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Christmas salsa albums to listen to this December

Christmas albums

Christmas is one of the best times to celebrate with family and friends and a very important element of any celebration is music, especially in Latin countries and communities.

Because we are in December, we thought it would be a great occasion to relive some of the most iconic salsa albums of all time with which our dear readers can enjoy this wonderful month at the rhythm of the most joyful Latin music from some of the best exponents of the genre.

Asalto Navideño Vol. 1

This album should never miss in a list of this type and it could not be in another way, since it is part of the incredible path traveled by the New York orchestra Willie Colón & Héctor Lavoe. The material is the group’s sixth studio album and was recorded during the first week of December 1970.

Prior to this, the boom that was taking the orchestra in those years made Jerry Masucci and Johnny Pacheco suggest to the artists that they take advantage of the fame they had harvested so far to create an album dedicated to Christmas, which they both gladly accepted.

It is then when they got hands on and invited the talented musician Yomo Toro to participate in the album. The artist was not well known by the fans, but he ended up occupying a very important place in the final result.

Although at first, the material was focused on honoring Puerto Rico, but ended up embracing the Latin community living in the U.S., which had been the main responsible for the strengthening of salsa in the liking of the people and the profit received the Fania Records label.

The album was recorded in the studios of Fania Records in New York and had a total of 12 songs dedicated to the most beautiful time of the year. Aires de Navidad” and ”La Murga” are among the most successful tracks of the album and the most listened to so far.

album Asalto Navideño — Cover of the album ”Asalto Navideño Vol. 1”

Nuestra Música

El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico never disappoints and certainly did not do it with its Christmas production ”Nuestra Música”, with which it seeks to pay tribute to this wonderful time and put everyone on dance in their homes during the Christmas holidays.

The album was released in 1985, the year in which salsa was going through a very challenging time, since merengue was gaining a lot of momentum, displacing the aforementioned genre to some extent. However, this was no impediment for the orchestra to demonstrate, contrary to what many believed, that salsa was more alive than ever.

The album’s release was surprising as well as exciting for the fans of El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico, which managed to rescue much of the holiday spirit that was lost and gave life to hits such as ”La Fiesta de Pilito”, ”Desenfunda”, ”Arbolito” and ”No Hay Cama Pa’ Tanta Gente”.

album Nuestra Música — Cover of the album ”Nuestra Música”

Navidad Criolla

Another great recor production that could not miss in this list is ‘‘Navidad Criolla’’ by La Sonora Ponceña. A very particular and different thing about this Christmas album is that, instead of using the typical Christmas aguinaldos, salsa dura is the predominant genre. However, the vocalists and musicians do their best to maintain the essence of Christmas at all times.

The album was released in 1978 and includes the unmistakable voices of Luigi Texidor and Tito Gómez, who add an exciting and cheerful touch to the music with the power of their vocal cords. In addition to that, Adalberto Santiago and Yayo El Indio participated on backing vocals along with the talented musicians of the group.

The album includes songs such as ”Aguinaldo Antillano”, ”De Noche Buena”, ”Canción de Navidad”, ”Vamonos Pa’l Campo”, among others.

album Navidad Criolla — Cover of the album ”Navidad Criolla”

Felices Pascuas

Ricardo Ray and Bobby Cruz delighted the public during the December holidays in 1971 with this extraordinary musical work with which they conquered the public one of those countless times they did it.

Ricardo delighted the duo’s fans from the piano and musical arrangements, while Bobby was on voice and backing vocals. Both artists were accompanied by Miki Vimari on voice and backing vocals, Ismael Cocolia Rodríguez and Ismael Rivera on trumpet, Manolito Gonzales on bongos, José Hidalgo on conga, Charlie Cotto on timbales and Plito Huertas on bass.

Among some of the best-known tracks of the album, we can mention ”Bomba en Navidad”, ”Mi Niñez”, ”Aguinaldo Navideño”, ”Kyrie Eleison”, ”Sinfonia To Cantata No, 29”, and so on.

album Felices Pascuas — Cover of the album ”Felices Pascuas”

The Great Pichie Pérez and his brilliant career

There have been many artists who have supported the Spaha Salsa Gallery due to the multiple contributions made to salsa since its foundation. One of them has been the great Pichie Perez, who gave a fabulous interview to the founder and president of the famous salsa museum in New York, Johnny Cruz.

During the video on the Johnny Cruz’s Facebook account, Piche talks about some of the most important aspects of his professional life and, of course, gives his unconditional support to the Spaha Salsa Museum and the labor it has been fulfilling in recent years. Below are some of the most outstanding details of the artist’s life.

Pichie performing live — Pichie Pérez performing live in Peñuelas, Puerto Rico

Youth

Héctor ”Pichie” Pérez was born on September 24, 1960 in El Bronx, New York, the youngest of three brothers whose parents were Ramón Pérez Rodríguez and Haydée Casiano González, both of Puerto Rican nationality.

After the age of seven, he moved with his family to Ponce, a place where a genre called bugalú became increasingly popular and the boy’s father enjoyed that kind of music, which made Piche begin to be interested in certain artists, especially Pete Rodríguez with his song ”I Like It Like That”.

At the age of 10, his parents decided to move again, but this time to Cañaboa Encarnación, Peñuelas. Some time later, he became part of what would be the first band of his career, Los Metálicos Steel Band, with which the artist began to gain a lot of knowledge about merengue and calypso. When this same group became a sextet under another name, Pichie started singing and playing maracas and güiro.

Pichie was working in several orchestras that gave him the experience he has today such as the Adolfo Grana school orchestra, Orquesta La Intelectual, Orquesta La Preferida, among others.

Pichie and Jerry — Jerry Rivera next to Pichie Pérez

Orquesta La Terrífica and Orquesta La Primerísima

However, his big moment would come when he was part of Orquesta La Terrífica, in which he worked as a vocalist between 1976 and 1981. Additional to this group, Pichie would be in six recordings, among them stands out ”La Terrífica. Sabor a Pueblo”.

Some time later, he would sing in Tommy Valencia’s Orquesta La Primerísima, which would give him the opportunity to share the stage with world famous and acclaimed singer Frankie Ruíz, of whom he cherishes very good memories. Although this is one of the groups for which Pichie would be best known, it was not the last one he was in.

For more than 30 years, he was in La Sonora Ponceña, to which he thanked for all that he achieved and learned during those years. However, there came a point when the singer wanted to make his own way and had to make the tough decision to leave the orchestra and start a solo career, which had ”El Sonero del Bailador” as its starting point in 2016.

Pichie and Frankie — Frankie Ruiz next to Pichie Pérez when they were in La Primerísima

Pichie was expectant before the audience reaction to his solo material, but fortunately, the overall response was very positive, which motivated him to release a new album entitled ”Alegrando La Navidad”.

Nowadays, he has an extraordinary reputation as a solo singer and in orchestral formations, but he also obtained great merits as a güirero and maraquero throughout his artistic career. He also had a great participation as a backing vocalist in many productions and recording sessions to which he added his unique touch.

We welcome Patricio Angulo from Rumbaché to ISM

The San Francisco Bay Area, California, has a lot of talented artists, many of which we have had the privilege to interview in this section to learn all kinds of details about the Latin music scene in this area of the United States. This time, we managed to have an interesting conversation with Patricio Angulo, leader and founder of the orchestra Rumbaché, who kindly answered all the questions we had.

Rumbaché is one of the most important salsa and timba bands in the Bay Area and has a varied repertoire of salsa and contemporary Cuban music that enchants any audience that hears the group perform.

The following are some of the most important issues related to this Latin band and its history.

Patricio playing the timbales — Patricio Angulo playing the timbales on stage

Patricio Angulo’s beginnings in the music world

Patricio has had a long interest in music, which he developed by himself, since he did not have family musicians to encourage these activities in the little boy.

He started playing violin and trumpet, but it was not long before the young boy found he liked drums and orchestral percussion better. He also played some classical music and learned a lot about instruments used in this genre.

When he went to high school, there were several music programs from which Patricio could choose to develop this branch of art depending on his tastes and finally decided on a jazz group with which he started learning to play congas and timbales. This group wanted an extra Latin touch in their music and the boy was chosen for the role.

The musician was very inclined to Latin Jazz at the time, but then, he was listening to other Latin genres until he discovered Cuban and Caribbean Salsa, which would be very important in the musical future of the artist.

Recruiting talent for Rumbaché

For years, he group Rumbaché, previously called Quimbombó, was forming from musicians Patricio considered played well, since for him this is most important.

However, he emphasized that each orchestra has its own needs and highlighted the vocals as an example of that, as they are very necessary for dance music like the one they play. Likewise, professionalism and experience are two aspects taking into account by him when evaluating a candidate.

In another order of ideas, the musician considers that Latin roots are not a key element in playing salsa or other genres of this type very well, since there are many singers and musicians who have never had contact with Latin genres or instruments can learn to play them without any problem. It is a matter of effort and discipline.

Whole orchestra Rumbaché — This is the whole orchestra Rumbaché posing for the camera

Origin of the name Rumbaché and the Yoruba Religion

From what we have read about Rumbaché, the origin of the name and its relation with the Yoruba religion caught our attention. Rumbaché is a combination of the words ”rumba” (This word can mean ”party” and ”celebration”) and ”ache” (in the Cuyuní language, ”ache” is something very good and pleasant).

Something that Patricio wanted to clarify is that the music of his orchestra is not religious and has nothing to do with the Yoruba religion beyond some choruses and words as there are in many Cuban songs. In fact, they try to have a varied repertoire so as not to bore the audience.

Rumbaché’s activity in clubs

Rumbaché has featured heavily in festivals and renowned clubs in the San Francisco Bay Area such as Sausalito Seahorse, The Cigar Bar & Grill, Rassela’s Jazz Club, Moe’s Alley, Blue Note, among others. It is undeniable that the group has ample experience in performing in these types of venues.

That is why we took this opportunity to ask Patricio how the movement is going in these places when it comes to hiring orchestras in recent years, to which he replied that the presence of orchestras in local venues has decreased dramatically in recent years, especially after the pandemic.

Likewise, because of this same situation, there were many clubs that began to close their doors indefinitely, making it very difficult for Rumbaché to play live regularly.

Once the pandemic was relaxed, Patricio says that a few venues survived, but there were too many orchestras for the few available stages. This led them to opt for festivals, concert series and private shows.

Every night there was a pen club, but that has changed radically and Patricio and the other members of Rumbaché have had to adapt to the circumstances.

Rumbaché live — Rumbaché performing live

Oye Productions

In addition to Rumbaché, Patricio also has his own entertainment company called Oye Productions, with which he is responsible for providing live music for all kinds of events. Obviously, he gives priority to Rumbaché, but he also offers the services of guitarists, trios and all sorts of musicians.

What the company seeks to focus on is providing musical entertainment for private parties such as a business meeting or something more personal such as a wedding.

He always tries to hire musicians who play all kinds of instruments and genres to perform varied shows for each event. He also seeks to look for artists he knows beforehand and who he is sure will do an excellent job.

Activities outside Rumbaché

Patricio also indicated that one of his most important occupations outside Rumbaché was teaching congas, timbales and drums. He also teaches drums to children once a week.

These activities bring happiness to the musician and he always looks for the opportunity for these youngsters he teaches to have some knowledge of Latin percussion and get to know our music much better.

Lengaïa Salsa Brava is killing it in Montréal

Latin talent can be found where you might least expect it and, this time we found it in the city of Montreal, Canada, a place that is cultivating an increasingly large and vigorous Latin music scene. On this occasion, we were thrilled to be able to talk to Giany-Frantz Huyghues-Despointes, who is the leader and founder of the orchestra Lengaïa Salsa Brava.

Lengaïa Salsa Brava is a 12-member salsa orchestra that was created in 2012 by Giany, who was also a trombonist and had some experience in the world of music before daring to create his own group.

The effort of all its members has enabled them to collaborate with great performers of the genre and win important awards such as the Canada Latin Awards in the category of ”Salsa Group of the Year” in a row in 2017 and 2018 respectively.

Lengaïa Salsa Brava has also performed approximately 30 concerts a year since its foundation and has participated in important festivals such as Toronto Salsa Festival, Festival Nuit Blanche de Montreal, Nuits d’Afrique, among others. The group was greatly helped by the fact that its members come from different countries such as French Guyana, Cuba, Colombia, Peru, Quebec, Spain and Venezuela.

This interesting journey shows us how hard this group has worked to achieve a place within the industry and all the potential they have to achieve much more than what was obtained. Today, Giany, its founder, shares a little more about himself and his orchestra Lengaïa Salsa Brava.

Giany, founder of Lengaïa Salsa Brava — Giany Huyghues Despointes, director and founder of Lengaïa Salsa Brava

Giany’s beginnings as a musician

Although the trombone is the instrument for which Giany is known, he started playing the trumpet from 10 years of age, which is when he began his interest in this branch of the art.

An important point is that in French Guyana, the country where Giany was born, salsa is not a predominant genre, since the most played by the French Guyanese is the mazurka, which is very similar to the Haitian compas. In the case of Giany’s family, they listened to a bit of everything, including salsa.

A turning point for the artist was watching Celia Cruz singing on tv one day. The musician had never heard the Cuban singer before and it was an incredible experience for him, as her deep voice, colorful outfit and wig caught his attention at the time.

Because of her deep voice, he thought she was a man, but his mother explained to him who Celia was and, months later, took him to a concert to see her live. That performance of ”La Guarachera de Cuba” marked him so much that he would begin to lean towards music in the future. Today, he says that Celia is a spiritual mother to him, as she was his great inspiration.

Along with being a fan of the Cuban singer, he wanted to learn to play instruments and initially opted for the piano and the guitar, but that changed when his Spanish teacher at school gave him a trumpet and he discovered that he really liked to play it.

Some time later, he graduated from the national school of music in his country and, by the time he turned 18, Giany noticed that his musical skills excelled more with the trombone than the trumpet. This is how he decided to choose the trombone as his main instrument and so it has been to the present time.

He started playing classical music with that instrument but soon discovered that he wanted to return to the genre that captivated him when he was just a child, so he dared to create a group in France, where he studied aviation. The thing is that he went to live in Canada six months later and had to abandon the plans he had at that time.

Founding of Lengaïa Salsa Brava

Giany arrived in Canada with the vision to create another group in his new country of residence, but he did not know any musicians yet, so he moved into action and started placing ads on social networks and other virtual means to communicate with artists who were interested in joining his project.

The results were amazing and there were many musicians who contacted Giany because of their interest in the concept proposed by him. With this group, he started assembling the orchestra in order to give form to what Lengaïa Salsa Brava is today. The orchestra has six years with the same staff and format it presents to the public today.

Huge number of nationalities in Lengaïa Salsa Brava

As for the large number of nationalities living in the orchestra, Giany has said that all ”are part of a big family” hinting that national origins have not been a problem for the smooth development of the group. In addition to that, the salsa brava is a genre widely known worldwide, so the members of the orchestra knew in advance what they were getting into.

To what we must add that these guys work or have worked in other salsa brava orchestras, so they were pretty much steeped in everything related to this beautiful music.

Giany says it is very easy to work with his musicians because they always know how to perfectly interpret what he wants.

Lengaïa at one of its concerts — Lengaïa Salsa Brava at one of its concerts

Origin of the name Lengaïa Salsa Brava

When Giany was looking for a name for the group, he wanted something different and not very Latin sounding. He also wanted people to ask what the name meant, so we have fallen into the trap.

The musician explained that he wanted something that refers to how explosive, energetic and aggressive his music is, so he chose the name inspired by a Tanzanian volcano called Ol Doinyo Lengaï that spews black lava. ”When you see a volcano exploding, you imagine something explosive and aggressive at the time. That’s what we want to reflect with our music”. Also, the fact that its lava is black is something different from other volcanoes, as is the group’s orchestration and technique,

Activities outside Lengaïa Salsa Brava

Giany wanted to emphasize that all the members of Lengaïa Salsa Brava have other jobs and work activities outside the orchestra. In his particular case, he works as a commercial pilot, but in his spare time, he devotes himself as much as he can to his great passion which is music.

So far, Giany and the other members of the orchestra are unable to live solely on music, but they do their best to keep the group together and are there to fulfill Lengaïa Salsa Brava whenever necessary.

Although the orchestra has been a second employment option, it is undeniable that this is their great vocation and the engine that moves his life, so there will always be space for it.

“The Sun of Latin Music” the first Grammy Award for Salsa Eddie Palmieri’s historic album

It has been 49 years since “The Sun of Latin Music”, Eddie Palmieri’s historic album, which marked a fundamental milestone in the history of Latin music by becoming the first production to win a Grammy Award in the category of Best Latin Recording, awarded on February 28, 1976.

"The Sun of Latin Music" the first Grammy of Salsa Eddie Palmieri's historic album — “The Sun of Latin Music” the first Grammy of Salsa Eddie Palmieri’s historic album

Recorded in New York at Electric Lady Studios, the album was released by Coco Records on Wednesday, September 18, 1974.

The album featured vocals by Lalo Rodríguez, who was only 16 years old at the time.

It includes: ‘Nada De Ti’, ‘Deseo Salvaje’, ‘Una Rosa Española’, ‘Nunca Contigo’, ‘Un Día Bonito’, ‘Mi Cumbia’.

“The Sun of Latin Music” proved to the world that Latin music, especially Salsa, was an honorable art form and opened the doors for many other Latin artists to receive solid recognition for their talent and work.

Eddie Palmieri

The sun of Latin music

MP, 1990. MP-3109 CD

Recorded in 1975

The Sun of Latin Music was a controversial album. It was too far from the easy formula of the middle salsa boom – what César Miguel Rondón calls the “mtancerization of salsa”.

“Ahead of its time” was one of the comments; “a piece like Un día bonito, had to be mutilated” with a 6-minute piano intro just to be able to play it on the radio; a danzón (Una rosa española) with lyrics by the Beatles; a cumbia that is not very Colombian, despite the name (Mi cumbia) and the chorus that says “very Colombian…”.

Nevertheless, this album represents the strength of the spirit of salsa: the encounter between the harshness of the street and the majesty of the most sophisticated musical sound.

One of the best albums of Caribbean music ever released.

Palmieri was always in search of something new. The Sun Of Latin Music is the culmination of a phase that began with an earlier album, Sentido (1974).

This time he chose the Panamanian Vitín Paz for the trumpet solo, Barry Rogers for his trombone and an unusual tuba, which formed a kind of basso continuo, and besides Barry, José Rodrigues, who for a long time was, and despite his absence still is, his most emblematic trombonist.

Cover of issue 36 of Latin New York magazine (April 1976) where Eddie Palmieri appears.

Ronnie Cuber and Mario Rivera were chosen as the first saxophonists in a Palmieri orchestra.

For many it is Palmieri’s best album, the most experimental and universal. One that borders on academic music, but without forgetting the dancer.

With spices like the violin of Alfredo de la Fe, who contributes his creativity everywhere, the tuba, the penetrating power of the brass, the overwhelming percussion.

Thus, Una rosa española is a modern danzón that later becomes a montuno that revives the joyful Palmerian game with the dignified uproar of trumpets, saxophones and trombones.

A young man of only 17 years, Lalo Rodríguez, who years later would become the standard-bearer of what was called salsa erotica, was chosen as the singer. Another novelty: the timbre of his voice, with a very high register, and the way he faced the montuno, which did not correspond to his age, caused different reactions.

But the most amazing thing about this 1974 album is the 14:20-minute track Un día bonito, arranged by Barry Rogers, which would keep even the most trained dancers busy. But Palmieri wasn’t just thinking about leg sets or dance floors.

The piece begins with a long piano interlude, the same structure he used in the track Adoración from the album Sentido, which would mark a new musical phase in his career.

It was more than experimental, it had some electro-acoustic music; no one had ever had the audacity to do that on a salsa album. Palmieri made the leap, he could do it, it sounded more like Stravinsky or Milhaud than Puente or Fania.

Suddenly, back in the piece, the orchestra bursts in, harder and heavier than ever, wishing the city of Los Angeles a beautiful day and San Francisco a “warm greeting,” and it is certain that Keruack and Borrough heard the call.

Then Eddie Palmieri was consecrated by the intellectuals and the educated and also by the Grammy.

Eddie Palmieri

The sun of Latin music

Produced by Harvey Averne

Eddie Palmieri: piano

Lalo Rodríguez: vocals

Vitín Paz: trumpet

Virgil Jones: trumpet

Barry Rogers: trombone, tenor tuba

José Rodrigues: trombone

Ronnie Cuber: Baritone Saxophone, Flute

Mario Rivera: Baritone Saxophone, Flute

Alfredo de la Fe: Violin

Eddie Guagua Rivera: Bass

Tommy Chuckie Lopez, Jr.: Bongo

Eladio Pérez: conga

Nicky Marrero: timbales, percussion

Peter Gordon: French Horn

Tony Price: Tuba

Jimmy Sabater: Chorus

Willie Torres: Chorus

Tommy López Sr.: conga

Tracks: Nada de ti; Deseo salvaje; Una rosa española; Nunca contigo; Un día bonito; Mi cumbia

Arrangements by René Hernández and Barry Rogers

One of the most valuable pieces in the exhibition “Rhythm and Power: Salsa in New York”, which will be presented until next November at the Museum of the City of the Big Apple, is the first Grammy in the history of Latin music, awarded in 1976 to Eddie Palmieri for his album “Sun of Latin Music”.

Sources:

Anapapaya

Salsero Radio

D j. Augusto Felibertt

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