Search Results for: Latin

Meet Pablo Emmanuel Lemos and his classes at the School of Caribbean Rhythms “PA’ que lo Gozes”

Latinoamerica / Argentina / Punta Alta

On this occasion we had the opportunity to meet the dancer and teacher of the School of Caribbean Rhythms “PA’ que lo Gozes” Pablo Emmanuel Lemos. He tells us about the course of his career, profession, tastes and goals.

Unlike many dancers who started when they were little, at the age of 23 he (Pablo Emmanuel Lemos) began to dance different Latin rhythms and with the support of his classmates and teachers, he decided to do a Caribbean Rhythms teacher training at SAOCO. Later he began to teach at the academy where he began his apprenticeship, without imagining what his job would be today.

He mentions that he is passionate about teaching, sharing and giving his Salsa and Bachata classes in his work space and that at the moment he does not have his own academy; however, he gives his classes in Punta Alta, Argentina:

Monday and Wednesday at 8:15 p.m. at Humberto 1159 (Guapas Factory Gym) in Bahía Blanca.
Tuesday and Thursday at 8:00 p.m. in Spain 843 (Dance Pulse).

In general, competitions and/or recreational activities are held for those who wish to share these dynamic and joyful rhythms.

In one of our questions, to know what is necessary to learn to dance like a professional, he answers us:

“Knowledge is not what makes the dancer, but the desire, motivation and decision to learn from their peers and/or partners”.

For new Latinos, he tells them to “dare to dance… whatever the impulse that leads you to want to do it, without brakes, fear, or doubts…. Dancing is a wonderful art that has made a resounding change in my life. That is why I invite you all to dance and try this healthy discipline”

If you want to know more about his classes:

Facebook: @PabloEmmanuelLemos o @AleA.Abello
Teléfono: +54 2932554866 / +54 2915265613

Marco Toro. The Versatile of Percussion

Europa/ Holanda

Marco Toro is a versatile drummer, percussionist and composer born in Caracas, whose roots are embedded in Venezuelan popular music and culture.

In October 2015 he released his latest work, this time it’s about Latin jazz: Marco Toro presents Zambo Jazz, a mix of rhythms and flavors that reminds the listener of places like Africa, South America and New Orleans.

Marco Toro once again shows his diversity on drums and percussion, playing as always with top-notch musicians who also share credits on this production.

Marc Bischoff, from Germany on piano, wrote two of the eight songs: Oh Lame Saint and Mojitos and Daikiries, trumpeter Oscar -Chucky- Cordero, from Venezuela, wrote The Tour. Michael Simon, also from Venezuela, arranged Marialí. James 2 AM It is a composition by Chilean Alekos Vuskovic and Let It Walk is by trumpeter and arranger Francisco Peña from Colombia. Matthias Konrad plays the trombone; He is also from Germany and the Venezuelan Samuel Ruiz plays the bass.

In addition to playing drums, timbales, congas, bongos and cowbells, he also plays typical Afro-Venezuelan instruments such as cumaco, culo e puya, bell drum, tamboras, maracas, etc.

He not only plays all kinds of percussion instruments, he also plays a wide variety of styles.

Already in 2004 he embarked on a solo project: Marco Toro y su Ensamble, exploring South American rhythms such as Son, Joropo and Salsa, among others. With this group he released eight albums; The last CD is from 2017: Marco Toro y su Ensamble 12+1 Anniversary more info (www.toro-ensamble.com).

Marco Toro is currently playing with Lucas van Merwijk’s Drums United and Cubop City Big Band since 2008, touring Europe, the United States, Canada, South America, China and Thailand.

In 1989 Marco Toro formed Laberinto, a rock band that became known for creating “Metalatino”, a unique blend of heavy metal and Latin percussion.

In 1992 Laberinto moved from Caracas to Amsterdam, where the band released eight albums between 1996 and 2010.

Dutch rap legend Osdorp Posse appears on The World Might Suck, since 2008.

A ninth album: The best of Labyrinth was released in Venezuela.

After years of successful and extensive touring in Europe, Colombia and Venezuela went their separate ways.

He has shared the stage and recorded with many renowned artists such as:

Andy González
La India, Jimmy Bosch
Pedro Arroyo
Metropole Orkest
Laberinto, Osdorp Posse
Def P
Beatbusters, Lucas van Merwijk’s Drums United
Cubop City Big Band
Ricky Luis N’Clave
Zambo Jazz
De Pana
Beatbusters and Def P
Santanico,
G. Clarinda y la Rítmica
Primera Plana Orchestra
Bembe Orchestra
El Trabucombo by Gerardo Rosales
Marejada, Tierra Caliente
Rudy Albano
Jacqueline Castro
Subject to change
Tumbao
Grupo Kilele
Javier Plaza and his Orquesta Sonrisa
FP La Banda
Chucky y su Trabuco Guarimba
Barrio Nuevo
La Misma Gente
Marike Jager Kuenta i Tambu
King of the bongo
Carmen Gabriela Lozada
Grupo Mate
Alejandro Carbajal
Flaco Carrillo
Silicon Head
Wereld Kinder Festival
The virtual school of Bart Noorman
Pistoleros de la Paz
Download Amsterdam
Ensemble Amsterdam
Cabo Cuba Jazz
The Soul of Spanish Harlem
Jean Paul Tamayo

among others.

Marco Toro is sponsored by Zildjian Cymbals, Pearl Percussion and Evans Drumheads.

Young Puerto Rican singer Jeremy Bosch supports the Spanish Harlem Salsa Museum

There are many people who believe that salsa is a genre of past generations that does not have worthy youth representatives who stick up for this set of rhythms that has been keeping so many people dancing for so long, but fortunately they are wrong. Jeremy Bosch, whom we had the opportunity to interview at The Johnny Cruz Shw a few weeks ago is a god example of this.

We are honored to know that one of the new sensations of Latin music, specifically salsa, supports one of the most important institutions dedicated to the genre such as the Spanish Harlem Salsa Museum, so we want to take advantage to talk a little about the career of this young singer and everything he has achieved so far.

Jeremy playing the flute — Jeremy Bosch playing the flute live

Jeremy’s beginnings in this world

Jeremy Bosch is a singer and flutist born in the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico, who began his journey in the world of music singing and playing percussion in the church on his block while growing up listening to a great variety of artists including Hector Lavoe to Chicago and Tonny Bennett, so he had influences of all kinds.

Not much time would past before Jeremy took achevable steps towards the direction he was meant to take. At only 17 years old, he won a scholarship to study at Berklee College of Music in the city of Boston, United States, and graduated in 2023, specializing in jazz composition. From then on, what followed for the young artist have been successes and great proposals he could seize.

One of thse things he is best known for is having been the vocalist and flutist of the acclaimed group Spanish Harlem Orchestra, but that has not stopped him from collaborating with great figures in the industry such as musical director and Grammy-winning percussionist Pete Perignon, with whom he recorded the social short called ”Sería Una Pena”.

Johnny and Jeremy — Johnny Cruz and Jeremy Bosch posing for the camera

Jeremy’s professional career

Sometime later, he would have the opportunity to realize one of the most important works of his career, which is the tribute to the late Cheo Feliciano, which was recorded live at the Dizzy Club in New York City and was titled ”The Music of Cheo Feliciano. In addition, the project included Nelson Gonzalez, Johnny ”Dandy” Rodriguez and Spanish Harlem Orchestra leader Oscar Hernandez.

With regard to this great night for his career, Jeremy commented that since his debut both he and arranger and vibraphonist Felipe Fourniel had long time wanting to work on something about Cheo Feliciano and his legacy for a long time until they finally made it. This show was the sign that Jeremy has everything to become an icon of salsa and Afro-Caribbean music in general.

As for his solo career, he has made a few remarkable recordings and one of them was ”Prologo Hoy”, which included the participation of Nicaraguan singer Luis Enrique and Cuban vocalist and guitarist Alain Perez. It is a five-song EP that focuses a lot on Afro-Colombian and tropical music, while including some covers in English such as ”Love Holiday”, which gives a distinct flavor to the material as a whole.

Jeremy and Johnny on the set — Jeremy Bosch and Johnny Cruz on the set of The Johnny Cruz Show

Later on, Jeremy released ”Epilogo: la clave del tiempo”, which includes 11 tracks and is basically a mix of Afro-Cuban rhythms, soneo, urban genres, modern synthesizers, among other elements. The album starts with ”Locura” and continues with singles such as ”Try Again”, ”La Mala”, ”Autopsia” and a few more.

Support for the Spanish Harlem Salsa Museum

In the social networks of the director of the Spanish Harlem Salsa Museum, Johnny Cruz, there is a clip in which the The Johnny Cruz Show host introduces Jeremy as his special guest on that occasion, promotes the interview with him and describes him as the sensation of the moment. Then, the camera goes n Jeremy’s face, who thanks the invitation with a smile and assures that they both will have a good time talking about his life and career.

We are honred to support young talents like Jeremy and, at the same time, to get the same support and love back because that is what salsa and the Latin music scene in general needs, that all those involved join together around it to keep it alive.

ISM March 2019

Jerry Ferrao says in salsa key: “My life is a drum”.

With a lifetime dedicated to folk music, singer-songwriter Jerry Ferrao has been bringing us some good salsa for some time now. With seven recordings to his credit; Restauración, Esto sí es Navidad, Paisajes de mi Negrura, Puertorican Folkloric Jazz, Tiempo al Tiempo, De Guerreros y Batallas and Desafío, it is clear that the salsa path he decided to take a couple of years ago brought a lot of musical experience, and a very tasty one at that.

Jerry Ferrao afirma en clave de salsa “Mi vida es un tambor”

I invite you to listen to his latest single ‘Mi vida es un tambor’, also available on YouTube:

The track -whose musical arrangement is by Jerry Ferrao and John Rivera Rosa- features the participation of great recording studio musicians, such as: Efraín Hernández on bass; Juan Gómez on piano; Angie Machado, Jaimar Vázquez and Javier Meléndez on trumpets; Benny Marín, Víctor Román and Noel Abel on saxophones; Pedro Dueño on bongo; plus a parade of top-notch guests: Endel Dueño on timbal, Kachiro Thompson on tumbadoras and Luis Aquino, in a masterful trumpet solo. Backing up Jerry Ferrao’s lead vocals, we hear the voices of Flor Angel Guilbe, Wiki Gonzalez and Nandy “El Sinsonte” on backing vocals.

“I do it first out of a desire to explore new horizons. I’ve been in the bomba and plena for many years. I was with La Familia Cepeda for more than 20 years and with Los Hermanos Ayala from the town of Loíza for six to seven years. I was a disciple of the great masters: Don Rafael Cepeda Atiles, Marcial Reyes Arvelo and Tomás Flores, among others. The time has come for me, I am a composer! I have composed songs for several orchestras and folklore groups, it was time to write for myself! I said to myself, I am a composer and singer and I am going to design my own music,” he said.

He lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina while studying cinematography. There, Ferrao sang with the salsa orchestra La Clave Genética. It may have been there that the definitive leap to salsa was conceived.

Following the scourge of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico (2017), Jerry dedicated a salsa track titled ‘Retoñando’ (available on YouTube) to the memory of all his compueblanos who left in the aftermath of the hurricane.

Jerry Ferrao relates that he began receiving suggestions for him to record salsa because his voice excelled in that sound. “That must be because I have been listening to salsa, enjoying and appreciating it since I was a child. I have a family of well-known musicians, particularly because they are percussionists, timbaleros, congueros, bongoseros,” he said.

Con toda una vida dedicada a la música folclórica, el cantautor Jerry Ferrao ha estado trayéndonos salsa de la buena

In 2012 he published what could be considered the most important documentary on the history of the Puerto Rican bomba, Ayeres de la Bomba. This document has been praised by prestigious ethnomusicologists, anthropologists, sociologists and researchers specializing in Puerto Rico’s black history. I add with certainty, that our Jerry Ferrao must be considered as the authority on our folkloric rhythms.

Since he was a child, he was influenced by the art of Afro-Antillean roots music, especially salsa and guaguancó. With uncles like percussionists Pedro Dueño, Ángel Dueño and Endel Dueño, nicknamed “Los Hermanos Dueño” in the popular artistic scene, who have been recognized in different parts of the world, mainly by salsa and Latin jazz lovers, it should come as no surprise that Ferrao has grown up immersed in the rhythm and flavor that continues to dictate his creativity.

Determined to focus on salsa, he affirms that his contribution to Borikua folklore was also his musical foundation. “Yes, it is something that lives with me and I will continue to cultivate it in some way. Who knows if in the future I will do my own little things for the public, that I will sneak in some bomba or plena between salsa and salsa. I have been in folklore since I was about eight years old”, Ferrao said shortly before affirming that with the album Desafío (2022), which contains 12 songs of his inspiration, he made his formal entry into salsa. Jerry Ferrao bets on salsa, and salsa fans bet on Jerry. His efforts have not gone unnoticed and as a salsa artist, the excellence with which he has produced his musical deliveries is striking. “I swear it was a tremendous challenge to do all this. For different reasons, the production took about three or four years. All the songs and arrangements are my own, and I don’t even play guitar, although I would love to!” he shared.

The images are by Kali Torres

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