| DIRECTORY OF NIGHTCLUBS | ||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Search Results for: Puerto Rico
Cajiao, says he always had a taste for good music: the tangos and ballads of the 50s and 60s
Danilo Cajiao was born on February 9, 1969 in Cali Colombia son of Marina Munevar and Antonio Cajiao family with three siblings Walter, Patricia and Raul.
From my father I inherited the musical taste for Afro Antillean rhythms, we listened at home to the Sonora Matancera, Benny More, Arsenio, Daniel Santos and many more.
There was always a taste for good music: the tangos and ballads of the 50s and 60s.
When I was a student I participated in several music festivals at school and I was part of several dance and Andean music groups.
I always liked salsa and my favorite artist of the genre will always be Angel Canales.
After the appearance of the program “YO ME LLAMO” in Colombia I was motivated to start the process to achieve the perfect imitation of Angel Canales.
I began my presentations in small salsa bars with a dance floor and I did about 4 songs of Diferente, as I went along the character was being perfected and the public and the owners of the bars were asking for something more.
I then created “the Orchestra SON DE LA 8″ in 2013 with the purpose of making the accompaniment and mount all the music of the different Angel Canales.
The market was opening and the support of the salseros was very large, We have had much acceptance in the salsero environment in Colombia.
Participating in major events locally, nationally and internationally:
Leyendas Vivas De la Salsa in Medellin Colombia,
Salsa al Parque Cali, Salsa al Parque Bogotá, Homenaje a la Salsa, Tributo a los salseros and Noche Blanca.
I have alternated and shared stages with several national and international artists and orchestras.
Orquesta Brodway, Orquesta Colon, Nelson y sus Estrellas, Gran Combo de Puerto Rico, Henry Fiol, Adalberto Santiago, Luisito Carrión, Papo Cocote, Cano Estremera, Moncho Santana, Orquesta Zodiac, Luigui Texidor, Frankie Vásquez, Tony Molina, Orlando Marín, Orquesta la Inmensidad and Orquesta la 33.
International presentations:
Guayaquil Ecuador and Caracas Venezuela.
Endorsed and supported by the family of ANGEL CANALES and by him I have taken my tribute to the most recognized places and salsa clubs in Colombia.
Apart from accompanying the Diferente Angel Canales with the orchestra Son de la 8 we have made our own music always keeping the line of heavy salsa and with good taste.
Angel Luis Canales “El Diferente”.
There were nine record productions by Angel Canales between 1975 and 1987, twelve productive years.
By 1970 Angel Luis Canales had put his voice on an album by African-American pianist Mark Dimond, and five years later Dimond’s orchestra was renamed “Angel Canales y Sabor”.
The immense musical freedom of Ángel Luis Canales Canales has much to do with the determining influence exerted on him by Rafael Cortijo, Ismael Rivera and the irreverence of the Combo de Cortijo as a whole.
The difference was that those two masons did not have enough money to support their ideas economically (discographically speaking) while Canales had enough because of the money he earned from his profession as a jeweler and diamond cutter.
That’s why he didn’t lower his head to anyone, that’s why he didn’t give in to any advantageous record contracts and made his own record label, that’s why he never paid or bribed radio producers, and he dressed the way he wanted.
That’s why the conservative salseros kept a CIA-like eye on him. And Canales revolutionized everything in his path: from his clothing to his vocal and orchestral arrangements, his presentations and his choice of repertoire.
By 1970 Angel Luis Canales had put his voice on a record by the Afro-American pianist Mark Dimond, and five years later Dimond’s orchestra was renamed “Angel Canales y Sabor”, and with it he would make a mark like few others in the world of salsa, from his total independence, to the freedom for the musicians, his revolutionary shaved head, and a wardrobe that had nothing to do with the salseros, in addition to his voice, repertoire and arrangements. Ángel Canales recorded in 1979 the album “El sentimiento del latino en Nueva York”, and an exquisite version of “Dos Gardenias”, by Cuban composer Isolina Carrillo.
“El sentimiento del latino en Nueva York” was a clarinada similar to “Imágenes Latinas”, the song by Argentine Bernardo Palombo presented a year earlier by Conjunto Libre, in terms of its contents of denunciation and clamor for justice. “Es el sonido que el americano oye/ y no entiende” (It’s the sound that the American hears/ and doesn’t understand).
Musical childhood
Ángel Luis Canales was born on June 29, 1950 in Santurce, Puerto Rico, son of Ángel Luis Canales and Ana Ilda Canales.
At the age of 8 he was already in New York with his parents, who liked to listen to romantic music and also to Cortijo y su Combo.
The Puerto Rican country song was also among his favorites; it was the jíbara song of his people. In time Canales would indicate that Cortijo and Ismael were determining influences in his musical and social journey.
Much has been said that his current retirement is due to Parkinson’s disease, but Ángel Luis Canales is there, he attends private invitations of his friends and remains in the battle line of salsa and life. He is currently 73 years old.
In those years and in school he was more inclined to practical workshops than books and that is why he went to work, recommended by one of his teachers in a jewelry store where from being a messenger he would learn all the secrets of the art of cutting, polishing and mounting diamonds. He became a professional, solvent, and with an extraordinary clinical eye that would serve him a lot later.
Vista larga, his new friends did not speak Spanish, his native language, but fortunately Angel Luis had peers of his generation, and Latinos like the Lebron brothers and Willie Colon himself.
He also took a long view of his internship in the U.S. Army and later assimilated the new trends that emerged in the music being made in New York.
He started out firmly, as we have already mentioned, with pianist Mark Dimond (Markolino), who had been linked to Willie Colón. With Mark he added his voice to some of the songs on the album “Brujería” and later, with the departure of the pianist, the orchestra was renamed “Ángel Canales y Sabor”.
With this band he would record “Sabor” in 1975 and other albums until “El Sentimiento del latino en Nueva York” in 1979.
Two years before the recording of this album, in 1977 Angel Canales made his first visit to a Latin American country, Panama, and the reception he received was such that he would later write a song dedicated to that country.
The same happened during his visit to Venezuela on November 13 and 14, 1981, which became a musical commotion of great proportions at the Poliedro de Caracas.
Likewise in Colombia and Peru he felt the devotion of the public of those nations. Perhaps he did not know the scope of his work and the projection he already had.
Much has been said that his current retirement is due to Parkinson’s disease, but Angel Luis Canales is there, he attends private invitations of his friends and remains in the battle line of salsa and life. He is currently 73 years old.
Source: TeleSurTv
Oskar Cartaya “My Music, My Friends, My Time” He counted with the collaboration of illustrious friends such as Eddie Palmieri, Giovanni Hidalgo, Dave Valentín and Justo Almario.
Friendship and personal relationships seem to have always played a key role in Oskar Cartaya‘s recording career.
This was demonstrated Cartaya in his first recording, “My Music, My Friends, My Time” (2004) in which he had the collaboration of illustrious friends such as Eddie Palmieri, Giovanni Hidalgo, Dave Valentín and Justo Almario.
This is also demonstrated by the second one, “Lifetime Friends”, which he co-led with trumpeter Humberto Ramírez and which was chosen as one of the best Puerto Rican productions of 2015.
For the bassist, arranger, composer and producer – born in New York and raised in Bayamon – connections with other people are a vital element for the development of any musician.
Those connections coupled with the tenacity Cartaya has always shown to continually improve himself as a musician allowed him to be part of the legendary progressive jazz-rock group Spyro Gyra for five years, produce albums for Willie Colón or Herb Alpert, and play with a long list of stars including Jennifer López, Christina Aguilera, Rubén Blades, Héctor Lavoe, Tito Nieves, Tania María, Arturo Sandoval, Steve Winwood and Randy Brecker, among others.
To all of them he has lent the sound of his electric bass, able to insert itself with total naturalness in modern jazz, Cuban rumba, Spanish flamenco or Brazilian cadences, but without ever losing its funky essence, which gives rhythmic impulse to the musical genre before him. For Cartaya, music is not a profession, but a passion of life.
That passion manifested itself at a very early age, when he told his Cuban-born father that he wanted to be a musician when he was just 10 years old. He completed his initial studies at the Escuela Libre de Música de San Juan, which he remembers with pride and affection.
However, he has affirmed that his first real musical school were the records of Willie Colón and Héctor Lavoe, which he listened to at full volume in his room.
At the Escuela Libre de Música he was able to meet teachers and classmates who today are great masters of Latin music and colleagues of his, such as Humberto Ramírez himself. He also studied at the Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico.
Cartaya recalls that, although he studied chamber music in school, his real passion was Latin music…until he discovered jazz, thanks to an album by the great bassist Stanley Clarke. A new world opened up to his ears.
“I found a freedom in jazz that I didn’t find in Latin styles,” the musician said in an interview. “In salsa, for example, the maximum is when you are playing as part of a unit. Unlike jazz, whose pinnacle is when all the musicians improvise and go crazy playing, but everyone knows what they are doing.”
At 18, Cartaya moved to Los Angeles, where he began studying at the Musicians Institute of Technology. There he practiced for 15 hours a day, a devotion that brought him his first recognition: being accepted as a professor at the prestigious institution, two years after graduating from it.
However, his restless spirit and continuous desire to improve led him to make what he has described as the best decision of his life, moving to New York City. In the Big Apple – the place many consider the jazz capital of the world – he had the privilege of playing and recording with the late Argentine pianist Jorge Dalto; with Willie Colón and Rubén Blades; Celia Cruz, Tito Puente and Dave Valentín.
“I learned a lot, matured and saw firsthand what it was like to be on my own,” the bassist said in an interview about this period of his life. “If the opportunity was going to be given to me, it wasn’t going to come to my house. I would have to look for it.” And so he did.
At that time he also had the opportunity to meet the late rock icon Prince, at his Paisley Park, Minneapolis studios, and to become a member of Spyro Gyra. By being accepted into that group over 10 other bass players auditioning for the position, Cartaya realized that success belongs to those who work hard and have faith in themselves.
“I was able to show a lot of people that there’s nothing worse than feeling bad about yourself if you don’t try,” he said in an interview. “All the nights I played for free or for five bucks to earn a chance were well worth it.”
In 1997, the bassist produced the “Passion Dance” recording project for veteran trumpeter Herb Alpert, an experience he has described as a new learning experience in his career, as well as a chance to expose himself to a wider audience.
“My Music, My Friends, My Time,” released in 2004, is a fusion of Latin, Brazilian, American and Flamenco rhythms that was very well received by critics.
“I wanted to do a project that would fill that gap that exists between Latin music and the world. I truly believe that the world needs to know that Latin musicians can do countless things within music, without throwing away their roots,” Cartaya said of the recording.
“Lifetime Friends,” produced alongside Ramirez, was described upon its release in 2015 as “an album of a cohesive and jubilant band,” in which all participating musicians – representatives of the new jazz generation in Puerto Rico – have a chance to stand out. “It’s the album we always wanted to make… to describe almost 40 years of friendship,” Cartaya and Ramírez indicated.
In 2017, Oskar presented the production “Bajo mundo” in tribute to the great Cuban bassist Israel “Cachao” López. This intense, exuberant album, with a multiplicity of rhythms, colors and guest musicians was distinguished as one of the most outstanding productions of the year by the National Foundation for Popular Culture.
It also won a Latin Grammy Award nomination in the category of Best Latin Jazz Album.
Source: Rafae Vega Curry
National Foundation for Popular Culture
“This biography is part of the archives of the National Foundation for Popular Culture. In our interest to disseminate knowledge about our great figures, it may be cited as a basis for research studies or as an assignment for pedagogical purposes, as long as credit is given to the Foundation and its author, if indicated. All rights reserved. The reproduction of the same in any printed, technical or mass media, with or without commercial purposes, is not authorized without prior written request to the Foundation and its consequent approval”.
Also Read: “The Sun of Latin Music” the first Grammy Award for Salsa Eddie Palmieri’s historic album
Julio Vilchez and his orchestra conquer Miami
Peru continues to give us something to talk about thanks to all the salsa talent coming out that country in recent years and today we had the opportunity to talk with one of them, which is the producer, composer and singer Julio Vilchez.
After we communicated with Vilchez via email and WhatsApp to schedule an interview, we have managed to have a great conversation in which we knew a little more about the artist’s beginnings in this fascinating world that is music.
Childhood and musical roots in the Vilchez family
It is not surprising that Vilchez took that parth of life considering that his father, Juan José Vilchez Sanchez, was a talented actor, comedian and professional dancer who carried music in the blood and ran some of the most famous salsa clubs in the city of Lima, which served as a stage for important national and international groups and singers of all genres.
Having referred with admiration to his father because of all that he achieved in life thanks to music, he assured that music definitely ran through the veins of his family and had always been a very important part of his childhood and youth.
Seeing all this, the years were not many when Vilchez became interested in musical instruments such as maracas, the bongo bell and the güiro, which led him to participate in groups such as Raíces, La Fragua and Soy Calidad.
Salsa and other genres
A large majority of Peruvian artists whom we had the honor to interview have typically ventured in Peruvian Creole music before getting involved in salsa, but not Vilchez. In fact, he pointed out to us that his country was heavily influenced by Cuba musically speaking and there used to be a time when groups from the island visited Peru such as La Sonora Matancera and Los Compadres. Peru also received influence from Colombia, Venezuela and Puerto Rico, although to a lesser extent.
The artist also remembers that, at home, he and his family always used to listen to Venezuelan singers and orchestras such as La Dimensión Latina, Oscar D’ León, Luisito Quintero, Nati Y Su Orquesta, among others. In the case of Puerto Rico, of course Vilchez and his family used to listen to La Fania All Stars.
Formal beginnings of Julio Vilchez in music
In the neighborhood Vilchez and his family lived in, the singer made friends with other local boys and met up with them to sing in a completely amateur way. In addition to that, he liked to participate in school talent shows, in which he delighted the crowd performing songs from Oscar D’León, Rubén Blades and Willie Colón.
After attaining the age of 17, he began working alongside his father in the business of running clubs, which gave him the opportunity to spend time with the members of the orchestra La Progresiva del Callao, who performed on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays in one of those places.
Since Vilchez loved to dance and the orchestra focused a lot on its choreographies, the young man identified himself a lot with the group and began to learn the steps the singers performed on stage. One day, the boys saw him dancing and invited him to sing with them in one of their shows, in which he danced very well, but he did not sing in the best way. For this reason, he got the opportunity to stay permanently in the orchestra, but only as a dancer for the moment.
Over time, he was grabbing experience on stage and getting over stage fright until he managed to keep up with the rest of his orchestra fellows with the passing of days.
Vilchez’s time in Venezuela
Vilchez made friends with a group of Venezuelan musicians who accompanied Oscar D’ León in one of his concerts and invited him to travel with them to Venezuela because they wanted him to be part of the sextet they were going to create, which was meant to perform at a tavern in Caracas.
Seeing that things were going well in Venezuela at that time, Vílchez decided to accept the invitation and immigrate to the South American country to try his luck. Once there, he spent a lot of time alone because the boys from the sextet traveled a lot, something which took advantage to get to know other groups, one of them being La Selecta de Cúa. One day, Vilchez was walking down the street and heard this orchestra rehearsing, but it needed a singer. That is when Vilchez proposed himself as an option, was admitted and worked for about two years in this orchestra.
Although he did well in Venezuela, he ended up returning to his native country because he missed his homeland and his father could not get used to having him away, so he packed suitcases and decided to return.
Life in the United States
One of the songs he released in 1995 led him to make a video clip, which started to become very popular on music channels and shows, giving him the recognition Vilchez aimed for so long.
Since things were not going as he expected on his solo career, he joined the Orquesta La Novel to continue working on music for the next two years. Although his name was not as well known as Vilchez needed it to be, his song was still sounding loud internationally for quite some time, which led him to receive a proposal to perform eight shows with his orchestra in the United States in 2000.
When Vilchez and the rest of the musicians traveled to Miami, about nine members of the orchestra received proposals to stay in the country and decided to accept. It was there where the artist gathered his courage and says to himself ”I’m staying too”. That was over 24 years ago now.
At that point, the Peruvian had to look for other musicians to replace the others in order to finish the concert tour they had scheduled. It was then when he contacted José Alberto ”El Canario” through a Peruvian colleague of his to use his band for the remainder of the tour and so he did. Vilchez did two or three shows with this band and stayed in Miami from 2001 to 2004.
Given the lack of musical proposals, he spent a few years in New York, but returned to Miami some time later to work both with music and with a business sector linked to gastronomy, since living only from music is complicated. In addition to that, his children live in Miami and he wanted to spend more time with them, so this was also a powerful reason to return.
Read also: Argentine-American composer and guitarrist Alejandro Meola kindly talked to us
Benny Moré. The story of Cuba’s biggest crowd idol
Latin America / Cuba / La Habana
Who is Benny Moré? He is not just another musician, he is unanimously the most brilliant popular artist that has existed on the Afro-Cuban island. He is the symbol, the myth, the legend, it is undoubtedly the summary of the popular, rich and abundant music of Cuba.
Benny Moré symbolizes the peasant “Guateque”, the “Sarao”, the bohemian, the coffee, the bar, the theater, the party, carnivals, the show. “El Bárbaro del Ritmo” was the most popular in Afro-Cuban music.
He was born on August 24, 1919 at seven in the morning in the Pueblo Nuevo neighborhood of the town of Santa Isabel de las Lajas, belonging to the Cienfuegos province. His parents were Virginia Moré and Silvestre Gutiérrez, and Benny was the oldest of 18 siblings. His last name Moré came from Ta Ramón Gundo Moré (slave of the Count Moré), who, according to the tradition of the Congos, was his first king in Santa Isabel de las Lajas.
Benny was gifted with a fluent tenor voice that gave life with great expressiveness and this context was definitive for his future career in music. He learned to play the insundi, the yuka drums, the Makuta and Bembé, invocators of deities, with whom he not only sang and danced to perfection, but also played the son, the guaracha and the rumba.
Since he was a child he expressed his great vocation for music, he would spend all day humming a song or improvising and directing ensembles composed of machetes, bongos made with milk cans, guitars made with a board and nails with strings of string sew, two sticks as keys, and so on.
Moré was a teacher in all genres of Cuban music
The “Bárbaro del Ritmo” could always be found standing on a table singing and playing, surrounded by listeners. Bartolomé spent his childhood and adolescence, with no opportunity for study or permanent employment. Like his brother Teodoro, Bartolomé was enrolled in the School of Public Instruction “José de la Luz y Caballero”, where he always stood out for his conduct and application.
Why is the Bacardi symbol a bat?
Since he was a child, Moré had skills for singing and improvisation, which he demonstrated when he was barely seven years old, when he would run away for a few hours to entertain parties in the neighborhood and loved singing notes with his mother, to prevent her from sleeping while ironing late into the night.
His voice was particularly highlighted in the Son Montuno, the Mambo, and the Bolero
Benny went through a complicated life, but he was willing to do anything to achieve his dreams of triumph. With almost 20 years of age, in 1940 Bartolomé said goodbye to his mother at the Hotel Ritz in the Central Vertientes, where she worked, and traveled hidden, indistinctly, by train and truck to the City of Havana. He was definitely in the mission to try his luck in the bustling city!
Since then, he was seen by the famous neighborhood of Belen, with a guitar acquired in a pawnshop, wandering through cafes, bars, hotels, restaurants, and even brothels. That same year he told his cousin: “I stay in Havana, I rise up here or I sink”. From that moment began the saga of concerts at the bars of the port avenue … Once remembering those times, he confessed: “I threw myself into the street with a guitar on my shoulder to sing to tourists. I am not ashamed of it; Carlos Gardel also did it in Argentina and is the king of tango. ”
At that time, the CMQ station began broadcasting the Supreme Court of Art. Bartolomé Maximiliano Moré appeared in that program that Germán Pinelli and José Antonio Alonso encouraged. After presenting it and at the moment of beginning his presentation, they rang the bell.
Later Bartolomé returned to Monte and Prado to the Supreme Court and on this second occasion he won the first prize. Possessing a fresh voice, beautiful timbre, sensual and evocative. Bartolo sang with all the inner strength that claimed the Cuban rhythms.
In one of his raids, Siro Rodríguez, member of the famous Matamoros Trio, heard him sing in the bar of El Templete restaurant, on Avenida del Puerto, and was very impressed by the boy’s voice and tuning.
The entry of Bartolomé to the group of Miguel Matamoros was a fact and can be considered as his real debut as a professional singer, because with this group he had for the first time a steady job as a musician and made his first recordings on 78 revolutions per minute discs.
Benny knew he had a voice, the luck and a destiny. Perhaps he sensed it, intuited it, or simply trusted his triumph. When he started with Miguel Matamoros and his group, I already wanted to make changes in the picket line.
In Mexico, when Miguel became ill, he was able to direct the group, took control and enjoyed the “Cuates” in El Patio cabaret. When the contract ended, the Matamoros group returned to Havana, but without Bartolomé, who decided to try his luck by himself in Mexico.
When he communicated his decision to the famous author of El Son Siembra Su Maíz, Miguel Matamoros said: “It’s very good, but you have to change the name of Bartolo, which is very ugly. With that name you will not go anywhere”, You are right, Bartolo replied, from today I will call myself Benny, yes, Benny Moré. ”
The owner of the business was hypnotized by the very tasty atmosphere that Benny led as director. After singing with several push orchestras in Mexico, he planted himself beautifully with the most famous band of the 20th century: Pérez Prado and the Cuban mambo.
With this meeting two geniuses joined: Benny Moré had talent and natural intuition; in Pérez Prado, in addition to all that, the mastery of technique and an enormous facility to make music. With Perez Prado he conquered the noble Aztec people on tours of different states of that sister country.
Due to the success achieved by Benny, the town gave him the title of “Prince of Mambo” and Pérez Prado, “King of Mambo“. He sang like nobody else in the world and began his international promotion.
By that time, Benny’s voice was known in Panama, Colombia, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Venezuela, and of course, in his native Cuba.
In the joyful world of nightlife in Mexico City, the Cuban singer performed in many theaters, including Margo, Blanquita, Folliers and Cabaret Waikiki, alternating with renowned artists such as the legendary star Yolanda Montes (Tongolele), the Mexican Toña la Negra, and the outstanding cuban pianist and composer, Juan Bruno Tarraza, of whom Benny sang the bolero “It’s already twelve o’clock”.
Benny participates in many films and upon his return to Cuba, he was already certain that he had to be counted on.
The nostalgia for his family, friends, for the Homeland, and the desire to obtain laurels on his Island, where he considered that he was not known enough, made him return to his beloved Lajas at the end of the year 50. The ‘sonero mayor’ was definitely in Cuba, where he had left behind comforts, material and spiritual satisfactions, friends and even the loves that the successful do not usually lack.
During the following two years he acted by contract for a program called “De fiesta con Bacardí”, which was aired by the Eastern radio station with the orchestra of Mariano Mercerón, and the singers Fernando Álvarez Pacho Alonso.
As Benny Moré was an exclusive artist of RCA Víctor, this firm claimed his presence in Havana to make different recordings. In order to fulfill this commitment he gave alternative trips to Havana and thus maintained his responsibility with the eastern radio station.
After the commitment at Casa Bacardí and maestro Mercerón, in 1952 Benny Moré returned to Havana.
Certainly, Benny concluded an era, closed a chapter of Cuban musical life, that stage of nightlife that was already declining.
Benny’s life was related to a world that has already disappeared. Then everything became myths and legends … Benny kept on singing, but now it would be on scratch discs, which were digitized.
The “oidores” (listeners) will be transported in time, imagine the bars of the Havana port full of curious tourists. From Chinese restaurants selling “complete” to poor people who passed their hats, after singing through the streets of Havana – Cuba.
