2024

La Puertorriqueña de Don Perignon presents her new recording work

Demostrando in time

With great enthusiasm, La Puertorriqueña de “Don Perignon” announces the release of its most transcendental recording production, entitled Demostrando a tiempo.

La Puertorriqueña de Don Perignon presents her new recording work

This release is a testament to more than forty-five years dedicated to music by the orchestra’s leader, Pedro Morales Cortijo, known artistically as “Don Perignon”. After overcoming health challenges,

“Don Perignon“, with renewed vigor, turns his attention to what he calls “an unprecedented chapter for the orchestra”.

And what better way to kick off this new phase than with the release of the album? Demostrando a tiempo, a title derived from Moncho Rivera’s composition arranged by Carlos García, adds a historical and significant nuance to the recording.

“Don Perignon” highlights the importance of paying tribute to the pioneers of Puerto Rican popular music, Ismael Rivera and Rafael Cortijo, underlining the crucial influence they had on the musical movement to which their group belongs:

“Moncho represents Ismael Rivera and I represent Rafael Cortijo. They (Cortijo and Rivera) were the ones who created what we do, that’s why we decided to pay tribute to these two greats of our music”.

The album opens with a composition by Sammy Ayala, entitled ‘Dilo tú’, previously recorded by Rafael Cortijo’s Combo. This song, on this occasion, includes an exquisite timbal solo by Perignon.

This, which is La Puertorriqueña’s thirteenth production, rescues two jewels of the prolific composer Catalino “Tite” Curet Alonso.

The first, ‘Aquí estoy con mi son’, was first recorded in 1991 by singer Frankie Hernández under the production of Bobby Valentín. The second, ‘Soy tu ley’, was initially recorded in bolero time by Cheo Feliciano, the so-called “Señor sentimiento”. For this occasion, the skillful musical arrangement -in salsa key- by Ramón Sánchez gives the song a fascinating nuance, by integrating it with the distinctive sonority of the orchestra.

Pedro Luis Morales Cortijo, is the first name of the Puerto Rican timbalero and musical director

It should be noted that ‘Soy tu ley’ was destined to be part of the album Música Maestro (2014), but like fine wines, it waited patiently until it reached its optimum point to be released.

Highlighting the musical diversity, the album includes ‘A quién iré’, a composition by singer-songwriter Héctor Olmo, which at Perignon’s request, seeks to express gratitude to God for all that He has given him, including what the orchestra leader calls “a new opportunity in life”.

“I have my way of thanking God, but not through a message as fine as that,” says the director of La Puertorriqueña, considering that the song written by Olmo came to answer questions about everything he has achieved musically, despite the many obstacles that have come his way. ‘A quién iré’ features the arrangement by Juan C. Cardona, the vocal participation of Alex D’ Castro and the creation of the chorus by “Don Perignon” himself.

Demostrando a tiempo includes the songs: ‘Sácala a bailar’ (composition and vocals by José Karlo Ribot, with a tasty arrangement by Andy Guzmán who incorporates a forceful piano solo); ‘Sin brújula’ (lyrics by Harold Aguirre, musical arrangement by Ramón Sánchez, sung by Joe González); ‘La clave me lleva’, ‘Como si me amaras’ and ‘Afinque, cadencia y sabor’ (title that lists the distinctive adjectives of La Puertorriqueña).

Demostrando a tiempo reflects the dedication and unparalleled talent of “Don Perignon” and La Puertorriqueña.

Through a careful fusion of tradition and innovation showcased in the repertoire, this album represents the invaluable contribution of the orchestra, captivating dancers around the world with its vibrant and distinctive sound.

La Puertorriqueña de “Don Perignon” invites the public to immerse themselves in this unique musical experience and enjoy Demostrando a tiempo, available on digital platforms and select music stores.

Don’t miss the opportunity to experience the magic of Demostrando on time. Join us on this exciting musical journey.

About Don Perignon:

Pedro Luis Morales Cortijo, is the first name of the Puerto Rican timbalero and musical director known internationally as “Don Perignon,” whose musical career began in 1974.

“Don Perignon” comes from a family with a long musical tradition, which includes his cousin, Rafael Cortijo.

After having stood out as musical director for singers Andy Montañez and Lalo Rodríguez, in 1989. “Don Perignon” released his first production La buena vida, which featured the participation of Victor Manuelle. This album was followed by Festival de soneros (1990) and Subiendo (1992).

In his career “Don Perignon” with his orchestra, La Puertorriqueña, has released thirteen recordings, in which figures such as Gilberto Santa Rosa, Víctor Manuelle, Luisito Carrión, Oswaldo Román, Pedro Brull, Josué Rosado, Rico Walker, José Alberto “El Canario” and Hermán Olivera, among others, have collaborated.

Also Read: Déjalo, the latest track by Pedro Conga y su Orquesta Internacional

Gilberto Santa Rosa is a Puerto Rican singer, songwriter and sonero better known as “El Caballero de la Salsa” (The Gentleman of Salsa)

Gilberto Santa Rosa (born August 21, 1962) is a Puerto Rican singer, songwriter and also known as “El Caballero de la Salsa” from Carolina, Puerto Rico.

Growing up on the salsa music of the 50’s and 60’s, Rosa became interested in pursuing music during school, participating in her first concert in 1976 while still a tender teenager. After performing with the Mario Ortiz Orchestra.

Gilberto Santa Rosa ex-superior singer and sonero better known as "El Caballero de la Salsa" (The Gentleman of Salsa). — Gilberto Santa Rosa ex-superior singer and sonero better known as “El Caballero de la Salsa” (The Gentleman of Salsa).

Santa Rosa was recruited by La Grande Orchestra where she stayed for two years and met Elías López.

The 1980s brought a series of recordings for the singer with Orquesta Tommy Olivencia, El Gran Combo and the tribute album “Homenaje a Eddie Palmieri” with the Puerto Rican All Stars.

Gilberto Santa Rosa became a unique salsa improviser, walking the line between tropical and romantic styles of music, which contributed to his appreciation and popularity.

In 1986 Rosa signed with Combo Records and among others released the successful albums “Good Vibrations” featuring arrangements by Mario Ortiz, Ramon Sanchez and Tommy Villariny, “Keeping Cool! “and “De Amor y Salso”.

Due to the success of her fourth album entitled “Sala en Movimiento” released in 1989, Rosa signed with CBS Discos who could distribute her music internationally.

Teaming up with the young composer Omar Alfanno on the album “Punto de Vista” Rosa achieved consistent success with a series of hits including “Vivr sin Ella”, Perdoname” and De Cualquier”. The successor album “Perspectiva” released in 1991 was the Salsero’s biggest hit to date and included many of the same collaborators as its predecessor.

In 1990 Rosa was awarded the Billboard Lo Nuestro Award for Best Male Singer, recorded a live album at Carnegie Hall Theatre in New York, USA, the first tropical salsa artist to do so, and acted as Puerto Rican goodwill ambassador to Japan where he sang “De Cara al Viento” in Japanese.

Santa Rosa was recruited by La Grande Orchestra where she stayed for two years and met Elías López.

The singer generated a string of hits throughout the 1990s, always altering his particular sound and diversifying his music. From the orchestral “De Cara al Viento” (1994) and the energized “Esencia” (1996) to “De Corazón (1997) and “Expresión (1999).

At this point Rosa’s popularity and success had increased and the singer seemingly could do no wrong, with Rosa’s subsequent albums achieving both critical and commercial success, including 2002’s “Viceversa” which produced the hits “Por Más Que Intento” and “Un Montón de Estrellas”.

Santa Rosa ha sido honrada por Union City, New Jersey, USA con una llave de la ciudad y una estrella en su Paseo de la Fama, tiene el record de la mayor cantidad de álbumes número uno en la lista Billboard Tropical Albums, así como la mayor cantidad de nominaciones al Grammy por Mejor Salsa.

Canto y grabo varias producciones con el Maestro Mister “AFINQUE” Don Willie Rosario y ese fue el puente para grabar como solista.

En 1981, Gilberto Santa Rosa se unió a la banda Willie Rosario y su Orquesta, con la que grabó seis discos de larga duración. Su primera grabación se presentó en el álbum The Portrait Of a Salsa Man, en el sello Top Hits.

Canciones como “El Antifaz”, “La Mitad” y “El Condenado” se escuchan en la voz de Gilberto Santa Rosa, quien compartió la parte vocal con Tony Vega y Bobby Concepción en dicho álbum.

1982: Willie Rosario y su Orquesta graban el álbum Atízame el fogón para el sello Top Hits. Bobby Concepción, Tony Vega y Gilberto Santa Rosa participan como cantantes en este LP.

1983: El cantante santurcino participa en el álbum de Willie Rosario y su Orquesta, The Salsa Machine, en el sello Top Hits, de este álbum, canciones como “Amigo” y “Cuando Se Canta Bonito” son vocalizadas por Gilberto Santa Rosa.

Gilberto Santa Rosa (born August 21, 1962)

1984: Gilberto Santa Rosa comparte voz con Tony Vega en el álbum de Willie Rosario y su Orquesta llamado Nuevos Horizontes, publicado por Bronco Records, en ese álbum se grabó el tema “Lluvia”, uno de los primeros éxitos de nuestro caballero de la salsa. .

Willie Rosario celebrará 100 años de vida con un gran concierto en el Coliseo de Puerto Rico.

Para la celebración musical estará acompañado por sus amigos y colegas, Gilberto Santarosa y Tony Vega,

El legendario músico puertorriqueño Willie Rosario celebrará sus 100 años de vida en 2024 con un gran concierto en su tierra natal el próximo 27 de abril, junto a dos de los ilustres intérpretes que integraron su orquesta, Gilberto Santa Rosa y Tony Vega.

Willie Rosario celebrará 100 años de vida con un gran concierto en el Coliseo de Puerto Rico.

Source:

El Nuevo Dia

Also Read: The Royalty of our Latin Music Pete “El Conde” Rodríguez first singer signed by Fania Records label

Arranger, composer and pianist Carlos Ordiano

Carlos Ordiano is a talented arranger, pianist and composer who has given us the honor of talking to us and telling us a bit about his career.

Carlos was born in Southern California and was raised in a family of Latino parents who have always loved the music of their roots, which led the artist to be continuously exposed to these rhythms from an early age.

With a consolidated career, his specialty is Latin jazz piano and he has a long list of collaborations with big names in the California music industry.

This is arranger, composer and pianist Carlos Ordiano

Carlos’ beginnings in music

After thanking the invitation to this interview, Carlos told us a little bit about how his interest in music began since he was a child. He told us that no one in his family was engaged in music professionally, but one day an uncle of his gave him a toy piano when he was five years old.

He loved the gift so much he told his father he wanted to devote himself to music as a young child, which led him to hire a piano instructor for his son so that he could learn to play the instrument as soon as possible. The problem was that the child only learned by watching his instructor’s hands, so he never learned to read music. The day came when the teacher gave up and told Carlos’ father to find someone else, since he could do nothing for the boy.

After that disappointment, Carlos stopped playing for a year until he resumed his interest in music and again took piano lessons, obtaining much better results than the last time.

During his learning process, he played a little bit bass and trumpet, but no instrument ever became as important as the piano.

His brothers Ruben and Oscar were also taking music lessons in parallel and decided to follow the path of music like Carlos. Ruben is a bass player and Oscar is a guitarist.

When he was 19, he went to study recording engineering at Golden West College, but he found this career very boring, so he decided to learn to read and compose music, since he did not have much experience with these areas yet. This is how he started playing in a Latin jazz band in which he learned a lot more about music in general and got a lot of support from the band leader and, of course, from his parents.

Carlos Ordiano on stage — Carlos Ordiano performing live on stage

Groups

Carlos has participated in several groups from various genres and the first one was formed by him and his uncles when he was a child. The music they made consisted of cumbias and rancheras back then.

When he arrived at school, he began to focus his attention on Latin jazz, salsa, son montuno and other Latin genres, which led him to participate in groups based on these rhythms. In fact, he also began to be a replacement in several salsa groups when a member was missing. This is how he gained the experience he needed to work with other artists and orchestras in different areas.

Such is the case of the jazz-funk group Modern Time, with which he plays in a small Californian club every Wednesday and Sunday. From time to time, he also plays with his brother Rubén in Santa Ana and, on these occasions, they call themselves The Ordiano Brothers.

Another important group he became involved with was La Santa Cecilia. La Marisoul, their lead singer, had a big band project and wanted his friend Carlos to arrange some of their new songs, which gave a unique touch to the chords of each piece of music.

Carlos Ordiano and La Marisoul — La Marisoul from La Santa Cecilia performing with Carlos Ordiano

Santa Ana Community College

As for his time at Santa Ana Community College, Carlos confesses that he was not a very good student, since he had no interest in subjects such as English or mathematics. He was only interested in music and that is what he focused all his attention on. This caused him to take a long time to graduate and obtain the academic degree he was opting for.

After searching many institutes, he finally obtained a scholarship at Cal State Long Beach College thanks to which he studied things like orchestration for big bands and small groups. During his studies at this school, he only had to pay for parking and textbooks he needed. His stay at this school helped him create many important connections in the industry until finally graduating in 2010 and earning his bachelor’s degree in jazz piano.

To clinch the matter, Carlos has pointed out that the academic part is important to have more specialized vocabulary in music and build links with other colleagues, but at the end of the day, this is not necessary for a musician to be good. In fact, he said that many of the musicians he most admires do not have any formal academic training, so it is not strictly necessary to have a university degree in that field.

El Tresero Moderno San Miguel Perez

Cuba is and will continue to be one of the main cradles of the best artists in Latin America and San Miguel Perez is one of those cases. The producer, composer and singer gave us an exclusive interview to talk about his musical beginnings, his history and what he is currently working on. Don’t miss it!

Tresero San Miguel — This is San Miguel Perez, ”El Tresero Moderno”

San Miguel, El Tresero Moderno

San Miguel is known in his country as ”El Tresero Moderno” (the modern tres player in English) due to the styles he uses when playing. He chose the Cuban tres as his main instrument because it is a very important icon in the music of his country and the one that most represents Cuba internationally,

His first contact with music occurred at the age of 10, when he began studying classical music, but adding the Cuban tres. He followed this same path throughout high school and university until he became part of some Cuban popular music groups such as Los Jóvenes Clásicos del Son and Adalberto Álvarez y Su Son.

Together with the latter group, he released the album ”Respeto Para Los Mayores”, which was very popular at the time. This success led them to collaborate with great orchestras such as Los Van Van, with whom they shared the stage sometimes.

On one occasion, one of the members of Los Van Van took the stage to jam with the guys of Adalberto Alvarez y Su Son, including San Miguel. Seeing the Cuban’s talent and style with the tres, he baptized him with the nickname ”El Tresero Moderno”. This nickname had to do with his playing and the influences that the artist brings to the instrument when making a solo.

San Miguel playing — San Miguel Perez playing the Cuban tres live

Cubadisco

San Miguel was twice awarded with the Cubadisco Award, one in 2011 in the category of Best Tresero and the other in 2013 in the category of Best Traditional Cuban Music. These recognitions were very important for the musician, as the award was the result of a previous contest, which was focused on the work of treseros, singers and pianists from all over Cuba.

The primary objective of this contest was to rescue Cuban music and give new talents a chance to make their art known. Adalberto Álvarez, Frank Fernández, and Mayito de Rivera were part of the contest’s presidency.

Given that San Miguel was one of the winning treseros, the Bis Music label released an album called ”Treseros de Cuba”, material in which the young man was included. This was the album which won the Cubadisco award in 2014.

After receiving both awards, Adalberto Álvarez met up with San Miguel to invite the Cubadisco winner to join his group. He took advantage of the departure of the former tresero in the group to invite him.

Los Angeles

San Miguel’s move to Los Angeles was due to a purely professional issue at first. He went to play with Adalberto Alvarez, Peruvian-American singer Cecilia Noël, her husband Colin Hay from Men At Work and other artists living in the United States. Due to this and other work proposals, he decided to stay in Tampa and, time later, to move to the city of Los Angeles and make it his permanent residence.

It should also be mentioned that many other artists have had to work other jobs outside of music in order to make ends meet, but fortunately this was not the case of San Miguel, who had the opportunity to work only in music and did not need to resort to other activities out of his passion. He has dedicated himself fully to playing, recording and producing music for the past 10 years.

San Miguel won the Cubadisco Award — San Miguel twice won the Cubadisco Award in his native country

Composition, production and singing

Regarding the areas of music in which he has specialized, San Miguel began by explaining that he made a good improvement in composition during the time he played with Los Jóvenes Clásicos del Son. He also learned to make arrangements based on traditional music, something in which the director of the group, Ernesto Reyes Palma, played a very important role.

Regarding production, the artist did not participate much in that area, but he eventually did in the United States. It is in this country that he officially started his career as a soloist, tresero and artist. Three years after arriving in Los Angeles, he produced a first album called ”Un Poquito de Amor” in collaboration with Cecilia Noël and Colin Hay in 2017, which was a great learning experience for him, as he was able to experiment and mix many seemingly disparate rhythms.

Other areas in which San Miguel would like to specialize are sound engineering and remastering, but he is working hard to do so.

Current projects

As for the current projects, he is currently promoting his single ”Besito Bon Bon”, which is the main song of his new album. In fact, San Miguel and his team are planning to give this same name to the whole album. On this occasion, he mixed electronic sounds with traditional Cuban music to give a much more modern rhythm to the traditional genres coming from the island. The album has nine songs, is produced by Jay Carona and contains some collaborations with Cecilia Noël.

”Alma Del Barrio” celebrates 50 years of operation

The United States has a great number of Latin music radio programs that always sought to promote the best of Latin talent through their frequencies and one of them is ”Alma Del Barrio” of the well-known radio station KXLU, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

Against all odds, ”Alma Del Barrio” celebrates five decades on the air after all the effort of its hosts and the team involved in such a noble and necessary feat. We say ”against all odds” because it is not common that projects submitted by university students did not used to last long and ended up being replaced by programs of the same style.

In addition to the above, decades-long programs usually have a single host and comfortable time slots each week. However, ”Alma Del Barrio” was the exception to this rule and, today, continues to prove that limits can be overcome.

Founders of Alma Del Barrio — Founders of ”Alma Del Barrio” Steve Lopez, Enrique ”Kiki” Soto, Gustavo Aragon, Eddie Lopez, and Hector ”La Voz” Resendez

Beginnings of ”Alma Del Barrio”

After so long, ”Alma Del Barrio” has remained up to date and continues to keep people’s taste.

Its main founders were Enrique ”Kiki” Soto and the late Raúl Villa, who at the time were two young students with many ideas and eager to achieve interesting things. The program was aired for the first time in 1973. A few years later, Hector Resendez, a freshman in college, contacted Enrique and Raul in order to write an article about this new radio show, but it would not be long before he joined the main founders in the project they were developing.

Three years later, in 1976, student at Loyola Marymount University Eddie Lopez joined the program on the third anniversary of ”Alma Del Barrio”, show in which he would spend the next 46 years bringing the best Afro-Cuban music to the audience every Sunday between 2pm and 6pm.

On a number of occasions, Resendez said that ”Alma Del Barrio” was not created to be hosted by great famous personalities, but by dynamic young people who wanted to be part of a small team that was just starting operations.

At the beginning, the new hosts only had one hour of broadcast time to show what they were made of, but at the same time, they did their best to get more airtime and have more presenters in the program. They wanted to include a not very popular genre on the station at that time, which was salsa, something totally innovative for the station.

In those years, salsa was understood as that set of genres coming from Afro-Cuban music and the novice hosts thought it would be a fine attraction to the Latino communities of Los Angeles. That set of genres came from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Panama, Colombia and the Dominican Republic. This is when record labels and music promoters renamed these rhythms as ”salsa” in order to make it easier for programs and hosts to identify the music.

Eddie Lopez in Alma Del Barrio — Eddie Lopez working on the radio station

‘’Alma Del Barrio”’ programming

The traditional programming of most of the stations consisted of jazz, rock and classical music, but then salsa was incorporated thanks to the increasing popularity that this genre was gaining.

One thing Resendez said is that one of the most famous rock groups was Santana, so the announcer and the rest of his cabinmates were surprised that the musicians of the band knew so much about Afro-Cuban music in terms of percussion. Let us remember that the popular song ”Oye Como Va” was written by ”El Rey De Los Timbales” Tito Puente a decade and a half before the band recorded it.

This union of rock and salsa was what gave the hosts the confidence to use trendy Anglo-Saxon genres as a means to promote Latin music.

On top of that, the guys were clear that jazz fans would be receptive to Latin jazz, since great jazz musicians like Dizzy Gallespie hired Cuban percussionists in their orchestras. If on other stations, this music was successful, ”Alma Del Barrio” was no exception. Fortunately, they were not wrong.

Current logo of ”Alma Del Barrio”

Last years of “Alma Del Barrio’’

During the last years of ”Alma Del Barrio”, the program team has made great efforts to join and create links with the community, whether it would be through sponsorships, advertisements, public services, donation campaigns, among other things.

Through all this community service they offered, they also made their own work known and many listeners began to enjoy this great team’s talent while listening to good music and varied programming.

The program has also been and is part of great annual and historical festivals such as the Salsa Fest. This day is always reserved for the audience to share with the new and old hosts of ”Alma Del Barrio” and many of the station staff, who always spread their enthusiasm to those present with their good energy.

”Alma Del Barrio” and its hosts have brought joy to their followers, but there have also been some sad moments. One of them was the death of DJ Eddie Lopez in January 2023, leaving a great void in the station and the hearts of those who faithfully followed his career through the KXLU circuits during the last decades.