Search Results for: Latin

Mayito Rivera “El Poeta de la Rumba” was the distinctive voice of Los Van Van de Cuba

Mario ‘Mayito’ Rivera is, without a doubt, one of Cuba’s most outstanding contemporary singers.

For more than 20 years he was the distinctive voice and recognizable face of Cuba’s most famous musical group, Los Van Van.

Regardless of the musical genre he performs -rumba, son, salsa, bolero or timba, modern or traditional style, with strength and dynamism or with delicacy and tenderness, Mayito Rivera’s performances, with passages adorned with tremors and coloraturas, are always stellar.

Mario Enrique Rivera Godínez was born on January 19, 1966 in Pinar del Río, a province located in the westernmost part of Cuba and famous for its handmade Havana cigars.

It was there that ‘Mayito’ began his musical training as a child. Later, he moved to Havana, where he studied percussion at the renowned National School of Art (ENA), which he later extended with advanced studies at the Higher Institute of Art (ISA).

After completing his training, which lasted a total of 15 years, Mayito Rivera joined the musical ensemble of the well-known Cuban singer Albita Rodríguez.

Later, he played bass in the Moncada Group, a formation belonging to the Nueva Trova Cubana movement, whose renovating spirit is firmly rooted in traditional Cuban rhythms.

At the age of 26, Mayito was discovered by Juan Formell, the director of Los Van Van, an orchestra that by then had already become a legend. Initially hired to play bass and sing backing vocals, he soon established himself as the group’s lead vocalist.

Over the next 20 years, Mayito Rivera, more than any other musician, put his stamp on Los Van Van.

He burst onto the scene as the representative of a new generation of musicians, and his fresh style contributed to the group’s endurin Singer of the group’s countless salsa hits that were played in the discotheques, he has been nominated twice for a Grammy and won it once.

Mario ‘Mayito’ Rivera es, sin duda, uno de los cantantes contemporáneos más destacados de Cuba

At the same time, he was also working on other projects: in 1999 he released his first solo album, Pa’ bachatear.

Chappotín, in which he transports the past to our days with a brilliant interpretation of traditional Conjunto Chappotín songs.

But Mayito Rivera is not only a singer and percussionist. In 2005, he released Negrito Bailador, his second solo album, produced by the Timba label of the German music publisher Termidor, in which he performs only songs of his own composition.

The music, with a rumbero tinge, is fresh, lively and of timeless quality. Subsequently, Negrito bailador was marketed in the United States under the title Llegó la hora and was immediately nominated for a Grammy in the Best Salsa Album of the Year category.

Mayito Rivera is probably the most requested special guest by other Cuban orchestras; so much so, that in recent years he has sung with almost all of Cuba’s star casts.

Nor has his career suffered any interruptions since he left Los Van Van in 2011: currently, Mayito Rivera tours the whole world relentlessly, giving concerts in countries as diverse as the United States, Canada, Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Argentina, France, Germany, Denmark, Spain and Italy.

The great popularity and multiple talents of this ‘poet of rumba’ are reflected in his performances as guest singer for salsa greats such as Oscar D’Leon, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Issac Delgado, Adalberto Alvarez, Mayimbe, Son Como Son, Timba Live, Pupy y Los que Son Son, Charanga Latina, Havana D’Primera, Tumbao Habana and Elio Reve Jr, to name just a few.

In 2012, Mayito Rivera established himself as a permanent member of Los Soneros de Verdad, the most successful orchestra of the moment dedicated to son and its related rhythms, led by singer Luis Frank Arias.

Two sold-out world tours of three months each in Europe, Asia, Russia and the United States attest to the high quality and great interest in this amalgam of traditional son and the vocal artistry of Cuba’s most dynamic rumbero.

Mayito Durante más de 20 años fue la voz distintiva y el rostro reconocible del más famoso grupo musical cubano, Los Van Van

In 2014, the superstar will be touring with his own orchestra. But before that, from June to September 2013, he will give a series of concerts with Los Soneros de Verdad performing songs from his as yet unreleased album Alma de Sonero.

During this project he will return to his musical roots: son and rumba, bolero and guaguancó, both in their traditional interpretation and in their more modern variants.

The album Alma de sonero includes 11 tracks and will be released in September 2013 worldwide success.

The musicians include Alexander Abreu (Havana D’Primera) on trumpet, San Miguel Pérez on tres and Luis A. Chacón ‘Aspirina’ Bruzón on bongos and cajón.

Website: Mayito Rivera

Stelio Bosch Cabrujas a remarkable musician, but completely forgotten by the new generations

One of the greatest Venezuelan arrangers that Venezuela’s tropical music could have had passed away on May 5, 1979, 44 years without Stelio Bosch Cabrujas.

Bosch Cabrujas was the arranger and assistant director of both Billos and Los Melódicos and was the architect of the success of both orchestras in the 60’s and 70’s.

A remarkable musician, but completely forgotten by the new generations.

Stelio deserves to have his place of honor in the tropical music of the Caribbean. Stelio, a native of the State of Bolivar, from a very young age, entered the musical field as a musician and arranger.

Billo Frometa, Renato Capriles, Rogelio Martínez y Stelio Bosch Cabrujas

His musical beginnings date back to the 40’s, when he performed “Campesino” for the then Billo’s, where he was recorded by Victor Perez.

Stelio’s musical baggage at the beginning was as a tres player for La Sonora Caracas, he worked with Pedro J. Belisario’s orchestra in the 50’s. He arranged a lot for the radio programs in the musical shows that they presented under the auspices of various commercial brands.

History of Sonora Caracas

Surrounded by an aura of mystery, elusive discography, and a special attraction as a pioneer of the son groups in Caracas. For a long time it was the musical platform for many local tours and recordings of Caribbean music luminaries, when they visited us in the golden age of radio and incipient television. Backed by more than a hundred immortal recordings, ranging from some of the first acetate recordings of Celia Cruz, to Daniel Santos and his theme forbidden by the always conservative Catholic Church.

Contrary to what some critics thought at the time, it was not a bad copy of its namesake matancera, they began under the structure of a septet, and later in their golden age they abstained from using the nasal choirs, they managed a structure of three trumpets, a clear hammer of the bongo accompanied by the congas, in a group with its own personality and that served as a school for some of the most important orchestra directors of the coming decades in our country.

The first Sonora Caracas

In September 1933, our capital was musically shaken by the visit of the Trio Matamoros, famous movie and record stars, who during their twenty continuous days at the prestigious Teatro Ayacucho, stirred up a bucolic Caracas with their sones and boleros, and when they traveled to the west of our country1, they sowed the seeds of the first son groups in Venezuela.

He was in the quintet Los Modernos, who on several occasions accompanied Felipe Pirela on TV. He was the pianist.

He worked for Los Guaracheros de Manolo (when he left Billo’s) and also worked with the Orquesta Sans Sousi.

He worked for a short time in Carlos Guerra’s orchestra and from there he made the leap to Renato Capriles’ Melodicos, recommended by Freddy Coronado when he was the director of LM.

When Coronado left the direction of LM, Stelio took over the musical direction and catapulted them to the fat and unequaled sound of lm in the 60’s, which represented a sonority like few others.

When Stelio left lm, Manolo Monterrey’s orchestra joined the harmonies, and he suggested to Manolo that he return to lm, which the Antillean cyclone accepted and returned triumphantly to Renato’s organization.

At the beginning of the 70’s Stelio goes to work with the most popular band in Venezuela and there Stelio’s arrangement work gives another big hit, his contribution is immense and Billo’s goes on to live one of the greatest decades that Billo Frómeta’s group has ever had.

The contribution of Stelio Bosch Cabrujas to tropical music is worthy of study and review, to be included in university courses so that the new generations of arrangers and musicians understand the legacy of a musician who is threatened to be forgotten, it is up to us to make sure that this does not happen and it is mandatory to keep his memory alive.

Sources:

Newspaper library of the popular music of Venezuela.

Gherson Maldonado

Iliana Capriles (Oficial)

Fausto Cuevas Y La Moderna in International Salsa Magazine

Who is Fausto Cuevas

Fausto Cuevas is a bandleader and percussionist from the state of Texas who is currently leading the orchestra Fausto Cuevas Y La Moderna, which has been playing in a large number of nightclubs located in the state of California, where Fausto currently resides.

For its part, Fausto Cuevas Y La Moderna is a salsa group whose purpose is to take the old Latin genres and provide a modern twist to them. While it is true that their main genre is and has been salsa, its members also experiment a lot with Cuban guaguancó, yambú, cumbia, son, cha cha chá, among others.

We are proud to have such an artist in our June edition and hope that this conversation will grace all our readers.

Fausto’s beginnings in music

Fausto grew up in Brownsville, a village in Texas very close to the southern border with Matamoros, Tamaulipas, where his father is from. Due to this territorial proximity to Mexico, the artist was always exposed to ranchera instruments and, in particular, drums. The latter would be very important in what would become his professional future.

At the age of 11, he entered the public school system and was assigned to play a snare drum in a symphonic style. It can be said that this is when his fascination for this type of instrument began and continues till this very day.

In fact, Fausto claimed to have not been interested in guitar, piano or bass. He was always very clear that his aspirations were focused on drums, and percussion.

These first steps led him to specialize in playing American music, rock and jazz. Until then, he had not had any contact with Latin or Afro-Cuban music, but that would eventually change.

Moving from Boston to California

Fausto tells us that his biggest dream was always to go to New York, since the music scene was vibrant there at that time, but he could never do it due to some personal issues he encountered, such as the birth of his daughter. This is what made him move to Los Angeles and give up on that dream.

When we asked him if he still wanted to live in ”The Big Apple”, he told us that he had already found his place in California and his career had already taken root in this part of the United States.

Fausto Cuevas Y La Moderna

Fausto Cuevas Y La Moderna was created in a very particular way. One day, Fausto received a call from the department at Berkeley that does concerts for the Boston community and was asked if he had a salsa band to play at the Tito Puente Latin Music Series. He said yes to everything, although he had nothing prepared at the time.

What he did have was a group of friends who were related to music and happened to live in Boston. They were all so well-suited and had so many plans that things worked out in an extraordinary way. That was 25 years ago and they have stayed together to this day despite the obstacles.

Relationships with other artists and genres

Fausto Cuevas Y La Moderna have performed and toured with stars such as Marc Anthony, Jose Alberto ”El Canario”, Celia Cruz, Julio Iglesias, Santana, Tito Nieves, Tito Puente Jr., Stavie Wonder Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears, among others.

One thing that Fausto feels he has learned from these artists is to be identifiable as a Latino in American genres. He says it is very interesting to create things, always identifying with Latin rhythms when playing soul, R&B or pop.

Having had so much contact with all these musical luminaries has helped him to rediscover himself and be much more creative when mixing Latin and American elements. In this sense, knowing the roots of the genres he plays has helped him a lot to know how to link both worlds.

It is precisely the knowledge of these roots which has made Fausto Y la Moderna stand out among other Californian groups.

Future projects

As to future projects, Fausto Y la Moderna plans to release a few singles this year and record the rest of the album in order to release the whole album in 2024.

He also pointed out that he is about to release an album with Gonzalo Grau Y La Clave Secreta, another group in which he is also involved, so he invites everyone to listen to his music through networks and digital platforms.

Allyson Briggs ”La Rubia de La Salsa”

A little of her story

Allyson Briggs ”La Rubia de La Salsa” is a bandleader and singer who has earned a lot of recognition in recent years. Currently, this talented woman leads the Fleur Seule orchestra, whose main musical genres are salsa, jazz, swing and ballroom dancing.

Also known as ”The Glamorous Girl of Jazz” is able to sing in seven different languages and several of her covers have been written by artists such as Edith Piaf, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, Marc Anthony, Héctor Lavoe, among others.

We feel very fortunate to have been able to interview Allyson, who has kindly agreed to tell us about her life and career so that readers of International Salsa Magazine can get to know her better.

Allyson Briggs ''La Rubia de La Salsa'' performing on stage — Allyson Briggs ”La Rubia de La Salsa” performing on stage

How she became interested in music

When we hit the subject of her childhood, Allyson told us that her parents always played classical music. ”We listened to a lot of the classics, big bands, swing, blues, rock and roll, jazz, opera, among other genres,” she said. That’s how her love for these styles began, but the case of Latin music was different.

Her taste for Latin music is because she is married to a Puerto Rican, so she feels her husband and her in-laws have influenced her to end up falling in love with salsa, Puerto Rican music and its culture in general.

This inclusion of Latin rhythms has made her Fleur Seule orchestra collect a lot of fans who simply want to dance to these genres and, some of them, remember their roots.

How she learned to sing in Spanish

Long before she learned Spanish, Allyson began to learn German, which she considers her second language. This interest came from the German roots in her family, whose past always seemed very interesting to her. The same happened with French, as the artist also has French ancestors.

In the case of Spanish, she had some kind of contact with the language at school, but its actual use began when she got married and had to communicate in that way at home. In addition to that, Allyson has a lot of friends in New York, who have helped her a lot to understand certain things about the language.

Allyson learned Spanish thanks to her Puerto Rican husband

Hispanic artists she likes the most are Héctor Lavoe, Rubén Blades, Celia Cruz and Javier Solis. As for covers, she commented that she always tries very hard to understand what a composer wants to say with his lyrics in order to make the interpretation as faithful as possible.

Why is she called ”La Rubia de La Salsa”?

The name ”La Rubia de La Salsa” was not invented by Allyson herself, but by some concertgoers when she sang at La Marqueta, Spanish Harlem. The point is that no one could pronounce Fleur Seule, so they opted for something that everyone could pronounce with no problem.

Upon hearing it for the first time, she realized that this nickname captured her essence perfectly due to her physique, her costumes and the type of music she makes. For the same reason, she is still called by that name to this day.

Fleur Seule

Allyson revealed that she chose the name ”Fleur Seule” for her orchestra in honor of the French language. In addition to that, it sounds unique and elegant to anyone who hears it.

As for the beginning of her orchestra, she told that she met a guitarist with whom she started doing some musical projects. This same person provided her with certain recommendations in terms of singing and even language, which were taken into account until she was able to assemble a complete group.

She chose the name ''Fleur Seule'' for her orchestra because it sounds elegant and unique — She chose the name ”Fleur Seule” for her orchestra because it sounds elegant and unique

Activity during and after the pandemic

Allyson told us that the pandemic gave her the opportunity to meet multiple people through social networks due to online concerts she offered twice a week. When things began to return to normal, there were many fans who told her that they got to know her music through digital platforms like Instagram and Facebook.

At the moment, she has some performances planned in Puerto Rico and the state of Florida after the success he had the last time she went to those places. He also mentioned that she would like to go to Colombia and Japan, as both countries are big salsa fans.

Khary Rios and Mayra Rivera from La Poderosa 360

La Poderosa 360

La Poderosa 360 is a radio and digital television station that is broadcast from Puerto Rico, specifically from the city of Arecibo, which is tuned in 24 hours a day through its official website. It offers Latin music, variety, preaching shows and much more.

In this edition, we were fortunate to interview its marketing director, Khary Ríos, and R&R Media Group’s president, Mayra Rivera, who were kind enough to tell us a little about the station, its function, its emergence, its programming, among other important aspects.

Official logo for La Poderosa 360

Beginnings

Once the introductions are completed, Khary Ríos went on to explain that La Poderosa 360 emerged amid the pandemic. Their objective was to open an FM station with local coverage, but then they decided to take advantage of their overseas businesses and advertising to launch the product in online format. Much to their surprise, it turned out to be very successful and popular among a vast audience.

Later, Mayra added that they had a wrestling company, but everything went down with the health emergency caused by COVID-19, so they had to find a way to reinvent themselves. That is when Khary had the idea to create something that could be enjoyed by the public from the comfort of the home.

As for her work experience applied to the station, Rivera told us that she has a master’s degree in marketing, is a spokeswoman for a university and was the rector of an educational institution. All this made her get used to interviews and, now, she applies learning learning on her segment called ”Nosotras Sí Podemos”, which seeks to empower women and give them required tools to have a better quality of life.

For his part, Khary is currently finishing her studies in marketing and advertising, and he is also applying his knowledge to the company.

La Poderosa 360’s main mission and programming

When asked to talk about the main mission and programming, Ríos said he was very happy with the results obtained. In fact, they are already trying to conquer new markets such as fans of regional Mexican music and other genres in vogue.

They started the project by focusing on salsa, but they included reggaeton due to its great popularity in Puerto Rico. Of course, they care much that the lyrics do not contain bad words or those that are too offensive to certain audiences. Occasionally, they broadcast boleros, but the strength of La Poderosa 360 is tropical music, which will always have priority over other styles.

Khary Rios, marketing director of La Poderosa 360

Sustainability

On the subject of sustainability, Khary Ríos told us that sponsors come on their own. ”At the beginning, it was complicated and we had to do a job of positioning the brand, but over time the sponsors have arrived, invested little by little and stayed indefinitely” said the marketing director.

Mayra added that, despite the change they made from the wrestling channel to the station, there were many loyal customers who continued to believe in them and maintain their support no matter what changes they had made. It was the investment of those customers and the one made by Khary and Mayra that got the project afloat.

They are very happy because many of the people who supported them understood the modifications. In fact, the host of one of the show ”Domingo de Alabanzas” comes from the wrestling scene and they are exploring the possibility of giving space to MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) in La Poderosa 360, which makes it clear that those involved have adapted to the situation as well as possible.

For the time being, they are very comfortable in this musical atmosphere and do not think they will change it in the future. This new formula has worked well for them.

Countries with the best ratings

According to the data they have collected, the best ratings are in Puerto Rico, Florida (USA), Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Panama, Spain and Mexico. Colombia, Venezuela and Peru always ask for salsa, while Mexico asks for a lot of reggaeton. Puerto Rico is divided with salsa and reggaeton depending on the day.

In the state of Florida, you hear a lot of timba and Cuban music in general due to the large Cuban diaspora who lives there.

Brandy Lamboglia, host of ''Domingo de Alabanzas'' in La Poderosa 360 — Brandy Lamboglia, host of ”Domingo de Alabanzas” in La Poderosa 360

The only requirement demanded by La Poderosa 360 to play a song is that it has a ”clean” version, since curses and vulgarity are not accepted in the programming. In that sense, Mayra pointed out that there are song submissions that had to be returned due to the excessive amount of bad words, but if it is a reasonable amount, Khary can work with that material to censor the few bad words that are present.

Collaborations with other broadcasters and platforms

Both Khary and Mayra emphasized that they had a hard time taking the station to where it is, so they are very careful when choosing with whom to collaborate, as there are many people doing programming that they determine is vulgar and they do not want to get mixed up in that type of content.

They have done collaborations with several networks and have knocked on many doors, but they point out that the professional relationship that continued to this day has been with Edwin ”El Calvito” Reyes, who believed in the project from the beginning. Khary describes him as a serious man and a gentleman in every sense of the word.