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Ritmo Caribe Promotions 24/7 Radio

East Coast – New York – New York

Ritmo Caribe Promotions 24/7 Radio. The New Digital Station in New York

Ritmo Caribe Promotions 24/7 Radio was launched last November in New York City and it’s an affiliation of Ritmo Caribe Promotions, a company dedicated to promoting artists of the tropical genre and Latin music in general.

In this digital station, you can listen to the themes of legendary singers and the Salsa´s New Blood 24 hours of each day, 100% guaranteed!

The musical genres that you can enjoy on http://www.ritmocaribepromotionsradio.com range from Salsa music through Afro-Cuban rhythms to Latin and Brazilian Jazz, among many others.

Ritmo Caribe Promotions 24/7 Radio also includes live radio broadcasts from some of the best stations in the area, as well as the radio program “El Toque Latino” (The Latin Toca), hosted by Jimmy Castro.

Likewise and as additional information, we tell you that if you are an artist of the Tropical or Latin recording and you would like to rotate your music in this digital station, you can send it in mp3 format, including: cover image and details of the track or album to the following email: [email protected] or you can contact them through the telephone number: 845-564-5703.

Really, in Ritmo Caribe Promotions 24/7 you will have an Incredible Sensory Sensation!

For more information, please visit:

http://ritmocaribe.wix.com/ritmocaribe

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A party of dancers at the concert to celebrate Willie Rosario’s 100th birthday

The now Doctor of Music Willie Rosario managed to fill a Puerto Rico Coliseum, with a capacity of 18,000 people, for the celebration of his 100th birthday. The production of the concert ensured that the musical proposal kept the audience dancing and singing along. It was no surprise that the “Choliseo” turned into a gigantic dance floor.

Fiesta de bailadores el concierto para celebrar los 100 años de Willie Rosario

Vocalist “Chamaco” Rivera was in charge of the performance of Willie Rosario’s orchestra’s first hit. Chamaco”‘s announcements alluded to the parallel of the Barrio Obrero, between our “santurcino” neighborhood of Borinquen and its namesake, located in Cali, Colombia.

Then came the current front of “the band that delights” to perform a selection of the group’s countless hits. The first turn went to José Luis De Jesús “Papa Chú” with the impeccable interpretation of ‘Ojalá que te vaya bonito’. At one point, when the song called for a duet performance, José “Machete” Díaz was the accompanist.

Smiling and with his voice cracking with emotion, Rosario greeted the audience, shortly before saying: “Thank you very much for coming this far” and giving entrance to “Manolito” Rodriguez, handing him the timbal. “Manolito” took the helm of Willie Rosario’s orchestra during several songs to which the young timbalero and musical director imparted his own tempo.

‘Anuncio Clasificado’ and ‘Cha-cha-ri-chá’ were heard in the voice of “Machete”, ‘Échame la culpa a mí’ and ‘El callejero’ in Erick Robles’ interpretation, and ‘Preparen candela’ with “Papa Chú” leading on vocals. Juventud del presente’ was heard in the voice of Rodriguez himself, who showed off his skills as a timbalero, director and singer, while dancing in choreography with the members of the vocal front.

During the segment in which “Manolito” led, the child Gerardo Gabriel Rivas entered into an explosive duel of timbales, corresponding with who, at the time, was acting as director. Humberto Ramírez interpreted the song ‘Míster Afinque’, which he composed and arranged in 2023 in honor of Rosario and which is part of the production Better Days.

At about ten o’clock at night, the birthday boy took over the orchestra to “continue in afinque”. With the “afinque”, came the main course of the concert, for which “El Rey del ritmo” arrived on stage this time accompanied by the duo composed by Gilberto Santa Rosa and Tony Vega.

Gilberto looked impeccable both in his vocal role and in his staging as he performed ‘Babarabatiri’, ‘Obra sellada’, ‘La mitad’, ‘Me tendrán que aceptar’, ‘Botaron la pelota’ and ‘Changó ta’ bení’. During the delivery of this last song, Santa Rosa was accompanied by a corps of veteran dancers, among them the always remembered “Mike” Ramos, known within the Palladium Mambo Legends and within the Mambo Aces as “Mambo Mike”.

Tony Vega was in charge of the interpretation of ‘Mi amigo el payaso’, ‘Busca el ritmo’, ‘A toda Cuba le gusta’, ‘Arrepentíos pecadores’, ‘El flamboyán’ and ‘El timbal de Carlitos’. Gilberto and Tony were able to transport the audience back to the days when they shared the hits of maestro Rosario’s orchestra, singing ‘Gracias mundo’ and ‘Lluvia’ as a duet. The team that shaped the centennial celebration of the successful bandleader paid attention to every detail of the presentation to make it a historic, unforgettable and unrepeatable one.

Willie Rosario, Tony Vega y Gilberto Santarosa

The detail that “El Caballero de la salsa” imparts to each of his concerts, highlighting each of the artists in the audience also took place in this event. The list of colleagues invited to the concert included Choco Orta, Luisito Carrión, Domingo Quiñones, Moncho Rivera, Ismael Miranda, Bobby Valentín, Jerry Rivas and Chucho Avellanet.

Although it is known that it is impossible to include all the hits of such a great career in three hours of concert, the selection of the repertoire was accurate and forceful. At almost 100 years old, bandleader Willie Rosario proved once again that, with his usual affinque, he continues to lead the salsa dancer’s favorite orchestra.

Also Read: Déjalo, the latest track by Pedro Conga y su Orquesta Internacional

Pedro ”Pocholo” Segundo supports the Spaha Harlem Salsa Museum

At the Spanish Harlem Spaha Museum we always welcome the best of Latin music and, on this occasion, we could not stay behind, so we are glad to have had the opportunity to share with one of the best percussionists of the moment, Pedro Pocholo, who has a very interesting career that we will review below.

Pocholo signing his album — Pedro ”Pocholo” Segundo signing a copy of his album ”A Guapetear” in 2022

Who is Pedro ”Pocholo” Segundo? How were his beginnings in music like?

Pedro ”Pocholo” Segundo is an important producer and percussionist who has made a recognizable name in the Latin music industry thanks to his participation in some of the most critically acclaimed salsa and jazz orchestras.

In music, it all started for him at the young age of 13, which is when he began playing with Ismael Miranda, representing the formal beginning of his professional career as a teenager. His efforts fortunately paid off, since a few years later, he was playing with Andy Montañez.

In 1988, he joined Johnny and Ray’s group, causing him move to New York City, a place that gave him the greatest opportunities he would ever have in the artistic area. He became so well known for his skills as a percussionist that he was sought after by many artists to play with them such as Celia Cruz, Héctor Lavoe, Andy Montañez, Tito Rojas, Tito Nieves, José Alberto ”El Canario”, David Pabón, among many others.

Pocholo playing the cowbell — Pedro ”Pocholo” Segundo playing the cowbell in his studio

Important things Pedro ”Pocholo” Segundo has done in his career

Pedro ”Pocholo” lived many peak moments in the musical aspect, but without a doubt, the possibility to play to former presidents Bill Clinton and Al Gore with Celia Cruz and ”El Rey de Los Timbales” Tito Puente has been extremely important to his prestige as an artist, so he just went for more and more.

This performance would not be the only collaboration he would have with Puente, as he also joined his talent to that of the timbalero in the DVD entitled ”Live at Manhattan Center” and traveled with him, The Big 3 Orchestra and Jimmy Bosch’s group to several countries in South America, Central America and Europe.

Sometime later, in partnership with vocalists Carlos Santos and José Peña, Pocholo formed the group Madera Fina, with which he and his two fellow musicians managed to place some hits such as ”Guarimbo”, ”Palo de Son”, ”Desde Que Te Casaste”in very good places on the charts. They also went to Puerto Rico to promote the group and seek the support of local media such as La Mega 97.9 FM, being this radio station very important in the dissemination of these musicians’ work.

Thanks to the experience gained from belonging to Madera Fina, Pocholo was more than ready to face bigger musical challenges, which led him to take on the creation, production and percussion of Boricua Legends, which has become one of the most popular New York orchestras of the moment.

One of the best years of Boricua Legends was undoubtedly 2015, which was when it released its own version of ”Si Por Mi Llueve”, a song that was part of the world-renowned Cheo Feliciano’s repertory. He also took second place in the GenGenSalsa Top 70 chart and eighth in the LatinosUnidosOnline chart.

Pocholo performing live — Pedro ”Pocholo” Segundo during a live performance

Pocholo supports the Salsa Museum

As many other Latin artists, Pocholo also supported the Spaha Harlem Salsa Museum and was a special guest on The Johnny Cruz Show to talk with the host and director of the museum, who was very pleased to welcome him on his show.

In a video uploaded to Johnny Cruz’s social networks, the host can be seen introducing his guest and saying that they would talk about a number of very interesting topics, such as the beginning of his career, the founding of Boricua Legends and much more. Then, Cruz asks Pocholo to greet the audience and the musician, who was decked in a grayish suit and pink shirt, invites people to tune in to the show and assures them that they will talk about important things such as Latin music in New York and Puerto Rico.

Finally, Johnny closes by saying that viewers can enjoy the show from 3:30pm to 4:30 every Saturday on channel 67 and says goodbye with the song ”La Fama” by Héctor Lavoe playing in the background.

Rey Ruiz’s ‘Contigo’ concert at the Coca Cola Music Hall in Puerto Rico was Phenomenal.

As part of his Contigo tour, Rey Ruiz returned to what he considers his musical homeland: Puerto Rico. Since August 1992, when his first album (Rey Ruiz) was released, he has not stopped singing. He affirms that from the beginning he longed for a concert on Puerto Rican soil like the one he finally achieved on March 23, 2024 at the Coca Cola Music Hall.

Rey Ruiz's 'Contigo' concert at Coca Cola Music Hall in Puerto Rico phenomenal — Rey Ruiz’s ‘Contigo’ concert at Coca Cola Music Hall in Puerto Rico phenomenal

Before the concert, we were counting on hearing the songs that the salsero’s fans turned into hits. Certainly, the Coca Cola Music Hall witnessed how the euphoria with which Rey Ruiz catapulted in the early 90’s was revived. We knew we would hear the usual hits, such as ‘No me acostumbro’, ‘Si me das un beso’, ‘Amiga’, ‘Si te preguntan’, ‘Mi media mitad’, ‘Luna negra’ and ‘Creo en el amor’. To these were added ‘El Rey del mundo’, ‘Mal momento’, ‘El hombre de tu vida’, ‘Así se compone un son’, ‘Es difícil de explicar’ and a medley that included ‘Miénteme’, ‘Estamos solos’ and ‘Eso digo yo’.

An emotional Rey Ruiz sang ‘Cuba y Puerto Rico’, a song of his own authorship, arranged by Papo Lucca, which was included in his 4th album (Destino, 1996). For this special performance he was accompanied by the Puerto Rican cuatro player Prodigio Claudio. The concert was brought to a close with a tasty rendition of ‘Mañana por la mañana’.

Rey Ruiz, whose battle cry also gave the title to one of his musical productions: Fenomenal (2000), clarifies that he is a composer by muse, and that he does not consider himself a composer by trade. However, he is a singer-songwriter by definition, and the composition that best defines him is ‘Si me das un beso’, a song that highlights the Caribbean spark that characterizes his lyrics and interpretations.

Rey Ruiz was one of the soloists who firmly established himself in the salsa scene when salsa romántica was taking over the changing spaces of Latin music. Salsa dura was evolving to give way to the new trend we know today as salsa romántica. With the repertoire with which Tommy Villariny’s production and Jorge Luis Piloto’s pen were shaping the salsa artist’s career, the success was epic. That great takeoff in the career of the icon of salsa romántica was given with the impulse of the person Rey Ruiz calls “the daddy of the chicks”, his promoter: Edgardo Barreras. During the concert, Rey Ruiz made a stop to thank Edgardo and the late Tommy Villariny, who was represented by his son Oscar, for the success of his career.

The performance at the Coca Cola Music Hall of the production by Rosalis Torres exceeded all expectations. It had been anticipated that there would be “a unique experience, a magical night with Rey Ruiz as part of his Contigo tour. The promise of an evening with the incomparable energy of Rey Ruiz on stage was fulfilled. Indeed, Rey Ruiz is a legend. His voice is unique, soft and romantic. However, that “softness” does not detract from his vocal strength, which he managed to show off accompanied by a large orchestra and symphonic sound.

The super orchestra that accompanied Rey Ruiz included Erick Castañeda on congas and musical direction, Elías Lopés, Jr. on timbales, Idelfonso Correa on bongo, Sergio Munera on bass, Héctor Ortiz on piano; Iván Odio, Mario Ortiz and Alfredo Pérez on trumpets; Alexander Zapata and Ramón Benítez on trombones; as well as Alain García, Laura Ruiz and Juan Carlos Gonzales on backing vocals. For the symphonic sound, the chamber orchestra featured Sarli Delgado on double bass and conducting the string ensemble; Leticia Medina, Olga Juliá, Stephanie Berríos Carla Berríos, Mariel Pagán and Emily Reyes on violins; Chrystal Villalongo and Gina Flaz on violas; and Keren Torres and Ruth Brin on cellos.

Rey Ruiz’s more than 30-year musical career confirms that Cuba and Puerto Rico are one bird with two wings. Rey Ruiz is the pride of Cuba and is also the pride of Puerto Rico, his home of always.

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

Here we have Brazilian bandleader and composer Paula Maya

Today we have an exclusive that makes us very happy, since it is a talented artist from a country we had never talked about in this section: Brazil. We are talking about none other than the award-winning bandleader, composer, pianist, keyboardist and singer Paula Maya, with whom we had the privilege to talk by Zoom.

Paula has a very interesting background, since she was born in the South Zone of Rio de Janeiro, the birthplace of the world famous bossa nova genre and the popular composer, pianist and singer Carlos Antonio ”Tom” Jobim. It is clar that this had much to do with artistic inclinations that the woman would show later in her life.

Under her belt, she has several nominations and awards she received thanks to her talent and effort of so many years as her nomination to the Focus Web News Brazilian International Press Awards in the category of Best Brazilian Musician living in the US, her nomination to the Austin Chronicle Music Awards in the category of Top Ten World Music Bands, Winner of the Seattle Weekly Awards in the category of Best Brazilian Composer, her nomination to the Seattle Hot Rocks TV Show Music Awards in the category of Best Female Singer, among others.

Here are the most important topics we touched with lovely Paula about her life and career.

Singer Paula Maya — Brazilian bandleader, composer, pianist, keyboardist and singer Paula Maya

Paula’s early interest in music

Paula first developed an interest in music when she was only four years old or even younger, as she had musical toys such as pianos or keyboards she used to play with all the time. To this it is added that her mother always listened to classical music, which she already found beautiful back then.

What is interest about his direct family is the fact that there were no musicians in it. In fact, her father was a lawyer and her mother was a dancer and yoga instructor, but a cousin of hers was a bandleader, composer and music teacher who traveled to the United States and developed quite a big reputation at the time, so he became an example for Paula, who would end up following in his footsteps in the future.

When she turned 10 years old, she began taking piano lessons, which was her first formal experience with music. Since then, she has continued to learn about a lot of instruments and areas related to this art, which she assures that it is so rich and diverse that you never stop learning new things.

Paula’s mentors in music

Paula has been very fortunate to be mentored by some of the most talented musical celebrities in Brazil and one of them was producer and percussionist Teo Lima, with whom she has continued to work on her latest album to the present. Paula met this Brazilian legend in Seattle, where she lived for 17 years, and music led them to form a great friendship that has lasted until today.

They had wanted to make an album together for many years and it has finally happened, which was a dream for Paula, as she grew up listening to his greatest hits and dreamed about one day meeting him. Not only did she meet him, but also she became his friend and worked with him.

Another name we can leave out is guitarist Baden Powell, whom Paula met in her early twenties and describes him as someone who supported her a great deal in her career and even came to her shows to watch her sing.

Another artist who was important in her training was Luizihno Eça, who was one of the greatest exponents of bossa nova at the time and a great reference for all musicians who wanted to follow in his footsteps.

Paula at ONE-2-ONE BAR — Paula Maya performing at ONE-2-ONE BAR in Austin, Texas

Music theory and the Brazilian Conservatory of Music

Paula comments that, before entering the Brazilian Conservatory of Music, she had an excellent teacher who was a concert pianist of name Luis Magalhães, who taught her the best piano techniques that she uses today in her performances, meaning that she was admitted to the hous of studies with a solid foundation of knowledge that helped her a lot.

In addition to that, music theory has been very useful for Paula at the time of teaching her classes, since she is a music teacher and thinks that all this knowledge is fundamental for an artist’s education, since music is very logical and occasionally you must look for quick answers to certain situations that certainly require studying and academic training.

She also told us that she usually uses music theory when composing because of the theoretical part, but not always.

Paula as a bandleader, pianist, keyboardist and singer

When we asked Paula how she has developed and performed in all these areas of music, she laughs and says that this is just the beginning, as she is also in charge of producing, composing, recording her albums, running the business part, making booking arrangements, among other things. ”That’s the life of a musician nowadays, especially when you don’t have a machinery behind you to back you up” Paula said on this topic.

This means that, apart from all the musical knowledge Paula has, she also takes care of all the details regarding her work, but they do not have to do with her profession directly. She does not have a large team of assistants to back her up, so she manages everything related to her career herself.

Since there are so many things she should do, she has a calendar in which she arranges the day and time to do every activity and always follows it to the letter. The artist says that the hardest thing about this is finding the time to be inspired and compose, since so many occupations, sometimes, do not let her clear her mind. However, she has learned to take full advantage of those few spaces.

Paula playing the keyboard — Paula Maya playing the keyboard at Barton Creek Farmers Market in Austin, Texas

Paula’s role as a Grammy Award voting member

For some time, Paula was a Grammy Awards voting member in its version in English and Spanish, so we could not very well not ask her about this important issue.

She told us that, although it is true that she is no longer part of the committee responsible for voting, social networks and these new forms of communication have made things much easier, since judges and committee members have groups on Facebook, WhatsApp and other platforms where they can conduct the necessary discussions.

In her particular case, what she considered when the time comes to vote for a nominee was talent and how much she liked a type of performance, but all member had their own particular approach to choosing a specific artist.

Something that Paula definitely did not like was that the majority of votes to an artist did not necessarily reward talent, but rather the popularity of the moment and promotion. She thinks this is not entirely fair, since talent, music skills and preparation do not always go hand in hand with popularity, but she is also aware that the ”game” is as well and she had to adapt to it.

Paula Maya & Bosa Nova Plus

Paula says laughing that everybody in Seattle expected her to play bossa nova because she was Brazilian, but she refused to do so. Eventually, she ended up doing exactly what the public expected and started playing bossa nova when she moved to Austin, Texas.

The fact that this Texan city has so many residents and musicians from Brazilian descent living in Austin has been an advantage for this genre to continue to become more popular and this niche to develop more and more. This led her to meet the musicians who have accompanied her in the band, who also came from playing bossa nova and other genres during their respective careers.