Colombia: Singer Joe Arroyo Dies · Global Voices
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Colombian singer Álvaro José Arroyo González, better known as Joe Arroyo, born in a humble neighborhood in Cartagena on November 1, 1955, passed away on July 16 at 07:45 A.M. in Barranquilla due to multiple organ failure for which he had been hospitalized at Clinica La Asunción, a hospital in Barranquilla, for 29 days.
Joe Arroyo began his career at age 8 and participated in several salsa groups around the country, but he became famous when he joined the group “Fruko y sus Tesos”. Later, in 1981 he founded his own salsa group, “La Verdad”, traveling to many countries around the world. The prolific singer-songwriter even created his own dance beat, ‘el Joesón’, mixing salsa with Colombian Caribbean music like the cumbia, the porro, and the champeta.
Joe Arroyo, image from Wikimedia Commons.
Manolo Bellón (@ManoloBellon) a music specialist, mourns [es] his death:
La muerte de Joe Arroyo deja un inmenso vacío en la música popular caribeña. Adios al más grande de Colombia, se fue demasiado joven. RIP
Colombian singer Juanes (@juanes) thanks him [es] for his musical contribution:
Día triste para la música…  Gracias por toda la alegría que nos dejas ! Arriba Joe Arroyo!
Venezuelan singer Oscar D’ León (@OscarDLeon) expresses his sadness  [es] and mentions Cuban deceased singer Celia Cruz:
Estoy muy triste…  mi hermano Joe Arroyo se nos fue…Celia cuídame a Yoe…
Journalist Camila Zuluaga (@ZuluagaCamila) refers [es] to the words of Joe Arroyo's former manager, when he mentioned the show that TV channel RCN would broadcast about Arroyo's life:
El señor Marco Barraza dice que la novela de RCN del Joe Arroyo es una mentira
Blogs and websites also reacted to the news, sharing photos or videos like Otras tardes.com [es] did with the song “La noche”:
The blog Vallenato refers [es] to one of his most representative songs:
Quizás su mayor éxito ha sido “Rebelión” (1986), canción que narra la historia de un matrimonio africano, esclavos de un español, en la Cartagena de Indias del siglo XVII. (…) un éxito inmediato que aún se baila en las fiestas y discotecas del continente.
Total T.V. mentions, among some of his other qualities, the power of his voice [es]:
El gran Joe, nació en el barrio Nariño, en una loma de Cartagena,  (…) Allá se forjó el mito del niño tocado por Dios en la garganta, quien, más adelante, en la pubertad, se convirtió en la voz de los prostíbulos de La Heroica.
EJU.TV provides a short biography of Joe, where they mention his father [es], writing about another aspect from his life:
Fue uno de los 39 hijos que tuvo Guillermo Arroyo, el Negro Chombo, con seis mujeres diferentes, todas llamadas Ángela.
You can follow the conversation and read more reactions to the singer's death on Twitter with the hashtags #GrandeJoe, #Joe, Alvaro Jose Arroyo, Rebelion, and Tania.