La Princesa de La Bachata

I am talking today with La Princesa de La Bachata Chantel Collado (https://www.facebook.com/chantelcolladoficial), who is an immensely talented artist. I understand she is a resident of Canada and is of Dominican descent. Thank you so much for accepting our invitation, Chantel. We learned that you are in Italy at the moment, what are you doing there?

First of all, thank you for the invitation. The pleasure is mine. Certainly, I grew up in Canada, but I’m on tour around Italy and pleased to bring my music to this beautiful country.

Chantel Collado was born in Canada, but her parents are Latino

Wonderful! How has reception towards your music in Italy?

It was amazing! Actually,I’m proud to see how both Italians and foreigners dance to bachata and enjoy it. Bringing this music to a country like Italy makes me very proud. It is a blessing to be able to travel, come, sing my lyrics and see how the audience loves them.

The nickname people you are given caught my attention. Where does La Princesa de La Bachata come from?

People give me that name when I went to London to give a concert. In view of the lack of women in the genre, I think it was easy for the public to call me that. For me, it’s a great honour for me to represent the genre, being a woman and a Dominican, since there aren’t many women who sing bachata.

Precisely because there weren’t a lot of women in the genre, did you feel a strong competition? Did you feel like you weren’t taken seriously?

Being a woman can complicate a few things. Thank goddness, men in the genre have also given me the opportunity and supported me, such as my musical godfather Frank Reyes, who is someone I admire. He is a bachata icon in the Dominican Republic and an example of a man who has supported me in my career. I had the opportunity to record a song and a music video with him.

I have received a lot of support from my colleagues and I am very happy to receive that support.

Who have been your musical references in and out of bachata?

I really like Romeo Santo, The King of Bachata. I grew up listening to exponents of Dominican bachata like Frank Reyes, Luis Vargas, Hector Acosta and Juan Luis Guerra. Outside of bachata, I have always liked Beyonce because of her stage presence. Regarding artists in this generation, I also really like Karol G.

Chantel Collado on stage

Have you experimented with urban or more modern rhythms?

Of course! I love to experiment and change from time to time. From a very early age, when I started singing in a competition in Los Angeles, I sang a cumbia by Selena titled Como La Flor. I have an urban song called Así. I’ve also sung salsa and I have merengues. What I like most is bachata, but for my generation, I listen to much urban music.

According to your biography, you decided to pursue a career in music after a talk you with your father, who also supported you very much in this regard. Can you describe that moment?

I grew up watching my father on stage as a director, musician and singer. From a very early age, I went on stage and sang with him. My brother is also a musician, so I think it just was natural for me. I didn’t know it’d like it or take it seriously as a career, but it was when I turned 15 that we decided to focus on music.

I was also performing and participating in musical theater, so I was singing, performing and dancing at the same time. When I turned 15, we decided as a family to focus on only one thing, which would be music. That’s how I started writing songs with my brother and we’ve been going at it for the last 14 years.

Latin descent

Your father is Dominican and your mother is Uruguayan. Do you think that coming from a Latin family has pigeonholed you or on the contrary?

Quite the opposite! It expanded my horizons. I grew up in Canada, speak English and, try to incorporate this language into my music. I’m of Uruguayan stock and even if people don’t listen to bachata in that country, I chose that genre because I listened to it all the time and I love it. I think that all this mix of countries expanded my horizons and I don’t feel that singing bachata is an obligation for me because I love doing it.

Her father and brother supported her a lot during her career

What did you do during the pandemic?

The pandemic was very difficult for me and all the artists in general, but I tried to focus on writing new music. I don’t know where I got the inspiration, but I recorded a music video with my mobile, which was made for my song Contigo o sin ti that you can find on YouTube. I did my own makeup and my own hairstyle for that day, put my IPhone on a tripod and got it all. I had to find thae encouragement to move regardless the situation.

Fortunately, I returned to the stage to sing for the public after two years.

In which countries are you touring now?

I am touring only in Italy. We’ve already been to two cities and we have two more to go to complete the tour. Then I will return to Canada, rest for a week and travel to the United States to continue touring.

Do you plan to tour Latin America?

I’ll be happy to do so. In fact, we already have some tentative dates in countries such as Colombia and Mexico. Let’s just hope that everything will happen because it would be the first time I brought my music to those corners.

How is urban bachata different from traditional bachata?

I think urban bachata is a movement that is starting to develop. My generation listens to a lot of urban music and an example of this is Bad Bunny, who is killin’ it right now. If we want bachata to evolve a little bit, we have to add a little urban touch and that’s what we’re doing. I think traditional music will never die because it is our main genre in the Dominican Republic, but it can also be made enjoyable for present generations, adding a little urban touch.

Speaking of urban artists, who do you want to collaborate with someday?

At the moment, I would love to collaborate with Bad Bunny. I love Bad Bunny and his new album. I had the great honor of opening for him in Toronto, Montreal, a few years ago. I also had the honor of meeting him, but I haven’t had the chance to collaborate with him yet, though I would love to.

As for traditional genres, I would like to collaborate with Anthony Santos on a more traditional song in my genre, bachata.

A message for young girls who want to dedicate themselves to the same as you.

I’d advise them to follow their dreams. I started in the music industry at a very young age I have achieved many things in the last 10 years. As a woman, I’d tell them to keep going because we are living in a time when women have more attention than ever before. We’re strong, independent and we can do anything we want.

Chantel at a photo shoot

How it all started

Today we are going to talk with Puerto Rican composer and vocalist José Manuel Rivera Rivera, better known as Josean Rivera (https://www.facebook.com/unsoneroparaelpueblo). Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Rivera, how are you doing? It is lovely to have you here.

Thank you so much for the invitation. Thank heaven I’m fine and I hope you’re too.

This is Josean Rivera, Puerto Rican composer and vocalist

Your name is José Manuel Rivera Rivera, but you are known artistically as Josean Rivera. Where does this name come from?

That’s a nickname my parents called me since very early childhood. I don’t know where it came from because my name is José Manuel. Instead, Josean is almost always used for people named José Antonio or José Ángel, but I’ve always been called that and ot still is (chuckles).

And you are still called that way to this day.

Yes, to this day. This is so.

I understand that you knew your calling as a vocalist when you were 15 years old. How did this happen?

More or less. I became interested in music long before that, but I liked percussion instruments such as the conga or the timpani. Through some friends, I met Miguel El Pollo Torres from El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico and used to go to the patron saint festivities. When I saw the dynamic Charlie, Papo and Jerry had when singing with El Gran Combo, I said I like that, let’s see what can be done.

In one of your most recent songs, you paid tribute to Raphy Leavitt. What did this pianist and La Selecta represent for the rest of your career?

A very important stage because it was my first participation in a renowned orchestra. I had many experiences and learned a lot from him, Sammy, Carlitos and the rest of the membership. They were like a family.

I understand that you were in medical school and, later, in the army. How did you combine these activities with your role as an artist?

I started studying medicine and then I understood it wasn’t my thing, so I joined the army. Everywhere I went, I always found local orchestras playing traditional salsa or covers. Also, working in the U.S. Army is not like that of other countries where soldiers are not allowed to go out and spend locked up. In our case, it was a normal job like any other, so we were able to engange in other activities with no problem.

However, when we had to travel to other places, we had to get some time off of work, take a vacation and stuff like that.

Raphy Leavitt and La Selecta were very important for his carrer

Music and the army

Many of your Puerto Rican-born colleagues also followed the military path when they go to the United States. Did you find any of your colleagues in the army? If so, did that help you or influence you in any way?

By sharing some time and being part of many shows with people from the armed forces or international singers who were going to perform where we were, I was able to sing with them and do the chorus for them. I think that helped me a lot.

I read that it was in the year 2016 when you decided to found your own orchestra. What led you to that? What made you then become a soloist?

What happened is that I belonged to the orchestra of Raphy Marrero, so I recorded two albums with him. The thing is that I was moved from one base to another, which made it very difficult for me to meet with the orchestra and do my activities with them, so I decided to try something by myself and see how it went.

Do you feel that you have achieved your goals or still have a long way to go?

We have achieved a great deal. As a soloist, I have made four musical productions and am working on the fifth one. We have already selected the songs and the arrangements, so we are going to start recording very soon.

The dream of every artist is to be able to play on stage and, owing to the whole issue of Covid and quarantine, all the activity decreased, but little by little things are getting back to normal.

You have experienced everything from classical to modern salsa, which is the style you enjoy singing best?

Since I grew up with El Gran Combo, La Sonora Ponceña, Willie Rosario and Bobby Valentín, of course that kind of salsa is my strongest point. I grew up in that environment where salsa is a little braver, but you have to sing anything because you have to try to please everyone.

Josean Rivera loves salsa brava, but sing anything

With what other musical genres have you experimented or would you like to experiment?

In the different orchestras in which I was, I got to sing merengue, bolero, cha cha chá and things like that. I can sing anything. In fact, I’ve come to sing some boleros in my albums as a soloist.

Which of these genres attrack most people?

Merengue and bachata are very popular.

What did you do during the pandemic?

We decided to make a new abum and used all that confinement time to select the songs for the album.

Have you returned to the stage?

I’ve already toured two or three times. I went to Washington, Seattle, Florida, among others. God Lord willing, we’re going to go to Colombia, Peru, Panama, and Mexico. We’re promoting the latest album Esto No Es Secreto.

What advice would you give to young artists who want to devote themselves to these genres?

My advice to those who want to start an artistic career is to dare to do so. The means to get ahead are there. You have to be active, let people get to know you and make promotions in different countries because that is how your music will reach the world. You have to keep moving forward and never giving up.

The biggest problem that these young artists will have to go through, based on your understanding.

I think the biggest problem is that there are no record labels anymore. One of the biggest obstacles is the budget for an album, whether it is a complete production or just one single at a time. It costs money.

Since there are no record labels to support you financially, it’s hard for the newer artists to record their albums.

Josean Rivera singing on stage

Here you have our interesting comversation

We are here with Uruguayan bandleader, multi-instrumentalist, and percussionist Edgardo Cambón, who currently lives in Oakland. It’s very nice to meet you, Mr. Cambón. What a pleasure to have you with us today.

Hello, Karina. It’s a pleasure to have you here too despite the distance. I also send my regards to the followers of salsagoogle.com and to salsa fans around the world because this is an international connection. Thank you for the opportunity to connect with so many people.

Uruguayan bandleader and singer Edgardo Cambón next to new MOPERC walnut, 7 & 9 inches drums

On one of your Facebook pages, one can read that the conga is your main instrument, but you also play many others. In that sense, is the conga the instrument you most enjoy playing or are there others?

That’s a very good question. I am a percussion lover in general and, being Uruguayan, I also came into Brazilian percussion. The instrument to which I always gravitated around and returned to very strongly was the tumbadora or conga (commercial name). To study that instrument and the batá (the most religious Afro-Cuban music) I went five times to Cuba from 1989 to 2006. I have a very deep connection with Cuba and with all the countries in which the tumbadora is used. This is also the instrument I play while singing, which makes me have a very special connection with it. Jokingly, I say that I feel naked if I don’t play something while singing. I always try to play a güiro, maracas or another instrument because I always have.

You also teach music and percussion. It is well known that the teacher teaches students, but also that tstudents can also teach the teacher. Could you tell us what you have learned from your students?

That’s a very important and lovely question. I could tell you many things. The first thing you learn is to be patient with yourself and your own progress because the musician never stops progressing. The human being never stops progressing. When I see a student who is very nervous and isn’t patient with himself, I always try to make him understand that performing one instrument well takes a long time.

I learn a lot about what to do and what not to do. I learn to be patient with them, to rewind the cassettetape and to get back to the basics of what I learned in Cuba when I started traveling. My students also teach me to be grateful to my own teachers and connect with the instruments. When you reach a certain level, you become overconfident and it’s harder to connect with the instruments. Classes force you to pick up an instrument without being obliged to do so, which the professional musician tends to leave out after a long career.

My students remind me of what I was doing when I was learning and force me to keep practicing despite the experience. I always learn from them.

Edgardo Cambón in front of El Floridita

You teach both in person and via Zoom. What teaching strategies do you implement at home?

The difference between one mode and the other is huge and it was hard to get used to this situation. I was receiving a lot of proposals to teach via Zoom before the pandemic. I was avoiding at all costs the use of digital platforms even though many people were interested. I have a lot of online videos with great success and positive feedback, thank goodness. This has caused many people to ask me if I can teach them on Zoom.

The pandemic forced me to build that dormant muscle, so I think I achieved a very good system for giving online classes. In person, I use some applications that allow me to play certain songs I can slow down. These apps can work like a metronome, but funnier. Some of them are Percussion Tutor, Salsa Rhythm, Amazing, Slow Downer, among others.

In the case of Zoom, I suggest my students download these apps on devices other than the one they are using to meet with me. The biggest problem with digital teaching platforms is the delay sound between the student and the teacher. Now, amazing things have been done like the fact that a symphony can play in one country, while the conductor is in another conducting them. There have been improvements.

It may also be the case that there are students with excellent quality equipment, but others who have devices with outdated operating system and low download speed. So, we have to find a way for everyone to learn as well as possible. This system consists of doing a demonstration first, getting the student to play the rhythm from his side through the metronome or the application. Many times, we can spend a whole class trying to solve technical issues, but once everything is solved, you can establish a rhythmic relationship between the student and the teacher.

There are situations in which the mismatch between the sound and image prevents errors from being corrected, so we use phone calls to counter these issues effectively. This is how I look at the video image of the student (if there are no delays) and hear the sound at the right time.

The good news is that I can have students from around the world and doors are opened me for an broad international spectrum that I never expected.

Edgardo Cambón with a Pandeiro in a studio

Strategies on stage (título 3)

Radically shifting the issue, according to your website, one of the main defining things about Edgardo & Candela is that you know how to read the crowd very well and what the audience wants at that moment. How do you do that? What techniques do you use?

That’s a very good question. That’s a technique which is a bit instinctive. I must confess that that technique does not belong to the full orchestra, but to me as the lead singer and the orchestra leader. The guys know that I ask for a set list and even send it in advance. Several of them have their iPads and the music there in digital format, but others don’t.

I have over 240 songs in the repertoire, but I don’t get them all with me. On average, you play about seven songs in each set for an hour, which means that you’re thinking of 14 to 16 songs for two hours. It also depends on how long each song lasts.

If you’re playing to an American audience, you’ll probably have to slow down, play one or two songs in English and light beats such as cha cha chá. You have to include digestible things if you’re not playing to a salsa audience.

If I’m playing for the Mexican community, I have to include cumbia and medleys of local bands and artists like Maná, which is a very important Mexican group.

I have four original score albums. The first one was called ilusiones and released on vinyl in 1989. We produced it here in the Bay Area when there were few groups making original music around here. Following a trip to Cuba the same year, I decided to go back and focus more on my melodies, my songs and my lyrics. Another thing I wanted was to keep the Uruguayan essence in salsa and add a bit of candombe, which is the Afro-Uruguayan rhythm par excellence.

Edgardo and Candela at The Seahorse

I’ve had a lot of popular songs on certain digital platforms, but I wouldn’t be honest to say that I had a big hit like Llorarás by Oscar D’ León and Yo no sé mañana by Luis Henrique. I can use these things to push my original music a bit harder in general. You can have your original music, but you also have to play music known by the public to accustom people to your style and make them learn to digest your thing a little bit.

In the 70’s in New York, the bands only played original music, but those times has disappeared. That’s why I mix original music with familiar music, but I focus on making the result digestible and danceable for people. I play at least four times a week and, if I want to maintain that rhythm of work, I need a repertoire that includes Cuban, Colombian, Venezuelan, Mexican, Dominican music, among others.

What made you get involved in Charley’s project?

No self-respecting musician can allow his career to revolve around two or three clubs because these venues can open and break.

What I liked most about Charley’s was its proposal so similar to that of the 80’s, the decade when I arrived here. They were more stable clubs that had organization and the collective participation of artists such as DJ’s, dance instructors, radio folks, among others.

Also, Charley’s is a nice place and has a size that I think appropriate. When clubs get too big, there comes a point when the vibes can get cold, something that doesn’t happen in this place due to its moderate size.

The only downside is that gas is $6.25 and it’s far away for people from San Francisco, but people from closer areas can go.

Your music reaches audiences from all over the world. Have you had the chance to play abroad?

Yes. In 1996, we were at the Benny Moré Festival in Cuba. A few years later, we were on the island of Guam on the occasion of 5 de Mayo sponsored by Budweiser.

On both occasions we were very well received by the audience.

Most recently in May this year, we just played a large concert with over 1500 people at the Fairmont Orchid Hotel in Kona, Island of Hawaii. On that occasion, everything was arranged by the Salesforce company.

This last work was impressive because of the high technical and professional level of the entire production, since in addition to our Latin music, the popular pop singer Kathy Perry closed the show…

International jobs, and simply out your city, give another angle to the career encouraging the musician to present his original music.

After playing in Cuba, Guam and Hawaii, I jokingly say that I only get booked to play on Islands (chuckles).

Traveling on my own (without the orchestra) gave the pleasure of performing in Sweden and Argentina with the support of local musicians from those countries.

Cambón at Brooklyn Basin in Oakland