Search Results for: Cuba
Joshua Levine and his quartet have a lot of Guataca
Joshua Levine, artistically known as Josh Levine, is one of so many examples of Americans who, without having any type of Latin roots, fall under the charm of our beautiful music and do not hesitate to make it their way of life. That is why we wanted to talk to Josh, born in New York City, a little more about his career and what brought him to where he is today.

Josh’s beginnings in music
The first instrument that drew Josh’s attention as a child was the piano, as his babysitter was a piano teacher and offered him some lessons to satisfy his curiosity. The interesting thing is that his teaching was more focused on the ear than on reading music as such, showing that there are musicians perfectly capable of playing without needing a musical score.
However, like any child, he began to have other interests such as skating, to which he devoted much of his time back then. About 10 or 11 years later, his father, who was a great jazz fan, used to listen to this genre at home frequently, to the point that the young man once again felt that passion for what he had practiced so many years ago and began to listen a little more intently to the artists his father enjoyed.
Seeing his son’s growing taste for jazz, Josh’s father decided to take him to a concert featuring Cedar Walton’s piano trio with Ron Carter on bass and Billy Higgins on drums. He was so impressed by their performance that he decided to study bass that same day, as at the time it seemed to him the most understandable and easiest instrument to learn because of its few notes at once.
He got so good that he even became part of his high school band, a group from where great artists emerged including Carlos Henriquez, a great musical luminary who has worked with Celiz Cruz, Eddie Palmieri and Ruben Blades and is the current bass player for the Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra.
Interest in Latin music
For those same years, Josh also learned Spanish and clarified that he does not have any Latin ancestry, so this was not the motive behind his interest in this music. However, he grew up in a neighborhood in Manhattan where many Latino families lived, especially Caribbeans from Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Cuba.

Meanwhile, he was also studying biology in college and a little jazz and classical music. Upon graduation, by pure chance, he met a young Venezuelan musician named Roberto Fuentes, who was the director of Alpargata Cantorum (a very famous Venezuelan musical comedy and theater group in the 70s), who wanted to form a band with him and a few other musicians. Fuentes showed Josh a lot of Venezuelan folkloric music, taught him to play cuatro and made him listen to several songs typical of Venezuelan music such as ”Barlovento”, ”El Alma Llanera”, ”La Vaca Mariposa”, ”Pajarillo Verde” and many more.
As for classic salsa, he made him listen to Ismael Rivera, Rubén Blades, Willie Colón and many others.
Other groups Josh was in
Having been in the group with Fuentes gave him what he needed to make contact with many other groups, including that of José Luis Martínez, who was very close to Juan Carlos Formell Sr. Thanks to Martinez he learned a great deal about Cuban music, the way Cuban son is played on the bass, the pronunciation of words in the Cuban dialect, among other things.
His big break came when he met Jainardo Batista, whom he was a big fan of when he was in his band Nu Guajiro (or Nu D’lux, as it would end up being called). It turns out that Josh went every Sunday to hear them play at the club where they were at the time and, after 10 years of following their music, they finally invited him to play with them.
After a while, the group disbanded, but Josh and Jainardo did not lose touch. And not only that, but they continued playing together and had the idea of forming something new.

Cuarteto Guataca
Cuarteto Guataca was born when Josh and Jainardo decided to form a new group after the breakup of Nu D’lux and counted with the participation of Dominican arranger, composer and tres player Román Lajara and Puerto Rican producer, composer and flutist Jeremy Bosch. He describes them both as musical prodigies, to the point of telling us that Lajara was the representative of the Cuban tres as an instrument at the 2024 National Jazz Day in Morocco.
Josh, Jainardo, Román and Jeremy were the members of the original quartet, but they did not play for a living because it was not enough, but as a sort of part-time job. For the same reason, the four of them also worked on other projects at the same time, as is usually the way with New York today.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, they started playing in city parks to earn some tips during the quarantine, leading their audiences to grow tremendously and many venues began to hire them to play in their open spaces. At a time when musicians were out of work, they had events at least six out of seven days to a week.
This led to them to be ready to get in a studio for the first time and record their first album, which was released in 2022 and is available on all digital platforms for all to enjoy. It should be noted that Román was not playing as often with Cuarteto Guataca, so he was replaced by Venezuelan producer, composer and pianist Gabriel Chakarji until he got back some time later.
Read also: De Tierra Caliente founder Bronson Tennis talks about his career and band
12th edition of the distinguished Salsero and tourist Festival of Venezuela
Latin America / Venezuela / Caracas
Venezuela land of salsa by nature year after year offers us a space dedicated to this beautiful dance, mainly framed in the presentation of the talent of more than 150 dance schools registered as diffusers of Salsa in this country and an expected visit of guests and foreign public. will make the so named Venezuela es Latina an event to remember. With 12 years of successful editions, it invites us not to one more edition, it calls us to enjoy 4 nights and 3 days of multiple activities, best of all, nights of great social parties.

Venezuela is Latina, an event with more than 11 years of experience, organizes for this 2018 edition a festival full of workshops, seminars, forums, certifications, bootcamp, shows, competitions and good local tourism, the ideal space for everyone who wants to meet one of the most emblematic tourist and salsa lands in the world, the famous Venezuela.
This 12 installment gives us a cycle of more than 20 hours of classes and training cycles distributed in workshops, seminars and Bootcamp on days dedicated to the professional training of dancers or dancers, as well as instruction for visitors, novices and / or dance fans.
We will be able to delight ourselves with the knowledge of the best instructors from Colombia, Ecuador, Cuba, Venezuela among other countries that remain to be confirmed, with workshops of the most sought-after disciplines, added to this 3 high-caliber seminars of theoretical and practical content that seeks to certify participants.
For the general public, Bootcamps are offered guided by the organizing academy, the Son Rumbero school, which for 2 years has brought this famous practice to the festival, giving attendees the opportunity to do a cycle of classes that ends when they appear on stage. along with the best dancers of the moment on the main night of the festival.
For lovers of good music, there will be a meeting of salsa and timba fans or collectors, where we can enjoy the best musical themes, acquire good music, together with 3 nights of parties and social dancing to share with all attendees, framed in nights of enjoyment and sharing between dancers and sympathizers of these great rhythms at the hands of the best guest DJs.

For those who wish to visit this great event, the organizing committee has distributed all-inclusive packages for Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay, Chile, Argentina, Central America, North America and Europe, with 5, 4 and 3 star hotels adapted to each need. In the same way, free packages are offered for promoters, directors or group managers who visit the festival.
Everything is ready for the 12th edition of this festival, the city of San Cristobal – Táchira State will offer us the best spaces to enjoy 4 days of great Latin things, a city 30 minutes from the border with Colombia in Cúcuta that speeds up access from the south. Dare to be part of this great festival, for more information, contact through social networks: @vzlaeslatina on Instagram and Facebook. Telephones: +573114061366 / +584126142562.
Yehudry N. Perdomo M.
North America / USA / New York
High performance athlete in rhythmic gymnastics and professional dancer. Bailoxtreme master trainer and salsa fitness instructor. Yehudry was born in Caracas, Venezuela from a family where salsa was heard as the first and even only option. Surrounded by dancers, she began to enjoy this genre as well and began taking dance classes to stop being an amateur and prepare for a professional level.
His first academy was Latin Images, directed by Arelis Guevera and Remmys. After going through several academies, it was at Grizzly Dance Company where he learned about existing dance styles such as in L.A, Puerto Rico and New York, but never forgetting his style. LOVER OF SALSA IN ALL ITS VERSIONS.

Her salsa roots come from the neighborhood, although thanks to her performance as a gymnast, she maintains a very beautiful and impressive elegance when dancing, merging sport with dance. His first international presentation was in 2013 at the Peru Salsa Congress with the dance company where he began his career.
Today he is dedicated to fitness but his passion for salsa did not end there, as he created a training system called BAILOXTREME where salsa gained strength due to its unique way of training and dancing simultaneously in time of 1. This training system has generated that more people are interested in salsa and in taking classes in various consecrated academies in Venezuela and now internationally.
Today, Yehudry lives in Miami making this project grow but always remembering and respecting those who helped her grow professionally. Below you can learn more about this incredible dancer from a conversation she had with our ISM team…
What led you to choose Latin Images as your first dance academy?
The proximity to my home and the recommendation of dancer friends who are members of that company.
Did you always know that your passion for salsa surpassed rhythmic gymnastics?
It is not surpassed today by Salsa Fit or Fitness as it is currently called, it is Latin dance applied to Fitness and Gymnastics is a high-performance sport, I cannot choose between one and the other. Each one has marked a stage in my life. Currently I am not an athlete, now I am a training coach and a professional dancer, what I did was to unite both sports style and culture and the result was excellent.
Where do you think your salsa roots came from?
I really think that from my Maternal Grandmother, a beautiful black woman with a religious family, lovers of Afro-descendant music, she was the one who gave all her children that love for Salsa and Afro dances. I even have a musician uncle.
How was the creation of Bailoxtreme?
Well it’s very funny, but it was a coincidence. Some ladies were dancing and exercising in a park alone because their coach didn’t show up. And I offered to teach him that day. From there to here, what were 10 ladies became almost 300 in an area where there could only be 100 perhaps.
If you could choose a gymnastics idol and a salsa idol, which one would it be?
Definitely Almudena Cid and Nadia Comanecci.
Oscar d’ Leon, Raphy Leavit, Celia Cruz, Tito Puentes.

Would you see yourself performing with them doing bailoxtreme?
It would be an honor and an indescribable charge of energy to be able to exercise and learn to dance salsa with live music.
What’s next in Yehudry’s life?
I am currently recording a Cuban series that talks about the story of a revolutionary Fidelista who emigrates to Miami. This will be streamed on Netflix.
There I am a dancer who is kidnapped to pay a debt and it is a new challenge. I loved the experience and I’m already thinking about Salsa Pole fit, Something will come out (laughs)
For all the people who are reading us, tell them where they could practice this method?
In which dance academies? Both in Caracas and in Miami.

In Caracas you must communicate with the certified instructors in Bailoxtreme through their social networks or my instagram account @Yehudryfit_dancer
In Miami at Rise Health & Fitness
And Personalized at Country Club Towers gym Hialeah, FL.
Jose Bello, The Salsa Tycoon
North America / USA / New York
Jose Manuel Bello Suazo, better known as José Bello “El Cantautor”, a Dominican artist of international stature with several awards and achievements worldwide.
Jose Bello, born on April 6 in the city of Santo Domingo, who from an early age showed a deep love for music, making his first performances in kindergarten and elementary school. As a teenager, he moved to New York where he met Carlos Castillo, a member of internationally known bands such as Machito y su Orquesta, Joe Cuba y su Sexteto, Tito Rodríguez y su Orquesta. From that moment on, Bello formalized his start in the world of music by forming “El Sexteto Latino” together with Carlos Castillo.

Baila que Baila is known as his first musical recording with maestro Julio Gutiérrez, after that he recorded four record productions with the owners of LA CHARANGA AMERICA. His first full-length album emerged in the 70’s, with the record company “Lo mejor records” with songs of his own inspiration. But, it was in his third record production, where he decides to add songs with a title in another language, entitled “Blue Bossa”
José Bello manages to start his own record label in partnership with Mr. Aldemar Barona, who titled it “B&B Records Presents José Bello”, containing compositions by both members. In the fifth record production, which was established as the owner Jose Bello, El Cantautor, where only the La Salsa Magnate’s own productions are found.
After that, it was decided to record the first DVD recorded live in the city of Medellin, Colombia, becoming known around the world.
In the last 10 years, José Bello has taken his music to all parts of the world, receiving great acceptance from the European, American and Latin American public. Sharing the stage with great personalities such as Celia Cruz, Rubén Blades, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Oscar D’Leon, Marc Anthony, Tito Nieves, among many more.

At International Salsa Magazine, we were able to chat with this incredibly talented artist.
Below is the interview:
How was your first presentation? Did you know after that that music would be your passion?
In the kindergarten of the La miraculous school they had parties and they had a stage where I sang constantly and even had choirs that accompanied me and also acted, since I can remember, my passion is music.
How did you and Carlos Castillo meet? Did you know about his career before?
I met Carlos Castillo, because my mom lived in the house next to him and she talked to Carlos’s mom about me and they both agreed to introduce me, I had no idea who he was, until I met him.
What inspired you to compose those songs?
The experience of life and the gift that I always knew I had to compose, at any time.
|
|
|
|
Tell us a little about Aldemar Barona, what year did you decide to start with the label?
My great friend Aldemar Barona always went to my presentations and when the contract ended with the best record, we decided to make our own record label in the late 80s, early 90s.

Was this performance during a tour? What album were you promoting? Where could that DVD be purchased?
Exclusive record. He hired me to make that DVD in the mid 90s and you could get it online, or at the Musical 90 record store in Jackson Hghts Queens New York
All these artists are well known worldwide and having been able to share stages with them speaks volumes about your incredible talent and career. Which of these artists would you say is your greatest inspiration or example?
As I said before, my inspiration is a divine gift, I love all my colleagues very much, I respect and admire them, some started before me, others are from my generation and others became famous after my love, and I respect music, They have moderated me as I am and have led me to feel fulfilled in what I do, blessed and immensely happy.

Where would you like to present yourself in the next opportunity?
I would like to personally take my art to some countries that I have not visited to this day, such as Mexico, Peru, Panama, Canada, Japan, Chile, and Argentina.
What comes next in the life of José Bello, El Cantautor?
Make my new recording, already as JOSE BELLO EL MAGNATE DE LA SALSA 40 ANIVERSARIO and finish negotiating my next tours, to Central Europe and South America.
Where does his nickname El Magnate de La Salsa come from?
On July 23, 2017, I married the designer Patricia González on the largest luxury yacht in New York called “Infinity”, around 2000 people and with two orchestras. Tito Nieve with his orchestra and my orchestra. The ceremony was on the high seas.

When in Mexico they found out about my marriage, they wrote to congratulate me and told me “Now you are the salsa magnate” I was surprised and asked them why? and they told me “Only Arab Magnates get married on the high seas on a luxury yacht” I liked the idea.
I always hear that in music there are kings, princes, knights, but there are no tycoons and I think that because of the explanation of the Mexicans, I am the tycoon of salsa.













































































