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Vega Baja.- The lush nature of the Quebrada Arenas barrio of Vega Baja houses don Jaime Alicea Otero’s cuatro factory. Alicea Otero is the founder of the revered “Serie Dorada,” a brand that brings together extensive experience and refined evolution across the years.

At almost 90 years old, don Jaime welcomed Somos Puerto Rico with freshly brewed, aromatic coffee. With simple gestures and a slow walk, the master craftsman began explaining the fame behind his instruments. “People like Gloria Estefan, timbalero Orestes Vilató and many more renowned musicians have bought cuatros from me. Edwin Colón Zayas visits me frequently and we get to play from time to time, but my son Javier is the real expert here. He learned a lot; he can both make and play the cuatro wonderfully,” he highlighted.

“Even the Japanese came here to offer me a one-year contract to take me away from here, and I refused. They were going to pay me a million dollars for that contract and I said no…” he added.

Regarding his origins as an instrumentalist, don Jaime explained that his story began in the 1950s.

“I learned music the hard way. I had a small cuatro that was all busted, and my mom sent me to work in the sugarcane fields for six months to earn $13, that was around the beginning of the 50′s. So, with that money, I bought a secondhand cuatro and I started practicing. I kept practicing and practicing and nothing came of it. I went to family gatherings with the cuatro and they kicked me out all the time because I made more noise than I could play well,” he commented.

By then, he continued his story: don Jaime spent hours practicing playing the instrument on a tree.

“So what happens? You get a note out of every instrument you put your fingers on, but you have to know how to make a combined melody. At that time, (the cuatrista) Maso Rivera had composed his mazurka, Nélida, and in one of my attempts, I came up with something very similar to the tune. That made me come down from that tree; I almost died coming down, but I ran to my aunt’s house. As soon as she saw me with the cuatro, she just kicked me out again,” he said, smiling.

Once he had learned the first tunes to the song Nélida, don Jaime said that he began to feel confident. However, there were people who tried to undermine his desire to master the instrument.

“There was a man who played cuatro and, to get to his house, you had to cross a huge sugarcane field, and every time I went, he told me to throw away my cuatro because I was never going to learn how to play it… it’s awful, when people discourage you from doing something you want to do. I was sad, but I moved on. After some time, when I got better at it, I used to encounter him and then he praised my playing; that awful man, who discouraged me when I was starting out,” he recalled.

Between sips of coffee, don Jaime interjected that his passion was always to be a cuatrista. When asked about the number of instruments made, he responded that there are “thousands and thousands.” He explained that, to work on his craft, he uses any type of wood.

“The wood doesn’t affect the sound. I say that and people give me weird looks. The quality of the instrument’s sound depends on the craftsman,” he said.

He also said that he estimates that he has been making cuatros for around 60 years, and that his greatest zeal when making each piece is tuning.

“I started hollowing out the wood to create the body of the cuatro, but I’m always very careful with the tuning. Since I didn’t know, I did sliding tuning until I managed to find what I wanted, and then I fixed it. When I gained experience and confidence, I started constructing the instruments formally,” he explained.

Likewise, he said that the craft allowed him to raise his six children and lead a fulfilled life.

“I never lacked money, thank God. This is a blessing for which I am very grateful to our Heavenly Father. I got to play with the Morales brothers and did my shows in New York and Puerto Rico with several groups until one day, as always happens, I had to stop playing music to dedicate myself fully to cuatro fabrication. That was a change, but I had to do it for personal reasons, and I have never regretted it,” he expressed.

If you want to know more about the “Serie Dorada” of Puerto Rican cuatros, you can call 787-649-1642.