Conversation with Potty

It is a great honor for us to announce that we have spoken with the talented and prodigious Colombian singer and songwriter Potty Lozano, better known as Lozano, who had the kindness of spending a few minutes of his time to talk about his story, his former groups, his release as a solo artist, his current projects and much more.

Here are the most important details of the nice chat we had about the most interesting aspects of his career.

Potty Lozano singing on stage

Arrival in the United States

Potty has been living in the United States for over 30 years to further advance his career, which began in his native Colombia. That same year in which she came to the United States, the Kambaro Orchestra, a group where she participated, won the ”Congo de Oro” prize in the category of ”New Orchestra Of The Year”. The aforementioned award is one of the most important in Colombia and is given as part of of the world famous Carnivals of Barranquilla.

The reason why he left his native country is that he wanted to look for new airs and go international as a romantic salsa artist, something that would be extremely complicated if he continued to live in the same place. Thanks to the hard work of the artist, he managed to sign with the record label FONOVISA/MUSIVISA and turn his situation around.

It was the beginning of very successful years, touring Mexico and across the entire European Union and constant professional growth as time progressed.

When did you decide to go solo?

Lozano has said that it was precisely the award he won with the Kambaro Orchestra which motivated him to make progress in other areas of the music field. Another of his main motivations was the success of his song with the Cachaco Orchestra ”Si Tú Supieras”, which led him to continue making romantic salsa for a few more years under the label FONOVISA until the cessation of his contract with this record company. ”That’s when I decided to make some changes in my independent musical life with my own style, have the power to decide, choose songs to please myself and be free to make fusions between Latin Jazz, Bosa, Bolero Jazz and some Caribbean fusions” said the artist.

Potty Lozano next to songwriter and musician Francisco Zumaque

When asked about the best time for an artist to pursue a solo career, he replied that artists gradually mature both musically and personally, leadings them to the point where they feel ready to take that important step and decide that there is a high probability of success. ”There is a click or reset in your senses and you do what you think you have to do, but the important thing is to get it right”, he added.

Differences between commercial salsa and non-commercial salsa

Regarding this important issue, the singer-songwriter replied as follows: ”I love traditional salsa and it is the basis of everything that follows. I am from that generation, but I also grew up in an atmosphere of jazz, bosa, bolero, Colombian street genres and a lot of American pop music, so my brain mixes all that set of rhythms and fuses them in several ideas presented in workshops with my music producers. That’s why I don’t make COMMERCIAL radio music, which every day is more disposable and meaningless, my target has always been cultural, music with soul, harmony, intelligence and possitive messages and effects, but above all, pleasant the ear as music should be”.

He also pointed out that he mixes these genres according to his own musical tastes and the music he listened to when he was a child. All of this with the support from the members of his work team, who are on the same page, although they contribute their own ideas.

Potty Lozano during an interview

”Aquel Loco Miami”

In terms of his latest single ”Aquel Loco Miami”, he told us that ”it is the preamble to a CD in which we are working on, whch is also full of melting pots and rhythms such as salsa jazz, a little conventional salsa with fused touches and more modern salsa using fusions”.

Aquel Loco Miami is a song penned by BRAULIO, a famous Spanish singer and songwriter who is allowing me to record several of his songs. It is a chachachá song where there is no apology to the crime or what happened in Miami in the 70s/80s/90s. It’s just to remind the new generations that negativity can also bring positive things and Miami was in his time the Mecca of Rumba and enjoyment and, despite the violence there was space room for fun”-

Preamble

This time, we are going to talk with German producer, arranger, composer and trumpet player Steffen Kuehn and Mexican bandleader, composer and musician Christian Tumalan. Both are at the head of the Pacific Mambo Orchestra and share the role of co-executive director of Pacific Mambo LLC and Pacific Mambo Records. Also, each has his own record label and separate musical achievements, but unify their skills to make the group they have in common one of the best in the United States.

Both expressed their points view about the orchestra, the work they do in it and what each one has done in music in general. These views reveal that quality, professionalism and adaptability are the main values on which the orchestra they lead is based.

Steffen Kuehn at the Tempo Latino Festival in France

A bit of Steffen’s story

The start of the conversation focused on the beginnings of Steffen Kuehn, who ackowledges having been a musician all his life, since he started playing the trumpet when he was just eight years old. He attended the University of North Texas to start his formal music education and learned to arrange music, compose and specialize more in the trumpet. He now focuses on is teaching trumpet, playing for the orchestra, arranging, selling music for television and movies, among other activities (all have to do with music).

When we talk about his written publications, he mentioned a instruction book to help beginners to play the trumpet some years ago. Today, He is working on a second book and a new record production. What he has planned for Pacific Mambo is to make about 10 songs for its new album, of which two have already been made.

Christian’s musical background

Christian told us a bit about his musical training and confirmed that he studied piano for more than 10 years. He has also played piano since the age of 14 when he was in high school and started much more formal musical training at the age of 15. It can be said that he was already an expert at playing both instruments after a decade of much dedication and practice.

When asked about his roots in jazz, he commented to us that almost all jazz musicians have some training in classical music and direct access to technical elements with the instruments. His goal in learning about classical music was not to become a performer dedicated only to that style, but to gain as much knowledge as possible about music in general and to improve his piano skills.

How do you apply German and Mexican heritage to the music of the orchestra?

As for this interesting subject, both artists pointed out that polka music and Mexican banda music were very similar in terms of sounds and instrumentation used for both. In Steffen’s case, he was always very interested in going to the United States to learn and study about jazz, how and where it originated. He comments that, if he had wanted to study classical music, the best places would have been Germany, France and Italy, as many of its greatest exponents come from there.

Both Christian and I went to the root of how the jazz movement started, how it originated and developed over the years. However, I studied Latin music here in the United States and my Colombian roommate at the time explained to me a lot of things and introduced me to a lot of Latin rhythms I have ever heard before,” said Kuehn.

They both started to introduce jazz and this knowledge to the music of the orchestra. About this, Christian said that the mixture of rhythms was like ”a battle of entities” in which they were looking for what works and what does not work, since not everything can be mixed. ”What I usually do is combine my knowledge in classical music with my own Big Band arrangements,” Christian said.

”The fact that we have musicians from various countries in Europe and Latin America has helped us a lot to see different perspectives. Also, due to the number of musicians we are, we can play in different styles that other groups cannot” added Steffen.

Christian Tumalan and Steffen Kuehn during an interview with Jesse Chuy Varela

Skills they look for in their musicians

Steffen pointed out that the first thing they look for in their musicians is the chemistry we can have with them. In this sense, he mentioned that he has met excellent musicians with whom he does not get along with at all, which makes the work environment very heavy. Therefore, he does not take them into consideration for the orchestra because, if there is no chemistry and an atmosphere of respect, everything else does not work.

Another thing that the performer considers important is the spirituality of music, which many times is not attained by all musicians. When a musician opens up to the spirituality of the music, that’s when the magic happens and the chemistry hits us. We are very fortunate to have so many musicians who share this feeling and have reached that point as we have,” he added.

How do you share roles in the orchestra?

Christian commented that both he and Steffen were very good in different areas separately. Steffen has a quite charismatic way of communicating with people and knows how to earn the respect of others very quickly, while I focus more on the technical and musical aspects of the group. I think that complements us very well”. He also said that the German was very good with information and details such as tours, hotels, flights, names, taxes, among other things.

When Steffen’s came to talk about his partner, he said that he knew a lot about everything to do with music technology, stage direction, tempos, editing, mixing, video, audio and many other things. He confesses that he is unable to do many of these things, so they are left to Christian.

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Interview with Colombian singer-songwriter Potty Lozano