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Christmas salsa albums to listen to this December

Christmas albums

Christmas is one of the best times to celebrate with family and friends and a very important element of any celebration is music, especially in Latin countries and communities.

Because we are in December, we thought it would be a great occasion to relive some of the most iconic salsa albums of all time with which our dear readers can enjoy this wonderful month at the rhythm of the most joyful Latin music from some of the best exponents of the genre.

Asalto Navideño Vol. 1

This album should never miss in a list of this type and it could not be in another way, since it is part of the incredible path traveled by the New York orchestra Willie Colón & Héctor Lavoe. The material is the group’s sixth studio album and was recorded during the first week of December 1970.

Prior to this, the boom that was taking the orchestra in those years made Jerry Masucci and Johnny Pacheco suggest to the artists that they take advantage of the fame they had harvested so far to create an album dedicated to Christmas, which they both gladly accepted.

It is then when they got hands on and invited the talented musician Yomo Toro to participate in the album. The artist was not well known by the fans, but he ended up occupying a very important place in the final result.

Although at first, the material was focused on honoring Puerto Rico, but ended up embracing the Latin community living in the U.S., which had been the main responsible for the strengthening of salsa in the liking of the people and the profit received the Fania Records label.

The album was recorded in the studios of Fania Records in New York and had a total of 12 songs dedicated to the most beautiful time of the year. Aires de Navidad” and ”La Murga” are among the most successful tracks of the album and the most listened to so far.

album Asalto Navideño — Cover of the album ”Asalto Navideño Vol. 1”

Nuestra Música

El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico never disappoints and certainly did not do it with its Christmas production ”Nuestra Música”, with which it seeks to pay tribute to this wonderful time and put everyone on dance in their homes during the Christmas holidays.

The album was released in 1985, the year in which salsa was going through a very challenging time, since merengue was gaining a lot of momentum, displacing the aforementioned genre to some extent. However, this was no impediment for the orchestra to demonstrate, contrary to what many believed, that salsa was more alive than ever.

The album’s release was surprising as well as exciting for the fans of El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico, which managed to rescue much of the holiday spirit that was lost and gave life to hits such as ”La Fiesta de Pilito”, ”Desenfunda”, ”Arbolito” and ”No Hay Cama Pa’ Tanta Gente”.

album Nuestra Música — Cover of the album ”Nuestra Música”

Navidad Criolla

Another great recor production that could not miss in this list is ‘‘Navidad Criolla’’ by La Sonora Ponceña. A very particular and different thing about this Christmas album is that, instead of using the typical Christmas aguinaldos, salsa dura is the predominant genre. However, the vocalists and musicians do their best to maintain the essence of Christmas at all times.

The album was released in 1978 and includes the unmistakable voices of Luigi Texidor and Tito Gómez, who add an exciting and cheerful touch to the music with the power of their vocal cords. In addition to that, Adalberto Santiago and Yayo El Indio participated on backing vocals along with the talented musicians of the group.

The album includes songs such as ”Aguinaldo Antillano”, ”De Noche Buena”, ”Canción de Navidad”, ”Vamonos Pa’l Campo”, among others.

album Navidad Criolla — Cover of the album ”Navidad Criolla”

Felices Pascuas

Ricardo Ray and Bobby Cruz delighted the public during the December holidays in 1971 with this extraordinary musical work with which they conquered the public one of those countless times they did it.

Ricardo delighted the duo’s fans from the piano and musical arrangements, while Bobby was on voice and backing vocals. Both artists were accompanied by Miki Vimari on voice and backing vocals, Ismael Cocolia Rodríguez and Ismael Rivera on trumpet, Manolito Gonzales on bongos, José Hidalgo on conga, Charlie Cotto on timbales and Plito Huertas on bass.

Among some of the best-known tracks of the album, we can mention ”Bomba en Navidad”, ”Mi Niñez”, ”Aguinaldo Navideño”, ”Kyrie Eleison”, ”Sinfonia To Cantata No, 29”, and so on.

album Felices Pascuas — Cover of the album ”Felices Pascuas”

We welcome Patricio Angulo from Rumbaché to ISM

The San Francisco Bay Area, California, has a lot of talented artists, many of which we have had the privilege to interview in this section to learn all kinds of details about the Latin music scene in this area of the United States. This time, we managed to have an interesting conversation with Patricio Angulo, leader and founder of the orchestra Rumbaché, who kindly answered all the questions we had.

Rumbaché is one of the most important salsa and timba bands in the Bay Area and has a varied repertoire of salsa and contemporary Cuban music that enchants any audience that hears the group perform.

The following are some of the most important issues related to this Latin band and its history.

Patricio playing the timbales — Patricio Angulo playing the timbales on stage

Patricio Angulo’s beginnings in the music world

Patricio has had a long interest in music, which he developed by himself, since he did not have family musicians to encourage these activities in the little boy.

He started playing violin and trumpet, but it was not long before the young boy found he liked drums and orchestral percussion better. He also played some classical music and learned a lot about instruments used in this genre.

When he went to high school, there were several music programs from which Patricio could choose to develop this branch of art depending on his tastes and finally decided on a jazz group with which he started learning to play congas and timbales. This group wanted an extra Latin touch in their music and the boy was chosen for the role.

The musician was very inclined to Latin Jazz at the time, but then, he was listening to other Latin genres until he discovered Cuban and Caribbean Salsa, which would be very important in the musical future of the artist.

Recruiting talent for Rumbaché

For years, he group Rumbaché, previously called Quimbombó, was forming from musicians Patricio considered played well, since for him this is most important.

However, he emphasized that each orchestra has its own needs and highlighted the vocals as an example of that, as they are very necessary for dance music like the one they play. Likewise, professionalism and experience are two aspects taking into account by him when evaluating a candidate.

In another order of ideas, the musician considers that Latin roots are not a key element in playing salsa or other genres of this type very well, since there are many singers and musicians who have never had contact with Latin genres or instruments can learn to play them without any problem. It is a matter of effort and discipline.

Whole orchestra Rumbaché — This is the whole orchestra Rumbaché posing for the camera

Origin of the name Rumbaché and the Yoruba Religion

From what we have read about Rumbaché, the origin of the name and its relation with the Yoruba religion caught our attention. Rumbaché is a combination of the words ”rumba” (This word can mean ”party” and ”celebration”) and ”ache” (in the Cuyuní language, ”ache” is something very good and pleasant).

Something that Patricio wanted to clarify is that the music of his orchestra is not religious and has nothing to do with the Yoruba religion beyond some choruses and words as there are in many Cuban songs. In fact, they try to have a varied repertoire so as not to bore the audience.

Rumbaché’s activity in clubs

Rumbaché has featured heavily in festivals and renowned clubs in the San Francisco Bay Area such as Sausalito Seahorse, The Cigar Bar & Grill, Rassela’s Jazz Club, Moe’s Alley, Blue Note, among others. It is undeniable that the group has ample experience in performing in these types of venues.

That is why we took this opportunity to ask Patricio how the movement is going in these places when it comes to hiring orchestras in recent years, to which he replied that the presence of orchestras in local venues has decreased dramatically in recent years, especially after the pandemic.

Likewise, because of this same situation, there were many clubs that began to close their doors indefinitely, making it very difficult for Rumbaché to play live regularly.

Once the pandemic was relaxed, Patricio says that a few venues survived, but there were too many orchestras for the few available stages. This led them to opt for festivals, concert series and private shows.

Every night there was a pen club, but that has changed radically and Patricio and the other members of Rumbaché have had to adapt to the circumstances.

Rumbaché live — Rumbaché performing live

Oye Productions

In addition to Rumbaché, Patricio also has his own entertainment company called Oye Productions, with which he is responsible for providing live music for all kinds of events. Obviously, he gives priority to Rumbaché, but he also offers the services of guitarists, trios and all sorts of musicians.

What the company seeks to focus on is providing musical entertainment for private parties such as a business meeting or something more personal such as a wedding.

He always tries to hire musicians who play all kinds of instruments and genres to perform varied shows for each event. He also seeks to look for artists he knows beforehand and who he is sure will do an excellent job.

Activities outside Rumbaché

Patricio also indicated that one of his most important occupations outside Rumbaché was teaching congas, timbales and drums. He also teaches drums to children once a week.

These activities bring happiness to the musician and he always looks for the opportunity for these youngsters he teaches to have some knowledge of Latin percussion and get to know our music much better.

Lengaïa Salsa Brava is killing it in Montréal

Latin talent can be found where you might least expect it and, this time we found it in the city of Montreal, Canada, a place that is cultivating an increasingly large and vigorous Latin music scene. On this occasion, we were thrilled to be able to talk to Giany-Frantz Huyghues-Despointes, who is the leader and founder of the orchestra Lengaïa Salsa Brava.

Lengaïa Salsa Brava is a 12-member salsa orchestra that was created in 2012 by Giany, who was also a trombonist and had some experience in the world of music before daring to create his own group.

The effort of all its members has enabled them to collaborate with great performers of the genre and win important awards such as the Canada Latin Awards in the category of ”Salsa Group of the Year” in a row in 2017 and 2018 respectively.

Lengaïa Salsa Brava has also performed approximately 30 concerts a year since its foundation and has participated in important festivals such as Toronto Salsa Festival, Festival Nuit Blanche de Montreal, Nuits d’Afrique, among others. The group was greatly helped by the fact that its members come from different countries such as French Guyana, Cuba, Colombia, Peru, Quebec, Spain and Venezuela.

This interesting journey shows us how hard this group has worked to achieve a place within the industry and all the potential they have to achieve much more than what was obtained. Today, Giany, its founder, shares a little more about himself and his orchestra Lengaïa Salsa Brava.

Giany, founder of Lengaïa Salsa Brava — Giany Huyghues Despointes, director and founder of Lengaïa Salsa Brava

Giany’s beginnings as a musician

Although the trombone is the instrument for which Giany is known, he started playing the trumpet from 10 years of age, which is when he began his interest in this branch of the art.

An important point is that in French Guyana, the country where Giany was born, salsa is not a predominant genre, since the most played by the French Guyanese is the mazurka, which is very similar to the Haitian compas. In the case of Giany’s family, they listened to a bit of everything, including salsa.

A turning point for the artist was watching Celia Cruz singing on tv one day. The musician had never heard the Cuban singer before and it was an incredible experience for him, as her deep voice, colorful outfit and wig caught his attention at the time.

Because of her deep voice, he thought she was a man, but his mother explained to him who Celia was and, months later, took him to a concert to see her live. That performance of ”La Guarachera de Cuba” marked him so much that he would begin to lean towards music in the future. Today, he says that Celia is a spiritual mother to him, as she was his great inspiration.

Along with being a fan of the Cuban singer, he wanted to learn to play instruments and initially opted for the piano and the guitar, but that changed when his Spanish teacher at school gave him a trumpet and he discovered that he really liked to play it.

Some time later, he graduated from the national school of music in his country and, by the time he turned 18, Giany noticed that his musical skills excelled more with the trombone than the trumpet. This is how he decided to choose the trombone as his main instrument and so it has been to the present time.

He started playing classical music with that instrument but soon discovered that he wanted to return to the genre that captivated him when he was just a child, so he dared to create a group in France, where he studied aviation. The thing is that he went to live in Canada six months later and had to abandon the plans he had at that time.

Founding of Lengaïa Salsa Brava

Giany arrived in Canada with the vision to create another group in his new country of residence, but he did not know any musicians yet, so he moved into action and started placing ads on social networks and other virtual means to communicate with artists who were interested in joining his project.

The results were amazing and there were many musicians who contacted Giany because of their interest in the concept proposed by him. With this group, he started assembling the orchestra in order to give form to what Lengaïa Salsa Brava is today. The orchestra has six years with the same staff and format it presents to the public today.

Huge number of nationalities in Lengaïa Salsa Brava

As for the large number of nationalities living in the orchestra, Giany has said that all ”are part of a big family” hinting that national origins have not been a problem for the smooth development of the group. In addition to that, the salsa brava is a genre widely known worldwide, so the members of the orchestra knew in advance what they were getting into.

To what we must add that these guys work or have worked in other salsa brava orchestras, so they were pretty much steeped in everything related to this beautiful music.

Giany says it is very easy to work with his musicians because they always know how to perfectly interpret what he wants.

Lengaïa at one of its concerts — Lengaïa Salsa Brava at one of its concerts

Origin of the name Lengaïa Salsa Brava

When Giany was looking for a name for the group, he wanted something different and not very Latin sounding. He also wanted people to ask what the name meant, so we have fallen into the trap.

The musician explained that he wanted something that refers to how explosive, energetic and aggressive his music is, so he chose the name inspired by a Tanzanian volcano called Ol Doinyo Lengaï that spews black lava. ”When you see a volcano exploding, you imagine something explosive and aggressive at the time. That’s what we want to reflect with our music”. Also, the fact that its lava is black is something different from other volcanoes, as is the group’s orchestration and technique,

Activities outside Lengaïa Salsa Brava

Giany wanted to emphasize that all the members of Lengaïa Salsa Brava have other jobs and work activities outside the orchestra. In his particular case, he works as a commercial pilot, but in his spare time, he devotes himself as much as he can to his great passion which is music.

So far, Giany and the other members of the orchestra are unable to live solely on music, but they do their best to keep the group together and are there to fulfill Lengaïa Salsa Brava whenever necessary.

Although the orchestra has been a second employment option, it is undeniable that this is their great vocation and the engine that moves his life, so there will always be space for it.

Four nationalities united in Ladama

Talent can come from the most amazing and unexpected origins and more when we are talking about music, a branch of art from which always emerges people with a lot of potential who can completely break our schemes. This leads us to introduce the topic of a group of four young musicians and singers who joined their skills despite their apparent differences. They are the musical group Ladama.

Ladama is an alternative Latin music band composed of four members of different nationalities: Venezuelan Maria Fernanda Gonzalez, Brazilian Lara Klaus, Colombian Daniela Serna and American Sara Lucas.

Three of the four members of the group spoke exclusively with International Salsa Magazine and this report will show some of the topics covered during this pleasant conversation.

Sara, María, Lara, and Daniela from Ladama — From right to left, Sara Lucas, María Fernanda González, Lara Klaus and Daniela Serna

Origins of Ladama as a group

The conversation was started by Lara and Dani, who explained a bit about the rise and concept of the band. The group was created in 2014 while the girls were doing an artistic residency known as OneBeat, which was sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. They were selected to represent their respective countries, which led them to socialize with each other and discover the great chemistry between them because of the language and genres they played.

Since OneBeat was an initiative towards cultural exchange between artists and offered the necessary technical equipment to record music, they took full advantage of this space to get to know each other’s styles and see what they could do together.

Once the month-long residency was over, each went their way, but they kept in touch via Skype a year after having met. The motivation to create a project that would encompass a musical band and teaching classes to minority communities remains intact.

They wanted to create an initiative in which community, creativity, social impact and cultural exchange would be the fundamental pillars of Ladama. It was always clear that they not only wanted to make music, but also do something that would positively impact upon society and they think they have succeeded so far.

As for the name Ladama, it is simply a combination of the first two letters of the names of each one: ”la” comes from Lara, ”da” comes from Dani and ”ma” comes from María Fernanda. At the same time, ”La dama” in Spanish means ”The lady”, which also refers to the fact that it is an all-women group.

Ladama in a residency called OneBeat — They first met in an artistic residency known as OneBeat

How did these different origins coexist in Ladama?

We were very impressed by the fact that all Ladama members came from different countries, so we wanted to know how this impacted the group. Lara answered that the only thing they needed was the desire to play together and move this initiative forward, which means that the origin of each one was not a problem to found the group.

Just like every other band, each one had her own ideas and they discussed them together to know which one to choose or not.

Their major test was given during the Rec-Beat Festival in Brazil. They arrived only a few days before the event, so they could barely rehearse and set up the repertoire. Despite the haste, they feel that everything went very fluidly, as they spent time meeting with each other and writing some songs for an occasion like this.

Given that Lara, Dani and Maria Fernanda come from Latin and tropical countries, there are certain rhythms that sound so much alike, which they took advantage of to unify them and create completely new rhythms that sound good at the same time. Lara also pointed out that these mixes are in constant change and they always try not to get stuck in the same styles.

In addition to that, Ladama has left traditional music behind a little bit and has focused on alternative music and other genres such as pop, soul and R&B.

Dani addressed the topic of genres by saying that they do not follow a plan in which they have something specific to play or mix. Any of their songs can go from Dominican merengue and Colombian cumbia to trap and reggaeton without any problems. They do not like to limit themselves and always seek to reach all audiences.

Ladama in a Tiny Desk concert series

Playing on Tiny Desk (a series of live concerts organized by the radio program All Songs Considered in the United States) is always a prestige for any artist or group that performs on that platform, which is inviting Latin singers more frequently every time.

The girls were at a festival in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where they had the opportunity to meet the curator of Tiny Desk, who would invite Ladama to record their session in Washington D.C. shortly thereafter.

Lara considers that this was a great opportunity to spread their work due to the large number of people who always tune in to Tiny Desk, in addition to the many artists they knew after their appearance on the platform.

For her part, María Fernanda commented that, on that same occasion, they took the opportunity to bring instruments from their own countries so that the Tiny Desk audience could get to know them. She also stressed that this session will be an important audiovisual document for history that will serve as an inspiration for other musicians in the future.

It was a great achievement after all that hard work.

Ladama on Tiny Desk — Ladama performing on Tiny Desk

Music classes for the community

The members of Ladama have also been focusing on music classes for the community at large, mostly in schools and universities. In their four countries, they have given workshops of all kinds related to music in the languages they speak, which are, English, Spanish and Portuguese.

the artist emphasized that they always try to do this type of activities together in the very countries where they offer live performances. They have total freedom to do things separately, but they prefer to carry out these activities supporting each other.

Although they offer classes to anyone who is interested, Latino children are a very important group for Ladama, as many of them often have some problems of identity and adaptation to the United States. When they arrive at school in this country, they often disguise or even hide their Latino roots in order to fit in with their peers, so these classes are an opportunity for them to reconnect with that identity they begin to leave behind.

These workshops and classes also serve as additional income for the group, as they can not only support themselves through tours and festivals. These educational activities are another way to diversify their earnings and have more stable inflows of money.

Willito and Japhet from La Sonora Ponceña

The stories of two great musicians

The island of enchantment, Puerto Rico, has been one of the places with the most talented musicians in Latin America, so it is always worth mentioning some of the most important names in the music scene in this beautiful land. Today it is the turn of talented musicians Willito López Vázquez and Japhet O. Rodríguez from the world-famous orchestra La Sonora Ponceña.

Next, we will talk a little about both salsa exponents’ stories separately so that our readers can get to know these great personalities of the entertainment world who are not so famous for some.

Willito López

Wilfredo López Vázquez, artistically known as Willito López, is a famous percussionist whose career over time has been brilliant and has countless great collaborations with other exponents of the genre such as Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri, Tito Nieves, Jerry Rivera, Luis Perico Ortiz, Lalo Rodríguez, Bobby Valentín, among many others.

One of the instruments that makes this musician excel more than another is the conga and it is present in several of the greatest records of La Sonora Ponceña, the orchestra to which the artist currently belongs.

Willito playing the conga — Willito López playing the conga during a performance

In one of his last interviews, he talked a bit about maestro Ángel ”Maldonado” Maldonado, of whom he cherishes fond memories after his unfortunate death a few years ago. He mentioned that the sonero lent his support to him when he needed it most and was very grateful for that, while regretting that he was already no more in this world.

Undoubtedly, he is a pride to his family and the artists who have had the opportunity to feature his talents for any project in the past. He has always left everything on stage with each of his works and we have no doubt that he will continue to do so as long as his arms allow him to delight the audience with his talent.

Japhet Rodriguez

Japhet Rodríguez is also a talented Puerto Rican-born percussionist who has a very interesting career behind him.

The artist was initially invited by La Sonora Ponceña to participate in some projects in 1998, but after having shown what he was really made of, he continued working with the orchestra for years to come.

Japhet with his timbales — Japhet Rodríguez with his timbales

It was in 2007 that he became an official member of the group and thanks to which he became popular all over the world while serving as the timbalero of La Sonora Ponceña.

While it is true that he has reached a huge popularity worldwide thanks to the aforementioned Puerto Rican orchestra, Japhet has been part of many other important names in Latin music such as Sabor Ponceño, La Terrífica de Ponce, Costa Brava, Moncho Santana, Los Hermanos Moreno, Willie Crespo, Camilo Azuquita, Impacto CREA, Raphy Leavitt Y La Selecta, Manix Martínez, Rafy Class, Conjunto La Perla, La Tropicana de P.R., and Homenaje Matancero.

Something very interesting about the musical career of this great artist is that all these groups to which he has belonged have not only been from Puerto Rico, but also from countries such as the United States, Panama and Colombia. This shows that his talent has not only shone in his native country, but also in other latitudes.

In next editions, we will be talking a little more about other salsa exponents who have left our music in high, so you can not miss the section of Johnny Cruz in coming months.