Bartolito y Los Bravos del Son is a Dominican son group founded in 1986 in San Felipe de Villa Mella, Santo Domingo Norte, by the singer, guitarist and composer Bartolo del Rosario Chalas —known as Bartolito, born on 24 August 1942 and died on 27 January 2013.

Songs and records

Bartolito wrote most of his own repertoire —one biography estimates about ninety percent— and his best-known songs include «Ven Vecinita», «Suave Compay», «Sonera», «Que Lindo es el Amor», «Domingo del Carmen» and «Baila mi Rumba». His first album, «Villa Mella Querida», contains «Candela», his tribute to the civil war of April 1965; the second, «Soneando de Verdad», was made for «Ringo Récords». Three later albums, «Quiéreme», «Abuelita» and «Pajarito Cantor», came out under the name «Bartolito y Los Soneros».

Early years

For his early life the only detailed account is a Discogs biography. It says he grew up in a poor, hard-working family, received his first guitar from his grandmother, taught himself to sing and learned the instrument from Leonardo del Rosario and Jesús Minier, known as “Cundengo”. After short spells in the «Sexteto Juvenil» and the «Orquesta Anacruza» he went back to cutting firewood in San Felipe until he founded Los Bravos del Son on 25 August 1986, and in 1987 the producer Ramón Pión, of «Bandera Récords», saw him on television and offered to record him.

«FestiSON» and the son circuit

The group played a relevant role in the Festival Caribeño del Son, «FestiSON», over its seven editions from the late 1990s, a festival that brought to Santo Domingo and Santiago acts such as the «Vieja Trova Santiaguera», Adalberto Álvarez, Compay Segundo, Chucho Valdés, «Habana All Star» and the «Orquesta Aragón». The 2002 edition, with Compay Segundo, filled the main hall of the Teatro Nacional, where Bartolito y Los Bravos del Son shared the bill with the «Grupo Maniel» of César Nanúm and the «Soneros de Haina». Day to day the group worked the capital’s son venues, among them the «Monumento del Son», «La Vieja Habana», the «Club Arroyo Hondo», «Villa Con» at the «Secreto Musical», Ciudad Nueva and the «Club 60».

Legacy

The Discogs account adds that Bartolito withdrew gradually from the stage from late 2002; Acroarte honored his career on 12 February 2008. He died at dawn on Sunday, 27 January 2013, and was buried the next day in the Municipal Cemetery of Villa Mella, where his community sang him a last son; the press remembered him as a “poeta sonero”. His albums remain on streaming platforms, where «Soneando de Verdad» was reissued digitally in September 2025.