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Francisco Aguabella “El Tamborero de Cuba” Bravo and Virtuoso Percussionist of Afro-Cuban Ritual Music

Aguabella was born on October 10, 1925 and grew up in the drumming tradition of Matanzas in Cuba.

On May 8, 2010, Francisco Aguabella “El Tamborero de Cuba” passed away in Los Angeles, United States. Bravo and virtuoso percussionist of Afro-Cuban ritual music, Latin/jazz and jazz.

Of remembered links to Tito Puente’s band, Mongo Santamaría, Cachao López, Eddie Palmieri, Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Sinatra, Jorge Santana’s group “Malo” and his own “Latin Jazz Emsemble”.

Aguabella nació el 10 de octubre de 1925 y se crio en la tradición de los tambores de Matanzas en Cuba

In 1953 he emigrated to the United States and settled in California as an olu batá (bata drummer).

Batá drumming is a ceremonial musical style that plays an integral role in the African-derived Santeria religion practiced in Cuba, Puerto Rico and since the 1950s in the United States.

No other music of the Americas bears a more striking similarity to West African music than the batá. Its set of three double cone drums reproduces the Nigerian Yoruba drum set of the same name.

Francisco Aguabella “El Tamborero de Cuba” Bravo y Virtuoso Percusionista de la música ritual afrocubana

Many of the rhythms closely resemble their African prototypes, and the Afro-Cuban language of Lucumí, in which Aguabella sings, is clearly a derivation of Yoruba.

Prior to 1980, Aguabella and Julito Collazo were the only olu batá in the United States who had been initiated into a secret society of drummers designated to perform a very sacred type of batá known as batá fundamento .

The batá fundamento is an integral part of Santeria ceremonies in which an individual’s initiation into the religion cannot be consecrated unless he or she has been presented before this sacred ensemble.

Each year Aguabella builds a shrine for his patron saint, Santa Barbara (Changó), and plays music at a birthday party held in her honor.

Francisco Aguabella “El Tamborero de Cuba”

It’s an all-day celebration for invited friends who are primarily but, not exclusively members of the Santeria sect “Santa Barbara knows it’s her birthday,” Aguabella said, “I know how she feels.

She feels happy if I honor her, I feel bad if I don’t so on St. Barbara’s day every December 4 whatever work I am doing today I don’t do for anyone, I love this saint very much and I promised her I was going to have a party every year.

Se recuerda sus vinculaciones a la Banda de Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaría, Cachao López, Eddie Palmieri, Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Sinatra, el grupo Malo

Although Aguabella is widely respected for his sacred drumming he is also known for his virtuosity in the secular forms of Afro-Cuban music.

Choreographer Katherine Dunham was so impressed with Aguabella’s drumming that she invited him to join her company for tours of South America and Europe.

The most influential of Aguabella’s secular styles is rumba, a complex of several musical genres that evolved in Cuba in the early 20th century.

Rumba was the basis for much of the Cuban dance hall music that in turn helped shape American popular music through dance bands based throughout the United States.

However Afro-Cuban rumba bears little resemblance to the ballroom dance rumba that inspired Francisco. Rumba as Aguabella said is part of daily life for many Afro-Cubans, it doesn’t have to be a special day to play rumba, we could start a rumba here without a drum.

You could play it here or there on the wall, in Cuba rumba is 24 hours a day, we gather in a corner and have a glass of rum…. And someone says: Why don’t we play a little rumba? Some people touch the wall and someone else plays a bottle and maybe takes a cap off the bottle and ‘ca ca ca ca ca ca ca ca ca’ and the Rumba.”

Aguabella’s goal has long been to maintain the integrity of the tradition he so respects, while incorporating it into “crossover” music aimed at a wider audience.

It was his superior musical ability and commitment to tradition that led musicians such as Mongo Santamaria, Malo and Carlos Santana to bring him into their groups.

Aguabella lived in Los Angeles; where he continued to performand exert a great influence on Latin American music.

Afrontilas Music

Mayito Rivera “El Poeta de la Rumba” was the distinctive voice of Los Van Van de Cuba

Mario ‘Mayito’ Rivera is, without a doubt, one of Cuba’s most outstanding contemporary singers.

For more than 20 years he was the distinctive voice and recognizable face of Cuba’s most famous musical group, Los Van Van.

Regardless of the musical genre he performs -rumba, son, salsa, bolero or timba, modern or traditional style, with strength and dynamism or with delicacy and tenderness, Mayito Rivera’s performances, with passages adorned with tremors and coloraturas, are always stellar.

Mario Enrique Rivera Godínez was born on January 19, 1966 in Pinar del Río, a province located in the westernmost part of Cuba and famous for its handmade Havana cigars.

It was there that ‘Mayito’ began his musical training as a child. Later, he moved to Havana, where he studied percussion at the renowned National School of Art (ENA), which he later extended with advanced studies at the Higher Institute of Art (ISA).

After completing his training, which lasted a total of 15 years, Mayito Rivera joined the musical ensemble of the well-known Cuban singer Albita Rodríguez.

Later, he played bass in the Moncada Group, a formation belonging to the Nueva Trova Cubana movement, whose renovating spirit is firmly rooted in traditional Cuban rhythms.

At the age of 26, Mayito was discovered by Juan Formell, the director of Los Van Van, an orchestra that by then had already become a legend. Initially hired to play bass and sing backing vocals, he soon established himself as the group’s lead vocalist.

Over the next 20 years, Mayito Rivera, more than any other musician, put his stamp on Los Van Van.

He burst onto the scene as the representative of a new generation of musicians, and his fresh style contributed to the group’s endurin Singer of the group’s countless salsa hits that were played in the discotheques, he has been nominated twice for a Grammy and won it once.

Mario ‘Mayito’ Rivera es, sin duda, uno de los cantantes contemporáneos más destacados de Cuba

At the same time, he was also working on other projects: in 1999 he released his first solo album, Pa’ bachatear.

Chappotín, in which he transports the past to our days with a brilliant interpretation of traditional Conjunto Chappotín songs.

But Mayito Rivera is not only a singer and percussionist. In 2005, he released Negrito Bailador, his second solo album, produced by the Timba label of the German music publisher Termidor, in which he performs only songs of his own composition.

The music, with a rumbero tinge, is fresh, lively and of timeless quality. Subsequently, Negrito bailador was marketed in the United States under the title Llegó la hora and was immediately nominated for a Grammy in the Best Salsa Album of the Year category.

Mayito Rivera is probably the most requested special guest by other Cuban orchestras; so much so, that in recent years he has sung with almost all of Cuba’s star casts.

Nor has his career suffered any interruptions since he left Los Van Van in 2011: currently, Mayito Rivera tours the whole world relentlessly, giving concerts in countries as diverse as the United States, Canada, Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Argentina, France, Germany, Denmark, Spain and Italy.

The great popularity and multiple talents of this ‘poet of rumba’ are reflected in his performances as guest singer for salsa greats such as Oscar D’Leon, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Issac Delgado, Adalberto Alvarez, Mayimbe, Son Como Son, Timba Live, Pupy y Los que Son Son, Charanga Latina, Havana D’Primera, Tumbao Habana and Elio Reve Jr, to name just a few.

In 2012, Mayito Rivera established himself as a permanent member of Los Soneros de Verdad, the most successful orchestra of the moment dedicated to son and its related rhythms, led by singer Luis Frank Arias.

Two sold-out world tours of three months each in Europe, Asia, Russia and the United States attest to the high quality and great interest in this amalgam of traditional son and the vocal artistry of Cuba’s most dynamic rumbero.

Mayito Durante más de 20 años fue la voz distintiva y el rostro reconocible del más famoso grupo musical cubano, Los Van Van

In 2014, the superstar will be touring with his own orchestra. But before that, from June to September 2013, he will give a series of concerts with Los Soneros de Verdad performing songs from his as yet unreleased album Alma de Sonero.

During this project he will return to his musical roots: son and rumba, bolero and guaguancó, both in their traditional interpretation and in their more modern variants.

The album Alma de sonero includes 11 tracks and will be released in September 2013 worldwide success.

The musicians include Alexander Abreu (Havana D’Primera) on trumpet, San Miguel Pérez on tres and Luis A. Chacón ‘Aspirina’ Bruzón on bongos and cajón.

Website: Mayito Rivera

Fausto Cuevas Y La Moderna in International Salsa Magazine

Who is Fausto Cuevas

Fausto Cuevas is a bandleader and percussionist from the state of Texas who is currently leading the orchestra Fausto Cuevas Y La Moderna, which has been playing in a large number of nightclubs located in the state of California, where Fausto currently resides.

For its part, Fausto Cuevas Y La Moderna is a salsa group whose purpose is to take the old Latin genres and provide a modern twist to them. While it is true that their main genre is and has been salsa, its members also experiment a lot with Cuban guaguancó, yambú, cumbia, son, cha cha chá, among others.

We are proud to have such an artist in our June edition and hope that this conversation will grace all our readers.

Fausto’s beginnings in music

Fausto grew up in Brownsville, a village in Texas very close to the southern border with Matamoros, Tamaulipas, where his father is from. Due to this territorial proximity to Mexico, the artist was always exposed to ranchera instruments and, in particular, drums. The latter would be very important in what would become his professional future.

At the age of 11, he entered the public school system and was assigned to play a snare drum in a symphonic style. It can be said that this is when his fascination for this type of instrument began and continues till this very day.

In fact, Fausto claimed to have not been interested in guitar, piano or bass. He was always very clear that his aspirations were focused on drums, and percussion.

These first steps led him to specialize in playing American music, rock and jazz. Until then, he had not had any contact with Latin or Afro-Cuban music, but that would eventually change.

Moving from Boston to California

Fausto tells us that his biggest dream was always to go to New York, since the music scene was vibrant there at that time, but he could never do it due to some personal issues he encountered, such as the birth of his daughter. This is what made him move to Los Angeles and give up on that dream.

When we asked him if he still wanted to live in ”The Big Apple”, he told us that he had already found his place in California and his career had already taken root in this part of the United States.

Fausto Cuevas Y La Moderna

Fausto Cuevas Y La Moderna was created in a very particular way. One day, Fausto received a call from the department at Berkeley that does concerts for the Boston community and was asked if he had a salsa band to play at the Tito Puente Latin Music Series. He said yes to everything, although he had nothing prepared at the time.

What he did have was a group of friends who were related to music and happened to live in Boston. They were all so well-suited and had so many plans that things worked out in an extraordinary way. That was 25 years ago and they have stayed together to this day despite the obstacles.

Relationships with other artists and genres

Fausto Cuevas Y La Moderna have performed and toured with stars such as Marc Anthony, Jose Alberto ”El Canario”, Celia Cruz, Julio Iglesias, Santana, Tito Nieves, Tito Puente Jr., Stavie Wonder Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears, among others.

One thing that Fausto feels he has learned from these artists is to be identifiable as a Latino in American genres. He says it is very interesting to create things, always identifying with Latin rhythms when playing soul, R&B or pop.

Having had so much contact with all these musical luminaries has helped him to rediscover himself and be much more creative when mixing Latin and American elements. In this sense, knowing the roots of the genres he plays has helped him a lot to know how to link both worlds.

It is precisely the knowledge of these roots which has made Fausto Y la Moderna stand out among other Californian groups.

Future projects

As to future projects, Fausto Y la Moderna plans to release a few singles this year and record the rest of the album in order to release the whole album in 2024.

He also pointed out that he is about to release an album with Gonzalo Grau Y La Clave Secreta, another group in which he is also involved, so he invites everyone to listen to his music through networks and digital platforms.

Héctor “Rudy” Regalado and his great career

This is Rudy Regalado

Héctor ”Rudy” Regalado was a Venezuelan artist born on January 29, 1943 in the 23 de Enero parish, Caracas, and died on November 4, 2010, in Las Vegas, United States, at age 61 as a result of pneumonia.

For a great part of his life, he devoted himself to being a brilliant bandleader, composer, percussionist and musician who had a very prolific career with more than 50 years of duration. At that time, he made an endless number of tours and was a very important member of the Orchestra El Chicano, which was very famous in those years.

Rudy Regalado was born in Caracas and died in Las Vegas

Youth

As a teenager, a young Hector began playing drums and timbales in the city of Caracas. The years were not many when he adopted the nickname “Rudy Regalado” as his artistic name in honor of the former Cleveland Indians’ player.

When he decided to embark on a career as an artist, he moved to Puerto Rico in 1963 and began to delight the public of San Juan in various nightclubs of the city. Along with these concerts, he was professionally formed at the Pablo Casals Conservatory of Music.

In 1970, he moved permanetly to Los Angeles and united his talent with local groups before becoming part of El Chicano that same year.

Career with El Chicano

One of the most important details to mention about Rudy Regalado’s career is his participation as a member of the band El Chicano, which was always dedicated to mix rock, R&B and jazz. He remained in the group for 12 years and recorded about five record productions which included songs such as “Viva Tirado” and “Tell she’s Lovely”.

The orchestra also created the song used for the television series “Baretta”, which was broadcast from 1975 to 1978.

Rudy Regalado with the rest of the members of El Chicano

All Star Band

In 1983, he formed his own orchestra “All Star Band” with an outstanding group of musicians from Los Angeles with whom he toured a lot of countries such as the United States, Canada, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and many more. A short time later, its members decided to change their name to “Chévere”.

Almost a decade later, Rudy Regalado impressed the whole world when millions of people witnessed his timpal solo in the World Cup closing ceremony, alongside Kenny G and Whitney Houston.

A few years later, the artist toured Japan in the company of maestro Tito Puente, with whom he demonstrated his great skills as a percussionist and his high musical level.

Mr. Duran, host of The Mr. Duran Show, and Rudy Regalado

Other musical works

In 2008 he reunited with “El Chicano” for a reunion tour, which highlighted the 40th anniversary of the Woodstock Festival at the Golden Gate Park Music Concurse in San Francisco. That same day, its former members played together for the last time at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, resulting in a historic evening in which feelings were close to the surface.

During the course of his successful career, Regalado collaborated with different and important figures of the musical environment such as: Quincy Jones, Rubén Blades, Cheo Feliciano, Cachao, The Zawinul Syndicate, Paquito D’ Rivera, Willie Colón, Oscar D’ León, Alphonse Mouzon, Caravana Cubana, among others.

Rudy Regalado dedicated his life to music and to represent the name of Venezuela in every stage that enjoyed his talent, standing out in the music scene for his vibrant performances with the timbales, also for his prolific compositions and the dedication to his work.

If you want to know more about this Venezuelan icon, you can wrtite to his daughter Norka Tibisay Regalado and get more info about him.

Allyson Briggs ”La Rubia de La Salsa”

A little of her story

Allyson Briggs ”La Rubia de La Salsa” is a bandleader and singer who has earned a lot of recognition in recent years. Currently, this talented woman leads the Fleur Seule orchestra, whose main musical genres are salsa, jazz, swing and ballroom dancing.

Also known as ”The Glamorous Girl of Jazz” is able to sing in seven different languages and several of her covers have been written by artists such as Edith Piaf, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, Marc Anthony, Héctor Lavoe, among others.

We feel very fortunate to have been able to interview Allyson, who has kindly agreed to tell us about her life and career so that readers of International Salsa Magazine can get to know her better.

Allyson Briggs ''La Rubia de La Salsa'' performing on stage — Allyson Briggs ”La Rubia de La Salsa” performing on stage

How she became interested in music

When we hit the subject of her childhood, Allyson told us that her parents always played classical music. ”We listened to a lot of the classics, big bands, swing, blues, rock and roll, jazz, opera, among other genres,” she said. That’s how her love for these styles began, but the case of Latin music was different.

Her taste for Latin music is because she is married to a Puerto Rican, so she feels her husband and her in-laws have influenced her to end up falling in love with salsa, Puerto Rican music and its culture in general.

This inclusion of Latin rhythms has made her Fleur Seule orchestra collect a lot of fans who simply want to dance to these genres and, some of them, remember their roots.

How she learned to sing in Spanish

Long before she learned Spanish, Allyson began to learn German, which she considers her second language. This interest came from the German roots in her family, whose past always seemed very interesting to her. The same happened with French, as the artist also has French ancestors.

In the case of Spanish, she had some kind of contact with the language at school, but its actual use began when she got married and had to communicate in that way at home. In addition to that, Allyson has a lot of friends in New York, who have helped her a lot to understand certain things about the language.

Allyson learned Spanish thanks to her Puerto Rican husband

Hispanic artists she likes the most are Héctor Lavoe, Rubén Blades, Celia Cruz and Javier Solis. As for covers, she commented that she always tries very hard to understand what a composer wants to say with his lyrics in order to make the interpretation as faithful as possible.

Why is she called ”La Rubia de La Salsa”?

The name ”La Rubia de La Salsa” was not invented by Allyson herself, but by some concertgoers when she sang at La Marqueta, Spanish Harlem. The point is that no one could pronounce Fleur Seule, so they opted for something that everyone could pronounce with no problem.

Upon hearing it for the first time, she realized that this nickname captured her essence perfectly due to her physique, her costumes and the type of music she makes. For the same reason, she is still called by that name to this day.

Fleur Seule

Allyson revealed that she chose the name ”Fleur Seule” for her orchestra in honor of the French language. In addition to that, it sounds unique and elegant to anyone who hears it.

As for the beginning of her orchestra, she told that she met a guitarist with whom she started doing some musical projects. This same person provided her with certain recommendations in terms of singing and even language, which were taken into account until she was able to assemble a complete group.

She chose the name ''Fleur Seule'' for her orchestra because it sounds elegant and unique — She chose the name ”Fleur Seule” for her orchestra because it sounds elegant and unique

Activity during and after the pandemic

Allyson told us that the pandemic gave her the opportunity to meet multiple people through social networks due to online concerts she offered twice a week. When things began to return to normal, there were many fans who told her that they got to know her music through digital platforms like Instagram and Facebook.

At the moment, she has some performances planned in Puerto Rico and the state of Florida after the success he had the last time she went to those places. He also mentioned that she would like to go to Colombia and Japan, as both countries are big salsa fans.