Tavin Pumarejo

Octavio Ramos Pumarejo, better known as Tavín Pumarejo (born 1934) is a Puerto Rican jibaro singer and comedian. While better known for his work as a comedy actor on Puerto Rican television, Pumarejo has released 16 albums of Puerto Rican music, with some of them becoming major hits in the island.

Biography

Ramos Pumarejo was born in Rio Cañas, a barrio in San Juan, located closer to the mountain area of Caguas than from downtown San Juan. Having grown up in the mountains, Pumarejo identifies himself with the Puerto Rican country people (known as jíbaro) more than with the metropolitan people that are always associated with San Juan.

Ramos Pumarejo started to work on Puerto Rican television when producer Paquito Cordero began producing a noon variety show called "El Show de las 12" on Telemundo Puerto Rico, WKAQ-TV. To ensure that the public remembered him, he used his relatively uncommon maternal last name as part of his stage name. Like other popular Puerto Rican characters (Jose Miguel Agrelot's "Don Cholito", and Machuchal), Pumarejo donned a "pava" (a Puerto Rican peasant straw hat) for his television appearances. The pava became a staple on Pumarejo's life, as he began using it in almost every personal appearances, and on interviews with newspapers and magazines. Pumarejo also earned the nickname of "El Hígado de Ganso" ("Goose's Liver").

Pumarejo is well known for his self deprecating sense of humor, which closely resembles that of a young Jerry Lewis. In 1985, Pumarejo scored a Christmas music chart-topper, with his song "La Finquita" ("The Little Farm"). It was a number one hit in Puerto Rican radio for about eight consecutive weeks, and the album was also one of the year's best selling Christmas album in Puerto Rico, along with Tony Croatto's, which contained the famous song, "Se Llama Jesús".

ee also

*List of famous Puerto Ricans