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Yamira Blanco -Director and tresista of her group Son Latino

Many musical genres that emerged over the years, among them are the salsa genre which was a boom in the decade between the 60s and 70s, being a movement that mixes African and Caribbean sounds, which has been adopted by male artists already that in those times the woman who played a musical instrument was frowned upon and it was not accepted that they were in music, however this did not stop and the experience made the artist and she spent many years, female groups managed to exist in Salsa.

In this October 2021 edition, we have the opportunity to interview Yamira Blanco Ramos, a salsa singer who participated in the orchestra made up of fourteen women who cultivate Cuban popular music, fusing the most traditional rhythms with contemporary sound, also known as “Las Mulatísimas del Sabor ”, have achieved a seal that distinguishes them and are appreciated by both critics and dancers from all over Cuba and from various countries around the world.

Yamira Blanco - Photo
Photo by Yamira Blanco

He was in the hands of the prestigious guitarist Efraín Amador during his beginnings and in turn began his studies at the National School of Art (ENA) and then continues the same at the Higher Institute of Art of Havana (ISA), where he graduated with a Degree de Oro, during his student years he always stood out for his active participation in groups of different formats, from duos to septets; Later, he had the opportunity to participate in the 2001 Mujer International Guitar Festival in Costa Rica, where he performed with the Plectro trio, made up of guitar, tres and lute.

He joined the Anacaona group, starting in September 2006 with his tres to enrich the musical spectrum of the group and after a year (January 2007) he joined the Los Galanes quintet simultaneously, under the musical direction of Armando Vidal , vocalist of said group, with whom he performs a musical work based on traditional Cuban music.

In 2008 he recorded with the quintet the album Suena por mi Cuba with the Egrem label, and later with a small format of the Anacaona group, he recorded in 2008 the musical theme “Parampampan”, for the filmmaker’s musical film Chico y Rita Spanish Fernando Trueba; and after a year (2009) he participated with the Anacaona group in an artistic tour in Canada and also attended different jazz festivals and “World Music”, including the third edition of the Aruba Jazz Festival.

As of 2010 Yamira together with the Anacaona group, on their tour to Curacao they presented the show “Viva Cuba”, with the purpose of raising funds for the fight against breast cancer, organized by the Sinte Rose Foundation of said country. This tour brings the Aruba International Film Festival to a close.

Yamira Blanco in the music studio
Photo of Yamira Blanco posing at the piano

Later they resumed their participation with the Anacaona Orchestra in the Santa Lucía Jazz Festival in 2011, being its 20th edition, where they were together with leading jazz players from the international arena, shining for their improvisations on the different themes that they performed with the orchestra. both on the tres and on the guitar.

In 2012 they celebrated their 80th anniversary of this musical institution, making an extensive tour throughout the country in addition to multiple radio and television programs and in August they performed with the group at the PDVSA salsa festival. , in Venezuela, alternating with salsa groups from that country.

They began to record the album De Cuba soy, in 2013 under the Colibrí label, a phonogram dedicated to celebrating the eight decades of artistic life of the Anacaona group, then Yamira assumed the direction of the Quinteto Los Galanes, being appointed by its vocalist and founder, who decides to retire, so she poses new challenges in the music that is the inspiration of this young and talented Cuban tresera.

In 2015:

  • I participated in the documentary Mix The World by Grammy nominated filmmakers Alex Elena and Steve’s Baughman.
  • Son Latino, a music septet that he has directed since 2015, is made up of a format of three, guitar, double bass, bongos, tumbadora, singer, trumpet and minor percussion.
  • Works multiple genres such as son, song, cha cha cha, bolero, rumba, guaracha, bachata, merengue and the interpretation of current Cuban timba, starting from its purely traditional format.
  • It is a group that seeks to defend Cuban popular music from more contemporary harmonic and rhythmic sounds, with good taste and a high aesthetic sense in creation, seeking its own stamp with auditory and visual identity.

In 2020 Yarima Blanco becomes a Soundwear artist and records with several guests the CD Pa mi tres, a co-production between the Recording Company and Musical Editions, Egrem, and Soundwear Production that will have its presentation and launch in 2021.

The phonogram is a journey through the sounds of Cuban and Caribbean popular music based on 12 unpublished songs where the authorship of Yarima herself, the Puerto Rican Tomás Pérez and the Cubans Yunior Molina, César Lozada and Juan Antonio Gil stand out.

With musical production by the hand of the Latin Grammy award Roniel Alfonso Mella, they participate as special guests in several of the songs on the album: maestro Pancho Amat, Alain Pérez, Kelvis Ochoa, Rolando Luna, Bárbara Zamora, singer from Anacaona, among other important Cuban musicians.

Yamira Blanco
Photo of Yamira Blanco Live

Now if you want to know the exact list of the different activities that he carried out throughout his musical career, you can see them here:

Participation in Festivals: Discography
2001 International Woman Guitar Festival, Costa Rica 2006 Cuba le canta a Serrat vol. 2, discography –Discmedi
2009 Aruba Jazz Festival 2007 No lo puedo Evitar, Anacaona -Bis Music
2009 Canadian Jazz Festivals 2008 Suena por mi Cuba– Quinteto “Los Galanes” – EGREM
2009 La Nuits D’Afrique Festival in Montreal Canada 2008  “Parampampan” – tema para el Largometraje Chico y Rita
2010 Aruba International Film Festival 2013 De Cuba soy – Anacaona – Colibrí
2011 20th edition of the Santa Lucia Jazz festival 2019 Lágrimas de la cantante Cassandra Nuñez –Egrem
2012 PDVSA Salsa Festival, Venezuela 2020 Pa mi tres, Egrem – Soundwear Production
2019 Salsa Festival in Bogotá Colombia Park    
2020 Jazz Plaza Cuba Festival. Collaboration with Dominican-American Cassandra Núñez.    
2020 Concerts and show in tribute to the bolero and its relationship between Mexico and Cuba, Mexico City, under the direction and musical production of Rosario Castro.    

 

 

If you want to contact this great artist:


  • Contacto: https://www.facebook.com/yarima.blanco.79

  • Email: [email protected]
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International Salsa Magazine (ISM) is a monthly publication about Salsa activities around the world, that has been publishing since 2007. It is a world network of volunteers coordinated by ISM Magazine. We are working to strengthen all the events by working together.