International Salsa Magazine

Artists

Son Divas

Latin America / Puerto Rico

Son Divas, they will revolutionize the music industry with their talent and versatility

Son Divas Logo
Son Divas Logo

After its foundation in 2017 and thanks to the efforts of its manager, Aníbal de Gracia, Son Divas has become the first most complete Women’s Orchestra in Puerto Rico in recent decades. Made up of 13 extraordinary ladies, Son Divas marks a new chapter in the musical history of our country.

Its members are professional musicians, graduated from educational institutions such as the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico, Escuela Libre de Música and the Department of Music of the Interamerican University. In addition to being musicians, its members include counselors, lawyers, and music, Spanish, and English teachers, with unparalleled academic preparation.

It has an extensive and varied repertoire of different musical genres such as salsa, merengue, American music, ballads, rock in Spanish, and without forgetting our typical, plena and bomba music. Son Divas has the perfect combination of musical quality, beauty, energy, youth and professionalism that any client would like to have in their activity.

Group members

  • Niko Camilo – Vocal
  • Lillian Aponte – Vocal
  • Karla Martínez – Piano
  • Irem Díaz – Bass
  • Daizalee M. Felix – Timbales
  • Daliz Marie – Bongó
  • Aniela Batres – Congas
  • Lianir Vales – Drums
  • Zuleyka Martinez – Sax
  • Nicole Vargas – Trombone
  • Ileana Gonzalez – Trumpet
  • Nicole Yomara – Trumpet & Musical Director
Aníbal de Gracia Presenta Son Divas
Aníbal de Gracia Presenta Son Divas

City of origin: Puerto Rico

Son Divas Orchestra, made up of 13 Puerto Rican women who will revolutionize the music industry with their talent and versatility.

Cherryline Chinea

787-449-5016

Representative

Hannibal Grace

787-568-7400

https://www.facebook.com/orqsondivas/

Aníbal de Gracia Presenta Son Divas
Aníbal de Gracia Presenta Son Divas

The Dudamel | Father and son

Latin America / Venezuela / Caracas

Oscar Dudamel, the father of Gustavo Dudamel, director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and the Simón Bolívar Orchestra of Venezuela, has been a musician for many years. Every Friday and Saturday, he receives applause from the public in the place where he plays the trombone since a small stage with “La Otra Banda de Dudamel” the Agraz ensemble, a salsa group whose main course is the songs of the duo made famous by Héctor Lavoe and Willie Colón.

Dudamel Padre e Hijo
Dudamel Father and Son

On Sundays, Oscar Dudamel has to be on the other shore and applaud standing up, as parents do, swollen with pride at the talent of their son who, with baton in hand, conducts a world-renowned Symphony Orchestra and if he think about it, his musical vein germinated from the brass bands of charanga, salsa and guaguancó.

After 10 at night it is difficult to find a place in “The Temple of Salsa”, the tickets are not sold out, but the tables and the best stalls of this place located on 7th Street that crosses Bolivar Avenue in Maracay, there fanatics and amateur dancers meet. of salsa and logically admirers of Héctor Lavoe and Willie Colón

Oscar Dudamel on the trombone is accompanied by Charly Guzmán, a talented young man who, at just 18 years old, shows the gifts of his voice; Oswaldo Agraz (musical director, piano and backing vocals), Gerardo Vargas (bass), Vicente Guzmán (timbale), Júnior Narváez (bongo), Diego Camus (conga and backing vocals), Ventura Prieto (trombone) and Johan Figueroa (alternate trombone). It is about the same format, instruments and identical distribution (the trombones next to the vocalist) of the orchestra that captivated him.

Dudamel father playing trumpet
Dudamel father playing trumpet

And it is that music often also enters through the eyes, as Oscar Dudamel says, who knew he wanted to be a trombonist when he saw Willie Colón at La Feria de la Alegría holding his instrument while puffing out his cheeks, in that In this way, it is known that the first approach of the today brilliant, young and valued Orchestra Director Gustavo Dudamel to music, was not appreciating the Tchaikovsky that he likes to conduct so much, on the contrary, it was appreciating the music that came out of the trombone of his beloved dad.

The previous June, Oscar paid homage to Hector Lavoe as usual, for commemorating years of his death. “Héctor Lavoe died on Monday, June 29, 1993 at 11:45 in the morning”, an event that he remembers with the accuracy that sad events mark, but despite the pain, with satisfaction and pride, he mentions that his son Gustavo de Only 29 years old, before entering the stage he repeats a special ritual: “Before entering New York to direct, someone asked Gustavo: ‘“Master, what are you listening to? Tchaikovsky? and Gustavo replied: ‘No, Tito Rodríguez because he gives me swing'”.

If someone were to say that Gustavo Dudamel owes a debt to Willie Colón and Héctor Lavoe for his vocation as a musician, he would not be wrong, or acknowledge his father, who has often referred that his son’s versatility is due to the fact that he always listened to popular and classical music. . “I listened to more salsa than Beethoven, that’s why it has so much rhythm,” he says with a laugh.

Dudamel Padre
Dudamel Father

“I am his number one fan. He fulfilled the goals that I, due to various circumstances, could not fulfill, he made the dream that I wanted come true. He has reached where I would have liked”, reveals the father, who sees in his son an extension of his, “ .

In a life marked by music, a soundtrack for falling in love could not be missing. It was during the visit of El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico to Barquisimeto in the late 1970s that Oscar noticed Solange Ramírez, his wife and Gustavo’s mother; Today, 30 years later, when Falsaria sounds in Maracay, the song leads him to remember that indelible moment.

Gustavo Adolfo, as his mother calls him, began playing the güiro before he was four years old; later he would build his own battery out of biscuit tins and safety helmets.

Dudamel Padre e Hijo photo
Dudamel Father and Son photo

Gustavo received his first knowledge of music from his father, who was then a trombonist with the Lara Symphony, who had plenty of passion to play and lacked patience to teach. He wanted to be a trombonist, like his father, but his small arm could not reach the instrument.

“I imagined that Gustavo was going to be a musician,” he says. “I told him: ‘You have to be the best or among the best and never lose your principles or forget where we come from.'”

At the age of seven Gustavo played the timpani with La Banda Actual and at the age of nine he arranged for this salsa orchestra in which Oscar played for 16 years and with which he met again after many years.

Gustavo Dudamel
Gustavo Dudamel

Gustavo decided on the violin, an instrument that adjusted to his size, and at home, father and son had the habit of studying while walking. There were times when one would bend down for the other to pass, so that the slide of the trombone and the bow of the violin would not trip over each other. However, popular music and academic music finally made their own meeting.

Oscar does not shake his hair, but he inflates his lungs with force and from that mouth-to-mouth breathing with his instrument, he manages to get the best out of it…. The father speaks of his salsa orchestra with the same pride that the son (Gustavo) does of his classical musicians.

Toñito Laya

Latinoamerica / Venezuela / Caracas

On this occasion we have the privilege of meeting the new Venezuelan talent Toñito Laya (singer), son of Maestro Antonio “20 DEDOS” Laya, who was one of the most significant conga players in the Venezuelan salsa movement in the 1980s, director of the “ Banbankere Orchestra” of Petare with two musical productions; giving him more than enough reason to grow in Latin music, such as “el Son”, “la Rumba“, “la Guaracha”, “el Danzón”, “Boogaloo”, “la Timba” and “la Salsa” being This is the beginning of his artistic and musical career.

Starting in the 90s, he (Toñito Laya) entered the Bigott Foundation where he had the opportunity not only to learn the various rhythms in Afro-Venezuelan percussion, but also developed as a dancer in one of the most important groups in Venezuela when it comes to popular traditions. “Vasallos del Sol”, eventually becoming “Vasallos de Venezuela” in 2016, where he had 16 concerts, productions, albums and national and international tours; Colombia, Mexico, United States, South Korea and Japan, among others.

Toñito Laya flyer
Toñito Laya flyer

In 2006, a project called “Comprehensive School of Latin Tradition Dance 100% Tumbao” began, where many dancers were trained in the Cuban Salsa Casino genre, combining this training with Venezuelan traditions, making them understand that traditions come first. Venezuelans. Then they participated in the most important events and competitions in Venezuela, they even became Latin American Champions of “CUBAMEMUCHO 2009” in the city of Caracas-Venezuela, thus managing to represent the country in the grand final to be held in the city of Munich-Germany, 2010.

He also tells us that in 2009, they were invited to participate in a new project but this time not to dance, but to “sing” in a group that by then had no name but a particular genre such as “Son Cubano” . From that moment Toñito began his musical career to develop in a somewhat unexpected way, he was a founder and assumed the commitment of being in charge of this group as one of its leading singers for more than 7 years, where the themes arose: To me that, La Ruñidera, Bilongo, El Jamaiquino, I hear a drum, among others; They were part of his first musical repertoire.

With two record productions together with the already structured band “La Séptima Bohemia” he consolidated his musical career as a singer, going through a training process with different teachers and vocal coaches such as: Ronald González, Fanny Olano, Gustavo Gerardo and Marcial Istúriz, among others. others, who would help him develop in the middle of music.

National tours, award nominations and concerts allowed him to share the stage alongside large-scale national and international groups such as: Francisco Pacheco, Canelita Medina, Alexander Abre y su Habana de Primera, Manolito y su Trabuco, El Septeto Santiaguero, José Alberto “El Canario” to mention a few. Toñito records for the year 2012, the song “She takes me”, a song that in turn would be the title of the second album becoming an icon of parties, dances and social events not only in Venezuela but in many salsa and salsa dancing countries. casino in the world.

In the year 2016 Toñito Laya arrives in Aztec land to embark on a new path, he begins by residing in the city of Cancun-Mexico to sing in some local groups and participate in various projects such as: Los Panas.com, La Formula Perfecta, Grupo Swing Latin among others.

This new stage as an artist prompts him to consider a new musical challenge but this time as a solo singer with a well-defined and focused vision, his pleasant experience as a dancer motivates him to dedicate his first promotional single “ABRE QUE VOY”, this being the complement of an orchestra, for the musicians and their singers “EL BAILADOR”.

“ABRE QUE VOY” is the result of the work of talented and renowned Venezuelan musicians who give an important plus to this Musical production of “Maurice Melo”, this first single is created, performed by Toñito Laya, in the company of the Venezuelan talent of the following musicians:

  • Piano and arrangement: Joel Uriola.
  • Bass: Jesús Torres “Mandinga”
  • Percussion: Yomar Méndez “Caballo”
  • Trombone: Jhonal Rivero.
  • Trumpet: Edward Platter.
  • Baritone sax: Michel Peña.
  • Choirs: William “Wywy” Buznego, Carlos Guzmán and Ramfis Fajardo.
  • Recorded in the studio: A Tempo Records by Heyzer Cabrera.
  • Mixing and Mastering: Heyzer Cabrera. Caracas – Venezuela 2018

If you want to meet or contact Toñito, you can follow him through:

 

Leo Mendoza and “El Sonero Natural”

Latin America / Venezuela / Caracas

Get to know the new song “El Sonero Natural” by Leo Mendoza

Did you know that great international musical talents have emerged in Venezuela? This is due to the fact that in this Latin land, the seasoning is experienced, the joy is experienced, the desire to excel is seen, they demonstrate their talent to all those who see and listen to them. In this opportunity, we have a new talent to present; Meet the Caracas musician Leonardo Mendoza, also known as “Leo Mendoza”.

He tells us that since he was a child he felt a deep inclination for music, specifically salsa, this was because his father Héctor Mendoza, a record collector, was always putting on music, from salsa bands such as: Johnny Pacheco, Héctor Lavoe, Oscar D León, Rubén Blades, Willie Colon, among others.

Leo Mendoza and “El Sonero Natural”
Leo Mendoza and “El Sonero Natural”

This was only the first indication of his inclination and dedication to music, especially to singing in the salsa genre, practicing his favorite artists even within his family gatherings; Starting in 2008, he joined the group “Salsa Son y Fuego”, where he worked for 2 years, and thus continued his path of musical training until in 2016, participating in a festival organized by the Mayor’s Office of Caracas, he competed with a theme of his authorship entitled “Sonero al Natural” receiving the ovation and acceptance of the viewing public.

Intruments of Leo Mendoza and “El Sonero Natural”
Intruments of Leo Mendoza and “El Sonero Natural”

The qualifying jury was made up of Mariana Guevara the “Sonera de Venezuela”, Cheo Valenzuela “El Sonero de la Dulzura”, Juan José “el Indio” Hernández and the teacher Andy Durán, with their participation he managed to achieve 3 mentions, best unpublished song, 2nd place as interpreter and best arrangement of the song “Sonero al Natural” by Maestro José “Tuky” Torres, on this occasion he presents his first single “Sonero al Natural”, which is an invitation to good rumba and feeling sonero… If you want to know more about Leo Mendoza or his new musical theme, find out through:

 

Papo Lucca. The Giant of the South

Latin America / Puerto Rico

Papo Lucca born in Ponce, Puerto Rico on April 2, 1946, Enrique ‘Papo’ Lucca began playing the piano at age 11 with his father’s orchestra. Initially, La Ponceña played versions of tropical hits of the moment by bands like Cortijo y su Combo and La Sonora Matancera.

Papo Lucca. The Giant of the South
Papo Lucca. The Giant of the South

In the late 1960s, Papo became the orchestra’s musical director, beginning a profound transformation that would eventually establish la Ponceña as one of the most progressive groups in the history of Afro-Caribbean music. Papo’s orchestrations were bold, experimenting with elements of jazz, rock, and Brazilian music. Representing the authentic spirit of Puerto Rican salsa, his piano solos were velvety, displaying elegance, restraint, and infinite swing.

During the mid-’70s, La Ponceña began to enjoy unprecedented success with critics and the public. The band recorded for the Inca label, which eventually became part of the Fania empire. Papo was invited to arrange and play on sessions for the company’s biggest artists, including Johnny Pacheco, Celia Cruz and Cheo Feliciano. He also recorded and toured with the Fania All Stars.

This compilation pays tribute to the art of Papo Lucca through 14 classic songs recorded between 1967 and 1981. Although Lucca has recorded as a solo artist and also collaborated with a multitude of salsa stars, it is his work with La Ponceña that best expresses the clarity of his vision.

The music we make has to make people happy, as well as make them dance. That’s what it’s all about, says Lucca from her home in Puerto Rico. When the public can dance, no matter how complicated the music is. The first theme that this genre had was to divulge the things that happened in the different communities, as if it were a newspaper.

Our journey begins with two fiery songs from the beginnings of La Ponceña: “Hachero Pa’Un Palo” and “Fuego En El 23” are versions of songs by Cuban Arsenio Rodríguez. La Ponceña always had a soft spot for Puerto Rican folklore, but she also found inspiration in the golden age of Cuban music.

La Sonora Ponceña
La Sonora Ponceña

The precise moment in which La Ponceña becomes a mature orchestra in total control of its aesthetics can be found in the six songs from the Musical Conquest/Conquista Musical and El Gigante Del Sur albums. Launched on the market in 1976 and 1977 respectively, they represent the pinnacle of the salsa movement.

These songs combine a musical skill that approaches virtuosity with deep lyrics and a generous sense of humor. “Ñáñara Caí” is a hilarious narrative of pure magical realism, describing a world where everything is turned upside down (my favorite phrase: I saw a cow/Hit with Pacheco). Also included in Musical Conquest, “El Pío Pío” achieves the perfect cross between Afro-Cuban rhythm and contagious pop. This hit is a mandatory part of all La Ponceña concerts.

The opening theme of the El Gigante Del Sur album, “Boranda” seems to offer a salsa version of progressive rock. Its lyrics contain an important sociopolitical message, and the sophistication of its arrangement is a slap in the face for all those who believe that this music is only for dancing. “Soy Tan Feliz” combines bolero climates with an electric piano solo that recalls the psychedelic sound of jazz-rock from the ’70s. “Noche Como Boca ‘E Lobo” creates a tasty collision between salsa fever and Brazilian rhythms.

Lucca was not alone in his mission to reinvent the rules of Puerto Rican dance music. It was also benefited by the prowess of some of the best instrumentalists on the island. Furthermore, his instinct for choosing singers was always irreproachable.

Some of the vocalists of la Ponceña that appear here are Tito Gómez, who would later find fame with the Grupo Niche de Colombia; the inimitable Luigi Texidor, who gave a sense of placidity to all the songs he performed; and Yolanda Rivera, who added variety to the band’s sound with her unique timbre.

One of Rivera’s happiest moments is included here: Coming from 1980’s Unchained Force, Johnny Ortiz’s “Borinquen” is a soulful anthem to Puerto Rico, blessed with a sinuous melody and subtle instrumental arrangement–one of Rivera’s happiest moments. transcendental within the Ponceña canon.

The golden days of salsa are a distant memory in the new millennium, but Papo Lucca hasn’t stopped shining. Perhaps precisely because he continues to record new music, he refuses to idealize the past when I ask him what his favorite album with “La Ponceña.”

The last one, the most recent, he explained in his characteristically introverted tone. All the albums are very important in the career of the orchestra. They all fulfilled their mission at the time, which was to reaffirm the previous one. That’s the way to maintain a pool after 50 years.

Papo Lucca
Papo Lucca

The teacher was a little more direct when I asked him about his favorite concert of all time.

It was my first concert with the Fania All Stars at Madison Square Garden, back in 1974, he said. All the stars of the Fania were still alive. A few years later we played in front of 47,000 people in Cali. My knees always shake before I go on stage, but this time they shook a little more.