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| FEBRUARY 2024 FESTIVALS | ||
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Viña 24Feb 25 / Mar, 2024 Quinta Vergara |
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AloCubano Cuba Salsa Tour Dance VacationFeb 14 / 25, 2024 Hotel Saint John’s |
Yilian Cañizares is a Cuban and Swiss musician. She has lived in Switzerland since 2000.
Born in Havana, Yilian Cañizares began studying violin in her hometown, in the strictest tradition of the Russian violin school.
Soon after, the main orchestras in the area began to contact her and once settled in Lausanne, she collaborated for six years with different ensembles.
In Switzerland, she opened up to jazz and decided to embark on a new musical path, including singing in her career as a professional artist.
It was during this period that the artist decided to form a quartet with musicians from Germany, Venezuela and Switzerland (and later Cuba), and the group “Ochumare” was born, with which, just six months after its creation, in 2008, she won the prize of the Montreux Jazz Festival Competition.
From that moment on, his career has been growing steadily. In recent years, she has shared the stage with Ibrahim Maalouf, Omar Sosa, Youn Sun Nah, Richard Bona, Chucho Valdés, Roberto Fonseca, Dhafer Youssef, the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra and El Comité.
She also teaches violin at the Ecole de jazz et de musique actuelle de Lausanne (EJMA).
She was listed by the French weekly Le Nouvel Observateur as “revelation artist of the year” for her great virtuosity and charisma with which she is able to sing and play the violin.
“My sound reflects the richness and mix of cultures that I carry with me to this day and represents who I am: woman, Cuban, musician and citizen of the world”, said the artist.
Her second album “Invocación” reached the top of the Qobuz – World Music chart and was re-released in a Deluxe edition.
“Aguas”, the album produced in collaboration with Omar Sosa, saw the light of day in October 2018.
Accompanied by another compatriot, Inor Sotolongo on percussion, the duo created an intimate and personal album that reflects the views of two generations of Cuban artists living far from their homeland.
This album is a mix of energetic rhythms and emotional ballads that clearly reflect the unparalleled musical chemistry that exists between the two artists.
It constitutes a powerful and unique fusion of Afro-Cuban roots, classical music and jazz.
On November 15, 2019 was released the new album “Erzulie”, with its new formation Yilian Cañizares & The Maroons and dedicated to the Haitian deity of love and freedom.
His style reflects the variety of his influences, with touches of jazz, classical music, Cuban music, with a large space left to improvisation.
The French magazine Les Inrockuptibles speaks of a jazz orchestration mixed with Yoruba ritual percussions.
She sings in Spanish, Yoruba and French and one of her distinctive features is that she sings and plays the violin at the same time.
There are so many influences on this album; Cuban, jazz, Venezuelan, Swiss, that it is difficult to pinpoint in each song which track falls into which category. In fact, they don’t.
Today it is too easy to want to pigeonhole music into one category: this is jazz; this is soul; this is funk. Yilian Canizares, in this wonderful album, breaks the stereotypes and that is why it is a pleasure to listen to it.
Sweet musical outbursts, explosions of improvisation that jump all over the place. He even finds a place to rap on “Iya Mi” and, obviously, it’s brilliant!
If we had to put a label on it, which I’m not thrilled about, I’d say this is a warm jazz album with Latin infused touches and tricks.
The meandering melody of “Beroni Abebe Osun”, the first track on the album, is a good indicator of this.
The throbbing bass, the heartbeat of the track, with its plucked violin, the blood pumping through his veins.
Cañizares is also a linguist, in case that wasn’t enough for us all to admire her.
The way he transitions from Spanish to perfect syllable-perfect French in his version of Edith Piaf’s “Je Ne Regrette Rien” (a beautiful version, by the way) is seamless and you could be forgiven for thinking it’s his first language.
It’s not easy to cover songs as big as Piaf’s classic, but Cañizares does it with style, class and, most importantly, grace.
And we’ll be on the lookout for the next album.
(kreolmagazine)
Yilian Cañizares – Invocación (2015).
Musicians:
Yilian Cañizares (Violin and vocals).
Daniel Stawinski (Piano)
David Brito (Double bass and electric bass)
Cyril Regamey (Drums and percussion).
Guests:
Akua Naru on Iya Mi
Gabi Guedes Gã & atabaques Rum, Pi, lé
Blaise Lambelet English horn on Laïla
Caxeiras do Divino da Família Menezes, Graça Re Reis & Bartira Menezes Caxeiras & Bartira Menezes &
Brazilian choir in Beroni
Julia Stuller, Gàbor Barta, Ivan Zerpa strings in Non je ne regrette rien
Luis Carbonell Voice in Canciòn de cuna para dormir a un negrito (Lullaby to put a little black boy to sleep)
Juan Carlos Toca Voice in Mapucha
All the songs by Yilian Cañizares except Beroni Abebe Osun (traditional/ Y. Cañizares) and
Non je ne regrette rien (Vaucaire/Dumont)
String arrangement (Non je ne regrette rien ) by André Mehmari
Cyril Regamey uses exclusively Istambul cymbals, Vater drumsticks and Aquarian drumheads.
Information provided (December 30, 2023)
Carlos Ordiano is a talented arranger, pianist and composer who has given us the honor of talking to us and telling us a bit about his career.
Carlos was born in Southern California and was raised in a family of Latino parents who have always loved the music of their roots, which led the artist to be continuously exposed to these rhythms from an early age.
With a consolidated career, his specialty is Latin jazz piano and he has a long list of collaborations with big names in the California music industry.
After thanking the invitation to this interview, Carlos told us a little bit about how his interest in music began since he was a child. He told us that no one in his family was engaged in music professionally, but one day an uncle of his gave him a toy piano when he was five years old.
He loved the gift so much he told his father he wanted to devote himself to music as a young child, which led him to hire a piano instructor for his son so that he could learn to play the instrument as soon as possible. The problem was that the child only learned by watching his instructor’s hands, so he never learned to read music. The day came when the teacher gave up and told Carlos’ father to find someone else, since he could do nothing for the boy.
After that disappointment, Carlos stopped playing for a year until he resumed his interest in music and again took piano lessons, obtaining much better results than the last time.
During his learning process, he played a little bit bass and trumpet, but no instrument ever became as important as the piano.
His brothers Ruben and Oscar were also taking music lessons in parallel and decided to follow the path of music like Carlos. Ruben is a bass player and Oscar is a guitarist.
When he was 19, he went to study recording engineering at Golden West College, but he found this career very boring, so he decided to learn to read and compose music, since he did not have much experience with these areas yet. This is how he started playing in a Latin jazz band in which he learned a lot more about music in general and got a lot of support from the band leader and, of course, from his parents.
Carlos has participated in several groups from various genres and the first one was formed by him and his uncles when he was a child. The music they made consisted of cumbias and rancheras back then.
When he arrived at school, he began to focus his attention on Latin jazz, salsa, son montuno and other Latin genres, which led him to participate in groups based on these rhythms. In fact, he also began to be a replacement in several salsa groups when a member was missing. This is how he gained the experience he needed to work with other artists and orchestras in different areas.
Such is the case of the jazz-funk group Modern Time, with which he plays in a small Californian club every Wednesday and Sunday. From time to time, he also plays with his brother Rubén in Santa Ana and, on these occasions, they call themselves The Ordiano Brothers.
Another important group he became involved with was La Santa Cecilia. La Marisoul, their lead singer, had a big band project and wanted his friend Carlos to arrange some of their new songs, which gave a unique touch to the chords of each piece of music.
As for his time at Santa Ana Community College, Carlos confesses that he was not a very good student, since he had no interest in subjects such as English or mathematics. He was only interested in music and that is what he focused all his attention on. This caused him to take a long time to graduate and obtain the academic degree he was opting for.
After searching many institutes, he finally obtained a scholarship at Cal State Long Beach College thanks to which he studied things like orchestration for big bands and small groups. During his studies at this school, he only had to pay for parking and textbooks he needed. His stay at this school helped him create many important connections in the industry until finally graduating in 2010 and earning his bachelor’s degree in jazz piano.
To clinch the matter, Carlos has pointed out that the academic part is important to have more specialized vocabulary in music and build links with other colleagues, but at the end of the day, this is not necessary for a musician to be good. In fact, he said that many of the musicians he most admires do not have any formal academic training, so it is not strictly necessary to have a university degree in that field.
Read also: Large projects of Mexican pianist and composer Irving Flores
North America / USA / New York
For this special concert the Cuban legendary orchestra will join with the most popular lead Los Van Van vocalists: Mario “Mayito” Rivera and Pedro Calvo
Date: Saturday, June 1st
Show: 8:00PM
Cost: $50 – $100
Venue: 250 Bedford Park Boulevard West Bronx, New York 10468
Low cost onsite parking available for $5!
Lehman Center for the Performing Arts presents the return of Grammy-winning dance orchestra, Formell y Los Van Van, who bring direct from Cuba their blend of Afro-Cuban, disco and funk back to Lehman Center to celebrate their 50th Anniversary on Saturday, June 1st at 8PM.
Heralded as Cuba’s greatest dance orchestra known worldwide for their iconic live performances, Formell y Los Van Van features three of the late founder Juan Formell‘s children: Samuel Formell (Leader and Drummer/Timbalero) , Juan-Carlos Formell (Bassist) and the family’s youngest daughter, Vanessa Formell (lead vocalist).
BIO: Formell y Los Van Van, nicknamed the “Cuban Music Train,” is regarded as one of the most influential bands in the history of 20th century Cuban popular music. Founded in 1969 by Juan Formell when he was 27 years old, the band pioneered Songo, a hybrid rhythm that blended Cuba’s native folkloric son music with the go-go of the 1970s and has electrified dance floors in Havana for over forty-five years.
The band’s original members were: Juan Formell (bandleader, bass player, and songwriter), Cesar “Pupy” Pedroso (piano, songwriter), and Jose Luis “Changuito” Quintana (drums and timbales). Each one were music conservatory trained from a young age and were fascinated with the soul, go-go and disco music that dominated U.S. radio.
They named their dance band “Los Van Van” (which literally means “they go-go”) after the go-go fad, and pioneered the hybrid of son and go-go music – Songo – which can now be found throughout Latin jazz, pop, and world fusion.
And if the genius of Songo wasn’t enough, they also developed the complex rhythmic style that became known as Timba that was adapted by other bands in the ‘90s. Los Van Van soon became one of the best-known Cuban groups in the world, maintaining a loyal fan base throughout Latin America, Europe and Japan propelled by hits such as: “La Sandunguera,” “Anda, Ven y Muévete,” “Te Traigo” and “Yuya Martinez.”
In 1993, Changuito left the band and was replaced by Formell’s son Samuel who also proved to be an outstanding composer as evidenced by the song: “Te Pone La Cabeza Mala”, the title track of one of their best albums. Although American politics hindered their ability to break into the U.S. market, their popularity in the U.S. grew throughout the ’90s, and the band toured the U.S. for the first time in 1997, including a memorable concert at Lehman Center.
Two years later, Los Van Van was honored with the GRAMMY® Award for Best Salsa Performance for their fifteenth album, Llegó…Van Van — Van Van is Here and in 2013, the Latin Recording Academy awarded Juan Formell with a special Grammy for a Lifetime Achievement of Artistic Excellence.
With over 40 albums to their credit, Formell y Los Van Van’s 2015 album Homenaje A Juan Formell: La Fantasia, was 80% completed at the time of Juan Formell’s death in 2014 and was finished under the direction of his son Samuel with another son, Juan-Carlos Formell.
The album’s release on Reyes Records in December, 2014 was on the 45th anniversary of the band’s founding and it features several of the band’s hit dance tracks refreshed with contemporary arrangements as well as many new songs including the widely popular: “Somos Diferentes”, “Todo se Acabó” and “La Moda”. Sony Music released it worldwide in 2016 and it earned a 2017 Grammy nomination for the Best Tropical Latin Album.
The group’s most recent album “Los Van Van son La Patria” is scheduled to be released on Cuba’s Engrem label later this summer.
BIO: Mario “Mayito” Rivera is nicknamed “El Poeta de La Rumba” for his ability to vocally interpret all forms of Cuban music in both modern and traditional styles with a colorful range that can be powerfully dynamic or tender and soft.
He was born in Pinar del Rio, Cuba, and has degrees from both the Escuela Nacional de Arte and the Instituto Superior de Arte. After college, he joined the band of Cuban singer Albita Rodríguez and played bass in Grupo Moncada.
From 1992 to 2011, Mayito was the characteristic voice and face of the extremely successful Cuban band, Los Van Van. He sang many of the band’s salsa hits, for which he was rewarded with a Latin GRAMMY® and two nominations.
Bio: Pedro “Pedrito” Calvo is a popular Cuban-born vocalist known for his charismatic and unique singing style which often includes clever word play and expressive rhythmic vocal sounds. Pedrito started his professional career singing with his father’s orchestra and years after with several Cuban orchestras including:
La Riviera, La Orquesta de Julio Valdés, and La Ritmo Oriental with hits such as: “Mi Socio Manolo” and “Aquí el que Manda es Mulé”. He was the most famous for his time (1974-2001) with Los Van Van, where he was part of the infamous lead singing trio of Los Van Van along with Mayito Rivera and Roberto Hernández.
Event Details:
www.LEHMANCENTER.org
The United States has a great number of Latin music radio programs that always sought to promote the best of Latin talent through their frequencies and one of them is ”Alma Del Barrio” of the well-known radio station KXLU, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
Against all odds, ”Alma Del Barrio” celebrates five decades on the air after all the effort of its hosts and the team involved in such a noble and necessary feat. We say ”against all odds” because it is not common that projects submitted by university students did not used to last long and ended up being replaced by programs of the same style.
In addition to the above, decades-long programs usually have a single host and comfortable time slots each week. However, ”Alma Del Barrio” was the exception to this rule and, today, continues to prove that limits can be overcome.
After so long, ”Alma Del Barrio” has remained up to date and continues to keep people’s taste.
Its main founders were Enrique ”Kiki” Soto and the late Raúl Villa, who at the time were two young students with many ideas and eager to achieve interesting things. The program was aired for the first time in 1973. A few years later, Hector Resendez, a freshman in college, contacted Enrique and Raul in order to write an article about this new radio show, but it would not be long before he joined the main founders in the project they were developing.
Three years later, in 1976, student at Loyola Marymount University Eddie Lopez joined the program on the third anniversary of ”Alma Del Barrio”, show in which he would spend the next 46 years bringing the best Afro-Cuban music to the audience every Sunday between 2pm and 6pm.
On a number of occasions, Resendez said that ”Alma Del Barrio” was not created to be hosted by great famous personalities, but by dynamic young people who wanted to be part of a small team that was just starting operations.
At the beginning, the new hosts only had one hour of broadcast time to show what they were made of, but at the same time, they did their best to get more airtime and have more presenters in the program. They wanted to include a not very popular genre on the station at that time, which was salsa, something totally innovative for the station.
In those years, salsa was understood as that set of genres coming from Afro-Cuban music and the novice hosts thought it would be a fine attraction to the Latino communities of Los Angeles. That set of genres came from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Panama, Colombia and the Dominican Republic. This is when record labels and music promoters renamed these rhythms as ”salsa” in order to make it easier for programs and hosts to identify the music.
The traditional programming of most of the stations consisted of jazz, rock and classical music, but then salsa was incorporated thanks to the increasing popularity that this genre was gaining.
One thing Resendez said is that one of the most famous rock groups was Santana, so the announcer and the rest of his cabinmates were surprised that the musicians of the band knew so much about Afro-Cuban music in terms of percussion. Let us remember that the popular song ”Oye Como Va” was written by ”El Rey De Los Timbales” Tito Puente a decade and a half before the band recorded it.
This union of rock and salsa was what gave the hosts the confidence to use trendy Anglo-Saxon genres as a means to promote Latin music.
On top of that, the guys were clear that jazz fans would be receptive to Latin jazz, since great jazz musicians like Dizzy Gallespie hired Cuban percussionists in their orchestras. If on other stations, this music was successful, ”Alma Del Barrio” was no exception. Fortunately, they were not wrong.
During the last years of ”Alma Del Barrio”, the program team has made great efforts to join and create links with the community, whether it would be through sponsorships, advertisements, public services, donation campaigns, among other things.
Through all this community service they offered, they also made their own work known and many listeners began to enjoy this great team’s talent while listening to good music and varied programming.
The program has also been and is part of great annual and historical festivals such as the Salsa Fest. This day is always reserved for the audience to share with the new and old hosts of ”Alma Del Barrio” and many of the station staff, who always spread their enthusiasm to those present with their good energy.
”Alma Del Barrio” and its hosts have brought joy to their followers, but there have also been some sad moments. One of them was the death of DJ Eddie Lopez in January 2023, leaving a great void in the station and the hearts of those who faithfully followed his career through the KXLU circuits during the last decades.
