Producer, composer, and guitarist Oscar Almonte innovates with Dominican music

The United States is and will remain the land of opportunities for artists from all over Latin America, and Dominican producer, composer, and guitarist Oscar Almonte is one more of those examples of what effort and discipline can achieve on fertile ground. We could talk exclusively with Mr. Almonte about the most important aspects of his prolific career, and we want to make them known to our readers, who always honor us by visiting to our content each month.

What drew Oscar’s Attention to Music

Oscar began telling us that music as such has drawn his attention since he was very little, more specifically, the ones he was listening to at home and that some relatives played, as several of them are professional and amateur musicians. That mix of rhythms and melodies always intrigued him, especially those from Cuban music, which was very popular at that time.

Family parties were the perfect occasion for the young man to show his strong interest in music, as it was not uncommon for one of his uncles to bring out his guitar, play, and sing to lighten the mood. This was one of the things that led Oscar to learn to play as he saw adults do it.

Not to mention that Caleo López, his grandfather, was a guitar maker and played them as well.

Academic Training in Music

Oscar’s primary education in music was given in a self-taught way, In fact, their parents bought him his first guitar at just nine years of age, and he took some classes with this instrument. He stopped for a while and resumed his interest in the guitar at age 14, which is when he learned his first chords and memorized some rock songs he liked to play them.

When he had the right age, he began studying music at the Culture and Art Institute in his hometown, Santiago de Los Caballeros, where he completed a bachelor’s degree in classical guitar.

Move to New Jersey

Today, Oscar is based in New Jersey City, where he moved for the purpose of seeking new horizons personally and professionally. He wanted to soak up the musical culture that exists in the New York area, which is very close to where he is now.

When asked about the job opportunities he had upon arrival, he told us that he had the fortune of having contacts and friends with whom he had already traveled to the country, which allowed him to play with some bands he knew. However, he does admit that it took him a while to find a balance in his economy, so he had to work in family automotive businesses while his situation stabilized. He was working in that until he could devote himself exclusively to music, just as he did in his country.

The main difference he noticed between the music scene in New Jersey and the Dominican Republic is that, in his home country, it is easier to live exclusively from music as a simple artist. There are things that are easier to do because the budget allows it, and certain places where musicians play cover some elements such as sound engineers and show producers. When he arrived to his new destination, he had to learn many of these things to be able to do them himself and not have to spend what he did not have.

Projects Oscar Has Been Involved In

Just as Oscar has taken great pains to make his own project, he has also been involved in others belonging to artists such as Pavel Nuñez, Felle Vega and La Orquesta de Las Danzas Mezcladas, Xiomara Fortuna, Irka Mateo, El Prodigio, and many others.

He has managed to make contact with several of them because they live in the same city as him. It also happens that he played with several jazz musicians through whom he got to know others, something which took advantage to develop contacts and friendships with whom he could work in the future.

Among the most important things he learned from them, one is audience management, repertoire management, certain vocal techniques that he did not know and, mainly, everything that has to do with the responsibilities an artist who is already the head of his own project should have. 

Soberano Awards Nomination 

The artist has also been nominated for the famous Soberano Awards in the category of Merengue of the year in 2012 thanks to the song ”Levántate”, which was recorded by Héctor Acosta ”El Torito”. An interesting aspect of this piece is that Oscar wrote it with the purpose of showing it to Ricky Martin so that he would finally record it, but unfortunately it was not possible to make contact with the Puerto Rican.

Over time, he learned that Héctor was looking for songs to add to his new album ”Corazón Abierto”, so Oscar got down to business and contacted his musical director to see if Acosta would be interested. Fortunately, he was and the song enjoyed very acceptance among the public, so he managed to get the nomination at that time.

Debut as a singer-songwriter

Finally, in the year 2020, Oscar was ready for his debut as a singer-songwriter and, at finally, to do things other than what a simple musician does. Although he was writing since he was 14 years old, always thinking for other artists, he decided to change his approach and focus on himself and his career. 

It is then when he made his debut in this facet with the song ”Mi Tierra”, in which he describes his hometown Santiago de Los Caballeros as the title indicates. Something interesting about ”Mi Tierra” is that it fuses rhythms from many parts of the world with Dominican pambiche.

Oscar defines pambiche as one of the sounds of merengue, but softer and calmer when compared with the more lively merengue.

As for the rest of the colors it has, the artist used elements of African music and very different tempos to those often used in merengue.

He is also promoting the song ”Bermudas” with the young singer Carolyn Rodriguez. A mutual friend introduced them and thought that their voices would work well together, so they gathered and made a romantic song based on urban bachata with hints of reggae and some electronic touches.

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