Latin America

Quinteto D’Amore of Havana – Cuba

Quinteto D’Amore was founded in 2000 within an acoustical format; cultivating traditional Cuban music, although in its repertoire, you can find international songs; and made various presentations both domestic and international.

All these years, different musicians have integrated the group, but two years ago, it has been renewed and is now composed of Bass, Tres, Violin, bongo, minor percussion and soloist.

They are characterized for combining music, voices, and choreography in some of their songs, filling those who can enjoy their show with joy and energy.

Yasney (violin): Graduated from Higher Institute of Art with a specialty in Violin (ISA). Member of the UNEAC, she joined the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba, participated in recordings of leading groups and soundtracks, as well as in the CD “Mi Querido Pablo II” with Pablo Milanés and his guests: Milton Nacimiento, Lucecita Benítez,

Fito Páez, Joaquín Sabina, Alberto Cortes, and at the concert offered at the National Auditorium in Mexico City.

He has made numerous tours and concerts with the band “Mambo Así”, the group “Sol y Arena”, “Piel Morena”, among others, through various countries such as Moscow, Spain, Thailand, Hong Kong, Saint Martin Island and Guadeloupe, Italy, and Angola. Yasney joined D’Amore in May 2014.

Quinteto D’Amore

Yonel (three/four Cuban guitar) I began my career in music when I was six by learning to play the guitar. Since then, I used to sing some songs and to accompany others like my brother. AI was seven when I started at the school of arts in Santiago.

In Cuba, I studied violin for about three years and, in time, I started to learn about other instruments such as the piano and the percussion to reach the bass with which I played with the group Son Chévere de Matanzas for several years.

Then I came to Havana and started playing the tres until I made it into a CUATRO, adding a couple more strings and it is the instrument with which I currently work in Quinteto D’Amore.

Evelyn (soloist) began to study music since choildhood, taking piano and musical theory lessons. At the age of 11, she received her first award as a solo singer given by the pioneers’ organization and took dance lessons at the National Ballet School in Havana and contemporary dance workshops, integrating various dance companies and performing in the 2nd Tropicana Show. She is a mid-level graduate from micro operator. She studied at the School for Art Instructors.

As a singer, she started her professional career by joining several groups such as: Lady Salsa Mix, Cuban Salsa Orchestra, Las canelas, Ketlman Ferrer and his orchestra, etc. She is currently the lead singer of Quinteto D’Amore.

Orley (Bass): He studied bass and contrabass, he began his musical career in Ciego de Avila as part of different groups of small and great format such as: Eclipse Orchestra, Conjunto Campesino “Campo Lindo”, etc. Later on, he joined groups in Havana such as Septeto Tradición, the group of the singer Leyanis Lopez with whom he travelled to France (Paris) under the record label “Luz Africa”. From 2007 to 2011, he was on the Orchestra of Maykel Blanco Y Su Salsa Mayor with whom he made several international tours in Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Belgium, and Peru, and participated in the recording of his 2 albums. From 2011 to 2013, he joined the groups like “Amor y el Son”, Pepitín y su CumBachá”, and Habana Midic with whom performed in Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia and Lebanon. Orey joined D’Amore in May 2014.

Daymé (Director, tres and bongo): Graduated of Telecommunications and Electronics engineering at the “José Antonio Echeverría” Higher Polytechnic Institute and at the intermediate level in music in the specialty of “Tres”. She belonged to the amateur artistic movement for 14 years, participated in international festivals, integrated several groups of small format with which she performed in Cuba in the “Dos Gardenias” complex, La Bodeguita del Medio, the Floridita Restaurant and various hotels, Outside of Cuba, she has fulfilled several contracts in Jamaica, Qatar, Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Al Ain), Jordan, Egypt, Japan, Spain, Turkey and China. She is currently the bongo player and director of Quinteto D’Amore.

Maria Carla (2nd violin) began her music studies at the “Alejandro García Caturla Conservatory” where she acquited basic secondary education and the 7th year of violin.

In 2006, she entered the “Amadeo Roldán Conservatory” to continue his studies to reach the ipper secondary level of violin. During her time as a student, she was part of the orchestras of the respective schools and participated in meetings, competitions and concerts as both instrumentalist and vocalist in choirs.

Upon her graduation, she taught in the province of Pinar del Río and gave classes at the Vocational School of Art in the same city for two years.

Since 2010, she is part of the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba by working simultaneously with various classical and popular music groups such as “La Camerata del Son”, “Ensemble Alternativo”, “Quinteto D Amore”, “Orquesta Panorama”, and “Quinteto Doble Sabor”.

María Carla has also participated in several events and festivals: Encuentro Nacional de Orquestas Sinfónica, Feria Internacional Cubadisco, Encuentro de Coros, Festival América Canta, Festival de Música Contemporánea, Festival de Jóvenes Pianista, Festival del Danzón, Feria Internacional del Libro de La Habana as well as in several recordings and phonograms with artists such as José María and Sergio Vitier, Toni Pinelli, Rafael Guedes, and Aldo López-Gavilán.

She has also accompanied renowned soloists such as pianists Lang Lang, Chucho Valdés, Frank Fernández, Aldo López Gavilán, singer Omara Portuondo, violinists Ryu Goto, Francesco Manara, clarinetist Keisuke Wakao, and guitarist Joaquín Clerch.

He has worked under the baton of conductors such as Yoshikazu Fukumura, Marin Alsop, Francesco Belli.

Quinteto D’Amore Repertoire

Latin/English Recent Hits

Havana – Camila Cabello

Someone Like You – Adele

Don’t You Remember – Adele

Unbreak My Heart – Tony Braxton

Rehab – Amy Winehouse

Whenever Whatever – Shakira

Dancing – Enrique Iglesias,

Lambada – Kapma,

Macarena – Los del Rio,

Mambo No 5 – Lou Bega,

Nossa Nossa – Miechl Telo

Yo Tengo Tu Love – Si7e

Solo Quiero Darte Un Beso – Prince Royce

Despacito – Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee

English Pop, Rock, Blues, Jazz, R&B

Stand By Me – Ben E. King

Yesterday – The Beatles

Only You (And You Alone) – The Platters

New York New York – Frank Sinatra, Liza Minelli

Misty – Errol Garner & Johnny Burke / Johnny Mathis

Girl From Ipanema – Pery Ribeiro, Frank Sinatra

Flying To The Moon – Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, Tony Bennett, Diana Krall

Summertime – Ella Fitzgerald, Janis Joplin, Billie Holiday …

Autum Leaves – Nat King Cole, Andrea Bocleli, Eric Clapton …

My Way – Jacques Revaux, Paul Anka / Claude Francois, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley

I Just Called To Say I love you – Stevie Wonder

Somewhere Over the Rainbown – Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg / Judy Garland, Israel

For Ever And Ever – Demis Roussos

Hotel California – Eagles …

Cuban/Latin Salsa, Son, Rumba, Cumbia, Bolero

El Yerbero Moderno – Celia Cruz,

Quimbara – Celia Cruz

Life is a Carnival – Celia Cruz

Idilio – Wilie Colon

El Carretero – Buena Vista Social Club

El Cuarto De Tula – Buena Vista Social Club

The Discreet Kisses – Compay Segundo

Chan chan – Compay Segundo

Hasta Siempre, Comandante – Carlos Puebla

Maridos Majaderos – Perdro Luis Ferrer

Yolanda – Pablo Milanés

Volveré – Diego Verdaguer

Montón de Estrellas – Polo Montañez

Cariñito – Los Hijos del Sol

Oye Como Va – Tito Puente / Carlos Santana

Nel blu dipinto di blu (Volare) – Dean Martin …

Capullo de Aleli – Cateano Veloso

Dos Gardenias – Daniel Santos, Buena Vista Social Club

La Flor Pálida – Polo Montanez / Marc Anthony

Perfidia – Alberto Domínguez / Los Panchos, Perez Prado, Nat King Cole, Ben E. King,

Luis Miguel

Guantanamera – Celia Cruz, Compay Segundo, Tito Puente, Joan Baez

Lágrimas Negras – Trio Matamorros, Omara Portuondo, Celia Cruz, Compay

Segundo/Cesária Évora

Moliendo Café – Jose Manzo Perroni / Mario Suárez, Xiomara Alfaro, Ricardo

Montaner

El Manisero – Rita Montaner, Antonio Machin, Mistinguett, Louis Armstrong

Historia de un amor – Carlos Eleta Almaran, Guadalupe Pineda

Besame Mucho – Consuelo Velasquez / Los Panchos, Pedro Infante, Louis Armstrong,

Andrea Bocelli

Quizás Quizás Quizás – Osvaldo Farres / Bobby Capo, Celia Cruz, Nat King Cole

El cumbanchero – Rafael Hernandez / Tito Puente

Que Será, Será – Jay Livingston and Ray Evans / Connie Francis, Natalie Cole

Pink Cherry – Los Tecolines

www.quintetodamore.com

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On May 8, Cuban Son Day is celebrated on the birth of Miguelito Cuní and Miguel Matamoros, great exponents of the Creole genre.

This article is dedicated to exalt the most Creole of Cuban music, especially son.

 

This day is a tribute to this music-dance expression and to the musical legacy of its great exponents included Miguel Matamoros and Miguelito Cuní, reported the Cuban Music Institute.

The Official Gazette of the Republic said on 2 October that the Decree 19 of the Council of Ministers recognizes Cuban son as part of the intangible heritage since 2012.

This declaration consolidates the file for its proposal to this candidacy.

The information has also been shared by the chief proponent of this initiative, maestro Adalberto Álvarez, who said on his Facebook page that the joy of having our Son Day is very great.

Cuban son is a vocal and sanceable instrumental genre that constitutes one of the basic forms within Cuban music that blends African musical elements with Spanish musical elements.

May 8 is a representative day, since the births of Miguelito Cuní and Miguel Matamoros are commemorated, that is why this date was the one proposed, said the 2008 National Music Award.

In addition, the Caballero del Son, as Álvarez is known, stated that this is just a part of the task, so we already have Cuban Son Day, we still have to get son to be named an Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

This is a vocal and danceable instrumental genre that constitutes one of the basic forms within Cuban music that blends African musical elements with Spanish musical elements.

It reportedly was born in the easternmost region of Cuba and was developed in provinces such as Guantánamo, Baracoa, Manzanillo and Santiago de Cuba in the late 19th century, even though there are testimonies that the most ancien Cuban sones date back to the 16th century such as the Son de la Má Teodora by the 1562 and performed by two Dominican sisters, Micaela and Teodora Ginés.

 DECREE 19, CUBAN SON DAY Single Article. To declare May 8 “Day of the Cuban Son” as a tribute to this music-dance expression and to the musical legacy of its great exponents. IT SHALL BE PUBLISHED in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Cuba. DONE in the Palace of the Revolution, Havana, to the next two days of September 2020, “YEAR 62 OF THE REVOLUTION”.

History of Cuban Son

Cuban Son was born by mixing Afro-Cuban and Spanish cross-breeding. Its origin is intimately linked to Changüi, considered as the mother rhythm of son.

Son came from the East to Havana around 1909. The “Cuarteto Oriental”, created in 1916, became the Sexteto Habanero in 1918, establishing itself as the traditional format of the son bands. In the 1920s, with the emergence of commercial radio broadcasting, the rise and popularization of son began, being the Septeto Nacional de Ignacio Piñeiro one of the main representatives from this time.

The upper classes of Cuba, who are fond of danzón (Cuba’s first native genre) sat watching son warily, seeing it as a slumming and classless genre. However, son was gaining popularity and ended up imposing on danzón, which was consigned to oblivion.

Apart from the fans son has always had in Cuba, the importance of this genre also lies in the influence it has had on the emergence of other genres such as son montuno, mambo, and salsa. In contrast of danzón, son has always been present in Cuba, either directly or within other later musical genres.

Son montuno is a type of son that was played and danced in the last part of Danzón. The importance of this son was its influence in the creation of salsa, in both in music and dance.

Dancing

This dance is only played at the last minute in a salsa club room if the deejay is Cuban, and hardly anyone dances it well.

The base of this dance is three steps followed by a pause, such as salsa. The figures are very simple and similar to those of Cuban salsa. The fundamental difference with salsa is the way of taking the steps. They are more energetic, such as mambo, with a wider hip movement and the pause more marked than in salsa. In other words, instead of the rhythm fast-fast-slow on salsa. In the case of son, it could be considered as fast-fast-fast-fast-slow.

The rhythm of son is, in general, slower than that of salsa, which allows the dancers to recreate in adornments and flirtations. The rhythm is better followed with the key, which is usually very marked.

There are no enchuflas, which are typical of Cuban salsa. The side steps, cockroach style, the couple turn, the walk, the side walk, the side walk, and the step forward-back are widely used.

A very typical and spectacular figure is when the man crouches or even is placed in a horizontal position, leaning the point of the foot on the floor, and the girl takes hom by his hand and walks around him, making him turn the sole of his foot.

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Anacaona was the last princess of the Caribbean and protector of the Taino people.

“Anacaona, areito de Anacaona”, sang Cheo Feliciano before a heated crowd at the Cheetah club in New York late on 26 August 26, 1971.

It has been more than 50 years have passed and the chorus from the pen of Tite Curet Alonso resounds as if it were yesterday. But who was Anacaona?

Anacaona or Anakaona. (1474-1503)1 was an aboriginal Taino chieftain of Bohío Island. She governed the Cacicazgo of Jaragua after the death of her brother Bohechío. She was condemned to be hanged by Governor Nicolás de Ovando.

Anacaona means ‘Golden Flower’ in the Taino language. She was a Haitian princess of Taino origin who was born in the year 1474 at Bohío, as it was dubbed by its inhabitants and then divided into two Caribbean countries: the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

After the death of her brother Bohechío, Anacaona would take over as cacique to rule the Chiefdom of Jaragua. She had a natural talent for poems, which she sang in the areitos, dances, and songs with which the Taino Indians celebrated their festivities and religious rites.

Anacaona received Christopher Columbus on his first voyage at Christmas 1492. She felt admiration for the new knowledge and skills of these people to solve day-to-day challenges.

Those led by Columbus established a settlement in the new territory, which they called Christmas Town. It is said that this was the first building of the Spaniards in America.

But harmony would not last for long. The abuse on the natives began, especially women who were mistreated and raped without hesitation.

Anacaona would not accept the oppressive tyranny and persuaded Caonabo, her husband, to destroy the settlement where the invaders were based.

Christopher Columbus left the territory and, upon return in November 1493, he found Christmas Town destroyed and its more than 43 men killed. It was an affront. Anacaona escaped and became an Indian of a captive race, as the song goes. But her freedom would not last long. After an intense search, she was captured and bound to hang in 1504.

The Tite Curet Alonso’s ‘Anacaona’

Tite Curet Alonso composed ‘Anacaona’ without knowing who she was. The song written from one day to the next would be included in the album “Cheo” (1971) of Vaya Records. The label sought to re-launch Feliciano’s musical career, who had stayed away from the stage as a result of the rehabilitation for his drug addiction.

In an interview posted on Youtube, Tite says that he was inspired by a Lecuona Cuban Boys orchestra’s song (recorded in the 1930s) and baptized it with that name in honor of the Cuban girl group Anacaona.

He says he tried to “make up a mystical story” about Spanish and Indian slaves. When composing, Curet did not know he was telling the true story of the Haitian princess who fought against the Spaniards in the early years of the discovery of America.

After the release of the album was released, which was well received by the public, Curet visited a priestess who knew the life of Anacaona and had heard the song in the voice of Cheo Feliciano. After knowing the story, Tite was greatly impressed.

The woman informed the composer that it was the Taíno ancestors who inspired his pen in each verse.

“But how is it possible that you wrote that song? Now you have to make a song for Caonabo and I will tell you why: because from a certain generation upwards, you are a descendant of Caonabo and Anacaona”, said the priestess.

It did not take long for Tire Curet to publish his tribute to ‘Caonabo’, the Indian fighter who, like his wife Anacaona, fought against Spanish oppression. The song was included in his production as a singer-songwriter entitled “Aquí estoy con un poco de algo” (1975).

The Cheetah concert on August 26, 1971, gave rise to the salsa boom and allowed several young talents to make history. Moreover, it opened the way for composers like Tire Curet Alonso, who with songs like ‘Anacaona’, created the soundtrack of Latin American soul.

Images courtesy of Museo Taino Anacaona

https://www.museoanacaona.com/

Dominican Republic