Search Results for: Latin Music

Spanish Harlem Salsa Gallery and Latin music

The Spanish Harlem Salsa Gallery (https://salsagoogle.com/north-america/the-spaha-salsa-gallery-and-the-johnny-cruz-show-to-the-order-of-salsa/) is one of those places where every salsa lover in New York should visit since there is plenty to see here. This museum has all kinds of items donated by many renowned artists or relatives of some who had passed away. This collection of valuable possessions has resulted in a set of priceless objects that will bow anyone visiting the facilities of such a special institution out of water.

The Spanish Harlem Salsa Gallery, also known as Spaha Salsa Gallery, can be defined as an institution of a cultural nature whose main purpose is to serve as a reminder of how great our culture is, especially our music. Both residents and visitors of East Harlem, New York, can learn about the salsa genre and its roots as long as they desire. All thanks to a lot of tools, information and many initiatives with which those interested will know all kinds of interesting facts about salsa first hand.

Another of the great objectives pursued by this place is the quest for knowledge about Latin music and the artists involved to offer it to anyone who decides to visit its facilities. That is why both its president Johnny Cruz and the team that helps him have been responsible for creating an inclusive and diverse gallery in which you can appreciate how far Hispanic talent has come by the hand of its top stars.

 

Johnny Cruz and Rubio Boris presenting their show

Role of the Spaha Salsa Gallery in the dissemination of Latin culture

The role played by the Spaha Salsa Gallery in the dissemination of Latin culture is very important, since these institutions are the ones that manage to arouse the interest of the inhabitants of Harlem and other nearby sectors towards one of the most representative musical genres of Latinity. This has made many other cultural institutions to use this gallery in order to awaken a higher interest in its own activities, which shows extensive cooperation between those who seek to promote anything Latin-related at all costs.

Fortunately, our work is not that complicated to carry out because too many tourists visit New York every day and many of them know that this city was the birthplace of the biggest salsa movement in history, so they are always looking for cultural sports in which you can find information about this set of rhythms and how it emerges in the public arena.

Some instruments donated by La Sonora Ponceña

Who Johnny Cruz is

Johnny Cruz is the founder of the Spaha Salsa Gallery, but there are many other facets by which this talented Puerto Rican is known in the entertainment industry. Cruz is a famous musician and record producer who has worked and make friends with a wide number of artists from all genres, by providing him with the platform to create a true sanctuary for Latin music lovers.

One interesting fact about the museum is that it is located on the plot where a hardware business owned by Johnny’s father used to function, which was made into something completely different thanks to the genius of his son long after. Today, that place contains several of the most invaluable objects in the history of salsa and whose relationship with some of the greatest figures of the genre is legendary.

Link to the official website of the Spaha Salsa gallery: spahasalsagallery.com

By: Johnny Cruz correspondent of International Salsa Magazine in New York City, New York

Excellent Music Promoter. Remembered for promoting the LP Siembra by W Colón and R Blades. He founded Viera Discos, “Cathedral of Latin Music”.

He was considered one of the main disseminators of salsa in Puerto Rico, Rafael Viera, also creator of Viera Discos, one of the most important points of the movement until 2016, year in which it was closed.

Viera Figueroa was, from the late sixties to the eighties, Fania’s representative on the island. Why? He was the one who brought the music of the label founded by Pacheco and Masucci to the land of Ismael Rivera, when it was mainly distributed in the United States.

He was the promoter of the first Fania All Stars concert in Puerto Rico in 1973 and was in charge of bringing to Puerto Rico the films ‘Our Latin Thing’ and ‘Salsa’, which packed the local theaters in the seventies. According to Primera Hora, he was the one who inaugurated the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan.

In 2014 Viera suffered a stroke that kept him in intensive care. On that occasion his son, Richie Viera, gave these words to the aforementioned media: “I am a man of faith, and in God I trust that Dad will recover and will be able to continue with us for many more years, offering us his wisdom, his anecdotes and promoting and collaborating so that new talents will have a place in Latin music”.

Viera was known for the famous Casa del Coleccionista store, which he ran for more than 60 years in Santurce, for Viera Discos and for the Catedral de la Música.

He was also one of the driving forces behind the salsa boom at the time of Fania Records, where he worked as producer and promotion manager of the conglomerate of record labels; Fania Records, Vaya Records, Tico Records, Alegre Records, Cotique Records, Éxito Records, International Records and Música Latina, among others.

He was also involved in the success of the careers of artists such as Willie Colón, Larry Harlow, Cheo Feliciano, Richie Ray and Bobby Cruz, Celia Cruz, Ismael Miranda, Sandro, Sabú, Willie Rosario, Miki Vimari, Sonora Ponceña, Tommy Olivencia, La Lupe, Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri, Ismael Quintana, Justo Betancourt, Héctor Lavoe, Tito Rojas, Frankie Ruiz, Corporación Latina, Junior Toledo, Viti Ruiz, Guillo Rivera, Ray Barreto, Willie Rosario, Orquesta La Terrífica, Roberto Roena y su Apollo Sound, Johnny Pacheco, Pete “El Conde” Rodríguez, Impacto Crea, Ismael Rivera, Raphael, Wilkins, Trio Los Condes, Joan Manuel Serrat and the most important conglomerate of musicians in the history of Latin music known as Fania All Stars, among others. In 1973, he was the promoter of the first Fania All Stars concert in Puerto Rico, which inaugurated the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan.

In the field of cinema, Viera brought to Puerto Rico the film “Our Latin Thing” and Salsa, films that crowded the local movie theaters.

He passed away on January 13, 2019 in Puerto Rico, may he rest in peace and eternal glory to Rafael Viera!

Our nice talk

Good afternoon, we have here José Miguel Ortegón. He is a music producer, composer, DJ and violinist. Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Ortegón, how are you feeling?

I’m fine. Thank you very much for the invitation.

Your name is José Miguel Ortegón, but you are known as Sr Ortegón in artistic circles. Why?

I think that is a cultural tradition in the Hispanic world. Men are always called by their last name. That was natural and came spontaneously. Taking advantage of that señor is a Latin cliché, it was perfect for the work I was doing.

José Miguel Ortegón at the Latin Grammys

What was your first approach to the entertainment world?

I started recording with Guayacán, which is a salsa orchestra from Cali, Colombia. I received a lot of help from maestro Zumaque, who is a musician that does contemporary and classical fusion with Latin American rhythms. This was during my teens.

Then, you ventured into other facets, correct?

That’s correct. I started studying music at the conservatory when I was five years old and was in some rock bands. You know that our culture is divided into two musical styles in Latin America, which are classical and popular music. My first professional recordings came with the first computer we had at home as well as most of my generation. When the first computers came to our homes, the concept of music also changed.

How did you go from playing rock and classical rhythms to boogaloo and urban rhythms? How was that transition?

Cali has always been very linked to pachanga, boogaloo and charanga. Rock comes from blues and boogaloo is more or less part of the same trend, so it’s not uncommon for rockers to want to experiment with those rhythms I mentioned at the beginning. I also had teachers at the conservatory who taught classical music during the day, but played with professional orchestras at night. For me, that transition is inevitable.

Sr Ortegón doing his job as a DJ

You have created music for series, movies, digital platforms, Disney, Netflix, animated series, etc. Did you think your career would go that far?

Thank you for your words. I make music. I have the same worry since I started in this world, I think I still have a lot to learn and maturing ideas, The truth is I never imagined it. I simply took the opportunity before me in Europe, where I was studying musicology at the Sorbonne. It is true that Latin music is very exotic there because there are not many Latin composers and producers.

At university, I got a chance to make music for a television channel. Subsequently, there was a snowball effect, a colleague who is now working in Hollywood contacted me for one of those jobs and that was my big opportunity. When I got the script, it was a Dominican series, which made me immediately discard salsa and mariachis. I thought about using bachata or something that really belonged to the Dominican Republic.

When you talk about Hollywood, it should be emphasized that there are several generations of Latinos born in the United States of any origin. A Cuban knows that a ranchera is not Cuban but from Mexico. Such a thing happenned a lot in the industry in previous years. The same rhythms and mixes were always used regardless of the Latin country involved in a production like, for example, West Side Story. I love that movie and think it’s excellent, but the music they used doesn’t sound Puerto Rican at all. That’s why I thought I should take this opportunity to respect the rhythms and traditions of each country. I know we all speak Spanish but each country has its own identity, so I respectfully take each rhythm and use it to make it authentic.

Latin music in Hollywood

When you did music for any series or film, were you given parameters to follow or did you have to be free to experiment with your music?

That’s one of the best questions I’ve ever been asked because the vast majority of producers are American and not connected with Latin culture, so salsa and merengue are the same for them. I just tell them to trust me, send me some samples to guide me, we analyze everything and move on. If the director or the editor doesn’t like what I did, we reach an agreement. Nowadays, this process is easier because there is more musical and cultural education on the part of the producers in the United States.

Sr Ortegón at the party in the Jetset Magazine

You were nominated for a Latin Grammy thanks to a mix of boogaloo and urban rhythms that you made. How did you think of it?

I’m 40 years old, so I spent my adolescence at the time when Californian hip hop was in full swing. Cali is one of the most Americanized cities in Colombia, so you were always listening to all those American groups and songs. Mixing all those rhythms with boogaloo has always seemed very interesting to me and I had no idea how to do that until I learned.

Since a mix between hip hop and Latin music is complex to make, a lot of people gsurrended and opted for reggaeton as culture. There are other groups such as Control Machete that have done an excellent job, but I felt they were lacking something. That’s how I started to learn, but it took me a long time because of lack of resources, since I didn’t have the right elements to respect the codes. So, I did a boogaloo song and a hip hop beat to mix them, which made me realize that they are sister rhythms. This work was very popular and even appeared in series and movies.

In fact, I heard about you from an email that included your new album entitled Latin Boogaloo Volume 2. I also listened to Volumen 1 and noticed the difference. What is the main difference between one volume and the other?

Volume 1 includes what I called Boogaflow, which is boogaloo with flow. Volume 2 is pure boogaloo. I tell you this because, for example, salsa is a term, but it’s really Afro-Cuban music made by Nuyoricans in New York if we go back to basics. Prior to that New York sound known as salsa, there was that phenomenon called boogaloo, shingaling or Latin soul.

I had to listen to disco to get to those rhythms because nobody teaches you anything about those genres. Unfortunately, those who created those rhythms are already dead or doing other things like Joe Cuba, Jimmy Sabater, the people from Sexta All Stars, Eddie Pamieri, Ray Barreto and many others. That fashion lasted about six or seven years and that was that. Every time I go to create a boogaloo, I have to listen very well because there are no scores or models to follow. Poncho Sanchez is one of the few who brings up the torch of that sound, although he is inclined more to Latin jazz.

I wanted to do a boogaflow, but my editor David Santiago proposed to me that we make two versions, one boogaloo version and the a little more acoustic one. What we were looking for was to please both audiences, the one who wants something urban and the one that wants something classic.

Which of the two volumes was more successful?

I know you have the answer (laughs). Volume 2 was the most successful. Number one has put me in touch with my salsa friends, but I didn’t want to tell them that I was going to make a volume two because boogaloo is not a very common rhythm.

Cover of the album Latin Boogaloo Vol. 2

How his career started

We have here Fernandito Rentas, who is a Puerto Rican salsa singer. Good afternoon, Mr. Rentas, how do you do?

Good afternoon. Thank goodness, i’m doing just fine right in good health and working hard. We are doing what is done daily, which is my regular job, but on the other hand, we are making the music that I would be able to do up to the present time, or rshould I say, musical projects.

Fernandito Rentas recording one of his songs

You come from Ponce. This is a city from which many famous Puerto Rican artists come, especially in the salsa genre. Do you think that coming from that city had something to do with the road you would take later on?

Ar some point, yes because that influence was around me since I was a little boy. I have always been interested in music and sports, but I enjoyed more of music. I don’t come from a family of musicians as far as I know, but my biggest influences come from distant relatives like, for example, Mr. Esteban Tato Rico Ramírez, who was a singer in the orchestra La Solución.

Basically, what I remember most about my childhood is that it was from there that I became interested in music. At the same time, I would see my parents dancing at parties and there was all that excitement and feeling of celebration. The church and its chants were also important in that regard.

Those were earlier influences, but it was from the age of 7 that I began to understand tropical music. As time went by, I got more interested in it. I couldn’t take music lessons due to economic problems at that time, so I did everything by ear. I do remember that there was an instrument I liked a lot when I was in elementary school, which was marimba. I was strock by it, which led me to join a group of classmates at school who practiced in the school canteen in the afternoon. I also remember my music teacher, Mr. Fermín Torres, who was from the Adjuntas or Coamo area in Puerto Rico, but he was well known in the musical area of the school system.

I didn’t really jump right into music until a few years later because our family moved to Florida, where I began to look out for other interests such as the US Armed Forces. When I graduated from high school, I joined the army and there I met other colleagues from my homeland, which made me reconnect to Latin music. I was not only focused on music of Puerto Rico, but also from Colombia, Venezuela and other countries.

Fernandito Rentas singing on stage

My idol as an artist in the genre has always been Oscar D’ León since the first time I saw him when I was 7 or 8 years old during the patron festivities in my village. When I went into the army, many colleagues who were already veterans in this issue helped me to train me. The first person I met was bass player Héctor Cruz, who I say was my godfather in music. That was in Germany when I served on the force in 1989. When I returned to the United States, I went to North Carolina and began to succeed in music step by step.

I spent nine years serving in the South Korean peninsula, where I was blessed to pull together a group of musicians and perform live music with many fellow musicians, including Korean friends I made there. I returned to the United States in 2011 and thank goodness I stay on this. These days, I had the opportunity to connect or lift me up from where I were and do something different. What I was looking for was to create my own productions with the music that I like, so that’s what I’ve been doing these last two years.

His groups

You were part of various groups including Orquesta Mambo Son, Grupo Descarga, among others. When did you decide to go solo and create your own productions?

I decided to do it in 2020. I had already had this interest for many years and was always seeking the opportunity to break the ice through groups. I was looking to take part in the production of a group I was with and start from that point, but unfortunately none of my groups managed to get into production.

I finally got the chance with the pandemic, as I started to be able to be interacted with colleagues and friends through Facebook and connect with musicians from around the world. Then, other comrades who were also in the armed forces told me about Mr. Robert Requena, who is a Chilean who lives in Medellin, Colombia.

Fernandito Rentas in his military uniform

When I wanted to do things differently adapting myself to the new era, they put me in touch with Mr. Requena and I expressed my ideas. Then, he was the one who showed me the first composition for my first song, which we titled Bailando debajo del agua (Dancing under the water). The thing is that this song is based on an event that happened here in my house, which I told Requena about and we used it for the song. Then, we talked about its musical bases and what I was looking for in my future songs, so he came up with the formula. Today, we are working on my sixth record and thinking about releasing it in June, but there are seven others that are being created right now.

Seeing as your career practically started with Covid-19, do you think the pandemic precipitated what you had in mind?

Well, in a way, yes. My desire to make a solo album is very old, but the 20 years in which I was serving in the armed forces limited me, thing that also happened to other colleagues who are also launching their own albums today, such as Arnaldo LaFontaine, Edwin El Calvito Reyes, Josean Rivera, José Rivero, among others. Arnaldo La Fontaine, Jose Rivero and I were singers in the same orchestra in the southeastern United States during the 1990s.

My interest in being a soloist was present for a long time, but the opportunity to do so did not come until I made use of technology. I can tell you that all my albums are being made in Medellin, Colombia. All I do here in New Jersey is go to the studio and record the voice. That advantage that we have today really helped us and, at the same time, the arrival of the pandemic has prevented us from going to other places to bring our talent. I have accumulated unimterrupted 33 years of career, but the pandemic prevented us from going out and locked us up at home. It was there when many other artists began to take alternate measures to be able to continue reaching people.

In any way, I think we have turned this situation to our advantage in the best way that the Lord has not allowed.

Art of his last song Qué difícil es

An artist I interviewed told me that many musicians were preferring to release single songs instead of full recordings. Are you makings full recordings or single songs?

Based on advice that Mr. Requena gave me, I am releasing single songs. Nowadays, the matter of full albums has become complicated due to the lack of record labels and factories where these materials are produced. I would say that the idea of releasing singles was the best because you want to know if the public is going to accept or like the album. Instead of releasing all the songs at the same time, releasing one song at a time is more comfortable, less expensive and easier to work with. For the time beingt, I have no plans to release a CD.

How did you balance your musical and military activities?

I had to balance them because our obligations and priorities in the military service are focused on the mission and commitment to the defense of the country. During our free time, we liked to clear the mind and do different things. We went to parties.

We felt great making music for our fellow soldiers, their communities and families. We were able to bring our Latin culture to the countries we went to.

Music was our main hobby and the to entertain ourselves on the weekends.

Social networks and website

Facebook: Fernandito Rentas II

Instagram: Fernandito Rentas

YouTube: Fernandito Rentas