Artists

John Leguizamo Returns to Broadway

North America / USA / New York

John Leguizamo returns to Broadway with the super production LATIN HISTORY FOR MORONS for only 16 weeks, a comedy theater that will teach the audience the story of Latino immigrants in North America that you won’t find either in books or in the education provided in the schools of the country.

This sympathetic actor, comedian, and Colombian – American producer created this monologue due to the situation he faced a long time ago with his son. The child was being bullied in the private school that he attended in NYC for being one of the few children of Hispanic origin there. For that reason, and using homework of heroes assigned to his son, John began to teach him some Latino leaders who played big roles in American history. “Things were getting kind of rough out there…

And then, all of a sudden, we were in this dark episode where Latin people are being maligned and we’ve become the whipping post for the president. They even tried to pass the – show me your papers- law in Texas, basically profiling Latin people”, said Leguizamo to an American media.

After 4 years of research, this Emmy Award-winner actor, very happy, created this dramaturgy in which he reveals the struggle of 10,000 Latinos in the American Revolutionary War, the brave AfroCaribbean women in Virginia who sold their jewels to feed the patriots in the wars. The shocking truth of the Cuban woman, Loreta Velasquez, who joined the army in New Orleans and fought the front in three battles of the Civil War disguised as a man. And not in accordance with it, John will continue walking for 3000 years of history, he will make us cross three continents and tell us about different empires, Mayas, Aztecs and Incas.

John Leguizamo - Latin History for Morons - 3 — John Leguizamo – Latin History for Morons – 3

He will speak of Montezuma and Menudo, Yes! You read well, “Menudo” and he will close the acts with traditional dances like the Cumbia and indigenous rituals without censorship. “I was so ignorant of my own history because it is not taught in schools. It was a huge hole in my education and it shouldn’t have been, because without us Latinos, America wouldn’t be the country that it is”, Leguizamo explained to an American media.

John, who acted in series such ER (Dr. Victor Clemente), films such as: Super Mario Bros (Luigi) and more recently Wick 2 (Aurelio), besides, the voice of Sid (the laziness) in Ice Age, he in Latin History for Morons has a very unique style, a mixture between a stand up and a traditional dramaturgy. “There are other characters on stage, which I play; I do scenes with them and there is a narrative moving forward… I like to take people there with mime, dance, and music – it is very physical… It’s amazing what the audience will allow you to do.

John Leguizamo - Latin History for Morons - 4 — John Leguizamo – Latin History for Morons – 4

They will go with you anywhere as long as you stick to the rules that you set up at the beginning. That’s the beauty of theater. And that’s what makes me keep coming back. Anything is possible on stage. It seems to be the most democratic and egalitarian place in America for entertainment. Where else would Hamilton have happened? It couldn’t have happened in Hollywood, or on cable or the networks”, said Jhon Leguizamo in an interview.

John Leguizamo - Latin History for Morons - 2 — John Leguizamo – Latin History for Morons – 2

For his solo work of 45min of duration and which began since the third week of October he had to prepare himself in boxing as well as in dance. Hard work he had to do every day. “I’ve learned to consolidate my storytelling and be more of myself. To not just be an entertainer, but allow my anger, my edgier sides – and allow people to be even more uncomfortable. I never wanted my shows to be just Pollyanna shows,” he also said, “Latin comedy is a full emotional experience.”

Latin History for Morons (a satirical History Class) back to John Leguizamo to Broadway, under the direction of the famous theater director Tony Taccone, who owns 36 years of Career and who currently is the artistic director of Berkeley Repertory Theater in Berkeley, California. Moreover, John made his first Broadway presentation in 1991 with “Mambo Mouth” winning an Obie and he was nominated several times for Tony Awards for “Freak” in 1998.

“Broadway is just a culmination of a lot of work, and it always feels so celebratory. It’s the gaining of the highest prize.” John Leguizamo.

John Leguizamo - Latin History for Morons - 1 — John Leguizamo – Latin History for Morons – 1

Venue: STUDIO 54. 254 W. 54TH ST., NEW YORK, NY. Tickets: $79 – $139 To get more information like them on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/LatinHistory101/ or buy the tickets online through https://www.latinhistorybroadway.com/

Vinny Rivera releases his New Kizomba Hit “Compatible”

North America / USA / Massachusetts

The sensation of Kizomba music of all time, Victor Vincent Rivera, better known as Vinny Rivera, releases to the musical scene his new Kizomba single “Compatible” off the upcoming album “La Cosecha”. An album that will be centered in big melodies, the explosion of rhythms and the Tropical sound characteristic of Kizomba music and whose genre we have become accustomed to hear in his sweet and melodious voice.

The #1 Latin Kizomba Artist in the World who was born in Boston, Massachusetts, during his total successful European Tour where performed songs coming off of his album “La Torre”, Vinny achieved to conquer audiences of all ages, cultures and languages, falling in love to the international public.

Vinny has arrived this year with this new video of his most recently hit “Compatible” taking beautiful footage the Nederlands and starring with the international model Lillyann heaven, scenes in marvelous landscapes with a romantic history based on Rivera seducing a beautiful lady to establish a loving relationship with her. COMPATIBLE is destined to establish itself among the best song in the billboards of popularity in the world because it mixture sensuality with a cadence that invite you to dance softly with your dance partner to the rhythm of the Kizomba so popular in festivals and special events currently.

Vinny Rivera continues to shine in the music entertainment scene in America and the rest of the world increasing his fans between knower and professional dancers of this Latin Kizomba music, and if the LA COSECHA album will be so excellent like COMPATIBLE song, no doubt, he will be one of the artists with fruitful career and major projection nowadays…

Los Boleros Latin Band Bandleader Rudy Furlan kindly talked to us

Cuban music has managed to conquer so many hearts around the world that even many who were not born on the island have come to feel a great fascination for it. Such is the case of the bandleader and leader of Los Boleros Latin Band, Rudy Furlan, with whom we were able to talk for a few minutes about his career and his band.

Rudy playing the guitar — Rudy Furlan playing the guitar for the camera

How Rudy got started with music

Although Rudy was born in Guatemala, he moved to the United States when he was just three months old and has lived in the country ever since. His parents loved music and having parties at home, where various members of the family brought out guitars and broke into song to lighten the mood.

Most of his parents’ friends loved to sing boleros and the Latin classics of the time, which Rudy found pleasant and enjoyed musical activities of the adults around him to the point that he wanted to participate in those impromptu gigs within his means.

Soon after, he started taking guitar lessons at the age of nine, but it was at 16 that he started to take music more seriously and realized that he wanted to play the genres his parents always listened to such as bolero, cumbia, Cuban son, danzón, among others. Only drawback he found was that he could not find boys his age who wanted to play that kind of music, added to the fact that the communication possibilities that we enjoy today did not exist.

So, Rudy had no choice but to start forming small bands with kids who lived on his block and play rock and other local genres that were normally played back then. However, this whole situation changed when he placed an ad on Craigslist (online classified company). That is when he finally managed to get the people he needed to play what he finally wanted to play and how he wanted to play it.

Rudy at the museum — Rudy Furlan at the Motown Museum in Detroit

Los Boleros Latin Band

Rudy finally fulfilled his dream of playing his parents’ favorite music as an adult and managed to recruit a group which he named Los Boleros Latin Band. The artist chose this name as a tribute to the genre he liked to listen to since his childhood, plus he likes how the name sounds.

In the early 2000s, he set up the band’s website to have an internet presence, which was not very common for Latin bands in Northern California in those years. There was so much rock and soul in that area, but Latin music did not have the boom that it has acquired today.

Practically from day one, they managed to have a lot of work in many events, which led several talented musicians to contact Rudy to work with him. One of them is vocalist Felix Samuel, who comes from Cuba and joined Los Boleros Latin Band in 2009. Felix comes from a family of professional musicians, so it was easy for him to integrate into his family’s craft and exercise it with the same talent and momentum as his relatives.

Something interesting to say about Samuel is that his talent began getting noticed, so he was recruited by an HBO producer to soundtrack the film ‘‘Hemingway & Gellhorn’’ with Nicole Kidman and Clive Owen.

Another important member of the band is Zareen Tangerine, who is also a vocalist in the group and joined it in 2000, making her one of the first to join Los Boleros Latin Band.

Another fundamental part of the band is David Somers, who is currently the group’s saxophonist, although he also plays the flute to perfection.

Among other members, we can also mention bassist David Pinto, percussionist Dominic Cabrera and Oswaldo Carvajal, who also plays for La Moderna Tradición.

Dominic, David, Felix, David, Rudy, and Zareen — Percussionist Dominic Cabrera, singer Felix Samuel, saxophonist David Somers, bandleader Rudy Furlan, and singer Zareen Tangerine

Great references and inspirations for the music Los Boleros Latin Band makes

A few years ago, Rudy bought an album by Buena Vista Social Club, which he says changed his life completely and made him change direction in terms of the music. He listened to the material every day for months, to the point that he even memorized the songs and started playing them with his guitar.

When forming Los Boleros Latin Band, his musicians played many songs from that album and other great artists such as Eliades Ochoa, Ibrahim Ferrer, Compay Segundo, Omar Portuando and many others.

Those already mentioned were some of the greatest inspirations Rudy and the members of the band had for their project, this being the vision with which the artist wants to go on through time as far as possible.

Eduardo Ron and his Fondo Blanco Band liven up great events in Miami

Once again, the Venezuelan talent in the United States is a source of inspiration for the subject of these lines and it is the turn of Venezuelan musician, sound engineer and DJ Eduardo Ron. The artist has kindly taken a few minutes of his time to answer our questions about his career and group, so here are the most important topics of our conversation.

Eduardo playing the keyboard — Eduardo Ron playing the keyboard during an event

How Eduardo started in music in his native country

Since Eduardo was just a five-year-old boy, he proved to have a very capable hearing at home and already liked music very much, so his parents decided to enroll him in piano lessons, although he confessed that the instrument was not his thing. At school, he became part of bands with which he gradually found his preferred style and genres.

With these groups, he even competed in school band contests in Caracas, which are very common in the city. Over time, the only one of his close friends who ended up devoting himself to music was him, to the point that he became a ‘’one-man band’’ who took care of almost everything in his own musical project.

It was until 20 years ago where he began to include singers, percussionists and other musicians to be part of his group. That is when he changed the name to ‘’Fondo Blanco’‘, taking Eduardo’s last name, which is Ron (rum in Spanish), as inspiration.

What things Eduardo learned besides the piano

From a very young, Eduardo always liked to have contact with the part of the audio and equipment, which led him to study sound engineering at the Taller de Arte Sonoro. In addition to that, although he loves percussion and masters it to some extent, he was a keyboardist and singer for many years. He is no longer doing either at the moment, as he has decided to devote himself entirely to music production, mixing and mastering.

Eduardo at The NAMM Show — Eduardo Ron at The NAMM Show in 2016

When Eduardo decided to move to the United States

About 14 or 15 years ago, Eduardo decided to move to the city of Miami due to the political and economic situation in Venezuela at that time. For the same reason, he had no choice but to start from scratch with the project in these new lands and return to play, something he had not done for years, but the situation warranted.

The artist describes the Miami music market as complicated, since the competition is fierce. A huge advantage he had was that he studied English since he was very young, so the language issue was not a problem for him, but that did not make the other drawbacks easier to solve.

One of the first surprises Eduardo got was that, in Miami, he has done no more than 50 events a year, while in Venezuela he had as many as 140 in a year. This is because the market is gigantic and it is difficult to make a big name in it, not to mention that live orchestras do not have as many bookings as before due to cost reductions.

Two years later, he had already got new artists working with him and his situation had stabilized successfully, although the process was not easy. Moreover, even today, he cannot demand exclusivity from those who work with him because he does not have the economic muscle for that, so he has a long list of musicians whom he calls for certain events. One of the first ones he always calls is Army Zerpa, whom he described as one of the best bassists and arrangers he knows, which is why he has become a key person for his project.

Artists with whom Fondo Blanco has shared the stage

Fondo Blanco has been fortunate to share the stage with great artists such as Oscar D’ León, Ricky Martin, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Marc Anthony, among others. Of course, the contact with these luminaries taught Eduardo many things and he assures that one of the best shows he offered was during a Santa Rosa concert, where there were more than 12,000 people. He assures that this is one of those days he will never forget.

Eduardo and Omar — Eduardo Ron next to Omar Ledezma Jr. at The NAMM Show in 2016

However, just as he has had very positive experiences as the previous one, obviously not everything is rosy. The Venezuelan told us that one of those not so good days was during a Ricky Martin concert, an event he had to open that day. It turns out that his equipment was damaged two hours before his turn and he had to try to fix it in front of the crowd of 30,000 people who came to see the Puerto Rican superstar, but nothing he did worked and the audience began to hiss.

That same day, Ricky Martin’s keyboardist asked him to borrow his keyboard because his was damaged and, when returning it, it was totally messed up and what Eduardo had there had been deleted.

Today, although he remembers this with humor, the experience was so unpleasant that it led him not to accept other proposals due to fear that the same thing could happen again. However, once these fears were overcome, he continued to play with his band and has managed to adapt to what the Miami market required both locally and internationally, which shows that the goals and targets should not be disregarded no matter however difficult the circumstances become and Eduardo Ron is a great example of that.

Eduardo rehearsing for the gaitas contest at Claret School, Caracas

Oscar Dudamel continues to achieve dreams and presents “La Rumba Me Llama”

Legendary Venezuelan trombonist Oscar Dudamel expands his musical vision with a new single that fuses the essence of classic salsa with his unmistakable style, which is why he does not hesitate to express “La Rumba Me Llama”.

This song is part of his upcoming album “Sueño Alcanzado”, a production that will be released on May 30 and represents the culmination of years of musical research, fusing the classic salsa sound with jazz influences and the romantic tradition of boleros.

El legendario trombonista venezolano Oscar Dudamel

In “La Rumba Me Llama”, Dudamel brings his trombone to the forefront of a vibrant composition that captures the essence of the rumba as an inescapable call. With a musical structure that evokes the great salsa orchestras and an impeccable instrumentation.

The piece stands out for its meticulous arrangements, powerful brass and an irresistible cadence, faithful to the spirit with which Dudamel has approached his music. The track is an invitation to the dance floor and a testament to the rhythmic power that has defined his career.

The album Sueño Alcanzado not only takes its name from a personal concept of triumph, but also from one of his most significant pieces.

The title track was born in an intimate creative encounter in Caracas, Venezuela, with Maestro Alberto Crespo, composer Eliel Rivero and Solange Ramírez, mother of his son Gustavo Dudamel.

Dedicated to her son and with her special participation on violin, this piece encapsulates the spirit of a project that transcends the musical to become a testimony of life.

More than a nostalgic production, “Sueño Alcanzado”, of which the song “La Rumba Me Llama” is part, is the reflection of an evolution. The music that accompanied him since his childhood now takes a new form under his direction, in a creative process that has brought together talented musicians with whom he shares the same vision.

His orchestra, based in Madrid, has become the vehicle to continue taking his proposal to international stages, demonstrating that salsa is still alive in every note and every drum beat.

“La Rumba Me Llama” is now available on all digital platforms and is just a preview of ‘Sueño Alcanzado’, Oscar Dudamel’s new album, consolidating his legacy with authenticity and mastery.

Oscar Dudamel Virtuoso Musician, Trombonist and Orchestra Conductor.

Oscar Dudamel, a Venezuelan trombonist, discovered his passion for salsa as a child when he first heard “La Murga” by Willie Colón. Although his formal musical training began with Maestro Pablo Canela and later continued within El Sistema as a classical musician, that early experience left a profound mark on him, inspiring his dream of playing the trombone and solidifying his love for salsa as his ultimate passion.

Dudamel was born on January 14, 1961, in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. He grew up in a musical family where every gathering was celebrated with music, fostering his passion for the art from a young age. His parents purchased him a trombone, and he began his studies at the Yamaha Music Academy.

At the age of 7, he was enrolled in a music academy under the guidance of Maestro Pablo Canela, a composer and prominent figure in the music of the Lara State region of Venezuela.It was there that he started his training with the Cuatro, the traditional Venezuelan instrument, and the guitar, which became his first instruments.

In addition to his Cuatro training, Dudamel began studying and playing various percussion instruments, further broadening his musical repertoire.

His academic training took place at the Lara State Conservatory in Barquisimeto, and at the National System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras and Choirs of Venezuela, also known as El Sistema.

During his teenage years, he became a member of the Youth Orchestra of Lara State (El Sistema Lara) and the Liceo Mario Briceño Iragorry Band, where he had the opportunity to expand his musical knowledge and explore various genres.

Dudamel entered a new phase of his life when he enrolled at the Vicente Emilio Sojo Music Conservatory to study theory and solfège, continuing his trombone studies under the guidance of his maestro, Óscar Vivenes.

Over the years, he became a member of the Lara Youth Symphony Orchestra of Lara, part of the national network of Venezuela’s El Sistema orchestras, actively participating in classical music.

However, his fascination with the Caribbean rhythms of salsa never disappeared. Thus, he combined his classical training with his passion for salsa, performing with renowned artist and sharing the stage with legends of the genre, such as Héctor Lavoe, Ismael Rivera, Ismael Miranda, Celia Cruz, Justo Betancourt, Marvin Santiago, and other great artists.

In Caracas, Venezuela, he founded his own orchestra, with which he had the opportunity to share the stage with notable figures such as Rubén Blades, Gilbert Santa Rosa, Luis Enrique, Guaco, Oscar D’ León, and many others.

Dudamel’s surname is synonymous with music. He is the father of Gustavo Dudamel, one of the most acclaimed classical music conductors in the world. Gustavo’s well-known fondness for salsa stems from his father, who recently fulfilled his lifelong dream of releasing a solo album titled Sueño Alcanzado, dedicated to his son.

Dudamel currently resides in Madrid, Spain, where he leads his ensemble, Oscar Dudamel y su Orquesta, performing salsa alongside his Venezuelan musician friends and colleagues at Café Berlín Madrid.

‍Research Sources:

Contact: Katie Baloian of Radio Notas (Compartiendo Ideas)

Alberto Crespo (Pianist and Arranger)

Dj. Augusto Felibertt

Café Berlin in Madrid

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