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Marcial Isturiz from Capaya with soneos and melodic phrases and his popular “Agua pa’ los Gallos “Puerto Rico
In 2023 Sergio George, the famous “magician” who produced the artistic career of famous salseros and artists, said that salsa was “dead” and called on new artists to resurrect it and support each other as urban singers do.

This caused commotion and controversy among salseros and made them doubt without a doubt what is the reality that salsa lives and more with the progressive physical departure of emblematic legends who made history in the world, coupled with the proliferation of the so-called “DJ” who multiply many times the nostalgia of the public for living the times of said legends and who became a trend due to this fact. In 2024 we saw how important salsa concerts were held in our country Venezuela where foreigners who had not visited us for a long time did so and so we enjoyed what some call “the last of the Mohicans”, as well as Venezuelans who took to various stages making it clear that, if they continue creating, either by adjusting the sound of the old and modernizing with quality staging or simply delighting with their career and style what they have already established.
We think that there is a lot missing since there is plenty of musical talent and a new generation in every sense, but not who listens to them and supports them, this being a truth bigger than the size of the sun.

After this necessary reflection we want to talk about Marcial Isturiz who was born in the sandunguera town of Capaya, Barlovento in the Miranda State of VENEZUELA, and we put it in capital letters because this “extraordinary sonero who wandered through the streets of Petareña hitting any pot he found in his path, finding out where and at what time the “arayé” was lit, always on the “hunt” for a good opportunity”, a quote was written by Ángel Méndez in his book “Entren que Caben Cien” describing how clear this man has been since childhood in pursuing and having the firm certainty of where he had to go to achieve his dream. He understood, from my point of view, that he who perseveres succeeds and we have seen his professional growth during all these years, thirty years recently completed, being a musician performing several instruments, going on to be also a composer and arranger, accompanying with his voice in duos of consecrated stars and groups, renowned orchestras as well as others not so well known, his voice being a characteristic seal that draws the attention of his followers, a sonero that we can say “gets lost from sight”.
A man who has earned the respect and affection of the public wherever he goes and to name one of the presentations in which he has demonstrated his “people skills”, we had the opportunity to travel and share with him closely accompanying him Sonero Clásico del Caribe in that free event that the Barquisimetanos salseros put on at the end of January 2024 to Ramón Méndez, where by the way Marcial took advantage of the invitation to perform the National Anthem the day before at the Cardenales – La Guaira Game, impeccably. Undoubtedly, that presentation was an omen of good fortune for what would be a year full of success.
Marcial Isturiz began hitting a home run this 2025 by performing on January 5 in Puerto Rico on the “Island of Enchantment”, at the traditional Three Kings Eve dance at the Sheraton Hotel, Convention District, with Don Perignon and La Puertorriqueña, with salsa figures such as Herman Olivera, Pedro Bull, Pichie Pérez, Joe González, Rico Walker, Josué Rosado, Jerry Rivas, Gilberto Santa Rosa and of course our Marcial Izturiz.

We saw him singing choruses with these greats, specifically next to Herman Olivera and Rico Walker waiting for his turn like each of those called to this meeting until Peter Perignon introduced him for the first time with his Orchestra La Puertorriqueña and said that the person responsible for that invitation and presence of our sonero there was his friend Gilberto Santa Rosa.
Briefly, Perignon told the audience that he knew Marcial since he was part of Bailatino and he fell in love with that group, since then he had been following him and now recently in his participation with the Latin Dimension he knew that Marcial with this performance made his dream of being in that country come true.
Saying good night to Puerto Rico he performed the song “La Familia” (authored by José Curbelo and musical arrangement by Louie Ramírez, inserted in the production titled Indestructible by Ray Barretto and his Orchestra in the voice of Tito Alen for the year 1973) with soneos and melodic phrases and his popular “agua pa’ los gallos Puerto Rico” left established what this Venezuelan is made of, acclaimed and congratulated by his peers on stage.
Joy is not enough for what we salseros in Venezuela feel for this representation that should not be overlooked because if there are soneros from Venezuela and with class: Marcial Isturiz is one of them; with his own style and professionalism, this is how our “Mayor of Capaya” was seen next to these greats, comfortable, safe and proudly waving our tricolor wherever he goes.
At Swing Latino we say congratulations to Marcial, keep doing your thing without resting like until now, because later it will be too late:
AGUA PA’ LOS GALLOS y
¡Ponle Sabor!
Source: Giorgenling Méndez from Swing Latino
Also Read: Salsa at its best, led by the leader of La Puertorriqueña: Don Perignon
So that you know something more about the DJ. Jaime Guanipa, the Vinyl of Salsa
Jaime Guanipa was born in December 1966 in Caracas, Venezuela, originally from Sarria, belonging to the parish of La Candelaria, growing up in two areas in my early years, between Sarria and Alta Vista in Catia, Parish of Sucre, also in Caracas.

His first tangible experience within Latin music called “Salsa” thanks to the Venezuelan “PHIDIAS DANILO ESCALONA” who gave him this label that has immortalized the genre.
For my memory it was in 1973 with the premiere of the film “Nuestra Cosa Latina” and the SALSA Movie in different movie theaters in our city, where through its soundtrack I was impacted, thus generating a definitive taste in the musical field, fertilized by it wanting to be more extensive and thus achieving in subsequent years a broader knowledge within the Latin American Culture in this concept.
Subscriber to absorb like a sponge everything related to the environment and listening to the Radio where greats of knowledge moderated, to which I can name our Venezuelans and experts and moderators in different AM Radio stations for the time in Caracas such as, Phidias Danilo Escalona, Floro Manco, Enrique Bolívar Navas, Héctor Castillo, Rafael Rivas, among other great broadcasters, achieving a very solid understanding within the majesty of salsa.
He was able to define that by 1979, already having the concern to share and make the most of our Latin music heard within parties both family and friends, he made comments and selection of music from the acetate records that were in said meetings, this being a cult for the distinctive passion for what was already defined as the path to being a Salsa DJ in 1982.
Subscribed to technology and the true art of the moment, which is the research, the study of the genre and the credits of his albums, which logically were and are in LP format.

Generating in this way a breeding ground for musical experimentation and selection, it is from this moment referring to the date that my experience and exchange of criteria between friends who throughout these years have followed me and accompanied me within this passion was unleashed, having successes as a salsa musician in extinct venues in the city of Caracas for the years 1985 to 1990.
Then later in 1993, I temporarily retired due to family responsibilities, but without ever abandoning my passion for musicalization and research of the genre both here in my country Venezuela and abroad, by the year 2008, I decided to resume after a very reasonable time my most significant taste for salsa music, by the time obtaining many new bastions but with their due time of seniority within the genre, evolving distinctively in terms of its versatility and exponents.
I would like to point out that for me it is not a challenge, since due to the concept gained and maintained, it has given me a very preferential position within the taste of the salsa dancer and the dancer that I call demanding.
Experience gained due to being surrounded at the right time by great friends who love the salsa genre, many of whom I share today, reason for this and subscribed to current technology and its ease of access makes it possible for me to masterfully give the dancing public what they really want and desire at each meeting, event and party.

Without a doubt, before this I present an interactive referential synthesis of my passage through this exciting world as it is and I define “Salsa Musicalization in the Caracas nightlife. Thank you for your interest in this humble servant.
It is not just a photo with an LP, it is an image with a history, in 1981, I remember when I rode my bike in Sarria and many times in Guaicaipuro, where two friends Sergio and Napoleon lived. The latter had Sansui sound equipment in his house that sounded excellently well, we listened to endless hours of irreverent Salsa full of rhythmic diversity.

One day he said to me “Gordo” let’s go to Paradise and we went to listen to where Oscar D’Leon has his house and they rehearse there, so I told him let’s go and we listened in Machado alley not only to the regular rehearsals of Oscar’s Orchestra but one day in particular it was “LA ORQUESTA LA CRITICA”.
I particularly heard two songs that I remember with great specialness, such as “A EL” and MONTA MI CABALLO, where the quality and function of the ensemble were majestic, full of cadence, exceptional harmonics, the brass voices and the accompaniment between bass and piano were evident.
I remember seeing Larry Machado, Teo Hernández, José “Cheo” Navarro, and Flaco Bermúdez on several occasions during a chronologically dispersed period of time. I never saw Oscar, I never saw this character despite hearing his voice on several occasions.
In conclusion, an anecdotal experience that I will never forget, since it is not only having a record, but the history and the experience that it contains, which is what remains and is transmitted, the passion and the good fellowship before the Demanding Dancer, I hope you liked this little anecdote that I share with you, dear friends. Demanding, I hope you liked this little anecdote that I share with you, dear friends.
Caracas – Venezuela.
Jaime Guanipa passed away in Caracas on February 27, 2023.
Excellent Venezuelan music lover, researcher, disseminator and DJ of Afro-Caribbean music.
I contribute in a simple way the best of the true art of entertainment and salsa music in the city of Caracas-Venezuela.
Also Read: “Djane Shina” a passion turned into reality
Europe / March 2025
12th edition of the distinguished Salsero and tourist Festival of Venezuela
Latin America / Venezuela / Caracas
Venezuela land of salsa by nature year after year offers us a space dedicated to this beautiful dance, mainly framed in the presentation of the talent of more than 150 dance schools registered as diffusers of Salsa in this country and an expected visit of guests and foreign public. will make the so named Venezuela es Latina an event to remember. With 12 years of successful editions, it invites us not to one more edition, it calls us to enjoy 4 nights and 3 days of multiple activities, best of all, nights of great social parties.

Venezuela is Latina, an event with more than 11 years of experience, organizes for this 2018 edition a festival full of workshops, seminars, forums, certifications, bootcamp, shows, competitions and good local tourism, the ideal space for everyone who wants to meet one of the most emblematic tourist and salsa lands in the world, the famous Venezuela.
This 12 installment gives us a cycle of more than 20 hours of classes and training cycles distributed in workshops, seminars and Bootcamp on days dedicated to the professional training of dancers or dancers, as well as instruction for visitors, novices and / or dance fans.
We will be able to delight ourselves with the knowledge of the best instructors from Colombia, Ecuador, Cuba, Venezuela among other countries that remain to be confirmed, with workshops of the most sought-after disciplines, added to this 3 high-caliber seminars of theoretical and practical content that seeks to certify participants.
For the general public, Bootcamps are offered guided by the organizing academy, the Son Rumbero school, which for 2 years has brought this famous practice to the festival, giving attendees the opportunity to do a cycle of classes that ends when they appear on stage. along with the best dancers of the moment on the main night of the festival.
For lovers of good music, there will be a meeting of salsa and timba fans or collectors, where we can enjoy the best musical themes, acquire good music, together with 3 nights of parties and social dancing to share with all attendees, framed in nights of enjoyment and sharing between dancers and sympathizers of these great rhythms at the hands of the best guest DJs.

For those who wish to visit this great event, the organizing committee has distributed all-inclusive packages for Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay, Chile, Argentina, Central America, North America and Europe, with 5, 4 and 3 star hotels adapted to each need. In the same way, free packages are offered for promoters, directors or group managers who visit the festival.
Everything is ready for the 12th edition of this festival, the city of San Cristobal – Táchira State will offer us the best spaces to enjoy 4 days of great Latin things, a city 30 minutes from the border with Colombia in Cúcuta that speeds up access from the south. Dare to be part of this great festival, for more information, contact through social networks: @vzlaeslatina on Instagram and Facebook. Telephones: +573114061366 / +584126142562.






































































































