News

The latest news about salsa in New York in November

What is happening in New York?

Johnny Cruz brings us all the latest news about salsa in New York City. Here are some of the most important developments in Latin music in one of the most important corners of the United States.

Julio Castro Y su Orquesta La Masacre returns with a new project

Julio Castro Y Su Orquesta La Masacre was absent from the music scene for about two decades, but the thought of getting back was always present. Now in 2021, the Puerto Rican and his entire team are back with a new and special project that will undoubtedly fascinate all their fans, who have been longing to see them again. The details are not yet clear, but we will let our readers know once we have more information.

This is not the first time that we have mentioned Maestro Castro in International Salsa Magazine and we sincerely hope that this will not be the last.

Willie Rosario supports the Salsa Museum

Following several conversations with the musician, composer and bandleader of Puerto Rican origin is going to donate some of his most valuable instruments to the Salsa Museum, including timbales, bells and more. The performer is 97 years old, but he is more active than ever on quite a few projects, which is really worthy of admiration. This is how the artist becomes one of the many famous names that remains immortalized in the famous artistic institution.

Johnny Cruz will create a new Salsa Museum in Puerto Rico

The famous producer and timbalero had a long trip to Puerto Rico to carry out certain activities related to music, which led him to grasp the idea of creating a new headquarters for the salsa museum in the island of enchantment. In view of the success of this tour, the musician saw an enormous potential in this place to build and inaugurate a headquarters of the musical institution that will show Puerto Ricans the beauty of being Latinos.

In addition to this, Cruz did not return to New York empty-handed. In the Town of San German, where the museum will be located, the producer got the keys to the city from Mayor Virgilio Olivera. The event took place in a building with great historical value to the town and was a great honor for those present. Undoubtedly, it was a great moment for those who have closely followed the presenter’s career and his efforts to give visibility to Latin music in the United States and the world.

Jonny getting the keys — Johnny Cruz getting the keys of the town of San German from Mayor Virgilio Olivera

Reopening of clubs in New York

2021 has been the year after the beginning of the pandemic, so that was not an easy time for anyone, least of all for those who live from the music scene. However, great efforts have been made towards reopening the bars and discos that had to remain closed due to the public health crisis through which the world was passing. That is why the resumption of activities has been incrementally announced. Some of the clubs that have been active for some time are the following:

SOB
González y González
Birland
Lehman Center for the performing arts

By: Johnny Cruz correspondent of International Salsa Magazine in New York City, New York

NOTICIAS CON SABOR- SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA/NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

News about the San Francisco Bay Area live music scene

The SF Bay Area live music scene has been slowly reopening since the Summer and these are the latest developments. The Seahorse in Sausalito continues to offer live Salsa on Sundays in November. The Sunday Salsa calendar for November includes rising Salsa star Carlos Xavier on Nov. 7, Edgardo Cambon y Candela on Nov. 14, Louie Romero and Mazacote on Nov. 21 and Anthony Blea on Nov. 28. The live Sundays also feature the DJ music of KPOO/KPFA DJ Jose Ruiz.

Space 550 at 550 Barneveld in SF that was offering Live Salsa with Bachata and Kizomba rooms on Friday and Saturdays are resuming their live music offerings on Friday nights. The popular Friday nights cater to the dancers featuring popular bands such as Orquesta Borinquen, Julio Bravo and Salsabor and VibraSON plus Salsa Congress type of DJ’s on the decks.

The Ramp at 855 Terry Francois Blvd in San Francisco continues to offer Salsa at their popular outdoor venue that offers live Salsa every Saturday from 5 to 9 pm and resident DJ Mendy continues his DJ sets until 11pm. Their November calendar features N’Rumba on Nov. 6, Orquesta La Original w/lead vocalist Alexis Guillen on Nov. 13, Karabali with Karl Perazo (of Santana) and Michael Spiro on Nov. 20 and La Clave Del Blanco on Nov. 27.

Rocky’s Market at Oakland’s Brooklyn Basin has finished their events season for the year. This new outdoor venue has been a welcomed addition to the local scene and has made quite a splash since offering live Salsa, Afro-Cuban, World music, Comedy and Dance shows. All-star percussionist Javier Navarette is the curator for the Modupue Sundays Latin shows. Dancers have enjoyed the live music of the SF Charanga All Star reunions featuring Dr. John Calloway, Anthony Blea, Marco Diaz, Christelle Durandy, Orlando Torriente and others, Edgardo and Candela, Pellejo Seco, La Mixta Criolla, Mio Flores Habana All Stars and Navarette and his all-star Socially Distanced Friends band! I look forward to next year!

Logotype of Rocky’s Market Brooklyn Basin

More news

Speaking about Anthony Blea…the all-star violin virtuoso has started a new Friday night scene at the Gestalt Bar, 3159 16th Street near Valencia in San Francisco. Blea, led his popular Anthony Blea y Su Charanga (aka Charanson) for many years and was part of legendary SF based bands such as Orquesta Batachanga and Tipica Cienfuegos. Blea is featuring his hot quartet which includes bassist Ayla Davila. Patrons can expect a hot descarga (jam session) with special guests to sit in every Friday night.

Popular Timba/Cuban music DJ Walt Digz has moved his El Timbon Wednesday nights to the Slate Bar 2925-16th Street between Capp and South Van Ness in SF. Digz continues to livestream his “El Timbon” three hour webcasts full of the latest Timba and Cuban Dance videos on Twitch every Tuesday night from 7 to 10 PM PST….Walt Digz is also part of the rotating all-star DJ crew that includes veteran DJ/Promoter Tony O (of Roccapulco fame) and DJ Leydis who are featured on various events produced by Jaffe Events at swanky hotel rooftops and exclusive venues in SF, Berkeley and Oakland. For more information, visit www.jaffeevents.com or check out their Facebook page.

The Peruvian restaurant Kimbara that now occupies the former large space that was part of Bissap Baobab on 3380-19th Street in SF’s Mission District is now offering DJ Salsa nights on Wednesday nights….Cigar Bar, 850 Montgomery Street in San Francisco continues to keep their doors open to Salsa aficionados and dancers on weekend nights. Recent bookings have included their Halloween bash featuring the dynamic Edgardo Cambon and Candela. Patrons can enjoy their drinks, food and cigars at this established North Beach venue for Latin music with no cover.

Don’t forget to check out the Northern California return of the explosive Grammy Award winners Spanish Harlem Orchestra for the holidays at the Monterey Conference Center, 1 Portola Plaza in Monterey on Saturday, December 11th! Yours truly, Luis Medina will be your MC and DJ for this special event coming to Monterey! For tickets and more information, visit www.montunoproductions.com or call (510) 586-3215.

International Salsa coming to SF Bay/Northern California…. Look out for Ruben Blades Salswing Tour to land at Oakland’s Paramount Theater on Saturday, November 20th at 8 PM. Ruben will be backed up by the swinging big band of Panamanian bassist Roberto Delgado who are awesome live!! Blades will be performing selections of his current critically acclaimed recording Salswing as well as his vast repertoire of hits and crowd favorites. Salswing which combines Salsa, Jazz and Swing music is already on my top 20 list for this year!!

Gilberto Santa Rosa “El Caballero De La Salsa” and his orchestra will be at the San Jose Center For The Performing Arts on Friday, November 12th. Santa Rosa released one of the best Salsa recordings of the year “Colegas” last Fall featuring all-star duets with Tito Nieves, the late Tito Rojas, Issac Delgado, Herman Olivera and others!….Grammy award winners Grupo Niche from Colombia will be appearing at Roccapulco in SF on Saturday, November 20th as well…..Superstar Marc Anthony will finally perform after several postponements at San Jose’s SAP Center on Friday, December 17th. Anthony is riding high on the charts with Pa’alla Voy, his remake of the group Africando’s Yay Voy 90’s salsa classic.

Be sure to check out my radio programs Con Sabor every Saturday evening 9 to 11 PM PST on KPFA 94.1 FM and worldwide at www.kpfa.org. And…Sabiduria Con Tumbao every Wednesday night 5 to 7 PM PST on WorldSalsaRadio.com. Con Sabor past programs are just archived for two weeks at www.kpfa.org/archives. Sabiduria Con Tumbao’s past programs are archived at www.soundcloud.com. Just go to the World Salsa radio.com page to access the programs and check it out!!!

See you next time. Ciao 4 now!!!

BY LUIS MEDINA, PRODUCER AND HOST OF CON SABOR ON KPFA 94.1 FM AND SABIDURIA CON TUMBAO ON WORLD SALSA RADIO.COM

The Fusion International Dance Competition is back in 2021

There are three (3) months until 2022 begins but we do not want to wait like many of our followers to see when the pending events will take place and in turn the opening of clubs, academies or places where we can hear music and dance; With the month of October already in full quarantine due to Covid-19, many people, including ourselves, adapt to the situation by complying with security measures and placing the vaccine to protect ourselves even more and with this it has been possible that many countries open their doors to carry out different social activities and in Mexico the Fusion Salsafest will be held live, not online as other events have been held due to the Covid-19 situation.

Fusión Salsafest started its first Salsa Bachata & Kizomba Congress on October 21, 2011 thanks to the effort led by Manolo Redondo together with his team and Fusión Dance Company, which is one of the most important companies in Mexico led by Tania Ortiz, to carry out one one of the most important salsa shows in the country showing the entire public the talent of each dancer in this fantastic competition and not only that, they also spread their teachings in the shows and workshops that they present to us every year.

After being inactive for a year (2020) to protect both they and their public from Covid-19, finally the organizers of the Fusion SalsaFest gave us the great news that after being locked up, without movement and without dancing, they end the wait by returning to us this October from 14 to 17, the festival taking place at the Courtyard by Marriott Ciudad de México Revolución, located at Av. Revolución 333, Tacubaya, Miguel Hidalgo, 11870 Mexico City, CDMX, Mexico.

Flyer de Fusion Internacional Dance Competition 2021 — Fusion International Dance Competition – Seminar

How tasty it must be to return to fun and perform the different shows, socials, workshops, among other activities that tropical musical events give and in this International Fusion Dance Competition Shows, Workshops will be held:

Salsa	Bachata
· Rodrigo y Asya · Karel Flores · Lorenita Andrade · Billy Fajardo · Katie Marlow · Ernesto y Maritza · Selene Tovar · Mauricio y Deny · Yasbek Cervantes · Dioney · Ivan Valdespino · Diego y Gaby · Milena y Oscar · Adrian Arellano · Uriel Piedra · Jorge Martinez · Leo y Mimi · Ray Gomez y Lu	· Fausto y Roxy · Danny Salsita y la Fábrica · Esteban y María · Gerardo y Madian · Karyna y Freddy · Odeth y Mike · Ivette Bogarin · Yarely Rosales · Karyna y Freddy · Luis Mujica · Tere y Diego
	D J ‘S
	· Muñeco Caliente · Mr. Swing · Oficial Salsero · Khriz · DJ Bot
Seminario	MC
· Seminario de Mambo Fusión · Rodrigo y Asya	· Armando Cervantes (No olvides su Mambito’s Salsa Social)

The cost of the tickets and to acquire it you can do it through the following link:

Night Pass: $ 1,099
Full Pass: $ 1,999
1 Seminar + Fullpass (Mambo Fusion): $ 2,499
Dancerpass: $ 1,899
Couples competition registration (Price per couple): $ 800
Group competition registration (Price per group member): $ 350
Soloist or Heats (Social Dance) competition registration (Price per couple or soloist): $ 500
Third party competition registration (Price per third): $ 1,050

You can stay at the Courtyard Marriot in the rooms for the 4 nights – (October 14 to 17)

Single or Double (Maximum 2 people): $ 1,750
Triple or Quadruple (Maximum 4 people): $ 1,900

If you want to have more information or want to see how the previous events were and want to know what they will promote this year 2021, click on the following media and social networks:

WebSite: fusionsalsafest
Facebook e Instagram: @ fusionsalsafest
Teléfono: +52 55 4522 4548
Correo: [email protected]

What do you know about Kobalt?

The Alternative To Record Labels

Willard Ahdritz dressed in black sitting on a red chair — Kobalt Music Group was founded by Swede Willard Ahdritz in New York City 21 years ago (2000)

Kobalt is a state-of-the-art music company that presents an alternative to the traditional business model. This world-leading company serves as the leading independent music publisher today offering transparency and further leverage to the rights of artists, songwriters, and publishers.

Kobalt currently represents on average more than 40% of the top 100 songs and albums in the UK and the US. Among the Hispanic artists signed by this company are Enrique Iglesias (Spain), Ozuna (Puerto Rico), Karol G (Colombia), Natti Natasha (Dominican Republic), and the most recent one signed on July 19^th, the Urban Composer / Producer Daniel Echavarria Oviedo (Colombia), better known as Ovy On The Drums, creator of great hits like Tusa (Karol G & Nicki Minaj), Ahora Me Llama (Karol G & Bad Bunny), Fútbol y Rumba (Anuel AA & Enrique Iglesias), Miedito O Qué (Karol G & Danny Ocean), and Sigo Buscándote (Mau & Ricky), among others.

Kobalt Music Group, Ltd. (Kobalt) has offices in the main cities of America, Europe, and Asia: London, Berlin, Sydney, Stockholm, Hong Kong, New York, Nashville, Atlanta, Miami, and Los Angeles, also manages more than 200,000 copyrights on behalf of more than 1,200 content holders, including the most celebrated composers, artists, and other music publishers.

This global technology platform from Kobalt (Ktech) innovatively tracks and collects royalties through the trillions of micropayments that streaming provides. Among the many services that they provide include brand and sync partnerships, global license management, online copyright management & use rights tracking, royalty collection and processing (website and App) with weekly online balances, monetization of YouTube, plus creative services, digital collections, and trailers for writers, publishers, musicians, and other rights holders.

You Can Also Read: The Business Of The Artists

How Does Kobalt Achieve Transparency?

Kobalt banner with red background — With AMRA you own your songs, keep 100% of your copyrights, have flexible online previews at your convenience, and you are free of ties

Through a global digital collection company called AMRA (American Music Rights Association – Original Name), belonging to Kobalt Music Group, but operated separated from the company. This organism began its operations in June 2015 and is the world’s first society based on technology and trust.

AMRA was designed for today’s artists and takes a straightforward, global approach to license agreement as well as digital collection and management using the advanced rights management platform, KTech, that leverages data and tracking technologies to gain insight into a valuable revenue stream with detailed reports for your clients. This optimized model allows increased efficiency by combating the margin of uncertainty, delay, and continuous errors existing in the traditional system.

I give you an example: Currently, leading digital music platforms are global companies (Spotify, YouTube, iTunes, and many more), but the traditional music industry collects their income locally and regionally. It creates an increasingly complex and fragmented collection process that causes unnecessary delays and inaccurate transmission reports that occur frequently.

AMRA works with flexible contracts, without complicated distribution rules, nor policies that discriminate or reward certain members over the artist. Most of the income is attributed to the client minus a commission absorbed by the company.

For publishers and composers, this means total clarity on the terms of the deal with complete information on all royalties collected. The association does not charge additional monthly fees or surcharges and is responsible for distributing all unattributed income.

Willard Ahdritz (Founder and CEO of Kobalt) assures that with the arrival of streaming, independent artists of medium projection level acquire most of the income of the industry through the alternative to record companies, Kobalt, what was not done before in the big record labels, who for decades denied these resources to international music figures.

“If you have $ 100k ($ 100,000) and you control your rights, the value of the masters is one million dollars in terms of the salable value of your rights.”

Willard Ahdritz

Are You An Independent Artist?

AWAL Could Be Your Option

Concert with people raising arms with light blue background — Kobalt Label Services (KLS) acquired the digital distributor AWAL in December 2011.

AWAL is a digital distribution company that guarantees independent emerging musicians a greater presence in all major

AWAL works with three modalities adapted with agreements to three different styles of artists: AWAL Core, AWAL+, and AWAL Recordings.

AWAL Core: This modality is created for independent artists with a career. Each musician takes home most of his income (85%), remains in control of his creations, has built a community, contributes information on his story in interesting ways, and bypasses long-term contracts. In summary, AWAL Core is for influencers in music who reach notoriety such as: “The TikTok cover exceeds 250,000 visits in 10 days” or “Reaches 100,000 monthly broadcasts on Spotify”.

By entering this mode you have the following support from the distributor:

Distribution: They are responsible for providing the material to the world’s main stores and digital providers (DSP – Digital Service Providers
Multiplatform Streaming Statistics (AWAL Analytics): Convert real-time streams into insights with proper skip rate analysis for plays, completions, playlist history, and much more using a complete and advanced music streaming platform.
A&R Discovery and Upstream: The multidisciplinary team assigned by creative artists and repertoire, monitors and finds constant opportunities to help them continue to climb more ground in various interesting ways in the musical field and in this way continue to attract attention on multiple platforms.

Multiple albums in red, blue, and black colors — AWAL stands for Artists Without A Label

AWAL+: In this category is a smaller group of artists that the company believes are on the brink of fame. Two examples of musical milestones found in this line are: “Debut EP Sensitive exceeds 30 million streams” or “Naika achieves high-profile sync placements in global Apple and FIFA ads”.

Generally, the method of entry into AWAL+ is through a lawyer or manager.

Once a member of this category, the artist will have a more personalized strategy with a combination of services:

Label Management: Designed to perfect the campaign strategy and ensure that the musician is always aware of the news and better options to promote his creations.
Funds: Includes project financing. When the company considers that the creative has enough force, they will contribute funds to materialize the project. However, the artist controls the destination of the budget after the campaign strategy made by the company.
Synchronization and DSP compatibility: This service offers synchronization and playlist promotion, that is, the global AWAL team will look for the best opportunities to put music in playlists on major digital platforms, as well as on movies, TV, commercials, feature film trailers, and other areas where he/she can reach a milestone and get more exposure.

Dozens of AWAL artists earn over $ 1Million Streaming every year (2020 Figures)

AWAL Recordings: In this last stage the singer can make his album with the company’s record label under his terms, but for whom is this benefit made? For all those artists who are constantly on the rise on the different digital platforms. As a sample, I leave you these two headlines of production and a musician for reference: “Gray Area wins the nomination for the Mercury Award, NME Award for Best British Album, and Ivor Novello for Album of the Year” and “Girl in Red gets one billion views before releasing her debut album”.

The Services of this stage are:

Financing Plus: Here the singer-songwriter must approve the budget for marketing. She/he maintains creative control and 100% of her/his copyright. Likewise, AWAL will take a percentage of the income that depends on the contract by mutual agreement, but they ensure that the artist obtains the majority percentage.
Global Marketing: The Company’s global marketing team will guide everything from digital campaigns to brand collaborations, social implementations, and whatever is necessary to propel the project towards the top of the popularity charts of all digital platforms.
A&R and Global Promotion: With this service, you will be able to maximize the dissemination of the project by making use of partners and commercial places with greater relevance, advertisements on music platforms such as Apple, be part of the best charts, and be on the programming grid of the best 40 radio stations.

You Can Also Read: What do you know about Kobalt?

How Can You Become An AWAL Member?

Cold War Kids at night concert — American band Cold War Kids is a member of AWAL

In August 2020, the distribution company announced that many of its artists were earning more than $ 100,000 per year per streaming, which is equivalent to an increase of 40% compared to 2018.

On February 1^st of this year, AWAL

To become a member of this company, you must be selected by the differently trained professionals who are in charge of choosing them according to the following characteristics:

Quality: You must have a mixture of three skills: exponential Creativity, maximum Originality, and overflowing Talent.
Fans participation: A good base of engaged fans is essential because the number of transmissions on platforms such as YouTube, Spotify, and Soundcloud will be quantified with the number of followers and subscribers. They will also analyze the number of fans on associated Social Networks such as Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. In addition, they will be attentive to musicians with successes in live presentations and tours that confirm the power of a massive convocation.
Breaking the Noise: Each artist must be proactive and create press headlines as well as comments on blogs and music magazines to break the noise of the 20,000 new recordings that Spotify adds daily and be part of the hard-working replacement generation to make his name known.
Support Team: You must have among other work relationships: Manager, publicist, Music Editor, and lawyer. It is not necessary for your team to be made up of all these members, but at least three.
Strong Brand: First, you must have a high degree of professionalism. Having created a brand and being in continuous growth demonstrates the basis of a great effort and commitment to consider and be evaluated.

Although AWAL is selective, its main mission is to partner with creative, passionate, and motivated artists to propel them with their careers on a professional level.