Artists

Cheo Linares is a Singer, Composer, Sonero, Poet and Caraqueño

National Culture Award 2023-24 and the Artistic Glories of Venezuela Award.

José Gregorio Linares Carrasco is one of the great singers, composers and defenders of Venezuelan Salsa,

Cheo Linares born in the city of Caracas-Venezuela, he has been part of groups such as La Salsa Mayor, Salsa Mágica, el Trabuco Venezolano and Saxomanía.

José Gregorio Linares Carrasco es uno de los grandes cantantes compositor y defensor de la Salsa Venezolana

He is one of the most important composers of Venezuela.Linares has just been distinguished with the National Culture Award 2023-24 in the music category, so it is his first musical release since this important recognition, which surely is an encouragement to continue his work.

Last Saturday, January 11, 2024, Venezuela’s Minister of Culture, Ernesto Villegas, announced the winners of the National Culture Award 2023-24 and the Artistic Glories of Venezuela Award 2024.

The names of the artists, teachers and researchers favored by the jury as winners of the 2023-24 National Culture Award were announced by Venezuelan Minister of Culture Ernesto Villegas.

In the Music Mention, the flute master Antonio Toñito Naranjo stood out “for his career as a performer and trainer of generations of Venezuelan flutists and for his contribution to Venezuelan culture”, according to Villegas.

Antonio Naranjo is an extraordinary musician, composer and musical director, as well as a member of the group El Cuarteto, which he formed together with his brother Telésforo Naranjo and brothers Miguel and Raúl Delgado Estévez (+).

Also linked to music, but in the Popular Culture category, the National Culture Award was granted to Rafael Salazar “for his long and uninterrupted career as researcher, musicologist, composer and cultural promoter”.

It is worth mentioning that Rafael Salazar has been one of the most outstanding researchers, compilers and disseminators of Venezuelan popular culture, in addition to being the author of books dedicated to folklore.

Cheo Linares es un Cantante, Compositor, Caraqueño, Sonero y Poeta

Several extraordinary musicians received honorary mentions in the National Culture Award, such as cuatrista Daniel Enrique Gil Rosado, llanero singer Cristóbal Jiménez, master composer Henry Martínez, oriental singer Hernán Marín, and members of Los Guaraguao, Eduardo Martínez, José Gerardo Cordero and José Manuel Chachata Guerra.

Artistic Glories of Venezuela

The Artistic Glories of Venezuela award deserved a special mention, which was given to great singers such as Cecilia Todd, Lilia Vera and Biella da Costa. The first two are part of the living history of Venezuelan folklore and their voices are part of the national heritage. Biella da Costa is one of the leading figures of jazz in Venezuela.

The award was also presented to Jesús Sevillano, a singer who was part of the historic Quinteto Contrapunto. It was also received by the stupendous composer and salsa singer Cheo Linares and the popular singer José Montecano, brother of Alí Primera.

Orlando Watussi, Jose G. Acero, Cheo Linares y Dj, Augusto Felibertt

Mario Díaz, an enormous exponent of the central joropo, was also recognized as an Artistic Glory of Venezuela, as was the great composer and oriental singer Perucho Aguirre.

The same award went to the Simón Bolívar System of Children’s and Youth Choirs and Orchestras, and groups such as the parranda La Flor de Cojedes, the Teatro Negro de Barlovento or Los Cañoneros, excellent representatives of merengue rucaneao, were not left behind.

In the world of rock ‘n’ roll, the group Los Tres Tristes Tigres, the mythical Ivo, and more recently, the singer Colina, famous for his pop hits in the 80’s, shone.

Tags: Antonio Toñito Naranjo, Biella da Costa, Cecilia Todd, Chachata cultura, Eduardo Martínez, Ernesto Villegas, Glorias Artísticas de Venezuela Hernán Marín Jesús Sevillano, José Gerardo Cordero, José Montecano, lilia Vera, Los Guaraguao, Mario Díaz, Perucho Aguirre. National Culture Award and Rafael Salazar.

Cheo Linares was not even 20 years old when something unexpected happened to him. Another young man, Gonzalo Martinez, came to his house looking for him to invite him to sing with La Salsa Mayor. It was perhaps 1983.

Cheo says that his aunt was the one who opened the door and then told him: “Hey, Cheo, they are looking for you. They are asking if you want to sing in La Salsa Mayor…”. Cheo, shirtless, came out. He couldn’t believe it.

“Venezoa is a term I created to name the Venezuelan salsa music lover, to whom I dedicate this production, which in turn I extend to the salsa brothers of the planet, this CD was made with all the love, mysticism and professionalism of the musicians, technicians and designers who participated in it, to them I present my most sincere and expressive thanks for the support provided. Grateful to all the people who have supported my career, especially journalists, announcers, DJs, collectors and promoters, for all, blessings, love and light …”.

Cheo Linares.

Source: Radio Café Atlántico

Also Read: Marcial Isturiz from Capaya with soneos and melodic phrases and his popular “Agua pa’ los Gallos “Puerto Rico

Puerto Rican singer Max Rosado and what he had achieved in Washington DC

Puerto Rican singer Max Rosado is one more example of everything Puerto Ricans have accomplished and continue to achieve on a musical level in the United States, so it is a great pleasure for us to speak with this phenomenal artist about his life and career in the following lines. Below are the most important topics covered in our conversation with Rosado.

Max posing for the camera — Max Rosado singing for the camera

What caught Max’s attention in music in the first place?

Since he was very little, Max always had a great love for music and this is largely due to his mother, who loved salsa and instilled this taste in her son from a very young age. She loved La Fania All Stars, Hector Lavoe and Frankie Ruiz, who were practically the first artists Max listened to as a child.

As he grew up, he also listened to other salsa exponents such as Jerry Rivera, Rey Ruiz and Luis Enrique, who strengthened in the youngster his taste for romantic salsa which was very fashionable at the time.

Since he was six or seven, Max was already singing those songs he always listened to on the radio, but he did not take formal music classes until he was 17, which is when he took his artistic inclinations much more seriously. Moreover, at the university level, he started to get involved in bomba, plena and salsa ensembles, thanks to which he met Ramon Sanchez, who is Jerry Rivera’s musical director and arranger for many other artists such as Jerry himself, Frankie Ruiz and Gilberto Santa Rosa.

Professional start in music

The mentorship he received through these ensembles he played with helped him enormously and his first professional contact with salsa was in 2011 with Rey Ruiz, for whom he worked doing backing vocals and with Guillermo Calderon, who gave him the opportunity to do some dates with them.

Max during a celebrating of a quinceañera — Max Rosado during the celebrating of a quinceañera

He was also able to work with great arranger Tommy Villariny, who worked for El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico. Gilberto Santa Rosa and finally his son Oscar Villariny. Thanks to this contact, Max may have formed part of the orchestra Villariny Salsa Project for some time.

All these experiences were teaching him what he needed to know about the Puerto Rican musical environment and the musicians of his homeland. He has also been able to improve as an artist and have more experience in the genre.

All this adds up to his training at the university with classes related to piano, arrangements, improvisation and other areas of music to understand it and his colleagues so much better.

The 7th St. Band

Back in 2020, Max was planning on forming his own band and finally becoming independent. When he left Puerto Rico and moved to Washington DC in 2018, he met people like Leonardo García, Dominic Patrick Noel and Eduardo Padua, who were also working on their own projects and aroused the artist’s interest in exploring the idea of creating his orchestra again.

It was then that, the following year, he started to perform with his own group in Cincinnati, specifically at an event known as Salsa On The Square. Since then, he could finally make his dream come true and sing live with his own project, with which he has been able to travel to various cities.

As for the name of the group, The 7th St. Band, it owes it to the name of the street Max grew up in Puerto Rico, but he translated it into English to give it that American touch it has.

Max and Villariny Salsa Project — From left to right, Max Rosado, Villariny Salsa Project (composed of Oscarito Villariny and Victor Gabriel), Michelle Brava, and Kayvan Vega

What has Max learned from the artists he has worked with?

Just like Max has worked with Jerry Riera and Ray Ruiz, he also did the same with Luisito Carrion, Ismael Miranda, Jose Alberto El Canario, Daniela Darcourt, among many others. When we wanted to know what he learned from these big names in the industry, he explained that he tends to observe other artists and their engagement with the public to learn well from each one. In the case of Daniela Darcourt, he told us that her talent, interpersonal gifts and human warmth pleasantly surprised him and he was glad to have been able to meet and work with her.

By working with El Canario, Max noted that he was ”a master of the stage” who has an exceptional and admirable audience management. Talking again about Jerry Rivera, it was an honor for him to have worked with ”El Niño Bonito” of the 90’s whose songs are still chanted with the same feeling as many years ago.

Something that Max admires about all of them is the way they have maintained their positions over the years. He himself notices it in his shows when he plays some of their iconic songs and makes people go crazy with happiness. These are timeless lyrics and artists that Max hopes to belong to one day.

Max and Noel — Max Rosado next to Argentine singer and songwriter Noel Schajris, who is also a former member of the duo Sin Bandera

ISM presents 2 Venezuelan DJ with a great passion for Salsa

Latin America / Venezuela / Caracas

DJ Katiuska Oropeza

Katiuska Oropeza. Born in Caracas, the capital of salsa in Venezuela, currently based in the Carabobo State, Valencia – Venezuela.

He mentions “My passion for salsa began at the age of 3, influenced by my father who was a great connoisseur of this genre and at the age of 7 I already wanted to learn to play the timbal since I love percussion.

Over the years and by chance I got to know the salsa movement produced by a number of virtual collection salsa stations where a number of music lovers gather to enjoy and keep alive what is the essence and basis of salsa, I become passionate and I begin an incredible learning about everything that Venezuelan salsa is and that is when I become a programmer for the pioneering station on the Internet called www.rumbayguateque.com through this I was the representative in Venezuela of Mr. Alfredo Maleta Torres, the last singer who had the Joe Cuba sextet.

Today I try to spread the little that I have learned from this genre that has an endless history and from time to time participating as a musicalizer in different salsa events.” “Long live salsa forever.”

DJ Jaime Guanipa

During his interview on La Maceta radio conducted by me, Jaime mentioned that he was born in December 1966 in Caracas Venezuela, a native of Sarria belonging to the La Candelaria parish, where he grew up in two aspects in his early years, between Sarria and Alta Vista. in Catia parish Sucre also in Caracas.

His first tangible experience within Latin music called “SALSA” was thanks to the Venezuelan “PHIDIAS DANILO ESCALONA” who gave him this label that has immortalized the genre, and for Jaime’s memory it was in 1973 with the premiere of the movie “Nuestra Cosa Latina” and The SALSA Movie in different theaters in Caracas, and through its soundtrack I was shocked, and began to develop a definitive taste within the musical field, nurturing and wanting to be more extensive…

In this way, through the years, I achieved a broader knowledge within the Latin American culture, where it was enriched by absorbing like a sponge everything related to the environment and listening to Radio where they moderated great knowledge to which I can name our Venezuelans and connoisseurs. and moderators in different Radio stations in Modulated Amplitude for the time in Caracas such as Phidias Danilo Escalona, Floro Manco, Enrique Bolívar Navas, Héctor Castillo, Rafael Rivas, among other great broadcasters, achieving a very solid understanding within the majesty of salsa , but…

As of 1979 he has the concern to share and listen to the coarsest of our Latin music, beginning with family parties and friends, then he made comments and selected music from the acetate discs that were in said meetings, being this a cult and from 1982 he defined himself as a DJ. Salsero, enriching the technology and the true art of the moment, which is research, the study of the genre and the credits of his albums that logically were and are in LP format.

Generating in this way a breeding ground for experimentation and musical selection, it is from this moment referring to the date in which his experience and exchange of criteria between friends who throughout these years have followed and accompanied him within this passion, having successes as Salsero Musicalizer in extinct venues in the city of Caracas for the years 1985 to 1990, was triggered.

Later, in 1993, he temporarily retired due to family responsibilities, but without ever abandoning my passion for music and genre research both here in my country Venezuela and abroad, and in 2008, he decided to resume after a reasonable time. my most significant taste for salsa musicalization, already for the moment obtaining many valuartes but with its due time within the genre, evolving distinctively in terms of its versatility and exponents, highlighting that for me it is not a challenge since due to the concept earned and maintained has given me a preferential position within the taste of the salsero and the dancer that…

I call demanding, experience experience gained due to the fact that at the time I was surrounded by great friends who love the salsa genre that many of them share today, which is why and subscribed to current technology and its ease of access, it means that in a masterly way I can give the what the dancing public really wants and desires in each meeting, event and party, without a doubt, before it I expose an interactive referential synthesis of my time in this exciting world as it is and I define “Salsa musicalization in Caracas nightlife ”.

Maite Hontele in CONCERT!

Europe / France / Utrecht

A great musician is someone who can enlighten the stage only with his/her presence, this is the case when Maite Hontele is on stage. Full-house, the stage full of colors and all the audience is ready to dance and enjoy the best rhythm: SALSA!

International Salsa Magazine had the honor to be part of the last concert of Maite Hontele, the incredible dutch trumpeter, in Caracas, Venezuela.

The silence is interrupted with the beautiful sound of a characteristic trumpet playing a melody, the stage gets full of musicians and Maite comes out with the biggest smile that characterize her.

She starts with a speech where she explains how thankful she is for being there, talks a little bit about Colombia, and then the party starts! Two hours full of hits of herself, Oscar d’ Leon, and many other artists, with the performance of her Colombian band by her side.

But let’s get deeper in who is her. Maite Hontelé is a trumpeter who was born in Utrecht, Holland, and was raised with music. Her parents owned a huge collection of salsa and son Cubano, and every day she would listen to Latin music, quite unusual for a Dutch girl. After playing a few years with the local brass band, she decided to become a musician, and studied latin and jazz trumpet at the Conservatory of Rotterdam.

Her first big tour was life-changing. She went to Colombia, the country where she now lives. In 2004, Maite Hontelé toured with the world-famous Buena Vista Social Club. In 2009 Maite launched her first album, Llegó la Mona, a salsa-tribute to Colombian music. This album was made with the purpose to tour more in Colombia. Among the gigs she played was the Medellin Jazz Festival.

That year has been very important for her. Not only did Maite record her first album, she also found the place where she wanted to continue to live and make music. That’s when she decided to move to Medellin, Colombia.

In 2010, she released her second production, Mujer Sonora. The album is focused on oldschool styles such as son and charanga, but also contains some spicy salsa-tracks. This album was presented at the 2010 North Sea Jazz Festival, and on various international tours. In 2011 and 2012 Maite toured many countries with her band, and was a guest with Ruben Blades, Yuri Buenaventura, Issac Delgado, Diego Galé (DVD-recording), Juan Carlos Coronel, Oscar D’León, and many others.

Her 3rd album, Déjame Asi, was released in April 2013. She is currently touring Europe and Latin America.

“My Outlaw Loredo is the most elegant gig-bag in the universe. A perfect match for me!” Maite Hontelé

Maite Hontele in concer - Photo — Maite Hontele in concert – Photo

The show ends with the best energy. Maite Hontele is not only an amazing trumpeter, but also a great singer and composer. We are glad to be part of his musical journey.

Rick Arroyo

North America / USA / Las Vegas

Meet the 2008 Las Vegas Latin Music Awards Winner in two categories Best Latin Jazz Band and Best Latin Jazz Performer, Rick Arroyo. Him and the Latin Percussion Ensemble provides the very best in Steel Drums, Jazz, Latin Jazz ( Afro-Cuban and Brazilian ), Salsa for Dancing and contemporary Jazz.

Born in the Bronx, New York, Rick started playing professionally music when he was 15 years old. Began playing piano at the age of 9, drums at age 11, congas and vibraphone at the age of 14.

Composer, Arranger and Las Vegas Latin Awards Winner in 2 categories, Rick Arroyo appeared in The Coral Reef Lounge at Mandalay Bay every Monday night for four years with his 10 piece Latin dance band, The Latin Percussion Ensemble.

He has played at The Blue Note, The House Of Blues, The Rio, Aladdin, Wynn, Tropicana, Bally’s, Venetian, Stardust, Sahara, Circus Circus, Harrah’s, Imperial Palace, Monte Carlo, Gordon Biersch Brewery, The MGM Grand & MGM Grand Garden Arena, Bellagio’s, Caesar’s Palace, Mirage, Treasure Island, Orleans, Flamingo Hilton, Las Vegas Hilton, Paris Hotel, Rancho Santa Fe Station, The Stardust, New York, N.Y. ( in the George Hamilton Cigar Lounge) Green Valley Station, Boulder Station, Sam’s Town, Alexis Park Resort, Stratosphere, Fremont Street, Riviera, Primadonna, Lady Luck, Avi Casino, Red Rock Casino, Renaissance Hotel, Suncoast Casino, Furnace Creek Inn, Four Seasons and many other locations in Los Angeles, Denver and in Las Vegas.

Rick has performed at several of The City Of Lights Jazz Festivals, The Clark County Amphitheatre, The Reed Whipple Community Center and other venues including radio and television Simulcast.

Rick has recorded and played with Esteban, Tito Puente Jr. Poncho Sanchez, Steve Rossi, Luis Conte, Bill Laster, Karen Briggs, Dick Mitchell, Dan St. Marsais, Artie Webb, Francisco Aguabella, Papo Conga, Dan Weinstein, David Romero, Joe Torres, Poncho Roman, Johnny Conga, Papo Rodriguez, Tata Palau, Johnny “Dandy” Rodriguez, Ghalib Ghallab, Luis Miranda, Bobby Matos, Johnny Polanco, Pachito Alonso, Eddie Resto, Larry White, Hector Casanova, Dick Berk, Ramon Flores, Art Velasco… Shared the stage with The Yellow Jackets, Fatburger, The Rippingtons, Gerald Albright, Richard Elliot, Carl Fontana Everrett Harp, Gilberto Santa Rosa and many others.

Rick Arroyo - Collash — Rick Arroyo – Collash

He has opened for Tito Puente, Willie Chirino, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Jesus Alemany, Cubanismo, President Barack Obama, David Benoit, Richard Elliott, Michael McDonald, Donna Summers, The Beach Boys, Sammy Hagar and many others.

Rick Has performed for Jenny Jones, Maurie Povich, Oscar Goodman, Shelly Berkley, Chip Maxfield, Senator Harry Reid, Barack Obama, Monte Rock, Joe Cortez, Robin Leach, Oscar De La hoya and many other celebrities.