Orchestra

Salsarria Orchestra. Back to our Roots

Latinoamerica / Venezuela / Caracas

The Salsarria Orchestra was founded in Caracas on July 20, 2018 by its director, pianist, arranger Wilfredo Agustín Castro Sarmiento.

Salsarria Orchestra, in its beginnings, the orchestra performed at events in the capital city where it was widely accepted by the Caracas public.

Very important musicians of national and international stature have marched through the orchestra such as: Orlando Poleo (France), Orlando Watussi (Italy), Federico Betancourt, Luis Esteban Spain (El diablo del Son) among others.

The Salsarria orchestra has participated in important Latin music festivals such as the “Bicentennial Festival Suena Caracas” with a stage presentation.

Orquesta Salsarria - Pal Bailador — Orquesta Salsarria – Pal Bailador

In 2014 they recorded their first album entitled ¨De Vuelta aNuestras Raíces¨ having acceptance in the national and international salsa audience.

Its director and founder Wilfredo Castro is the composer and arranger of all the songs, I love you Caracas, Simply (international success), Las Leyendas, Carnival Comparsa for Caracas, Different Swing, That day you decide to return and in my neighborhood, and preparing his second record production.

Jerry Ferrao says in salsa key: “My life is a drum”.

With a lifetime dedicated to folk music, singer-songwriter Jerry Ferrao has been bringing us some good salsa for some time now. With seven recordings to his credit; Restauración, Esto sí es Navidad, Paisajes de mi Negrura, Puertorican Folkloric Jazz, Tiempo al Tiempo, De Guerreros y Batallas and Desafío, it is clear that the salsa path he decided to take a couple of years ago brought a lot of musical experience, and a very tasty one at that.

Jerry Ferrao afirma en clave de salsa “Mi vida es un tambor”

I invite you to listen to his latest single ‘Mi vida es un tambor’, also available on YouTube:

The track -whose musical arrangement is by Jerry Ferrao and John Rivera Rosa- features the participation of great recording studio musicians, such as: Efraín Hernández on bass; Juan Gómez on piano; Angie Machado, Jaimar Vázquez and Javier Meléndez on trumpets; Benny Marín, Víctor Román and Noel Abel on saxophones; Pedro Dueño on bongo; plus a parade of top-notch guests: Endel Dueño on timbal, Kachiro Thompson on tumbadoras and Luis Aquino, in a masterful trumpet solo. Backing up Jerry Ferrao’s lead vocals, we hear the voices of Flor Angel Guilbe, Wiki Gonzalez and Nandy “El Sinsonte” on backing vocals.

“I do it first out of a desire to explore new horizons. I’ve been in the bomba and plena for many years. I was with La Familia Cepeda for more than 20 years and with Los Hermanos Ayala from the town of Loíza for six to seven years. I was a disciple of the great masters: Don Rafael Cepeda Atiles, Marcial Reyes Arvelo and Tomás Flores, among others. The time has come for me, I am a composer! I have composed songs for several orchestras and folklore groups, it was time to write for myself! I said to myself, I am a composer and singer and I am going to design my own music,” he said.

He lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina while studying cinematography. There, Ferrao sang with the salsa orchestra La Clave Genética. It may have been there that the definitive leap to salsa was conceived.

Following the scourge of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico (2017), Jerry dedicated a salsa track titled ‘Retoñando’ (available on YouTube) to the memory of all his compueblanos who left in the aftermath of the hurricane.

Jerry Ferrao relates that he began receiving suggestions for him to record salsa because his voice excelled in that sound. “That must be because I have been listening to salsa, enjoying and appreciating it since I was a child. I have a family of well-known musicians, particularly because they are percussionists, timbaleros, congueros, bongoseros,” he said.

Con toda una vida dedicada a la música folclórica, el cantautor Jerry Ferrao ha estado trayéndonos salsa de la buena

In 2012 he published what could be considered the most important documentary on the history of the Puerto Rican bomba, Ayeres de la Bomba. This document has been praised by prestigious ethnomusicologists, anthropologists, sociologists and researchers specializing in Puerto Rico’s black history. I add with certainty, that our Jerry Ferrao must be considered as the authority on our folkloric rhythms.

Since he was a child, he was influenced by the art of Afro-Antillean roots music, especially salsa and guaguancó. With uncles like percussionists Pedro Dueño, Ángel Dueño and Endel Dueño, nicknamed “Los Hermanos Dueño” in the popular artistic scene, who have been recognized in different parts of the world, mainly by salsa and Latin jazz lovers, it should come as no surprise that Ferrao has grown up immersed in the rhythm and flavor that continues to dictate his creativity.

Determined to focus on salsa, he affirms that his contribution to Borikua folklore was also his musical foundation. “Yes, it is something that lives with me and I will continue to cultivate it in some way. Who knows if in the future I will do my own little things for the public, that I will sneak in some bomba or plena between salsa and salsa. I have been in folklore since I was about eight years old”, Ferrao said shortly before affirming that with the album Desafío (2022), which contains 12 songs of his inspiration, he made his formal entry into salsa. Jerry Ferrao bets on salsa, and salsa fans bet on Jerry. His efforts have not gone unnoticed and as a salsa artist, the excellence with which he has produced his musical deliveries is striking. “I swear it was a tremendous challenge to do all this. For different reasons, the production took about three or four years. All the songs and arrangements are my own, and I don’t even play guitar, although I would love to!” he shared.

The images are by Kali Torres

Also Read: ¡Attack Sergio! Unbreakable: A fun read because of the contradictory content

Bamboleo de Lázaro Valdés is another of those exquisite Cuban products, as well as sweet rum and mild cigars

Like the sweet rum and mild cigars, bamboleo is another one of those exquisite Cuban products that, once tasted, can’t get enough.

The 14-member timba group is a fiery number, from its music and choreography to its well-dressed singers and musicians.

Lazaro Valdes leads the group, plays piano, arranges, composes and writes songs. Born in Havana, he studied at the Alejandro García Caturla Academy in the 1970s.

He created Bamboleo after spending time performing with artists such as Pachito Alonso, Bobby Carcasses and Héctor Téllez.

He selected the best musicians and incorporated into his new company many who had been trained at the Escuela Nacional de Arte de La Habana.

He added sparkle with vocalist Haila Mompie, who in turn recruited vocalist Vannia Borges. Another Havana native, Borges began studying music at the age of five, and first sang professionally with an all-female group known as D’capo in the early 1990s. Four years later, she became part of the band D’capo.

Four years later, she moved on to Pachito Alonso y su Kini Kini, which she left in 1997 to add her talents to Bamboleo.

Guantanamera Yordamis Megret joined the group in 1998, a year after Mompie’s departure. She began her musical training at the age of 10 and took up the guitar.

Like Borges, she is also a student at the Escuela Nacional de Arte. After graduating, she began singing professionally with Ricacha. Before joining

Bamboleo, Megret sang in José Luis Cortés’ salsa group PG. Bamboleo began touring outside Cuba in 1996, the same year the group debuted with Te Gusto o Te Caigo Bien.

The group has performed in major U.S. cities from Chicago to Miami, and from New York to Los Angeles. Following the release of Yo No Me Parezco A Nadie and Ya No Hace Falta, the group toured the world, with stops in Europe, the United States and Japan, as well as the Heineken 2000 World Music Festival in China.

Bamboleo also collaborated on the Temptations’ Grammy-winning album Ear-Resistable.

In addition, the group has appeared on MTV’s Road Rules and has worked with artists such as James Brown, Femi Kuti and George Benson.

Bamboleo, one of the best-known groups on the crest of the timba wave, a new style that blends salsa with funk and jazz elements and emanates from the streets of Cuba, remains at the forefront with 1999’s Ya No Hace Falta.

After leaping to international notoriety with 1997’s Yo No Me Parezco a Nadie, the pressure was on to deliver for his newfound fan base.

With smooth arrangements and a band with a tight drum kit, Bamboleo had no trouble making good on their reputation and, if anything, raised the bar for the entire genre.

Both the horn section and the vocalists have a cool, smooth approach that contrasts with the energetic sound of similar groups like Charanga Habanera or NG la Banda.

This smoky, jazzy sensibility juxtaposed with the sharp corners of the superfunky rhythm section makes for easy and enjoyable listening.

The group doesn’t lack for warmth, with salty montunos from pianist/arranger Lazaro Valdes and plenty of time changes from a percussion section as good as any operating today.

Sonically, the ears rejoice in listening to a timba album that lacks neither fidelity nor modern production sensibilities.

With its balanced overall sound, unique approach and expert musicianship, Bamboleo will set trends and erase boundaries for decades to come.

Evan C. Gutierrez

Bamboleo – Ya No Hace Falta (1999).

Musicians:

Lázaro M. Valdés Rodríguez (Director, piano, composer).

Abel Fernández Arana (Alto Saxophone)

Carlos Valdés Machado (Tenor saxophone)

Anselmo “Carmelo” Torres (trumpet)

Dunesky Barreto Pozo (Congas)

Alberto Para (Maracas)

Herlon Sarior (Timbales)

Jorge David Rodríguez (Voice)

Yordamis M. Mergret Planes (Vocals)

Frank Cintra Cruz (Trumpet)

Alejandro Borrero Ramírez (Vocals)

Vannia Borges Hernández (Vocals)

José Antonio Pérez Fuentes (Violin)

Maylin de la Caridad González Aldama (Cello)

Ludwig Nunez Pastoriza (Drums)

Rafael P. Pacerio Monzón (Banjo)

Ulises Texidor Pascual (Bongos)

Sources:

Información realizada ( 27 de enero de 2024)

L’Òstia Latin Jazz

Also Read: Irakere was a Cuban group that developed an important work in Cuban popular music and Latin Jazz under the direction of Chucho Valdés

Los Adolescentes Giving The Swing The World Needs

Latin America / Venezuela / Caracas

Los Adolescentes “We are premiering our most recent video clips “Close your eyes””

When talking about the great salsa orchestras of Venezuela, there are many names that come to the fore, either because of history, the great successes of the golden years of Salsa in Venezuela or because of their great distinguished voices of so many successes that the world well-known from this land of southern salsa, but if there is something impossible not to mention, it is one of the most important orchestras of this movement of the nineties.

The Adolescents, a group that marked a before and after of the new salsa era in this beautiful country. House of great youth voices, teenagers have made millions of people dance around the world, revealing the talent that this group has managed to nurture in more than 20 years of artistic journey.

Claiming Our Space, a record production with which they went on the market in 1995 with great songs like “Hoy aprendí”, “I can’t be your friend” and “Anhelo”, six songs from this CD; occupied the first place as hits throughout Venezuela and other countries of the Latin American continent, they started a sequence of successes for more than 20 years that have made this great group distribute Salsa and flavor throughout the world, it is that even the pope John Paul II had the honor of listening to this great musical event at Jubilee 2000, which brought together two million five hundred thousand people outside the University of Bergata, an event that lasted four years to prepare for this event.

In conversations with Carlos Mendoza, manager and main helmsman, we found out about the group’s latest projects for this 2019, great things continue to happen for these young salseros.

This new year started with great things for our young salseros, during the month of March and April they will be giving rhythm in Colombia with a tour of more than 5 cities, Mendoza tells us “We will be visiting Armenia, Bogotá, Medellin among other cities of the beautiful Colombia, we take a train that does not stop, we offer a list of unforgettable concerts”.

On the 23rd they will be in Armenia at the Fonda, the local forest that has received great national and international artists, they will continue in the capital of this southern country Bogotá on the 30th in Sutton club of the best clubs in the city, they will pass through Medellin in Emporium on April 05, 06 for Cartagena and closing on 06 in Marseille, they have dates for hiring, contact that we will leave at the end of this review for your contact, in the voices of Arnaldo Quintero, Renzo Romero, Ronald Gómez, Josep Palacios and Leonardo Leal we will be able to listen to the successes of these almost three decades of rhythms.

“For the month of June we will be part of the great experience that will be lived in the Adventure Dance Cruise, together with greats like Torito Acosta” Mendoza told us that the great company Royal Caribbean presents what they call: World’s Largest Latin Dance Cruise, from June 6 to 10 from Miami passing through the beautiful island of son and rumba Cuba and arriving in the Bahamas, full of dance classes, attractions, distractions and the best concerts on the high seas.

For the last semester of the year they are already preparing a concert in Tampa, Miami, presentations of variable types in North America, to close the projects for this 2019 an important tour of Europe with the great Maelo Ruiz is being prepared, a detail that we will have better reviewed in future editions.

For bookings on the tour of Colombia, contact the number +57 310 3293158, don’t miss out on living this great experience of dancing alongside one of the best salsa orchestras in the world.

Roberto Roena and Apollo Sound will celebrate 50 anniversaries at the Puerto Rico Fine Arts Center

Latin America / Puerto Rico / San Juan

Roberto Roena: Staying active in any profession for 50 (fifty) years is not an easy task for anyone. But if it is a musical orchestra that half a century later continues to bring tropical music to all corners of the planet, more than a musical group, it becomes an institution.

That is the reality of the Apollo Sound orchestra and its founder, the percussionist and dancer Roberto Roena, who this summer celebrate five decades making the world dance and will celebrate it with a great concert to commemorate his career.

“We are going to do something big to celebrate 50 years. It will be in the month of June at the Center for Fine Arts, “said Roena in conversation with this medium.

“It’s going to be something really cool. We are going to sing the hits of the orchestra, we will have guests and a little bit of everything”, added the musician, who indicated that the exact date will be confirmed in the coming weeks.

The Apollo Sound Orchestra was founded in July 1969 and its name derives from the launch that same month of the Apollo 11 space mission, which aimed to carry the first human being to walk on the surface of the moon.

His record catalog includes more than 20 productions and among his most notorious hits are “Tú loco loco y yo tranquil”, “El Escapulario”, “Marejada Feliz” and “El Progreso”, among many others. In the case of Rohena, the renowned 79-year-old musician from Mayagüez began his musical career much earlier, at age 16, with the distinguished group of Rafael Cortijo y su Combo.

He was also part of Rafael Ithier’s Gran Combo and appeared in the star catalog of the famous Fania record company and its All Stars, among other collaborations.

It was in the Mayagüez neighborhood of Dulces Labios where he was born, raised and took his first steps as a dancer. “Sweet Lips is my neighborhood. I have many memories of my childhood days.

From there came great musicians, such as Santitos Colón and Mon Rivera”, he pointed out.

When she was nine years old, her family moved to Santurce and when she was barely a teenager, she was already appearing on television.

He was discovered by Cortijo in one of his dance performances on the La Taberna India program and from there he became a percussionist for the renowned group. Since then, he has not stopped delighting his followers with his music.

“In these 50 years, there is no greater satisfaction than being able to continue playing,” said Roena, who last Saturday began the celebration of his 50 years in a concert at the Lehman Center of Performing Arts in New York, where he brought together several of the singers who accompanied the group in its beginnings, such as Sammy González, Tito Cruz and Carlos Santos, among others. In addition to the concert, Roena does not rule out going back to the studio to continue shaping her music for posterity.

“This does not mean the end of Roberto Roena and the Apolo Sound. We are going to continue as long as God wants”, he sentenced.

RELATED ITEMS: 50TH ANNIVERSARY, CENTER OF FINE ARTS P.R., INTERNATIONALS, ROBERTO ROENA AND HIS APOLLO SOUND

http://asondesalsa.com.pa/roberto-roena-y-apollo-sound-celebrara-50-aniversario-en-centro-de-bellas-artes-p-r-para-el-mes-de-junio/