June

The singer and songwriter of Puerto Rican descent, Luis Figueroa, is one of Sony Music’s most recent acquisitions. Most recently… La Luz is now available on all digital platforms. Listen to it HERE.

He is not new to the music scene. He brings experience from other sounds and has been nominated twice for a Latin Grammy. For Luis Figueroa, the recently signed Sony Music talent, success in the salsa sound is already assured.

Proof of this is that he has already performed on the most important salsa stage in the world, during the 39th edition of the National Salsa Day at the Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  The salsa public is betting on him, and Sony Music seems to know it.

He says he has not come to the salsa scene to change anything. He claims “to have come to make a new chapter in what salsa is and to leave my essence within what inspired me and motivated me to be a salsa artist…Learning from the pioneers, who also had resistance in their time. In spite of that, salsa erotica and salsa romántica came to stay.”

He started early on and decided to combine his academic and artistic work. From his academic application, he approached music as a business, which is very encouraging for the tropical genres.

Luis confesses that it was always clear to him that he “was not going to be just another one of the horrendous stories that have been heard about the contractual environment”.

For the singer and composer it was “extremely important to know the business side of the music business, to know the contractual aspect and to protect my copyrights”.

Luis is an artist with his sights set high and his feet on the ground.  He is a humanistic and transparent person, allowing the positive in every story to prevail. He has been very judicious in applying the advice that more experienced artists offer him in good faith.

He recalls that when he was barely eight or nine years old, Gilberto Santa Rosa told him, “you have to keep studying because we are tired of brute singers, you know?” Luis took that statement almost as an instruction.  Eventually, he managed to get accepted into Berklee College of Music, from where he graduated with a concentration in Song Writing and Music Business.

As soon as he finished college, the invitations and requests from different producers began.

He came to Sony Music through Magnus with Marc Anthony’s endorsement, but he was polishing his songwriting skills with the band Magic. He says he was not fluent in Spanish at the time. However, his mother always instilled in him the obligation he owed to himself to keep his mother tongue, Spanish, alive.

Although he learned the structure and mechanics of songwriting in Los Angeles trying to keep the focus on both languages, he didn’t feel the confidence with Spanish that he had with English.

Nevertheless, his development as a songwriter flowed. Before signing with Sony Music, in 2018, he had the opportunity to position a single with Sebastian Yatra, spreading nothing more and nothing less than the urban pop hit, Por perro, which is from his audit.

Today he reflects and understands that Por perro opened doors for him as a composer in both the American and Latin markets. Por perro has accumulated over 654 million views on YouTube and reached #16 on Billboard’s Latin Pop Songs chart. In addition, RIAA® certified it 4X-Platinum. And, the video went on to be nominated for Video of the Year at the 2019 HTV Heat Awards. Luis presented this single during Romeo Santos’ Golden Tour in stadiums throughout Latin America to sold-out crowds.

Says the artist, “We came to Sony at a time when we were not signed as a salsa artist. We were still finding our style, we wanted to go more on the urban pop side. We did songs for Janis and Sebastián Yatra and Manuel Turizo. I think from sharing with different songwriters on the Latin side I was able to develop more with my ideas and now I have the ability to be able to compose songs completely my own. It took me about four or five years to be able to generate that confidence to compose and to have the audacity to expose my inspiration.”

For Luis it was surprising that his interpretation of Hasta el sol de hoy was so well received.  For a moment he thought he was going to hear something like: “you’re crazy, like this is not what we want you to do”, but it was precisely that song one of the bases of the bridge that managed to unite the urban aspect to salsa.

With that hit, which is already a salsa classic, Luis Figueroa made the transition that turned him into a trend. With that song he continued to be known and received massive support. With that song he gained more confidence, not only in the compositions he was creating, but also strengthened his career within the salsa sound. Luis has nourished himself from other genres, refreshing and enriching salsa.

Salsa fans have long been calling for new injections of talent and suggesting new nuances. Luis seems to have picked up on those ideas, sharing new energy gained from his time in bachata, urban, romantic and pop.

I also find it fascinating that this recent salsa convert has made the long-awaited crossover from Spanish to English in reverse; that is, the innovative route from English to Spanish.  That reverse crossover gave Luis a clear understanding of the artistic route he is passionate about and which seems to be one in a continual evolutionary process.

Maybe that is the key, what made him one of the fastest growing exponents of salsa, of the so-called new generation.  He attributes this growth to the audacity to continue creating, which in turn has strengthened his roots in what he does: music. He reflects and affirms that: “seeing my friends take songs of mine, seeing them grow and seeing them be so successful gave me confidence in my pencil, as a composer on the Latin side, although it took me a while. Initially, I took the easy route; doing covers and interpretations of different songs, but I set out to focus on composing and I succeeded.

Before salsa it was bachata. The Caribbean rhythm was all around it.  When he was working with Romeo Santos, his life was all bachata. “I was living, sleeping, singing and speaking in the language of bachata music that inspired me a lot. That’s where my compositions began to stand out, while I was doing backing vocals for Romeo Santos and Juan Luis Guerra on certain songs. It was in that environment that he came into contact with my interpretation.”

However, his greatest inspiration is Jerry Rivera and he considers himself fortunate to have many mentors and several godfathers in salsa, including Johnny Rivera, whom he thanks for lending him a hand and his collaboration in various projects.

Artists such as Tito Allen, Marc Anthony’s musical director Angel Fernandez, Johnny Rivera and Ray Sepulveda have all been supportive. Songs like the one catapulted by the eternal daddy of salsa, Frankie Ruiz, Esta cobardía, and Borinquen -from the pen of Johnny Ortiz- in voice of Yolanda Rivera managed to tattoo themselves in his musical formation.

Two of the aforementioned referents, Tito Allen and Yolanda Rivera were performing on the same stage of the 39th edition of the National Zalsa Day, which was given by Luis Figueroa. For his part, the famous Borinquen composer, Johnny Ortiz, witnessed the great concert accompanied by his most loyal fans in the front row.

Other composers who have influenced Luis are: “The composer of Hasta el sol de hoy – Gustavo Márquez – and Omar Alfano, with whom I had the opportunity to share the stage in Panama when I went to share the stage with great musicians, opening a Marc Anthony concert”.

Luis says he doesn’t mind having the same blueprint of all the others who came before him, and adds: “if you see all my songs, they have to be four or five pregones. The songs from the times before were six minutes, five interludes, they were eight minutes long.” He says he has taken the basic structure to merge it with the modern one on the urban side of salsa. He assures to have adapted because the times require agility in the processes. Having refreshed the salsa scene is one of his great achievements, and by leaps and bounds, hand in hand with Sony Music Luis Figueroa reached the National Salsa Day, the most important salsa stage in the world.

Luis made it to the finish line. Of course, he can’t afford to relax his spirits in this competitive environment.  Nor can he afford to listen to criticism from detractors. His innovative spirit and the freshness of his pen make this salsa singer one of infinite possibilities and a forceful pace. From my corner, I will be supporting him, not only because of the clarity of what he is doing.

The public that follows salsa will support it because we all need salsa to do well. The coalition that we call salsa is now one of action and not complaints, because there is no Musical Productions, because there is no Fania, because everything has been changing, and now that the record companies have reduced their footprint, I affirm as a researcher, that there is nothing more true than the saying: “Nobody knows what he has until he loses it”.

I know that Luis is prepared for what is coming, and more. I know that he will continue to move forward like the snowball that continues to grow and as it moves, it becomes unstoppable. He has already reached the stage of the National Zalsa Day.  He is no longer an emerging artist, nor a new artist.  He arrived at the plaza by way of triumph.  Luis Figueroa is a fully-fledged salsa artist. What remains is for him to continue.

What’s next… For those who continue his unstoppable rise, the question is: What’s next? Luis Figueroa arrives with the album, Voy a ti, which includes the single, Bandido. We’ll keep an eye out for the release of what is sure to be another hit.

Chronology of an evolving salsero:

Awarded at the 2016 Premios Juventud for his version of Flor Pálida, performing with Marc Anthony.

In mid-2017, after being discovered through several videos uploaded on his YouTube page, Luis signed with Magnus Media, Marc Anthony’s entertainment company. His performance of Flor Pálida won him a Premio Juventud for Best Video Cover.

Combining his musical and acting abilities, Luis had a featured role in Telemundo’s acclaimed television series Guerra de idols. Along with Pedro Capó and Christian Pagan, he performed the series’ theme song, Tequila pa’la razón, presenting it live at the Billboard Latin Music Awards, 2017.

In 2018, he accompanied Romeo Santos as a vocalist on three of his international tours, including the world tour, Golden.

In 2019, he released his first single for Sony Music Latin, La Especialista, which reached #27 on the Billboard Latin Pop Airplay chart, remaining for 8 weeks, and the pre-release single from his debut album, Te Deseo, reached #24 on the Latin Pop Airplay chart, remaining 11 weeks on Billboard. La Especialista, boldly combines acoustic guitars and melodies that complement her voice.

Pandora named Luis to its Latin Artists to Watch 2020 music discovery playlist. That same year, Luis made Billboard’s list that consolidated 17 male Latin artists to be discovered during the forties. He was also named one of Billboard’s fastest rising Latin artists.

In July 2021 Luis scored his first #1 on Billboard with Hasta El Sol De Hoy, a track that also reached the top of the Mediabase and LATIN monitor charts. His follow-up single Si Tú Me Dices Ven became his second Top 10 hit, while Billboard chose Luis as part of its Latin Artist on the Rise series. Also in 2021, he was nominated for Best Pop Artist at the HTV Heat Latin Music Awards.

In 2022, Luis released his first salsa album. The production generated three consecutive Top 10 hits on the Billboard Tropical Airplay chart and earned him his first Latin GRAMMY Award nominations for “Best Salsa Album” and “Best Tropical Song”.

The album – self-titled Luis Figueroa – solidified his status as one of the salsa genre’s leading voices and rising stars. Luis was nominated for his first Premios Lo Nuestro in 2022 for Tropical Artist of the Year and Tropical Song of the Year for Hasta El Sol De Hoy.

Luis Figueroa has had a good year in 2023. In January he topped the Media Base – Tropical chart with his Latin GRAMMY® nominated song Fiesta Contigo, and was also nominated for three Premios Lo Nuestro Awards in the Tropical – Artist of the Year, Tropical – Song of the Year and Tropical – Album of the Year categories.

By: Bella Martinez

bellamartínezescribe.com

 

Bella Martínez
Writer, Researcher in Afro-Caribbean music.

 

 

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Aguabella was born on October 10, 1925 and grew up in the drumming tradition of Matanzas in Cuba.

On May 8, 2010, Francisco Aguabella “El Tamborero de Cuba” passed away in Los Angeles, United States. Bravo and virtuoso percussionist of Afro-Cuban ritual music, Latin/jazz and jazz.

Of remembered links to Tito Puente’s band, Mongo Santamaría, Cachao López, Eddie Palmieri, Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Sinatra, Jorge Santana’s group “Malo” and his own “Latin Jazz Emsemble”.

In 1953 he emigrated to the United States and settled in California as an olu batá (bata drummer).

Batá drumming is a ceremonial musical style that plays an integral role in the African-derived Santeria religion practiced in Cuba, Puerto Rico and since the 1950s in the United States.

No other music of the Americas bears a more striking similarity to West African music than the batá. Its set of three double cone drums reproduces the Nigerian Yoruba drum set of the same name.

Many of the rhythms closely resemble their African prototypes, and the Afro-Cuban language of Lucumí, in which Aguabella sings, is clearly a derivation of Yoruba.

Prior to 1980, Aguabella and Julito Collazo were the only olu batá in the United States who had been initiated into a secret society of drummers designated to perform a very sacred type of batá known as batá fundamento .

The batá fundamento is an integral part of Santeria ceremonies in which an individual’s initiation into the religion cannot be consecrated unless he or she has been presented before this sacred ensemble.

Each year Aguabella builds a shrine for his patron saint, Santa Barbara (Changó), and plays music at a birthday party held in her honor.

It’s an all-day celebration for invited friends who are primarily but, not exclusively members of the Santeria sect “Santa Barbara knows it’s her birthday,” Aguabella said, “I know how she feels.

She feels happy if I honor her, I feel bad if I don’t so on St. Barbara’s day every December 4 whatever work I am doing today I don’t do for anyone, I love this saint very much and I promised her I was going to have a party every year.

Although Aguabella is widely respected for his sacred drumming he is also known for his virtuosity in the secular forms of Afro-Cuban music.

Choreographer Katherine Dunham was so impressed with Aguabella’s drumming that she invited him to join her company for tours of South America and Europe.

The most influential of Aguabella’s secular styles is rumba, a complex of several musical genres that evolved in Cuba in the early 20th century.

Rumba was the basis for much of the Cuban dance hall music that in turn helped shape American popular music through dance bands based throughout the United States.

However Afro-Cuban rumba bears little resemblance to the ballroom dance rumba that inspired Francisco. Rumba as Aguabella said is part of daily life for many Afro-Cubans, it doesn’t have to be a special day to play rumba, we could start a rumba here without a drum.

You could play it here or there on the wall, in Cuba rumba is 24 hours a day, we gather in a corner and have a glass of rum…. And someone says: Why don’t we play a little rumba?  Some people touch the wall and someone else plays a bottle and maybe takes a cap off the bottle and ‘ca ca ca ca ca ca ca ca ca’ and the Rumba.”

Aguabella’s goal has long been to maintain the integrity of the tradition he so respects, while incorporating it into “crossover” music aimed at a wider audience.

It was his superior musical ability and commitment to tradition that led musicians such as Mongo Santamaria, Malo and Carlos Santana to bring him into their groups.

Aguabella lived in Los Angeles; where he continued to performand exert a great influence on Latin American music.

Afrontilas Music

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