Biography

International Salsa Magazine presents the Dj, Jeferson Flores, triumphing in Europe

Currently, they are known through the abbreviation “Dj” or the term “deejay” respectively, and in previous times, they were called “disc jockey”, to those people, which select and mix recorded music and thus be heard by a certain audience, thus issuing its sound in locations such as: discos, mini clubs, clubs, dances, events, concerts, bars, restaurants and rumbas, demonstrating their versatility, knowledge and bringing joy to their followers, listeners and dancers.

In this issue of International Salsa Magazine, we present a Venezuelan musician, selector or dj, who is currently triumphing outside our borders and extolling the name of our country.

We refer to Jeferson Flores, born in Caracas in 1992, and from a very young age he was inclined to music, because his father, also worked as a professional dj of salsa music rhythm and this somehow influenced Flores to learn the trade and legacy acquired thanks to his father.

Beginning with only 15 years of age to musicalize, using in first place the formats of compact discs “cds” and “cuatromil quinientos”, in the Caracas saraos known as “Picoteros” and in the remembered “Minitecas”, and in second place demonstrates his skill in the “plates”, when using the formats of discs in acetates or vinyl, selecting salsa for the dancer and he also commented us that with the passing of the years and until the present time, he stands out and characterizes himself for being a professional salsa dj; he stands out and is characterized for being a “dj crossover”, that is to say, what it means in the Spanish language, dedicated to “mix” with the use of “controllers” his excellent musical repertoire. International Trajectory.

The performance abroad of our guest of this month in International Salsa Magazine, has been quite extensive and successful, beginning to work in Colombia, where he worked as a “resident dj” for five years in a prestigious nightclub in Bogota, then began his period, musicalizing in Ecuador, Poland, Germany and is currently based and makes professional life in Barcelona, Spain, being described by specialists as one of the “Dj Crossover” more complete and versatile, placing Latin music in their dances. And as a result of his excellent performance in the Iberian country, he was the winner last year of the “Latino de Oro” award, in the categories: Salsa Dj and Dj Crossover, respectively, and by the way, in this year’s edition 2024, he has been nominated again in both categories for this award, considered one of the most important of the music in the European continent.

As for his most recent performances as a “musical selector”, last Saturday, June 28, he was mixing salsa at a location in the city of Marbella, Spain, in an event called “Venezuelan Night”, and next Saturday, July 6, he travels to Madrid to make the rumberos of the “mother country” enjoy, integrating the line-up of the Dj show, the “Fiesta Blanca”, alternating in this opportunity with the musicalizers: Reni Herrera, Ditxon Mercado, Dj Argenis and Dj “El Negrito Caliente”.

Finally – he told us – Jeferson that his work in Spain has been very well liked and he is one of the most requested Djs in the rumbas every weekend. His social networks and contacts are, instagram: jefersonfloresoficial2, facebook: Yeferson Flores, Tik tok: @jefersonflores457, Youtube: jefferson flores.

Email: [email protected], Booking: +34691292564. From International Salsa Magazine in Palo Alto, CA www.salsagoogle.com, we wish Dj Jeferson Flores, the best of success and continue to succeed in Europe for the pride of Venezuelans, always putting good salsa for the dancer …! Until next time and let’s keep on salsaing. Dj. Augusto Felibertt and Carlos Alberto Colmenárez Oropeza.

The first DJ was British radio engineer Ron Diggins.

Contrary to what many may imagine, it was not a bohemian musician in a garage or some friends in a ghetto. The first DJ was British radio engineer Ron Diggins, who in 1949 invented the Diggola, which today is considered the first “mixing desk” in the history of music. The home-built Diggola had two turntables, lights, microphones, amplifier, speakers and was built on a wooden coffin (yes, coffin) base.

With his Diggola at the ready, and like a good DJ, he loaded his equipment into a van and began playing records at the hundreds of UK events where he was hired, causing the crowd to go wild. “I didn’t invent anything, I just put the same things to a different use,” he commented in the magazines of the time, never imagining that his creation would be the beginning of a revolution in music, where DJ’s and beatmakers would take beats to every corner of the planet.

Ron Diggins, throughout his life, played records in more than 20 thousand parties, retiring only in 1995, after 46 years of career in front of the decks. Passionate about music, he passed away in 2011 at the age of 91, leaving an eternal legacy.

In 2020 it will be 25 years since Diggins retired from the dancefloors. And we commemorate it with music, without a minute of silence, because a life with silence is the last thing the first DJ in history wanted.

Article written by @comte_con_eme, member of the Urban Roosters Army.

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Yes, I speak the ancient African Lucumi toungue: The second language of salsa

Many Latin Americans have left the name of their culture very high around the world, making people from other nationalities and even continents feel fascinated by these elements and end up adopting them as their own. Such is the case of Nigerian Oluwakemi Odusnya, better known as Kemi, who has been kind enough to share with us a little of her story, her knowledge of the Lucumi language and her relationship with Latin music.

people practicing Yoruba — A group of people practicing the Yoruba religion

Kemi’s coming to the United States

Kemi tells us that she was born in Nigeria, but moved to the United States when she turned 18 in search of a better future for herself. That was more than 10 years ago, so the young woman already had a good idea of how things are handled in her country of residence.

Taking advantage that this is the land of opportunity, she studied computer science and graduated as a software engineer, the profession she is in now.

Additionally, she discovered other passions and hobbies such as Latin music and dancing, especially tango, but we will talk about that a little later on.

In his country of origin, he learned to speak English, which is the official language of Nigeria, and Lucumi, which we will talk about in the next section.

Lucumi and its relationship with Latin music

After talking a little bit about her personal life, Kemi went on to explain what the Lucumi language was and how it was perceived today. Contrary to what many online sources might say on the subject, the Nigerian explained that Lucumi and Yoruba were pretty much the same thing, but with a different name.

The group of people who spoke Locumi are no longer called that way because many Nigerians have moved to other countries, so there are other terms to define them today.

Kemi moved on by explaining that, in her country, there are about 300 languages in general, but the official one is English. This in order that the speakers of the other languages can communicate with each other without any problem. Among these native languages, we can mention the ”Pidgin English” which is the result of mixing English with elements from local languages.

In the specific place Kemi grew up, villagers speak Yoruba, which was formerly known as Lucumi. The name change of the language and many terms used in it have been the direct reault of the immigration of many Nigerians to other countries, especially to the West.

In Kemi’s particular case, she was pleasantly surprised to discover the lyrics of Celia Cruz and to find many of the words of her own Lucumi language.

Lucumi and Latin music

For Kemi, the relationship between Lucumi and a part of Latin music is more than evident. Something that particularly caught his attention was that several songs by Cuban artists constantly made reference to the Yoruba divinities: Oshun, Yemayá, Changó, Elegguá, Oggun, Oyá and Obbatalá.

”For me it was very impressive to see the extent of our culture, since there are many Africans who have had to leave their lands in search of a better place to live, but they do not want to distance themselves emotionally from their country. On the contrary, they want to be as connected as best they can to their country and Latin music, specifically Cuban music, is an excellent tool to stay bonded to their roots” said Kemi on the subject.

”Many just like me who have come to this country find in Latin music and dance a way to stay connected to our traditions. Sometimes, even we feel that we and Latinos have the same ancestors,” Kemi says with a laugh.

How new generations perceive Yoruba culture and its elements

Something Kemi pointed out is that the new Nigerian generations no longer perceive Yoruba culture in the same way. In fact, a large portion of the immigration from the African country no longer feels a real connection with the customs of their own country because they became ”westernized” in some way, especially the younger part.

Another important detail highlighted by Kemi is that, in today’s Nigeria, Santeria and other religions like that have begun to be perceived as dark, so many people no longer feel comfortable practicing these cults. In fact, there has been a rise of Christianity and Islam in the country, so not a few locals ended up designing their own ritual by mixing these religions with Yoruba culture so that the latter is not seen as impure.

Those who practice the Yoruba religion in Nigeria are aware that their worship is a mixture of Yoruba culture and Christianity, but they can not say it openly because it looks bad,” Kemi says about this.

To close, Kemi also said that she is neither a Santera nor a practitioner of any religion. Her family is Muslim and she grew up adhering to Islam, but that changed when she moved to the United States. Today, she has a great deal of respect for these aspects of the Yoruba religion, but does not perform any of these practices.

Kemi in our interview — Kemi during our interview via Zoom

Kemi’s love for tango

Kemi has a great love for tango, to the point that she practices it two or three times a week for entertainment and physical activity.

Initially, Kemi enjoyed dancing salsa because it reminded her so much of the music of her homeland and Yoruba culture, but after some health complications on her hips, she had to opt for something slower and calmer. That’s when she started to try tango and ended up liking it very much.

After the pandemic, she found that there was a dance academy near he rhome, which motivated her to dance tango to the point where these lessons have become a very important part of her life. She also sees dancing as a way to connect with others and be on the same page.

Rubby Haddock is one of the greatest exponents of our most danceable Latin Music in the Island of Enchantment

Our orchestra was born at the end of 1969, year in which we also began to record the 1st production “Presenting” which was released at the end of 1970.

Many talented musicians have passed through our orchestra such as Juancito Torres, Mario Ortiz, Rey Santos, Frank Morell, Hugo Dumont and many more that we will mention later.

Rubby Haddock is one of the greatest exponents of our most danceable Latin Music in the Island of Enchantment

Singers such as Sergio Cariño, Juan Acosta, Raul Carbonell Jr., Tony Rivas, Cucho Caro, Andres Reyes, Pedro Arroyo, Ricky Ramos, Tito Gomez, Yolanda Rivera, Eddie Rosario and Johnny Maldonado.

Rubby Haddock is one of the greatest exponents of good Latin music. His orchestra is known as one of the most danceable “Big Bands” on the Island.

He is called “El Maestro” by his followers and fellow artists. Because of his long artistic career, exposed to the world of show business, Rubby has become one of the best connoisseurs in the history of Latin music.

Born in Manhattan, New York on February 6th to Puerto Rican parents. His mother lived in Miami most of her life and in the late 60’s his father, Ruben Haddock who was a musician in New York, founded the most famous Dance Club in Puerto Rico, MIRAMAR CENTER when he owned El Club Coameño in Rio Piedras and El Club Caborrojeño in Bayamon.

A glorious time where his Producer Father brought to the Island of Puerto Rico the biggest stars of Latin music such as: TITO RODRIGUEZ, TITO PUENTE, LA LUPE, EDDIE PALMIERI, RICKY RAY, JOEY PASTRANA, JOE CUBA, WILLY COLON, HECTOR LAVOE, LARRY HARLOW, ISMAEL MIRANDA, CHIVIRICO DAVILA, TNT BAND among others, besides being manager and producer of ROBERTO Y SU NUEVO MONTUNO.

Rubby Haddock grew up with his father as a teenager in Puerto Rico within the entire business operation of Don Ruben, knowing these top stars of our music and hence the vein of musician and producer during his artistic career and experience in show business.

Celebrating the Rubi of Salsa Rubby Haddock. One of the greatest exponents of good Latin music

Rubby Haddock studied piano but showed that his passion was playing trombone.

For the years 1972 under the label UNIART, Rubby Haddock launches his first record production, “PRESENTING ORCH HADDOCK” becoming a powerful hit on the Island with the musical cut MONACILLO Y CORREA COTTO as some of the hits of this production.

In this first stage of Rubby’s musical career are among the different recordings: “PRESENTING”, “ASI ME LLAMAN”, “LA LEYENDA”, “DE REGRESO”, “UNLIMITED”, “2ND CONCIERTO FAMILIA TH”, “THE ENTERTAINER”, “THE ENTERTINER 2”, “OTRA VEZ”, “SALSA TROPICAL”, “EL RUBI DE LA SALSA”, “PASAPORTE MUSICAL”, “EL RUBI DE LA SALSA” and “PASAPORTE MUSICAL”.

In the second stage of his career, in 1978, when Rubby was the most popular in Puerto Rico with the song “Son Los Nervios”, one of the songs that propelled merengue on the island, Rubby surprised everyone by joining the U.S. Armed Forces in San Antonio Texas and Washington State, where in addition to completing medical courses, he also completed his Bachelor of Music Education at the Universities of Puget Sound and Pacific Lutheran.

In the 9th Infantry Div. Rubby became a member of the 9th Infantry Division Band where in addition to the Division Military Orchestra, Rubby most enjoyed the experience of being a member of the JAZZ ENSEMBLE BAND and the Big Band Jazz.

It didn’t take long for some of these great musicians to come and join Rubby’s Orchestra… At the request of a great Puerto Rican friend, and high ranking Army officer Eddie Velez, Rubby agreed to form his Orchestra back in Tacoma Washington State.

Remembering beautiful moments lived outside of his homeland until 1980, when he returned to Puerto Rico for a recording contract with the firm TH RECORDS, In this “come-back” in his return to Puerto Rico for the 80’s Rubby produces one of his most successful works: “De Regreso” with songs like: A Mi Jibarita, El Amor, Maria Teresa, Sra. Temptation with singers Raul Carbonell and Tony Rivas.

At the end of the 80’s Rubby Haddock ventured into Puerto Rican television, Wapa TV and Telemundo Channel 2, as producer of shows such as “Un puertorriqueño para la Historia (José Feliciano)”, New Year’s Eve Specials, etc.

Rubby Haddock y Sus Amigos, where the most prestigious artists such as: José José, José Feliciano, Mongo Santamaría, Barry Rogers, Eddie Palmieri, Julio Angel, and many more paraded in this section produced within the Midday Show. …. This show remained on the air for five and a half years.

By 1992 Rubby Haddock y su Orquesta represented Puerto Rico in the Puerto Rican Pavilion at Expo 1992 in Seville, Spain.

In the mid 90’s, although Rubby still continued as the Director of his Orchestra, he also ventured as an Entrepreneur with his own commercial Advertising Agency, where in addition to directing the entire operation of the agency Haddock & Haddock Adv, he was also the Creative, being in charge of all the production of Radio, Press and Television commercials for all the clients of the Agency.

By that time Rubby had already founded his own Recording Studio (Pentagrama Round), where he produced his three most recent productions of this decade in addition to sharing recordings for artist friends such as: Omar Alfano with Son By 4, it was from this studio that hits such as “A puro Dolor” were released.

His recording engineer was the outstanding engineer Sonny Hernandez. With him he shared works with artists such as: Danny Rivera, Andrés Jiménez, Ismael Miranda, Elvis Crespo, Melina León, Edwin Colon Sayas, Trió Borinquén, and others.

In 2000 Rubby moved to the United States where he currently lives. His fans constantly ask him to re-form his Orchestra because they miss his music and they also ask him for a compilation of his hits and a “Historia DVD” exposing the History of his Salsa, which seems to be Rubby Haddock’s next endeavor as an Artist.

Rubby has 3 sons, the first 2 Reuben Haddock and Rubby Haddock Jr, dedicated their careers to the business world and his youngest son Randy Haddock, who currently lives in New York, is a musician, singer and composer, already demonstrating great talent and the vein that comes from Don Ruben (grandfather) and Rubby (his father).

A very special thanks to Edgar Berrio and all the staff of Las Leyendas Vivas De La Salsa #8 for this great recognition, on behalf of Rubby Haddock and his family

Sources:

https://www.rubbyhaddock.com/news

pequi34 via Musica.com

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Rocío Hernández is the Announcer and General Producer of “La Metrópolis”, an entertainment radio program broadcast every Thursday in Caracas

Rocio Del Valle Hernandez Diaz, better known as Rocio Hernandez, Venezuelan born in the current state of La Guaira, in its capital La Guaira where all the people from Guaira or Vargas were born, at that time it was Vargas, until its current change of name of the entity.

I was born on July 20, 1986, here in my beautiful country Venezuela, I come from a working class family with strong Spanish ancestry and a little bit of Venezuelan indigenous race, which I am very proud of my roots, all Venezuelans have a mixture of European, indigenous and African, we carry it in our blood.

Rocío Hernández is the announcer and general producer of "La Metrópolis", an entertainment program broadcast every Thursday in Caracas — Rocío Hernández is the announcer and general producer of “La Metrópolis”, an entertainment program broadcast every Thursday in Caracas

I am 37 years old and I am the mother of a beautiful, intelligent and magical 10 year old girl, who came into my life in 2014.

The eldest of 3 sisters, all of whom are professionals in this country, and Aunt of 1 niece and 1 nephew.

My family is a fundamental support for the development of my entire career, which I will now tell you, thanks to them my parents and sisters always move forward with work, honesty, respect, responsibility and education, values instilled in our home always.

Current resident in the state of La Guaira, specifically in the Carayaca Parish.

Administrator in Customs and International Trade graduated from the Universidad Simon Bolivar USB and Universidad Marítima del Caribe UMC, professionally my main base as a career.

It has been almost 20 years of career in this area of administration and international trade. I am a University Teacher specifically in the area of English Language in its teaching as a foreign language for 2 universities in this country currently I have worked for other institutions teaching Arancel de Aduanas, economic integration, foreign trade , also advertising and marketing, budgeting, marketing for careers such as graphic design, interior design and advertising and marketing ,additionally I got certified in Radio Voiceover in 2018 I started those studies from 2017 to 2018 in the Latin American Institute of voiceover in the Chacao municipality in the city of Caracas.

This study I did in parallel to my work in the administrative area of finance during that time, at that time. Which I started and finished satisfactorily.

The radio broadcasting certification gave us, radio production, radio technical equipment management, diction, public speaking, brand positioning and networking for that time, a very complete course, which allowed us to develop all our skills and abilities to speak into a radio microphone and the general public, this certification required us to design a real radio program, with 1 month test airing with real production, real guests, real recording and airing in a real way, on the web platform (www.radiosinprecedentes.com. ve) of the institute once a week for 1 month, at that time with my study group we designed this format The Metropolis with the help of the teacher of the subject of production is how this group of 5 people 4 women and 1 man designed the format of the program “The Metropolis”, which helped us to pass the subject, practice and experience a radio program which remained as a sketch there, to use in the future if we wanted so, at present each one went different ways inside and outside the country, and have developed different types of programs in the area where they work or simply do not practice radio broadcasting.

In my case I always dreamed of having my own radio space after getting certified because for a natural and authentic reason, from the bottom of my heart I wanted to take the course to get certified and practice radio broadcasting, even if it was for 15 minutes something short or long.

But it was not until the year 2023 that opened the door to have my radio space, after knocking on about 2 to 3 doors, through a lifelong friend who knew I was looking for the opportunity, I was offered this opportunity by the board of IUS radio an innovative radio, and offered me the schedule accepting the proposal and these coincidences and without chronicities of life and destiny, has allowed me to develop The Metropolis every week on Thursdays from 11am to 12pm. Radio space which I am going to comment below:

La Metrópolis an entertainment program transmitted every Thursday from 11am to 12pm by the platform or website www.iusradio.com.ve, in which I am the announcer and main producer of the space, this radio space is a place where we announce and recommend the best places to enjoy and visit in Greater Caracas hence its name La Metrópolis we inform about what is there, what is happening, what is happening, what is new in the most important area of our country, La Guaira, Caracas and Miranda.

This includes all the human beings that live here and their daily activities of importance and impact, human, social, musical, productive, scientific, educational, artistic, cultural, business, commercial, among others, everything that makes life here.

That is why we started in this first year with 3 original sections that I am going to talk about:

Section 1 La Tienda: Varied national and international news. Guide of places to visit and activities in the great caraca.

Section 2 El Café: Space for interviewing our guests (people who contact us or contact me or the production of the station).

Section 3 El Coctel: Space for interaction with our public, contests, gifts, with our fans, collaborators and society.

And that contact with whatsapp networks, Facebook, Instagram, X, fixed or cell phone.

Already after this year, on our own initiative and together with the production of ius radio, an innovative radio station, La Metrópolis has released 2 new sections of our own creation, which I will name below:

Section 4. Cinema City: Space of anecdotes, historical and current curiosities of the 7th art, Cinema.

Section 5 La Pasarela: Space for current trends in national and international fashion.

These sections have these original names to associate them to the city since they are allusive to the activities that we live in a City.

The musicalization is under my selection and musical taste. The musical cut is Pop and Rock in Spanish and English, Ballads in English and Spanish, Bossa Nova, Jazz, Ryth and blues, Venezuelan music, music of national talent, classics of always, Latin music only Salsa, Merengue and finally Rap and Reggaetón, keeping a close eye on the content of messages and lyrics that are not offensive and out of order for our esteemed, valued and exclusive radio audience of my program and the station. I am and we are careful in that out of respect for our listening audience and the national communication laws.

At this time the Metropolis has an approximate or regular audience of 100 to 200 people estimated, with low and high peaks.

This is how in the section in the coffee everyone’s favorite we always have our guests here we have had the opportunity to have in the booth, interviewing from film directors, actresses, singers, dancers, musicians, educators, doctors, lawyers, artisans, music DJ, motivational Coach, holistic healers, therapists, publicists, musical groups, dance groups, music academies, journalists, writers of books and stories, who make life inside and outside the country, but have a common denominator, they have a dream and make this country a better country to live, they are useful to them, their families and society.

A space to project them, and allow them to express and show what they do and their impact, this is how La Metropolis is ready to support any activity that allows human development in its maximum expression. Trusting that we will reach more public with more frontiers promoting everything positive for people for the coming years of professional work.

Rocio Hernandez is a Broadcaster and General Producer of "La Metropolis". — Rocio Hernandez is a Broadcaster and General Producer of “La Metropolis”.

So after all written about me, which I do in parallel with my work as a mother, daughter, sister, and administrative and teaching professional at present, I want to tell you that the satisfaction is great to achieve all these activities in a professional manner within the radio broadcasting, which is a magical, recreational space within a work of continuous learning, it is more than a dream, It is a hobby, it is a passion, it is a love to do radio, and I feel very proud and happy to do this activity for me and for all the people of the medium and for the public and Venezuelan people who need it so much, thanks to my producer and the entire team of the station and its directors who support us in making quality content for our country, with the greatest and deepest love and respect for this activity. With gratitude always.

Thank you for this opportunity to show and express myself.

Rocío is a Broadcaster and General Producer of "La Metrópolis". — Rocío is a Broadcaster and General Producer of “La Metrópolis”.

Facebook: Rocio Hernandez

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Eukaris Figeroa

Latin American / Venezuela / Caracas

Eukaris Figeroa. I don’t imitate Celia Cruz

Five years ago, Eukaris Figueroa dared to initiate an investigation into Celia Cruz. A work came out of that work, La guarachera del mundo.

Figueroa is also in charge of directing and producing the play. It explores from Cruz’s beginnings, in 1950, until his death, in 2003; addressing his personal life and ailments.

Where did that idea of presenting the life of the sauce boat come from?

When I decided to launch myself as a singer 10 years ago, I visited his grave in New York and asked his permission, not to take his place, but to perpetuate the salsa genre. Later, I began to investigate his life and this montage emerged, which I am very proud of. This is the second season and we hope it will be as well received as the first.

Was it easy to interpret a character as mediatic as she?

There is no imitation here. There is, yes, a lot of admiration. And the public will realize this in the monologue of the piece, where they will discover things that she wanted to do, but could not and that she did not see on a stage either. Impersonators always make her old and fat. And no. Celia was also a very beautiful young woman.

Doesn’t her nickname “The sexy salsa babe” pigeonhole her and distance her from the image of Celia?

The fact that I have made myself known like this does not imply that I do not have training and that I do not worry about studying. It was the way I got them to notice me, and I did it.

But behind these curves there are many hours of work. An orchestra of 14 musicians. This montage that I am passionate about does not separate me from my career as a salsa singer. Everything is complemented to offer the best to the public.