From the album "Ay Dios amparamé" (1995) by Los Van Van, the TIMBA REAL BOOK project presents SOY TODO, composed by Juan Clímaco Formell Cortina and performed by Los Van Van with Mario "Mayito" Rivera singing lead (scroll down to see the full lyrics). Your $19.99 purchase of the sheet music for this one singular song -- SOY TODO -- includes the charts for the following instruments listed below (a total of 33 pages):

A quick note about "Ay Dios amparamé" The spotlight stays on Mayito for the song timba.com’s readers voted the greatest of all time by a landslide margin – Soy todo. My first exposure to this song was one of the seminal experiences that launched me on the long journey of researching and writing these books. When I ventured out to see Los Van Van at the Fillmore West in 1998, I hadn’t heard of Mayito or Soy todo, nor did I know that either was supposed to be something special, nor did I understand the lyrics or know that they came from Eloy Machado’s famous poem.

As such, the devastating effect Soy todo had on me that night was an organic reaction, uninfluenced by the tremendous hype that now surrounds this anthem. I fell into a semi-trance as Formell’s “slow burn” arrangement built to its massive climax – with Mayito “preaching” over waves of percussion and dissonant, rising synthesizer chords.

A full two hours after the show ended, I was still physically shaking with emotion. I’ve since encountered others who have had similar experiences with this song. -- Kevin Moore of TIMBA.com.

The piano part for the first chorus of Soy todo 1a and 1b are variations on the tumbao Pupy uses for the first coro: Soy Arere, soy conciencia, soy Orula.

Soy todo 2 is the basis for the remaining coros. Pupy plays it with just percussion and voices during the breakdown that occurs at 5:28 of the studio version.

For more on the Soy Todo piano techniques, visit the Beyond Salsa Piano Volume 12 (César "Pupy" Pedroso) page by clicking here = https://www.latinpulsemusic.com/albums/show/408

For more on the Los Van Van discography from the 1990s, click here = www.timba.com/artist_pages/the-1990s

This TIMBA REAL BOOK project is a collection of very accurate and fully detailed, sheet music transcriptions of classic Timba hits. While most competing Latin music charts are lead sheets, which for example only include chord symbols for the piano and bass, these charts have the exact parts of the performances. "This is crucial because many of the accompaniment parts are song-specific hooks rather than the generic formulaic patterns often found in salsa." -- Kevin Moore of TIMBA.com

"The aim of this collection is to break new ground in timba pedagogy. Charts of this kind really don't exist from any other source. They're painstakingly transcribed and notated in full -- not just the horn parts but the bass, both piano tumbaos and comping, and most importantly individual percussion patterns exactly as played on the original recording. Without these specific elements notated either the player is forced to transcribe the parts themselves, or the band is stuck playing a diluted salsa cover of a timba hit. -- Simon Dawkins, notation specialist and multi-instrumentalist

Another important objective of this project is to make accurate sheet music of classic Timba songs significantly more available to the community at large. The reason these songs are not covered as much as salsa tunes is because it takes much more work to transcribe and play them. It just takes greater skill to complete both these actions authentically and with intention.

These sheet music charts are fully licensed and we hope to continue to make them available at a very affordable price to band leaders and professionals worldwide.

Full lyrics for (letras completas para) SOY TODO by Los Van Van: