North America

The Lehman Center Performing Arts Series Presents Andy Montañez’s 55TH Anniversary

North America / USA / New York

Lehman Center for the Performing Arts Presents Andy Montañez:

Enjoy this Puerto Rican star recognized as one of the best and most influential singer in Latin America in a Special Show with special guests: Victoria Sanabria, El Trio Ideal and Johnny Olivo & Herencia de Plena

Date: Saturday, May 11^th

Show: 8:00PM

Cost: $65 – $100

Venue: 250 Bedford Park Boulevard West Bronx, New York 10468

Lehman Center for the Performing Arts is proud to present the Latin GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award winner, Andy Montañez as he celebrates his 55^th Anniversary with special guest: Victoria Sanabria on Saturday, May 11^th. In addition to this, enjoy EL TRIO IDEAL and the exciting dance rhythms of JOHNNY OLIVO Jr. & HERENCIA DE PLENA’s performance of their afro-rich folkloric musical traditions of Puerto Rican Bomba and Plena in a Salsero Show never before seen in New York City.

BIO: The Andy Montañez ’s beginnings go back to 1962 with the orchestra: El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico. It was 15 years of success. El Niño de Trastalleres recorded 37 LP’S with this great Latin orchestra. There he created and sealed the luggage that would accompany him always: “El Barbero Loco”, “Julia”, “Guaguanco del Gran Combo”, Un Verano en Nueva York”, “Vagabundo”, “Milonga Sentimental”, “Las Hojas Blancas”, “La Soledad” and the now classic “A mí manera”, a song that he recorded with Paquito Guzmán and with Pellín Rodríguez originally.

In 1977, Andy Montañez decided accepts the irresistible offer made by the popular Venezuelan orchestra “La Dimensión Latina” to replace Oscar D’ León. With this important orchestra, Andy Montañez recorded eight LPs that placed the Venezuelan band at the popularity top and sales. The first album with Dimension Latina marked big hits, such as: “El Eco Del Tambor”, “Mujer Impura”, “Ritmos Cubanos”. Then, the triumphs continued with the themes: “Las Perlas de tu Boca”, “Como Canto Yo “, “Nuestra Tierra”, “Vuelve”, “Rumberos de Ayer”, “Son del Bohío”, “Ave María Lola”, “Mi Son Oriental”, “Cantante Errante”, and others.

For 1980, Andy Montañez recorded with the group “Puerto Rico All Stars” three LPs that were the prelude to his return to Puerto Rico. “Reunión en la Cima”, “Isla Bonita”, “Homenaje al Mesías” dedicated to Eddie Palmieri, outlined the growth process in which the Salsero still remains.

Returning Puerto Rico, Andy Montañez forms his own orchestra. By 1981, he recorded his first solo LP titled “Salsa con Caché” with record label LAD (TH Rodven’s subsidiary). His third LP “Simplemente Andy Montañez” rang with the hits: “Dulce Veneno” and “Payaso”. This album stayed 30 weeks in the magazine, Bilboard, inside its pages Tropical Music with five themes.

For 1998, he finally created his first independent production as a Salsero artist. Guided by his feelings, his proven experience and his artistic spontaneity was released the album: “Soy Como Soy”. This production is a tribute to his people to whom Andy Montañez responds with commitment of national pride wherever he goes.

In 2002, this worldwide multifaceted artist sees the support of his people materialized by filling the Centro de Bellas Artes’ Festival Hall for three consecutive days, where he captivated three generations with an unforgettable musical tour in which El Bolero, la Música de Tríos, La Salsa and La Plena harmonized that unparalleled Salsa experience. For more details, please, visit him through http://www.andymontanez.net

BIO: Victoria Sanabria was born on October 6, 1976 in Guayama (Puerto Rico). This woman with a sublime voice who carries in her throat all the essence of singing peasant, is one of the most impressive talents that has given the Trova Jíbara of the island of enchantment.

In 1992, she won the third prize in the category of singing in the competitions “Juventud Vibra”. The following year she won first place in the Troubadour Contest of the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture, becoming the national troubadour per excellence. Later, Victoria was part of the Choir of the University of Puerto Rico, Ponce Campus.

Continuing her ascending path in the arts, in December (1995) she made her debut in Bellas Artes with the Puerto Rico’s Symphonic Orchestra. That same year this talented artist managed to be crowned as the first female to win the Bacardí Troubadour Contest, proving to be the best improviser of Puerto Rico at the end of the century.

Her first album as a soloist, Cánticos de Serrania, was recorded in 1999, and in the next eight years she released three more in Puerto Rico including 2008’s Celebra Conmigo that featured Andy Montañez and Andrés Jiménez as guest artists. That same year, she joined the world-wide Tribute to Hector Lavoe concert tour.

In December 2009, Sanabria released her international breakthrough album Criollo Con Salsa, in which she had combined Puerto Rican folk music with salsa. The album contained several hits including “10 Dias”, “No Lavo, No Plancho, Ni Cocino”, “Jibara Natural” that featured Luis “Perico” Ortiz, and “No Te Quiero” sung with reggaeton star Ivy Queen. 2011 saw the release of the highly successful album Boleros which established Victoria as a major singer, and a year later she followed up with the release of Boleros II, which is now considered a classic.

The Sanabria’s most recent releases are her live concert album Trayectoria that was recorded in Santurce in 2012, and 2016’s Música Mía. In addition to her own recordings, Victoria has been featured as a guest on works by Domingo Quiñónez, Olga Tañon, Richie Ray, Bobby Cruz, Gilberto Santa Rosa, El Gran Combo, Danny Rivera, Charlie Aponte, and Willie Colon, among others.

Purchase your Tickets NOW at:

https://lehmancenter.org/ANDY-MONTANEZ-VICTORIA-SANABRIA/

Oscar D’ León, A Universal Latin Artist

North America / USA / New York

Oscar Emilio León Simoza, better known as Oscar D’ León “El Sonero del Mundo”, is undoubtedly a man who throughout his career has made a name like a few others in the music world. An exceptional Venezuelan born in the west of the Capital, who from an early age, began to be interested in Caribbean music.

His innate talent was growing and nowadays is the biggest Venezuelan exponent of the Tropical rhythm and other musical genres, where he has proven to be a global artist.

He started his career at 28 years old in 1972, when he created La Dimensión Latina with Cesar Monje- Elio Pacheco- José Rodriguez- Rojitas and Chuito. A year after, they together recorded their first full-length record, obtaining their first hit: “Pensando en ti”, so they were hired to participate in the Maracaibo’s carnival celebrations … The success was immediate! The group ranks an important place in the musical spectrum of Latin music since then.

In 1977, Oscar broke up with La Dimensión Latina and began the most successful part of his large trajectory, now as a soloist and with his own orchestra: “La Salsa Mayor”. HITS after HITS: : “Mi bajo y yo”, “El baile del suavecito”, “Bravo de verdad”, “Llorarás”, “La Vela”, “Divina Niña”, “Taboga”, “Juancito Trucupey”, “El frutero”, “Parampampam”, and “Dolor Cobarde”,are only part of his most famous songs at the time, today turned into Classics.

Oscar D’ León made a stop in his illustrious career to say “present” at one of the most important festivals on the American continent, the International Festival of Viña del Mar in Chile (2015), where El Sonero del Mundo served as Jury and closed the festival with a majestic show. Obtaining Silver and Gold Seagull for his great musical quality and public preference in this Latin Festival marked a milestone in the history of this event.

Separate chapter deserves his CD “Antológico”, already turned into a musical jewel with universal preference and in all honesty, “Oscar D’ León Clásicos de Big Band” was a mega production recorded between Nashville (cradle of Anglo music) and Miami. These two CDs were recorded in Spanish and English languages with emblematic world themes.

“Clásicos de Big Band” is a musical project with quality and sounds from that ancient era. 36 live musicians all gathered in a single recording studio, recreating the best of this musical genre that gave success to figures, such as:

Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole, among many others. For this project, its producer, Rodolfo Castillo, traveled to the city of Nashville- Tennessee (The musical city)

Where with a group of professionals, colleagues and talented musicians, arrangers and engineers of this great city, such as: Chris McDonald and Dan Rudin, decided to produce and develop a tribute to this musical genre for which he would need a voice, the voice of an artist, with the ability to interpret in English and Spanish, a classic repertoire, such as:

“My Way, New York New York, Fly Me To The Moon, Sway, I’ve got you under my skin, Volare, I did it my way, Perhaps, Cachito Mio, Copacabana, Starngers in the night, among many others.

In addition, the image of Oscar D ‘León is a living example of perseverance, work and discipline, Not in vain has he been a motivational coach. He has given talks on proactivity and motivation in universities and private companies. Coincidentally, in 2015 he received the Doctorate Honoris Causa awarded by the Universidad Pedagógica Experimental Libertador (UPEL), belonging to the Caracas’ Pedagogical Institute.

Oscar D’ León is a true global artist, multifaceted and a Venezuelan with a universal heart, a Latin per excellence who has undoubtedly been converted by his talent, actions and examples into a Latin ambassador in the world, the most charismatic and with the greatest penetration in the different music markets of the world.

NEXT SHOWS:

FRIDAY, MAY 31^ST

SHOW: 10:00PM – 4:00AM

PRICE: $38 – $70

VENUE: La Boom. 56-15 Northern BlvdWoodside, NY 11377

AGES: 21+

FRIDAY, MAY 17^TH

SHOW: 7:00PM

PRICE: $72 – $104+

VENUE: House of Blues Orlando, Orlando, Florida

SATURDAY, MAY 18^TH

SHOW: 9:00PM

PRICE: $40 – $84+

VENUE: The Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theater, Miami Beach, Florida.

For more details and tickets:
http://www.OSCARDLEON.net/

Argentine-American composer and guitarrist Alejandro Meola kindly talked to us

There is a country we do not usually talk much about in this edition, but we have found the best moment to do so, and it is the land of tango and mate, Argentina. It turns out that, on this occasion, we talked with composer, singer and guitarist Alejandro Meola, who has honored us by accepting our invitation to this very special exclusive interview we had.

Alejandro Meola is an artist who was born in the city of Miami, but his parents moved to Argentina when he was very young, so he spent his childhood and adolescence in the aforementioned country. In his accent, we can see how influential his upbringing in Buenos Aires was.

Next, we will touch some of the most important issues related to his career and his life in general.

This is Alejandro Meola, a very talented Argentine-American guitarist

Alejandro’s beginnings in music

As is typical, Alejandro began to feel a great attachment to music and it all started with the guitar that was in the house he grew up, with which he played at an amateur level and began practicing slowly and improving his skills over time. He says he always knew that his vocation was music, even without being old enough to decide on these issues.

Given that the guitar was the instrument with which he started in music, this will always be the most important element in his artistic life above any other. However, he is also capable of playing other instruments such as piano, drums and bass, which can transport him to places within his mind where the guitar does not always take him.

With regard to composition, Alejandro started to develop in this area through the need to express those emotions he had on the inside and communicate what his feelings in an original way with the help of music and the melodies that compose it. ‘‘I like to communicate things that resonate in other people’s minds and that’s where my taste for composition came from. Besides, I think that practice and time improve your ability to communicate emotions and transmit messages to anyone who listens to you. That evolves with oneself” said the artist.

Alejandro’s musical education

Alejandro told us that he studied at a music school in Argentina where he specialized more on guitar and composition, but what he calls ”street training” also helped him a lot to polish his act as an artist. The experience gained out the academies is so important to Alejandro that he even defines it as ”a parallel university”, which is as important as formal academic training, if not more.

”It’s the street that gives you the tools, the experience and the journey to be a more complete artist. Practice on real stages is critical to specialize in music as it should be” Alejandro said on the subject.

street training is important for Alejandro — According to Alejandro, ”street training” is very important for any artist

Argentine and American roots in Alejandro’s work

Hearing Alejandro play evidences that he is heavily influenced by legendary and world-famous Argentine rock and the artist confirms this stating that he listened a lot to Fito Paez, Soda Stereo, Charlie Garcia, Gustavo Cerati, Luis Albert Spinetta, Andres Calamaro, among others. Undoubtedly, all of these music luminaries played a very important role on how this young man would perceive music, adding to all the American rock and blues he would listen to upon arrival in the United States.

However, he noted that being in the United States also allowed him to listen to a number of Latin artists and rhythms which he never planned on experimenting with, but he did. His song ”La Inmigración” is a good example of this. In that regard, living in New York has expanded his horizons and led him to discover salsa, Cuban and Puerto Rican music. He also says that he took inspiration from Héctor Lavoe, Cheo Feliciano and La Fania when doing one or two songs.

”At the end of the day, my music is a mixture of who I am and the places I’ve lived. A little from there, a little from here and a little from nowhere (laughs). A little from everywhere and a little from nowhere” he said.

Alejandro also said that he is always on the lookout for other rhythms and ideas that come his way, but always using rock and guitar as a starting point.

Alejandro at The Bowery Electric — Alejandro Meola playing live at The Bowery Electric

Why Alejandro chose New York as his permanent residence

Since he was very young, Alejandro had always wanted to experience the dream of living and working in his art in New York. In addition to that, he wanted to know other cities in the country where he was born because while it is true that he spent most of his life in Argentina, he was also very clear that his country of birth was the United States, so he was curious to know it better.

Once in New York, I met all kinds of people and artists with a very high musical level, so I was able to learn a lot from all of them. I feel like the bar is rising here and that led me to want to improve further every day. In that sense, I feel that New York gives you thick skin, since there are many obstacles to overcome to be truly recognized in music” said Alejandro about the city.

The artist has been living in New York for 10 years now and is at ease in the place in which he currently is. In addition, he has managed to find a niche singing in Spanish, which has made him very happy and satisfied with his career.

How Alejandro deals with languages in his music

Something very common that many well-known artists do is to record songs in both English and Spanish so that the audience they reach is bigger, but Alejandro does not believe in it. He thinks that each song must have its own language and feeling, so he prefers to do one version of each song in one language.

When he arrived in New York, he experimented a lot with English and has several albums in this language, but noting that he could work with Spanish without problems, he began to focus his music in that direction. In fact, today, almost all of his concerts are in Spanish.

Each language has its advantages and disadvantages in terms of sound, so I must always pay attention to that,” said Alejandro on the subject.

It has been a great pleasure for us to count on the talented Argentinean singer Alejandro Meola for this edition and we wish him the greatest success in his career from now on.

Gabriel from the band Changüí Majadero talks about traditional Cuban Music

Latin America is the birthplace of so many different musical genres that a lot of us could never even know them all. Although salsa is our main focus, there are many Latin genres that also deserve our full attention and, in this writing, we are going to talk about one of them: the changüí. That is why we interviewed one of its main exponents: Gabriel García, leader and founder of the band Changüí Majadero.

Gabriel García from Changüí Majadero playing — Gabriel García playing his Cuban tres

Gabriel’s beginnings in music

Gabriel started relating a little of his history with music. Something interesting to say about this artist is that his beginnings in music did not take place as a child like many others, but when he was about 19 years old.

Before being a musician, Gabriel was an amateur boxer since he was a child and, thanks to his dedication, he went on to win Gold Gloves and was part of sport organizations in his native Mexico. The sport was the center of his life until a school friend of his lent him a guitar and taught him how to play along some chords. This was the beginning of his interest in music.

Apart from this, he learned that his grandmother was an opera singer in her youth, which increased his desire to start experimenting with music and focused entirely on it, to the point that he applied the same discipline as with boxing at the time.

Gabriel then decided it was time to be academically trained in what would become his new passion, so he took a degree in jazz and a subsequent master’s degree in Afro-Latin music. This is interesting because he did not grow up with these genres and had not heard them before, so studying them was something new for the artist. And of course, he did not know changüí either.

Gabriel García from Changüí Majadero smoking — Gabriel García smoking a Cuban cigar

The Cuban Tres

Let us remember that Gabriel was a guitarist and jazz player and his initial training was based on this, but that changed as he got to know Cuban rhythms and salsa itself. Something that caught his attention is that salsa hardly ever uses the guitar, until one day he heard a son montuno record with something very similar to a guitar, but it was not one. It was a Cuban tres.

When he realized that the tres was the root of all this type of music, he set himself to learning to play it and bought one. To help himself, he began listening to artists and groups such as Buena Vista Social Club and the famous tres player Pancho Amat, who was the one Gabriel became interested in the Cuban tres for.

Then, a friend told him that, if he wanted to know the roots of this instrument, he had to study changüí. The problem was that, at that time, there was very little information about this genre, so it became much more difficult for him to learn about it. The only thing he had was a record by the most famous changüí group, whose name was Changüí Majadero.

There was so little Gabriel could know about changüí that he met Cubans born and raised outside Guantánamo who did not know it, since it came from very rural areas. For the same reason, changüí was unable to reach the big cities like Havana, where most foreign tourists went.

Given that there was only little information available on changüí, Gabriel chose to do part of his master’s degree in Guantánamo and that is when he finally got to know this genre for real. He also had the opportunity to make friends with changüí teachers, who helped him a lot to understand it, including the founder of the group Changüí Guantánamo.

Changüí Majadero

After returning to Los Angeles with all the information he collected in Guantánamo, he began recording videos for YouTube playing the original changüí and its typical instruments. Alfredo Ortiz, a very popular salsa percussionist in Los Angeles and member of the orchestra Son Mayor, saw these videos and immediately contacted Gabriel to invite him to play with his group. Subsequently, they all decided to form a new group based on this not so well known genre.

Gabriel explains that he and the other members decided to call the group ChangüÍ Majadero because it was relegated to being heard only by poor farmers in Cuba, so the wealthy people from the big cities referred to ChangüÍ in a derogatory sense as ”música majadera” (music for uneducated and poor people).

The guantanameros who played changüÍ started using the word ”majadero” in their lyrics, but to refer to how proud they were about their roots and this genre. This fact made Gabriel and the other musicians choose to use ”changüí majadero” as the name for their group.

Fortunately, this situation has changed over time thanks to those who have been interested in making changüí known to the rest of Cuba and the world. After many years of work, it has become much more popular and well respected compared to other times, but it is still not enough. In the words of Gabriel, it is necessary to pursue efforts to make this traditional and folkloric genre more relevant every day.

Berklee Online: The Best Option for Learning Music Online

According to many of the artists we have had the honor of interviewing in this section, one of the most important things to succeed in the world of music is education and academic preparation. Fortunately, the United States is full of academic institutions offering all kinds of degrees, courses and diplomas to contribute to knowledge base artists use for their work. One such institution is Berklee College of Music.

Berklee College of Music is one of the leading music institutes in the state of Massachusetts and offers all kinds of academic degrees related to this important branch of the arts on its campuses in Boston, New York and Valencia, Spain. Its biggest focus is developing the potential of its students in areas like music, dance and theater.

In this prestigious institution, students have the opportunity to experience every aspect of the music industry through an interdisciplinary curriculum. On its website, those interested can see everything that is offered such as undergraduate, graduate, summer programs and online courses.

In addition, Berklee has made available to its applicants the possibility of studying in an online mode through its Berklee Online initiative.

Berklee Online

Berklee Online is an initiative by Berklee College of Music created in 2002 with a view to allowing aspiring musicians and established artists to pursue economic and high-quality degrees and educational programs from anywhere in the world.

Berklee students will be able to develop and improve all of their artistic skills through online certificate programs, award-winning courses, and undergraduate programs.

An important thing to note is that online students will be able to learn from the same professors from the physical campus, so at no time will there be any decrease in the quality of teaching compared to face-to-face classes. We are talking about the best professionals in each of their areas who have taught classes to numerous artists and have been part of national and international award-winning projects. Likewise, many of the graduates of this institution have won Grammys and other awards of this kind.

According to figures handled by the college, Berklee Online has students from around 140 countries and very diverse academic and work backgrounds, but with the same desire to learn and absorb the best from their instructors.

Another benefit offered by Berklee is the assignment of an academic advisor to students in order to support them in achieving their goals and help them in everything they need to make their experience the best it can be.

And for those who are not particularly interested in enrolling in a paid course, they can also opt for free resources to complement the activities they are carrying out. Among these resources, we can mention free sample lessons, degree handbooks, online course catalogs, news and exclusive content.

Once on the page online.berklee.edu, whoever wishes to have access to all this material must sign up and create an account by typing the data required by the page in order to get access to the content.

Graduation from Berklee College of Music at the Hynes Convention Center

Berklee Graduate Artists

Berklee College of Music has been the home of many renowned artists who have been able to learn much of what they know today in its facilities.

In this same section, we have spoken with renowned musicians who attended this college, which has greatly contributed to the training that has allowed them to get to where they are today.

One of them is Venezuelan percussionist and musician Omar Ledezma Jr., who received a scholarship to study in this institution and, at that moment, he told us that he applied for the scholarship and managed to pass the audition required to enter the school. A month later, he was informed that he had been admitted to Berklee through a letter and, in his own words, it was one of the most important news in his life.

Today, Ledezma has an important participation in groups such as Pacific Mambo Orchestra with which he has played in major festivals such as Tempo Latino in several of its editions. He is also teaching at the SF Community Center where he shares his knowledge with other young people who want to follow the same path.

Another fitting case to mention is that of Puerto Rican arranger, composer and sound engineer Felix O. Rodriguez, who studied production, mixing and remastering at Berklee College of Music to prepare his return to the stage since leaving the music for an extended period of time. After that, he started his solo career with all the irons and released his first studio album. Having developed in the aforementioned areas, he has much more control over his work and has no need to hire as many people to record his music.

While it is true that these artists attended face-to-face classes, their professors and content were the same for online classes, so students enrolled in the online mode can enjoy the same benefits and the same learning without any problem.