North America

How they got their start in the world of the arts

There have been many artists of Latin origin who have become known in much of the world thanks to their talent and dedication to what they do. A perfect example of this are the Mexican siblings Isaac and Esteban Hernandez, who have given much to talk about in major media outlets both in Spanish and English.

These boys, originally from Guadalajara, Mexico, are two of 11 siblings in a very large family. They are children of two dancers and one of them is Héctor Hernández, who taught the youths to dance from an early age thanks to the wide experience he gained in this profession. Isaac and Esteban have commented in some interviews that their father built a barre and both used thin pieces of wood as a ballet floor, which they used to practice their moves.

In addition to that, they were home-schooled by their mother, Laura, which helped a lot to train them in dance and allow them to devote more time to these activities.

These brothers think that they have managed to change their lives in a relatively short time thanks to the effort and dedication to dance, a discipline that they love so much. However, they knew that the path might not be as easy as they would like it to be.

When questioned about machismo and the feedback they might get on being men who dance ballet, they said that their father has prepared them very well for that moment. When they asked him to teach them to dance, he warned them that it would not be easy for them to start a real career in this discipline, but they did not care and moved on.

Service to the Latino community

After achieving this level of fame, they have set out to help new generations of dancers in any way possible so that they can get ahead in the world of the arts, specifically in dancing. In the past, it was very difficult to bring dance schools and talent auditions to many Latin American countries, which has made it difficult for young people interested in learning all these disciplines to have access to the necessary training to succeed. However, established artists such as Isaac and Esteban have played a very important role in the turning of things.

In the specific case of Mexico, it has been possible many children throughout the country to have access to the opportunities they need to climb positions in the world of entertainment, as even as it was with these professional dancers.

While it is true that dancing on the most important stages of the world and being judges in competitions fill their souls and makes them feel very lucky, the use of all their potential to change the lives of so many people in their Latino community excites them in an indescribable way and makes them understand the great social responsibility they have.

Presence in the media

Given that Latino Heritage Month had just been held, many digital media outlets took advantage of the brothers’ popularity to make reports on their great work and all they have achieved in such a short time. There are many online newspapers or websites that have highlighted the talent of the Hernandezes and all the achievements obtained through the effort and hard work put forth by both of them.

In one of those many reports, it is highlighted that Esteban is considered as one of the most influential Mexicans and has become one of the main dancers of SF Ballet. For his part, Isaac has received a Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts from the President of Mexico at the time, Enrique Peña Nieto, is also part of the SF Ballet as a main dancer and is one of the judges in the dancing competition ”Mira Quien Baila”. 

Both Isaac and Esteban are clear proof that dreams come true and everything can be achieved with effort and dedication no matter where we came from.

Read also: A new salsa talent with Latin parents and born in Boston

Who is Yamila Guerra

Yamila Guerra is a Cuban singer, dancer, actress and TV host who has always felt a great passion for music from an early age and knew she wanted to devote her life to the world of entertainment. She is the daughter of the famous Cuban duo Rosell y Cary and sister of famous producer, bandleader, arranger, composer, classical guitarist Yalil Guerra, who is a great friend of International Salsa Magazine.

We had the honor of talking with Yamila for a while and know a little more about her both personally and professionally. It was really a pleasure for us to have had her here and to know more about her great career.

Inclination for the arts from an early age and academic background

Yamila reveals that she has always felt very attracted to the art world and started this journey doing impressions of certain Cuban and foreign artists who she saw on TV. Some of them were friends of her parents’or colleagues because they shared the stage with them in all the activities they did in Cuba.

Evidently, the fact that she grew up in an artistic and musical environment included a lot in the inclination she had towards this world, but it was not the only thing that made her dedicate herself to all this. She always felt a natural and organic attraction to the world of entertainment, music and art.

Seeing that her career began at the Cuba’s National Ballet School, it can be said that the first area in which she began to develop was dance. When she took the physical tests, she was admitted to the institution and attended as a listener until she was old enough to be able to participate in the classes. She feels that she had a complete training because, besides studying classical ballet, she learned all the Cuban dances such as contradanza, Cuban son, cha cha chá, danzón, among others.

At the School of Artistic Varieties, she developed in areas such as acting, singing, music and much more. All these disciplines mentioned above helped her a lot with her professional future.

Once in the United States, she studied at Berkley College of Music and took singing lessons in some genres such as blues, jazz, country, ballads, among others. At other schools, she studied art history, marketing, business, sales and other areas that have served her professionally speaking.

Life in Spain

Guerra tells us that she left Spain and moved to Miami because she could not tolerate its cold climate and wanted to be closer to her family in Cuba, but she has many good memories and is thankful to the European country, as it gave her the opportunity to be a TV host on channels such as TVE, Canal Satélite Digital, Antena 3 and Telecinco. Likewise, she was able to take her music to different stages and many parts of Spain. She felt that the Spanish people welcomed her art with open arms.

Once she moved to Miami, she worked on  ”Sábado Gigante” as an actress with Don Francisco, whom she thanks for the opportunity his team gave her.

How business, economics and legality have helped her in her career

One of the first pieces of advice Yamila gives to anyone who wants to work in entertainment in the United States is to master the English language. The artist defines herself as an eternal student because she has always liked to learn everything, especially languages. In fact, when she was in Spain, she paid for an English academy once a week to learn that language because she knew it would be very important in her career in terms of negotiation.

She also stresses that it is important to find out about legal and business issues to deal with clients and partners in the best possible way and avoid loopholes that naturally arise in the entertainment world. Yamila believes that it is very important to separate art from business and ”not to be trusted with money”. The Cuban highlights the importance of being pragmatic about making decisions and not allowing the artistic part to prevent people from making the right decisions at the level of business.

Social media

The talented performer considers that social networks are a fundamental part of her work and promotion, so she thinks it is important to have a presence on each and every one of them and design a strategy depending on the characteristics of each one. She considers that it is very important to post videos and photographs in order to promote her work, but also use her platforms to talk about other more personal topics such as family, beauty, nutrition, love and other things. That variety of facets is what attracts so many people to her content.

As for her personal tastes, she confesses that she loves Tik Tok because she considers it a very organic and authentic platform. This is where she posts videos of herself acting and giving her opinion about all kinds of topics, something that gives her great exposure.

On this same issue, she stated that social networking has become essential to all types of professions and that we must all be present on them as much as possible because they have become part of our letter of introduction to others.

Tradicional Cubano

Yamila had been wanting to make an album fully dedicated to traditional Cuban music, which she considers to be the most flavorful, since it does not need a lot of instrumentation to feel it. It is very old, but it does not lose its flavor and its validity over the years. This is how her latest album ”Tradicional Cubano” came about.

This album includes composers such as Ignacio Piñeiro and Celina González. Guerra wanted to rescue this repertoire that she listened to when she was a child, since it always caught her attention and she was fascinated to be able to portray the Cuban culture and the lives of Cubans.

Read also: We interviewed IndiviDúo singers Tiffany Joy and Maqui Reyes

Who is D’ William?

William Pagán Díaz, artistically known as D’ William, is a talented producer, composer and singer with extensive experience in various tropical genres. He was part of the Oro Negro Orchestra and the Tañón Band before starting his solo career. We were fortunate to talk to him and learn a little more about his history and career.

How his career began

The Oro Negro Orchestra represented his first musical experience and he was about 17 years old at the time. In fact, his mother had to sign a contract for him to be part of the group because he was underage. He stayed there for a year until he got asked to audition for the Tañón Band, a group that Olga Tañón was creating at the time.

After auditioning with 300 or 400 candidates, I was chosen as the last missing member for the group because it required four and there were only three. D’ William told us that he felt he had the world in his hands due to work with Olga Tañón, but unfortunately she decided to broke up the band because she had other plans. At that time, Pagan did not know what to do with his life because he thought he had already pursued the ultimate in his career, so he decided to turn his life around, enlist in the army and forget all music.

These years of his life contributed a lot to strengthen his discipline, but he also realized that he did not want to dedicate himself to military life forever. After he retired, he moved to Japan and lived there for about seven years, during that time he was introduced to Puerto Rican salsa thanks to some friends. He started singing salsa, but always saw music as sort of a hobby and not as something he wanted to do professionally.

He toured all over Japan with the Conquistando Orchestra and composed for other artists and various franchises, but nothing for himself. In 2010, he decided that he wanted to change that situation and recorded six salsa songs with the idea of moving to Puerto Rico thinking he was going to find the same country in the musical field. Then, all the songs recorded by him stayed on the hard drive of his computer and he could not do anything with them.

Unable to get a job, he decides to use his veteran’s benefits to complete his education, which leads him to study criminal justice and law. In 2018, a job opportunity as a lawyer for the federal government in Washington DC arose, so he moves there and meets some people who reconnect him with music thanks to his career in Japan.

When the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, he finally made the decision to start his solo career and choose a stage name that referred to his real name, which led him to use D’ William. In September 2020, he recorded his first song titled “24 horas enteras” giving start to his solo career.

Why use merengue as a base for his music?

Although merengue has not had such a boom in recent years, D’ William is passionate about this genre that he never wanted to leave aside and even said that “a party without merengue is not a party”. The artist wanted to do something that included a tropical genre handled very well by him and he knows he was right about deciding on merengue, since he has observed a renaissance in the popularity of this set of rhythms with the help of artists such as Elvis Crespo, who was again seen in awards recently.

Music for millennial ears

D’ William points out that the most important elements of merengue will always be present in his work, but in his own words, ”the years and generations make the music evolve”. Since the performer did not want to stignate in the same thing, he tries to experiment with a new style of singing merengue and writes some of his lyrics with other genres in mind, such as dembow. He also incorporates kicks, snares, synthesizers and other sounds to reach millenial ears.

This combination of the above elements has made the reception to the artist’s music great.

Experience in Guatemala

D’ William also told us about the Estela Awards in Guatemala, which he did not knew nothing about until he was invited to attend. Once there, he noticed the importance of these awards for Central America, as they recognize the talent of Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Mexico and many more.

He had the honor of being in its sixth edition and seeing how artists who did not have the opportunity to be in bigger events such as Billboard, Tu Música, Latin Grammy, among others, were awarded. Something very special about this year was the participation of a Puerto Rican delegation of for the first time in its history, in which D’ William was with several of his compatriots.

The reception of the public and press towards this group was great and they really enjoyed the show. They were so well received that they plan to return soon in December to continue delighting Guatemalans with their talent.

What did D’ William do during the pandemic?

D’ William told us that he did a lot of things for himself and other colleagues during the pandemic. He did a great collaboration on a track with Dominique Patrick Noel, a French percussionist with whom we had the pleasure to talk beforehand. They have done several songs together in which the Puerto Rican sings and does some arrangements with Noel.

He also sang with Eduardo Padua, who is a very famous Puerto Rican conguero in Virginia and Peruvian Andy Caseda.

Read Also: The interesting story of French percussionist Dominique Patrick Noel

We talked with shoemaker and shoe designer Carlo Farroni

In entertainment, singers, musicians and dancers are always the ones who show their faces to the audience, so they usually take the credit that comes from the final result, but there are many other professionals who also do their part so that a stage performance can be carried out, but unfortunately they do not get the recognition they deserve from the mass media.

Some of those professionals are shoemakers and shoe modelists, who offer absolute comfort and elegance to artists during their shows, especially when it comes to dancers. Today, we are going to bring the story of Mr. Carlos Farroni, who kindly agreed to talk to us and told us how he began in this interesting and important occupation.

How did you start your career as a shoemaker and shoe designer? (título 3)

Carlos Farroni tells us that he started his apprenticeship at the age of 20, namely more than four decades ago. All this training took place at the shoemaking institute in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Farroni’s native country, but it was not the only place responsible for teaching this man everything he knows today. He also combined his studies with certain tasks in an artisan footwear workshop, something that would be a great support to the knowledge gained within the field of formal education.

A few years later, he enbarked on a trip to Italy, where he worked in various areas of the creation of shoes, such as design and subsequent manufacturing, which was also extremely important for the Argentinean to continue learning how to navigate the world that has made him so well known.

Asked why he dedicates himself to the creation of special shoes to dance, he replied that he was carrying out exclusive footwear for theatre plays for many years, during this time his work started to become known in many parts of the world. After the quality of his products made news in many countries, many dancers started contacting Farroni to design exclusive shoes for them. It can be said that this is how he started the famous brand we know today.

How is your working methodology? (título3)

Regarding the production process, Mr. Farroni has revealed to us that everything is hand-made, which means that the tailoring, design, choice of materials, cutting, sewing, assembly and finished are handmade. In the same way, he ensures that the materials used for his products (most of the shoes are made of leather) are of excellent quality both in tanning and in thickness. This whole process is what makes the shoes look so professional and, at the same time, so comfortable and light as to allow the wearer to move freely.

It is also important to underline that the shoes handmade by Mr. Farroni’s brand can be used to dance every kind of musical genre without an problem. Obviously, tango dancers are the ones who most often seek out and promote these products, but there is no limit with regard to this detail. Anyone who wants the greatest elegance, sophistication and comfort at the moment of dance anything can contact Carlo Farroni, who will be happy to assist them and offer them the best of his work.

Read also: Omar Ledezma Jr talks about his experience at the Tempo Latino Festival

With a fifty-year career in music, the leader of the Salsa 220 Orchestra, Colombian trombonist Oscar “El Gato” Urueta releases the second song of the musical concept he now directs.

“El Gato” delivers his latest single “Cómo te quiero yo”, composition and arrangement by Venezuelan pianist Alberto Crespo; this time with Rodrigo Mendoza, remembered for his time with Dimensión Latina de Venezuela, on vocals. Urueta got in touch with Alberto Crespo after seeing his work in social networks.

This single, in my opinion, deserves international diffusion because of the Afro-Caribbean interpretation in this concept described by Urueta himself as high-voltage salsa.  I listened to the track and I feel obliged to highlight it for bringing us a classic salsa concept, without being more of the same; so let’s go to the mambo, here is what you hear:

During the first 10 seconds, Rodrigo Mendoza leads the vocal part opening the theme as if opening a door; inviting the listener to go on a musical journey that merges various cultural influences.

At the first minute mark it is already known that the trombones of Oscar “El Gato” Urueta and Eliel Rivero are in charge of the musicalization.  At minute 1:45, Alberto Crespo’s piano solo delights us without making it dense.

This piano solo, from which the salsa dancer who dances in tune can benefit, seems to embrace in perfect synchrony the sound of José Soto “Mortadelo”‘s bass.

At minute 2:30 the trombones take over the song, and melodically give way to the tumbadora, in the hands of Carlos Padrón; meeting with the sound of the same in a tasty instrumental correspondence full of cadence and Caribbean flavor.

At minute 2:36, the bass of José Soto embraces again the sound of the tumbadora.

At minute 2:40 the tumbadora turns on the mambo. At minute 2:42 the tumbadora leads the percussion, opening the way for a bell that plays with the coros of Luisito Cabrera, Rodrigo Mendoza and Edgar “Dolor” Quijada, as well as interweaving with the trombones.

The trombones persist and sustain a mambo of those that bring “more salsa than pesca’o”, as we say in Puerto Rico; until around minute 2:55 the conga, the timbal and the bell execute a forceful cut and in unison, to return the arrangement to the trombones.

At minute 4:00, the leader’s trombone seems to be in sync with the percussion and vocalist to close the track; shortly after the trombones enter into a brief correspondence with the tumbadora, just before Padrón’s campaneo concludes the track at minute 4:25.

Urueta has a healthy musical trajectory, surrounded by the greats of the salsa sound.  “El Gato” was part of the Colombian orchestra La Protesta, when Joe Arroyo was the group’s vocalist. Urueta was also part of the now world renowned Grupo Niche, replacing Alexis Lozano on trombone. Urueta traveled to New York City with Grupo Niche as part of the first international tour of the group founded by the late Jairo Varela. He later settled in Miami where he was part of the orchestras that accompanied stars such as Frankie Ruiz, Hansel y Raúl and Santos Colón, to name a few.

Coincidentally, “El Gato” Urueta joined Hansel y Raul’s orchestra when the song ‘Maria Teresa y Danilo’ had become a hit throughout Latin America. Urueta shared the stage with musicians of the stature of Israel López “Cachao”.

In the 1990s, Urueta was a musician with Joe Arroyo’s Orquesta La Verdad, with whom he traveled around the world.

After participating in several concerts accompanying Richie Ray and Bobby Cruz, about five years ago, Urueta took on the task of forming the Orquesta Salsa 220 with which he presented the single “Guaguancó sabroso”, which featured Puerto Rican Rico Walker as guest artist on vocals.

“Cómo te quiero yo” is the preview of what will be the album: Sabrosura y Tradición, soon to be released also on acetate.

Bella Martínez

You can read: Sigo entre amigos de Luis “Perico” Ortiz

 

By Bella Martinez, ISM Correspondents, San Juan, Puerto Rico