North America

Tribute to my friend Larry

It is now a year since the unfortunate departure of one of the greatest icons of Latin music, who is none other than the one and only producer, composer and pianist Larry Harlow. Let’s remember that he passed away on August 20, 2021 in a health center located in the Bronx at the age of 82. His death was caused by heart failure due to a kidney condition from which he had been suffering from for some time.

“El Judio Maravilloso” passed away on August 20, 2021

A little of his history

The also known as “El Judio Maravilloso” has a great success story behind him in the field of music, which began with the occupations of his parents. Recall that his mother was an opera singer and his father was a musician in the orchestras of Barrio Latino, which could explain his interest in the industry when he was very little. From a very young age, little Harry already handled certain instruments in a skilled way, showing what he could dedicate himself to in the future.

His great interest in Cuban music and culture led him to travel to Cuba, where he began his musical studies related to Afro-Cuban music. Unfortunately, the arrival of the Cuban Revolution prevented him from fulfilling his task and he had to leave the island prematurely due to the political crisis that started to develop.

Since then, the Harlow Orchestra became one of the first groups to be formed with the label of Fania Records. At the same time, Harlow was producing an tremendous amount of albums, both his and other musical stars’, catapulting him to becoming one of the most respected producers of that time. Reportedly, there were approximately 270 records in total, which gave us a lot of hits that continue to be heard to this day.

One of his greatest achievements was to have brought the world famous Cuban singer Celia Cruz to New York, thus becoming the first artist of Latin origin to perform at the Carnegie Hall, a famous concert hall located in Manhattan that had only had room for Anglo-Saxon artists until that time. It was “El Judio Maravilloso” who managed to bring Latin America to the Carnegie Hall for the first time from the hand of “La Guarachera de Cuba”, something unthinkable in those years.

Larry Harlow and Johnny Cruz in the 80’s

He also had an important role in the film “Our Latin Thing”, along with several transcendental figures of the Fania All Stars.

Relationship with the Spanish Harlem Salsa Gallery Museum

It is of common knwoledge that Larry and this server had a close relationship, since we knew each other for many years and lived many incredible experiences related to this wonderful genre called salsa. That is why the famous pianist sent me some of his most precious costumes to be exhibited in our gallery so that all his fans could be as close as possible to their idol.  After his departure, seeing all those things donated by him leaves a deep emptiness in those who see them, but at the same time this reaffirms our commitment to offer our public the best salsa exhibittions they have ever seen.

Larry has left an indelible mark in the hearts of all of us who got to know him during his lifetime, but our duty is to move on with our heads held high.

Harlow and Cruz in 2018

By Johnny Cruz, ISM Correspondents, New York, New York City

Here we have Miranda and Feliciano

Good afternoon, we have here Earl Miranda, musical director of the Latin Rhythm Boys, and Ric Feliciano, writer and arranger for the group. Nice to meet you guys. It’s a pleasure to have you here.

Hi, Karina. It’s great to see you. We’re doing great.

Earl Miranda, Henry Miranda, and Yomo Toro

Okay, wonderful. This project began with your father, Mr. Miranda, who was at the head of the group. What did you and your brother Henry learn the most from your father? How did you develop a love for music?

This all started when we were just kids. We had a lot of family celebrations like Christmas and my father’s band always came and play until three or four o’clock in the morning. My mother made food. Music was always very important to all of us from the beginning. When my father died in 1969, my brother started playing for some bands and I started working as a DJ until it got to the point where we got together and decided to start this whole project together.

Around 2003 or 2004, we contacted our cousin Ric Feliciano to ask him to join us. We started to develop a new salsa style. Ric came with the salsa flavor, while we had the jíbaro flavor, so we brought those two things together to start making music.

Mr. Feliciano, do you have anything to add?

Yes, I am a Boricua from New York, that is to say, a Nuyorican as people say here. Back in the 80’s and 90’s, I grew up listening to the music of Hector Lavoe, Mon Miranda, Willie Colón, among others. I am a trombonist and also like trombanga, which is the music of Mon Rivera and Willie Colón which involves placing trombones at the front of the group so that the sounds are very heavy. That is the style of the Latin Rhythm Boys, which seeks to look to the future, but honoring the stars of yesterday. Since we have three or four trombones and a very particular singing style, many people say we sound like La Fania, including Hector Lavoe’s timbalero, who tells us that our style reminds him a lot of the 70’s and 80’s.

When I listen to your music, it sounds a lot like old school salsa. Why choose that specific style?

For me, that style represents the story of which we come from. My family and his father come from Puerto Rico and moved to Hawaii. In 1963, my father made his life in the United States, California, but he actually started his band in 1957, which was called Junior Miranda and The Latin Rhythm Boys. Then, my brother called it The Latin Rhythm Boys Orchestra.

We have added certain elements to make our music more modern, but many of the arrangements are typical of old school salsa.

Earl Miranda, Henry Miranda and other members of the band

How Earl, Henry, and Ric work together

Mr. Miranda, you are the musical director of the Latin Rhythm Boys and your brother Henry is the music producer. How do you work together?

(Mr. Feliciano answers the question) Well, I’m the arranger, so what we do is Earl and I write all our lyrics together. My family comes from a long line of jíbaros, but we also love salsa. That’s why we are what we are today.

(Earl Miranda’s answer) We are a great team because I have a lot of ideas and Ric applies them in a phenomenal way. Things work out even better than when I thought of them.

We’ve been invited to awards shows and films to make soundtracks in Hollywood. We’ve done some jingles for certain Hollywood and Netflix films.

Mr. Miranda, you said in an interview that jibaro is more like heart and soul, what did you feel when you listened to jibaro music as a child? Why is jibaro music so important to you?

This taste for jibaro music started when I was a child. This reminds me of when I was with my family, my uncles, my aunts, my cousins and other members. It is in my soul. However, we knew we had to evolve into something more relevant. That’s how we created the group and decided to mix new with old. We look to the future, but honor the past.

There are many family members in the orchestra. Would you say this is a family project?

I would say that myself, Henry, Ric and Ricky Castillo are part of the same family. Certainly, there are many members of the family, but many things change over time and members get older, so they withdraw from group. There are also many members who are not family, but they become family and become very necessary for the band.

Ric Feliciano playing the trombone

This question is for Mr. Feliciano. I understand that you joined the orchestra in 2003. How did you join the Latin Rhythm Boys?

I came to California in the 90’s and was part of a few bands here, but I was looking for something that might take me back to my roots. That’s when I heard about the Latin Rhythm Boys (laughs) and decided it was a project I could work on. It brought me get back to my family roots, but we also achieved a new sound.

Music is very important to the family. You have always listened to Jíbara and Puerto Rican music. Would you say that education and training is important for musicians?

Yes and no. Musical training is important on the one hand, but on the other hand I think that music just flows. For example, I’m not very good at reading music, but it’s here in my heart. I could perceive it, even if I don’t have a lot of training around it. I think that’s part of the beauty of it all. Well, Ric is a teacher, so he can offer you another view on this subject.

(This is Mr. Ric Feliciano) Indeed, I am a teacher and I’ve been teaching music for over 30 years, but I must tell you something. Education is not enough to be a good musician because there is a connection that cannot be taught through a class. I’ve had many students who do everything right in technical terms, but they don’t have the necessary flavor. Not everybody has that. I think there needs to be a balance between feeling, flavor and education.

Ric, Earl, and Henry singing and playing

Do you have to be Latino to have that flavor?

We have some guys in the band who aren’t Latino, but they get the swing. We can work with anyone regardless of their ancestry, as we’ve had Americans and Europeans who have everything we’re looking for. We give them the sounds and they have no choice but to imitate them (laughs).

Do you consider it more important to make original music than to do covers?

Absolutely. If you have the talent and vision in your head, everything flows. I think if a person has a song in his/her head, he/she is going to want to translate into reality that idea and play it for an audience to see its reaction. If the reaction is good, you think you’ve done something right.

(This is Mr. Feliciano) What we usually do is to play our own songs at 90 per cent and covers at 10 per cent to please the audience. In fact, many people ask us for certain songs that they think they’re not ours, when, in reality, they are our hits from many years ago.

Ric, Earl, and Henry performing

Why musical memory is important

Memory is extremely important for people’s mental health and life in general, but there is no denying that it is even more important for those working in the entertainment industry. This is where the so-called musical memory comes in, which is what we are going to talk about at this time.

Musical memory is so important for musicians and those working in the entertainment industry

Musical memory can be defined as the ability to retain, remember and memorize musical pieces and fragments, so that they can be correctly performed by a musician. Within this concept, there are several types of musical memory today. There will be a type of memory more useful for some than for others, depending on the professional field.

Types of musical memory

There are several classifications of musical memories, so we will try to mention some of the most important ones in this section according to the research we have done. These are some of the most frequently mentioned, but there are many others.

• Mental memory: mental memory is the one that a musician should use in order to be aware of written music while reading it. This is how this symbol set can be perceived as a concept or idea that including understanding of a number of aspects such as rhythm, melody, harmony, among others.
• Auditory memory: this type of memory is what allows musicians to retain memories in the form of sound and helps them to know for certain if a sound is in tune or out of tune.
• Muscle memory: this part of the musical memory is the one that fixes motor and tactile sensations in the brain. It is thanks to it that musicians can play each and every one of their notes without having to think about all of them at the same time.
• Visual memory: while it is true that a musician does not need to see to be able to play an instrument, it can greatly help to enrich the memory. Vision is important when knowing the hand and finger positions in the instruments and the memorization of sheet music.
• Emotional memory: emotions are extremely important at the time of remembering things, especially if they are very important to us. Many serious studies have shown that human emotions play a fundamental role in the preservation of memories. In the case of a musician, the more emotional he/she is while playing an instrument, the easier it will be for his/her brain to remember the actions and have the necessary thoughts to proceed.

Relationship of musical memory with Alzheimer’s

Music is stored in the frontal lobe

Contrary to what many may think, Alzheimer’s does not take away 100% of the sufferer’s memories, and a perfect example of that is music. We all know how devastating this terrible disease is for the brain, especially for everything to do with memory, but for some reason, a huge percentage of those affected keep their musical memories, even in the worst stages of this disease. This is because music is stored in brain areas different from other memories.

According to studies conducted in some of the patients, there isevidence that music is stored in a network in the frontal lobe, which has come to be called the disco of human beings. It is in this part of the brain that auditory memory, including songs, is managed. The unusual thing is that Alzheimer’s greatly affects this area, so it is very curious that these memories remain intact despite the damage suffered.

What some researchers in the field have done is to monitor which brain areas are activated when listening to songs. Once these areas are identified, they proceed to find out if they are atrophied, pr on the contrary, if they resist the disease in a better way.

There are many patients who do not even know their own names, but they remember the songs that caused them intense emotions. This is because the brain experiences listening to music in a different way from remembering and memorizing it. Both processes are carried out by this organ of the body in a totally different way, and science is shedding more light on this important subject every day.

The brain experiences listening to music in a different way from remembering and memorizing it

The most fundamental aspects of musical memory are processed in brain areas linked to semantic, episodic and autobiographical aspects. However, medical and scientific professionals are still very prodent in relation to this subject, because it is not easy to find so many test subjects to conduct studies of this type, so all this is still not enough to draw definitive conclusions.

Music as part of potential treatments for Alzheimer’s

Yet there is still much to investigate on all of that, research has become known that music can be highly beneficial to Alzheimer’s patients. Even if music is not the cure they so desperately need, they can benefit a lot at the emotional and behavioral level. It can help reduce stress, agitation, depression and anxiety.

It can also help relatives relax and connect with their loved ones at levels they have never imagined. In such cases, it is recommended to find the music preferred by the patient, establish patterns with it, encourage hand or foot movements, sing along and pay close attention to patient’s reaction.

It is from there that the medical team attending each case can determine which the best alternative for each case, since each one is different.