minerva | length8 = | title9 = Raging Toro | length9 = | title10 = Cuatro Feeling | length10 = }}
==References== {{reflist}}
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Category:Yomo Toro albums Category:1988 albums Category:Island Records albums Category:Antilles Records albums