Editing Roberto Roena (section)

== Cortijo y Su Combo ==
When Roberto was 16 years old, Cortijo was in need of a bongo player for a group that he was forming. Visualizing a bongo player that could dance and play the cowbell at the same time, Cortijo recruited Roberto to join his new band, and personally taught Roberto how to play both instruments. The group's name derived from the name of an existing band named "''El Combo''" in which many of the original band members had been involved. For seven years, Roena was part of Cortijo’s group and his Combo, with [[Ismael Rivera]] as vocalist. With that lineup, they toured the major stages of the United States, Europe, and South America. {{lang|es|Cortijo y Su Combo}}, mostly made up of [[Afro–Puerto Ricans]], was the first of its kind to succeed in gaining access to the stages where only white artists were performing, within and outside of Puerto Rico.<ref name="WPN 2021">{{cite web | title=Roberto Roena Died: What Was His Cause Of Death? | website=We Publish News | date=2021-09-24 | url=https://wepublishnews.com/spain/roberto-roena-died-what-was-his-cause-of-death | access-date=2021-09-24}}</ref>