1er Festival de la Música de Pedro Flores

This poster commemorates the First Festival of the Music of Pedro Flores, one of Puerto Rico’s most revered and influential composers. Pedro Flores (1894–1979), born in Naguabo, is considered a foundational figure of bolero and Puerto Rican popular song, composing classics such as Sin Bandera, Despedida, Amor Perdido, and Obsesión. Alongside Rafael Hernández, he helped define the soundtrack of Puerto Rican identity throughout the 20th century.

By 1983 — four years after Flores' passing — the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña and the municipality of Naguabo organized this inaugural festival to enshrine Flores’ legacy, situating him among Puerto Rico’s cultural patriots. This festival was part of a broader national effort during the late 1970s and early 1980s to honor Puerto Rican musicians who had shaped global Latin music, responding to the diaspora’s growing influence in New York and the Caribbean.

José Rosa’s design reflects this reverence. The simplified, continuous-line guitar references the traditional instruments central to Puerto Rican romantic and jíbaro music, while the overlapping strings evoke harmony, connection, and Flores’ prolific melodic style. Rosa’s use of vibrant teal and orange against a dark navy background is characteristic of his modernist typographic discipline and the ICP’s late-era design language — clean, minimal, and culturally rooted.