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In front of adversity we grow with Johnny Cruz .

North America/ All USA

Johnny Cruz : This month I wanted to dedicate myself to good news, highlighting the work of those who, despite adversity, continue to strive to bring the best to the public. We keep working!

Gilberto Santa Rosa surprises us with his new album Colegas. His most recent phonogram. In this, Santa Rosa invested the last six years and presents 16 collaborations with Cuban artists -Isaac Delgado and Juan Jose Hernandez-Puerto Ricans -Tito Nieves, Tito Rojas, Luisito Carrion, Pirulo, Nino Segarra, Choco Orta among others-, as well as with a Dominican – Jose Alberto “El Canario” -.

Gilberto Santa Rosa - Colegas — Gilberto Santa Rosa – Colegas

The album is preceded by “40… y contando en vivo desde Puerto Rico”, an album recorded in 2018 live at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan, to celebrate its 40 years of musical career. The majestic arrangements were the work of Dino Nugent (Apaga La Luz), Marty Sheller (Caminalo, Ban Ban Quere), Ramón Sánchez (Que Se Sepa), Javier Fernández (Tremendo Coco, Masacote), Louis García (Por La Calle Del Medio, Ocana Sordi, El Guateque De Chombo), Ricky González (Vamos a Bailar El Son, Eque Tumba), Manolito Rodríguez (Medley Boleros), José Madera (Bailadores), Rene González (Estoy como Nunca), Isidro Infante (Mario Ague, El Mejor Sonero, Sonerito), James Hernández (La Fonda De Bienvenido).

In good time Santa Rosa presents this production. He positions him on the GRAMMY platform and refreshes him in his role as sonero and incidentally, he extends a helping hand to some who had not recorded Salsa Brava again.

Tracks: La Familia; Caminalo; Que Se Sepa; Mazacote; Apaga La Luz; Sonerito; Por La Calle Del Medio; Nos Vamos A Bailar El Son; Medley Boleros; Ocana Sordi; Bailadores; El Mejor Sonero; Tremendo Coco; Estoy Como Nunca; Mario Ague; Eque Tumbao; La Fonda De Bienvenido; Ban Ban Quere; Guateque De Chombo.

Members: Angie Machado, Jan Duclerc, Jesús Alonso, turbidity Vilchez – trumpet; Charlie Sierra – maracas; Dino Nugent – violín; Johnny Torres, Pedro Perez – bass; Manolito Rodriguez – timbal; Rafy Torres, Toñito Vásquez, Víctor Vázquez, Reynaldo Jorge – trombones – trombone; Richie Bastar – bongo; Sammy García, Jimmie Morales – congas; Sammy Vélez, Josué Urbina; Pedro Méndez, Frankie Pérez, Janice Maysonet – saxophone; Luis Marín, Isidro Infante, Javi Fernández, Ricky González – piano; Orestes Vilató – timpani; Pablo “El Indio” Rosario – percussion; Meñique, Paquito Guzmán, Víctor Manuelle, Luisito Carrion, Justo Betancourt – backing vocals. Guests: Víctor Manuelle, Choco Orta, Juan José Hernández, Isaac Delgado, Yan Collazo, Luisito Carrion, Pirulo, Tito Nieves, Tito Rojas “El Gallo”, Ismael Rivera Jr., José Alberto “El Canario”, Carlitos Ramírez, Michelle Brava, Herman Olivera, Maelo Ruiz.

I take this opportunity to greet my good friend Johnny Rodríguez Jr., better known as Johnny “Dandy” Rodríguez, is an American bongo player. He was Tito Puente’s longtime bongo player, and also played with Tito Rodríguez, Ray Barretto, and Alfredo de la Fe. He belonged to various popular bands of the salsa era such as Tico All-Stars, Fania All-Stars, and Typica 73. He is a proud son of El Barrio (Spanish Harlem), New York, and stickball (street baseball) was more interested than music.

Marco Bermúdez - En mi voz — Marco Bermúdez – En mi voz

However, influenced by his father, Johnny, 17, earned the position of playing bongos in the Tito Puente Orchestra. Johnny spent more than 30 years with the orchestra, also working with Tito Rodríguez from 1965 to 1968 and with Ray Barretto from 1970 until the end of 1972. Johnny went on to form Tipica 73, of which he remained a member until 1979. He then returned to the band. Tito’s band, playing alongside him until the time of Tito’s death in May 2000.

Johnny “Dandy” Rodríguez Jr. continues to be a Latin jazz and salsa percussionist. Today he works as a percussionist in different Latin music ensembles, He is unstoppable and is very active with the Latin Jazz Giants (alongside his colleagues and Exclusive LP Artists Jose Madera and George Delgado) and that includes the stars from the original Tito Puente Orchestra. The band plays the famous music from the Palladium days of Tito Puente, Tito Rodríguez, and Machito, and also recorded The Giants Play the Music of the Palladium.

In 2008, Johhny entrusted LP’s Research and Development Department with the design of the John “Dandy” Rodríguez Jr. bongoes from the Legends series. John is proud that these drums, which bear his name, present such a sound and visual characteristics outstanding. Keep going, Johnny!

A few days ago, En Mi Voz, the solo debut of the Ecuadorian singer Marco Bermúdez, was officially launched on the market. This is a very good selection of ten songs, under the master hand of Oscar Hernández, the prestigious and renowned musician who is making his debut as a record producer with Ovation Records.

Pedro Bermudez - Arrasando — Pedro Bermudez – Arrasando

Marco has not saved anything for this premiere. He has met with his colleagues from the “Hispánica del Barrio” and the result could not be better: Jerry Madera, Máximo Rodríguez, Maneco Ruiz, Héctor Colón, Doug Beavers, Reynaldo Jorge, Jeremy Bosch, George Delgado, Luisito Quintero and Jorge González give solvency and flavor to En Mi Voz. The album opens with “Amanecer Contigo”, composed with four hands between Hernández and Bermúdez, where the trumpet solos by Maneco Ruiz and flute by Jeremy Bosch stand out.

Jeremy is also heard with his flute in his fine and heartfelt composition “Canto a mi Mamá” and in “Únicamente tú”, making Marco the second voice. The romantic spirit of the singer of the Spanish Harlem Orchestra and Mambo Legends Orchestra is confirmed in songs like “Solo Basta” and “Tu Regreso”. Oscar’s arrangements guarantee the key melody. Highly recommended this album, it has no waste!

I send my greetings and wishes for a reunion with this excellent salsa singer: Hermenegildo Olivera, or Herman Olivera. Born in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Puerto Rican parents and from an early age linked to Latin music. In the 70s, in the middle of the salsa boom, Herman began his love of singing by listening to the interpretations of Chamaco Ramírez, Héctor Lavoe, Cheo Feliciano and Marvin Santiago, among others. These vocalists were primarily his source of inspiration. When he was just 15 years old, Herman began his career as a salsa interpreter with an orchestra called La Justicia.

Later he was part of the band La Sónica, where he met his friend and trombonist Jimmy Bosch. After this he spent time with the Caramelo orchestra to later take the most important leap in his career by being part of the Conjunto Libre in 1978, where he left his voice reflected for the first time in the Incredible LP of 1981 under the direction of percussionist Manolo Oquendo and bassist Andy González, where he stands out with the theme Decídete.

In 1990, he was invited to record on the album Salsa Sudada, from the Valdesa Records label of Víctor Raúl Sánchez “Patillas” and with the musical direction of Isidro Infante, sharing vocalization with Mario Muñoz “Papaíto”, Adalberto Santiago, Eladio Peguero “Yayo El Indio” and Pablo Villanueva Branda “Melcochita”; in this work he interprets the songs La Aguja and a tribute to the city of Cali called Valle Plateado de Salsa. Later, it launched an independent project called Herman Olivera y La Exclusiva. Chequea la Mercancía.

Produced by Fernando Pastrana where the song Me Extraña Araña is one of the most outstanding. For 1997 he participates in the CD of the band Rikoson All Stars, called Evoluciones del Son, where he stands out very well in the romantic theme Aquella Noche. In 1998 he was requested by the piano teacher Eddie Palmieri and together with the vocalist Wichy Camacho they recorded the album El Rumbero del Piano, where he stands out as a singer on the songs Malagueña alerosa and Oiga mi Guaguancó.

That same year he was invited to the recording studios by the trombonist Jimmy Bosch and they released the album titled Soneando Trombón, which contains the hit Otra Oportunidad. Who plays a duet with Frankie Vázquez. On this CD also appears the song Descargarana. That same duo, Olivera and Bosch, meet the following year (1999) and produce Salsa Dura, where Herman shines performing the full Impacto Tendremos. The album also features the participation of singers Frankie “Nene” Morales and Frankie Vázquez. Parallel to this album, the RMM label launches a live CD and DVD titled Eddie Palmieri & Friend’s, where Herman looks excellent in the number Palo pa ’Rumba.

The invitation to tune in to the new Fm / Internet radio station on Live365.com continues: Salsagallery. Good music, interviews with the artists and much more… now with the participation of Felix Villalobos who joins Salsagallery Radio with a segment in which we will be talking about Music.

At the Spanish Harlem Salsa Gallery Museum we are happy to say that we are gradually returning to our activities and we will be opening the gallery sporadically. We do not stop, we continue to work for our music and we will always keep you informed through our social networks. We hope to have more news shortly and that we can return to normal soon.

Life and career of Ernie Acevedo

Introduction

This will be a very special edition because we are going to talk about one of the most transcendental figures of Latin music of his time. We are talking about bandleader and percussionist Ernie Acevedo, who has been one of the greatest pillars of the Latin music movement in the United States from the very moment he decided to explore this highly competitive area of arts.

Percussionist Ernie Acevedo recording in the studio

Biography

Ernest ”Ernie” Acevedo was born in New York City and his parents were two Puerto Ricans who were making their living in the United States. His family had deep musical roots, which may be why the young man to devote his life to this wonderful world. This artistic side of the family comes especially from his uncles who played Christian music, with the exception of Jason Youvert. The latter played bass for a few groups throughout his career and one of them was Ray Rodriguez & Duro.

While still very young, little Ernie showed signs of getting great skills with percussion, which made his father decide to take him to play with him and even become a kind of manager for his son and many other young boys with dreams of being artists who entertained parties and celebrations of all kinds in the neighborhood where they lived. This group of boys was called Orquesta Combinación Latina, but it was not long before it would be renamed Sonora Amantes and would have an alignment of instruments totally different from the previous one.

Given that Ernie was always sure of following this path, he chose to prepare as best as possible for it, so he studied at Johnny Colon School and the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, which contributed enormously to the learing of the musician and would serve him well for what he did next.

The great beginning of the percussionist’s career was given in the 1970s thanks to his collaboration with the famous bongo player Ralphy Santi, a union that represented a giant leap in the carrer of Ernie. After that, there was an endless list of artists who wanted to work with him such as Héctor Lavoe, Johnny Pacheco, Oscar D’ León, Pete ”El Conde” Rodríguez, Larry Harlow, Daniel Santos, Héctor Casanova and many more.

All of this would be the prelude to the creation of Conjunto Imagen, a group that would be of key importance in the good name of Acevedo as an artist.

Conjunto Imagen

In the year 2021, El Conjunto Imagen was founded on May 21, 1989, starting a legacy impossible to omit in the history of Afro-Caribbean music in the United States, Latin America and the Antilles. The main members of the group were coordinating and agreeing for a while to crystallize this idea that was running through their heads for a long time. Among them were Ernie Acevedo, Jose ”Junior” Rivera, Luis Hernandez, Angelo Gonzalez and many others.

These childhood friends always were clear that they wanted to create a highly successful musical group and go that succeed. In the year 2021, they celebrated their 30th anniversary with their 14th record production entitled ”Los Rumberos”, with which this group proved once more they are one of the most talented Latin groups despite the passage of time. This musical work has great names in the industry such as Juan ”Tiny” Colón in the arrangements, Toby Rivera, Guillermo ”El Pulpo” Colón Jr. and Miguel ”El Zurdo” Rodríguez. Luis Arona Junior Rivera, among others.

Record production to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Conjunto Imagen

By Johnny Cruz, ISM Correspondents, New York, New York City

The return of Ray Sepúlveda to Europe

Ray Sepúlveda loves his music ardently, and it is for this reason that, for two decades, he has been one of the most notable voices in salsa to date. This much loved singer takes every opportunity he gets to give us all of his soul through his music, and his most intimate feelings. One of his first steps this 2023 is to visit Europe, to celebrate Valentine’s Day with all his European fans. Learn more about the singer, and his dates for this Europe Tour with the following lines.

Ray Sepúlveda is a singer forged in Salsa’s golden years

Sepúlveda Jr. was born in Brooklyn, his parents are originally from Puerto Rico. Today he is a successful singer who has recorded five albums for his current label RMM, and has built up a reputation as a vocalist on all continents. However, his journey to his success was not an easy one.

Since his childhood, Ray Jr. learned everything from his father, Ray Sepúlveda Sr., who was a bolero singer, and a member of Trío Los Románticos. This experience allowed him to listen to the best artists from Puerto Rico and Latin America, which inspired him to follow his dreams of becoming a renowned singer.

At the end of the 70’s Ray managed to record his first album and two more under Fania. He also got to dabble in the cinema, and in the 80s he even worked with Hector Lavoe. But in those years there was a decline in the genre, which is why Sepúlveda came to work with the United States Postal Service.

The 90s were his return to the stages with the Johnny and Ray Orchestra, with which he came to record his greatest hits. As he himself has commented on several occasions: “At that stage of my career I had the opportunity to work with Sergio George, the music producer of Salsa Con Clase. Sergio greatly influenced, and in a way created the musical style of Ray Sepúlveda.”

A few years later he would sign with RMM which led him to further consolidate his solo career. In “Salsabor,” his fifth production with RMM, Ray Sepúlveda shows us his way of being and feeling. He uses the same energy that he had on his first album with them, and inspires us to enjoy his well-known romantic salsa sound.

Ray has made appearances at some of the world’s most famous venues. For example, he has played in New York’s Madison Square Garden several times, including a Valentine’s Day concert. He has also performed at Radio City Music Hall and at the Continental Airlines Arena in New Jersey to celebrate RMM’s 10th anniversary. In addition, Ray has traveled throughout Europe, receiving a great reception especially in Italy.

2023 marks his return to Europe

This new year marks the return of Ray Sepúlveda to the European stages with his Europe Tour, led by Luisito Eventos and Amber Productions. This tour consists of a total of 6 dates, starting on February 3 in Madrid, Spain. Two dates follow in Italy on the 4th and 5th, in Genoa and Firenze respectively. It closes with stops on 10, 11 and 12 passing through Milano, Italy; to then reach Valencia and Barcelona in Spain.

In these presentations Ray will captivate the audience with his best-known classics, in addition to showing his new songs from his latest production Salsabor, among which stand out: Como Tiembla El Alma, Eres, Lo Necesario, Sabes Que Soy Aquel, among other great works. To obtain tickets for these dates and enjoy a great night, you just have to contact the following numbers: +34627098111 / +34635417043.

From Repression to Liberation through Salsa

Interview with Isidra Mencos, Author of Promenade of Desire, A Barcelona Memoir

By Luis Medina

Isidra Mencos is the author of the engrossing, page-turning book, Promenade of Desire, A Barcelona Memoir. This book is a frank, honest and revealing coming of age story as a young woman in the transitional period marking the end of the Franco dictatorship to political freedom in Spain. It chronicles her formative experiences growing up with her family, embracing her sexuality, her relationships with men, discovering her liberation through Salsa music and finding herself.

Isidra Mencos, Author of Promenade of Desire, A Barcelona Memoir

LM: In your memoir Promenade of Desire, you describe your fascination with Salsa music as a liberating force during your coming of age as a young woman. Why Salsa music?

IM: I grew up in Spain under a dictatorship closely allied to the Catholic church. It was a very repressive atmosphere, not only politically but also culturally and sexually. From a very young age I learned to associate sensuality and pleasure with shame and guilt, so I felt disconnected with my body.

When the dictator died in 1975, I was 17 years old and in college. Spain transitioned to democracy and the culture went from repression to liberation and hedonism. That’s when I discovered Salsa music and dancing. From the moment I heard Salsa for the first time, I knew it was the music I had waited for my whole life. Although I didn’t know the steps, I was instinctively in sync with the beat.

Salsa allowed me to reconnect with my body and my sensuality in a guilt and shame-free way. It opened the door to a new me, a young woman aware and accepting of her body’s needs and desires. I fell in love with the great Salsa icons of the 70s, from the Fania All Stars to Rubén Blades, and Los Van Van. I went dancing three or four nights a week, until 5 a.m. I couldn’t get enough.

Salsa scene in the eighties

LM: What was the nascent Salsa scene like in Barcelona in the eighties?

IM: Salsa was not yet popular in Barcelona, where I grew up. Spain had been very isolated from other countries during the dictatorship and did not have significant immigration until the mid-70s so the exposure to this music had been limited. When I started dancing in 1977, there was only one dump of a club in the red light district, appropriately named Tabú, full of seedy characters. I was there all the time.

In the 80s Salsa started to gain traction and a few other places popped up. A very famous one at the time was Bikini, which was in a more bourgeois, safer area, and had two rooms, one for Salsa and one for Rock. Every single night the DJ would end the gig with “Todo tiene su final” with Hector Lavoe and Willie Colón. I loved it.

By the time I left Spain in 1992 there were four or five clubs dedicated to Salsa, and live concerts with iconic figures had started to come to the city. There were also Catalan bands that played salsa standards, like Orquesta Platería and others.

LM: What was the popular music in Spain at that time?

IM: Rock and punk were the most popular. Punk represented the rebellious spirit of the youth, who had grown oppressed and now had the freedom, in the new democracy, to be outrageous and excessive without consequences. A very famous punk group was Alaska y the Pegamoides.

LM: Your ex-boyfriend Abili was a prominent pioneer in promoting Salsa Music in Barcelona during that era. Can you describe the triumphs and challenges that he had promoting Salsa music?

IM: Abili had fallen in love with Salsa before me. He was a journalist by profession and had come into some money due to a labor dispute. He decided that he would invest that money into making Salsa as popular as any other type of music in Barcelona. He produced concerts with Salsa greats like Rubén Blades, Eddie Palmieri, Ray Barreto, Luis Perico Ortiz and others, who came to Spain for the first time. Unfortunately, he was a bit ahead of his times. There wasn’t still a big enough audience to fill in the venues, and he lost a lot of money. That said, he was a major contributor to popularizing Salsa in Barcelona. For example, he ran a weekly Thursday salsa night for a few years at a club, with a live band (Catalan players) and a DJ, and you could see the club filling up more and more every week.

He later got involved with one of the major Salsa spaces in Barcelona, El Antilla, programming the live bands and promoting the scene.

LM: You have visited Barcelona throughout the years since you immigrated to the United States. What are the differences that you have seen in the Barcelona salsa scene?

IM: Salsa is now very well established in the city, in part due to the increasing numbers of Latin American immigrants who started coming in the 80s and the 90s. There was a big wave of Cuban immigration starting in the 90s which changed the direction of Salsa in the city, making timba and rueda very popular, for example.

Salsa was also taken on by several bands which mixed Catalans with Latina American immigrants, and produced great music, such as Lucrecia or, nowadays, Tromboranga.

That said, when I go back now I notice that there are less venues that offer live bands on a regular basis. It’s more of a DJ scene with dance instructors.

LM: In the book, you described Salsa music as a passionate force in your life as you dealt with your family, relationships with different men, sexuality, and the transition in Spain from Franco’s era of dictatorship and repression to freedom and democracy. What do you want the reader to take from reading your book?

IM: I think we all have repressed one or more parts of ourselves from childhood on, in order to be accepted by our parents, our teachers, our friends, our bosses…. My memoir is an inspirational tale about finding a way to reclaim the parts of yourself that have been hidden and becoming a whole person again.

Chevy El Pitirre De La Salsa and his interesting career

José Flores Pérez

Jose Flores Perez, better known as Chevy El Pitirre De La Salsa, is a salsa singer who was born in the town of Cidra, Puerto Rico, but currently resides in Georgia. We have had a very pleasant conversation with the salsa exponent, in which we have touched on certain various professional and personal tissues never mentioned before. It is a real pleasure for us that he has agreed to talk with us and tell a little more of his personal story on this platform, which is International Salsa Magazine.

Chevy El Pitirre De La Salsa was born in Puerto Rico, but now lives in Georgia, United States

Origin of his artistic name

”Chevy” is a nickname his parents and friends always gave him and ”pitirre” refers to a Puerto Rican bird with very short dize, but a very strong character. Maestro Felix Ortiz name him ”El Pitirre” because of the way he sings and improvise in the stage and the trust between them was such that he even became the music director of his orchestra. This combination of nicknames was what made Flores start to become known by that way during the last four years of his career.

Influences and predilection for salsa music

The reason Chevy opted for salsa was the great influence from his family. His father was a salsa singer for local orchestras in Chicago, which made him listen to various Puerto Rican genres such as salsa, bolero, jibaro music and trova throughout his childhood.

There were years when he really enjoyed listening to hip hop and rap in the late 80’s and early 90’s, but it didn’t take long for him to reconnect with salsa when he started listening to Héctor Lavoe, Ismael Rivera, Sammy Marrero, Bobby Valentín, Cano Estremera, among others. Listening to all these idols and what they achieved led him to take salsa much more seriously.

Chevy El Pitirre De La Salsa performing on stage

His time in the military and formal beginnings in music

During his time in the military, he performed in different orchestras and accompanied various artists throughout Atlanta. Although this was a demanding career, he organized himself to pursue his interest in music. When he leaves the armed forces, he went to Puerto Rico, where he lived for a great deal of time until he moved to Georgia in 2016.

His current residence is still in this state for professional reasons totally unrelated to music, but he had been there around the time he served in the army, so this part of the United States was not unknown to him. It is there that he resumesd his musical career after so many years.

In 2017, he began to compose, but it was not until two years later when he decided to launch as a soloist, make his first single ”Instrumento de amor” and carry out his first independent musical project entitled ”Entre el amor y el vacilón”.

In this same year 2019, he took advantage of the internet and social networks to become known at an international level and released his second record production during the pandemic, but the singer does not think this situation has hurt his carrer. On the contrary, he believes that social media and digital platforms gave him the push he needed to promote his artistic proposal.

Chevy El Pitirre De La Salsa recording in the studio

Recent projects

One of his most recent projects was carried out in 2019, is titled ”Atacando en Navidad” and was born from the songs ”Arbolito de Navidad” and ”Compay no se me raje”. The first is written by Chevy, but the latter was composed by the legend Johnny Vega. At some point, the artist decided that these two singles were not enough, so he created a full album based on the Puerto Rican parranda he always enjoyed as a child. The result is a mix of nostalgia, sadness, love and joy. He tells how Christmas was celebrated at home, his childhood dreams, what this time meant to his family and the sadness when a loved one dies that year.

One of the most significant songs is ”Navidad Sin Parranda”, which was written a year before Chevy’s mother died. She was so ill at the time that the whole family thought she suddenly would lose her life, but fortunately she did not. Back then, the salsero was beginning to imagine a life and a Christmas without his mother, as she kept the family together and her house was the meeting place for all the important dates.

It just so happens that Venezuelan musical arranger Willy Melo lost his father within a few days of receiving the song, so he was very connected to that same pain around the same time.