Search Results for: Salsa en Venezuela

Johnny Pacheco, presents “Orquesta Primera Clase” from Maracay-Venezuela

The title of this album speaks for itself; the hand of the transcendental Dominican musician is introduced in this album.

El Zorro de Plata Pacheco appears as executive producer of the album, although we do not discard that he also participated in part of the musical production, due to the way the orchestra was structured and the style in which the arrangements were given; it is something that we can hardly notice when listening to the album, it is evident the great similarity to “Pacheco y su Tumbao”; four excellent trumpets with sonorous arrangements.

Johnny Pacheco, presents "Orquesta Primera Clase" of Maracay-Venezuela — Johnny Pacheco, presents “Orquesta Primera Clase” of Maracay-Venezuela

The predominance of Teo Hernandez (R.I.P)’s vocal style and register in the nasal coros, fits perfectly with the “Tumbao Añejo” that we have always been accustomed to from maestro Johnny Pacheco (R.I.P).

Although the album was backed by the Fania label and is loaded with a cheerful and swinging flavor, we think that it went somewhat unnoticed by the music-loving public.

The reasons could be several, we must remember that in those times in the 80’s the merengue rhythm was beginning to penetrate with a lot of strength.

Johnny Pacheco, presenta la Orquesta Primera Clase

Although we could also add the little interest that the public of the capital (Caracas) had for the groups of the regions or interior of the country, and although it seems ironic to say it.
Another possible reason could be linked to the inclusion of only unpublished songs (it is well known that in those times, they supported copies more than creativity); these are only conjectures of this server, however, they do not escape the reality of that time.

As for the musical themes, we have already pointed out that all of them are original and very well compensated with their arrangement; In particular there are two songs that I like very much, one of them is “Negro Nací”, written and sung by Orlando Sanoja, is a very happy song dedicated to our black race of the danceable in his music, “Si negro nací nací nací, blanco no puedo ser”, The other song of my predilection is “El Sabio”, composition and lyrics by Jorge Compres and vocalized by Teo Hernández, with great diction, good phrasing and those tasty choruses that accompany him.

It is worth mentioning that the excellent La Orquesta Primera Clase is still in force with a musical staff of the new generation maintaining its original sound with its lead vocalist Orlando Sanoja.

It is another good Venezuelan album that you should have in your personal CD library.
Johnny Pacheco presents “La Orquesta Primera Clase” (1982) Fania LPS-66506

SIDE A

1.- NEGRO NACÍ (Orlado Sanoja) Sings: Orlando Sanoja/ Arrangements: Nicomedes López
2.- ME SIENTO MUY FELIZ (Al mMaro Ríos) Sings: Orlando Sanoja/Arrangements: Bolívar Javier
EL ANIMAL (Jorge Compres) Sings: Teo Hernández/Arrangements: Jorge Compres
4.- TODO TIENE SU FINAL (Bolívar Javier) Sings: Teo Hernández/Arrangements: Bolívar Javier
5.- LLEVAME CONTIGO (Almaro Ríos) Sings: Teo Hernández/Arrangements: Bolívar Javier

SIDE B

1.- EL SABIO (Jorge Compres) Sings: Teo Hernández/Arrangements: Jorge Compres
2.- A MARACAY (Orlando Sanoja) Sings: Orlando Sanoja/Arrangements: Jorge Compres
3.- EXTRANJERA (Phorto Jacquez) Sings: Teo Hernández/Arrangements: Jorge Compres
4.- VIVA MI GUAGUANCO (Jorge Compres) Sings: Teo Hernández/Arrangements: Gilberto Riera
AY QUE HUMANIDAD (Orlando Sanoja) Sings: Orlando Sanoja/Arrangements: Jorge Compres

Personnel:

Pastor Rodríguez (1st Trumpet)
Henry Kamba (2nd Trumpet)
Gustavo Nieves (3rd Trumpet)
William Fermín (4th Trumpet)
Armin Kail (Piano)
Carlos Fagúndez (Bass)
Harold Josef (Congas)
Edgar Aponte (Timbal)
Félix Benítez (Bongo)
Teo Hernández/Orlando Sanoja (Singers)
Bolívar Javier/ Nicomedes López/ Jorge Compres/ Gilberto Riera (Arrangements)
Teo Hernández/Orlando Sanoja/Edgar Aponte (Chorus)
Johnny Pacheco (Executive Producer)
Carlos Guerrero (Recording Technician)
Luis Arismendi (General Recording Supervision)
Recorded at Fidelis Studios
Alejandro Pérez (Art and Design)

Alberto Beltrán “A mí me llaman el negrito del Batey” and Bailar medio apreta’o con una negra bien sabrosa

Alberto Amancio Beltrán (Palo Blanco, La Romana, May 5, 1923 – Miami, February 2, 1997) was a Dominican singer, known in the Latin American musical world as “El Negrito del Batey”.

Early years

Beltrán was born in the town of Palo Blanco, in the province of La Romana. As a child, he barely had a basic education because his family’s economic situation forced him to sell candy on the streets. At the age of fourteen he was attracted to music and debuted as an amateur singer on the radio. This first artistic incursion led him to take singing lessons.

Alberto Beltrán “A mí me llaman el negrito del Batey”

From 1946 to 1951 he belonged to several groups in his country, such as “Brisas de Oriente”. Later, he formed his own group called “Dominican Boys”.

International projection

In 1951 he emigrated to Puerto Rico. There, he recorded with “Los Diablos del Caribe”, a group led by Mario Hernández, the song “El 19”.

He then traveled to Cuba, first to Santiago and then to Havana on July 15, 1954, to work with the Puerto Rican composer and singer Myrta Silva on Radio Mambí.

On August 16 of that same year, he was requested by the Sonora Matancera and recorded the composition Ignoro tu existencia by Rafael Pablo de la Motta and Aunque me cueste la vida by the Dominican Luis Kalaff. Both songs, in bolero rhythm, were recorded on the same 78 rpm disc.

On November 16, he recorded the merengue El negrito del batey composed by Medardo Guzmán, which catapulted him internationally as it became a sales hit.

From there came the nickname with which he became popular. That same day he also recorded the boleros Todo me gusta de Ti by Cuto Esteves, Enamorado de la inspiración by José Balcalcer and, for the second time, El 19 by Radhamés Reyes Alfau.

Beltrán nació en la localidad de Palo Blanco en Cuba

On January 18, 1955 he recorded his last pieces with the Orquesta Sonora Matancera. Then, he spent some time in Venezuela where he left phonographic records with the orchestras “Sonora Caracas”, Los Megatones de Lucho and the Orquesta de Jesús “Chucho” Sanoja.

Hired by the Dominican musician settled in Venezuela, Billo Frómeta, he participated in two albums recorded in Cuban studios: “Evocación” (1956) in which he performed as a soloist and “La Lisa-Maracaibo”, in which he shared credits with the Cuban singer Carlos Díaz.

What does El negrito del batey mean?

In the Dominican Republic the batey smells of black and the black often smells of batey. Both evoke in their generality misery and human abandonment, fruit of injustice and discrimination. This is so, although it pains us to say it

The Negrito of the Batey

They call me the little black man of the batey

Because work for me is an enemy

To work I leave everything to the ox

Because work was made by God as a punishment

I like the merengue apambicha’o

With a black woman who is a retrechera and a good girl

I like to dance de medio la’o

I like to dance half tight with a tasty black girl

Hey!

Get your ass out of here!

There!

They call me the little black guy from the batey

Because work for me is an enemy

To work I leave everything to the ox

Because God made work as a punishment

I like the merengue apambicha’o

With a black woman who is a retrechera and a good girl

I like to dance de medio la’o

I like to dance half tight with a tasty black girl

Hey, there!

And you tell me if it’s not true

Merengue much better

And you say if it’s not true

Merengue much better

Because that of working

It’s a pain for me

Because that of working

To me it causes me pain, it sounds!

The meek ox works hard

But he never gets dengue fever

The meek ox works hard

But he never gets the dengue

I’ll dance with a good black woman

I’ll dance to a good merengue

But I never get tired

To dance a good merengue, it sounds!

There, candela!

Finbroso, hey!

The gentle ox works hard

But he never gets the dengue

A lot of work the gentle ox works hard

But he never gets the dengue

But I never get tired

Of dancing a good merengue

But I never get tired

Of dancing a good merengue, it sounds!

There!

Dominicanize!

Sonora Matancera

Two radio programs of the salsa movement in California

Introduction

After the entire journey, the cultural salsa movement in the state of California is well established, which includes a good number of media outlets that focus on this and other Latin music genres. In this article, we are going to talk a little about two very important radio shows in Los Angeles, which play a very important role in the spread of salsa and its greatest exponents today.

They are the radio shows ”Alma Del Barrio” and ”Canto Tropical”, whose work has provided an immense contribution to the world of music and gained a huge audience both in Los Angeles and in the rest of the world.

Alma Del Barrio

In the autumn of 1973, what would become one of the most important Latin radio shows in Los Angeles started to go on the air, which is known as ”Alma Del Barrio” to this day and its main founders were Enrique Soto and Raul Villa, who were still university students at the time. What Raul and Enrique were looking for with this show was to educate the audience musically speaking and ensure that listeners to learn much more about their favorite artists.

A key part of this show is to interview the greatest exponents of the salsa genre and some of these have been Celia Cruz, Chucho Valdes, Manny Oquendo, Tito Puente, Roberto Roena and many more. Thanks to these conversations, fans of these artists have managed to learn more about their favorite artists and their future projects.

From the day of its founding, the show has been broadcast through the radio waves of KXLU, which is one of the largest radio stations in Los Angeles and offers all kinds of variety and musical genres in its programming.

Host Eddie López and Venezuelan Latin music bandleader Rudy Regalado

Canto Tropical

”Canto Tropical” is a radio show created with the firm intention of serving as a bridge to unite generations, cultures and countries that appear to not have anything to do with each other. The main musical genres on which the programming is based are salsa, Latin jazz, merengue, Afro-Cuban rhythms, among others. The music comes from all over the world, but most of the material comes from South and Central America and the Caribbean.

In addition to being always aware of the latest Latin music, hosts Kathy Diaz and Hector Resendez always make sure to get the best interviews with the most famous local and foreign artists so that their fans can get to know them better both personally and professionally. Likewise, listeners have the possibility to participate in contests and sweeptakes to win free tickets to concerts and events that are of their interest.

One of the requirements to be met by the show is to always invite local artists and singers to help them promote their music, new albums and concerts. In this way, the audience is aware of what local talent is currently doing. In fact, there are many figures who are still thankful for the exposure given the program, thanks to which they have achieved the popularity they were seeking.

Another detail that cannot be overlooked is that several social and community organizations have publicly thanked the show for its voluntary work and its hosts Kathy and Hector, who have even written for major publications such as Hispanic, Bilboard Magazine CASHBOX, among others.

Alma Del Barrio’s logo

The story of how Oscar D’León’s “La Salsa Mayor” came about

How Oscar D’ León’s “La Salsa Mayor” came about, is a story that has already been commented on, including the subsequent separation of musicians that the aforementioned orchestra had, which gave way to the formation of another well-known group (Nuestra Orquesta la Salsa Mayor), is also a well-known story, but one as a good music lover always wants to continue to investigate and whenever the opportunity arises to make a healthy discussion about the subject in question, one does so without any qualms.

That is why it is never too much to remember some interesting facts that adorn this story, such as the headline that appeared on the front page of Swing Latino magazine in November 1977, which read: “KO a la Dimensión? OSCAR D’LEÓN after signing WLADIMIR.

In summary, the article said that Wladimir had intentions of leaving Dimension because of an alleged refusal of a loan request, a situation that induced the vocalist to want to sign with another orchestra. Another excerpt of the article says that Oscar D’León in his eagerness to have Wladimir in his orchestra, would have given him the money to satisfy his economic needs, but in exchange he would have signed a contract with the orchestra.

In short, by that time in November 1977, these were only speculations, of course, as it is also mentioned in the article in a jocular way “When the river sounds it is because it brings stones”.

The truth is that the year 1978 arrived and in the Swing Latino of March another headline appeared on the front page “¡LA DIMENSIÓN LATINA SE VA DE VENEZUELA! pero Wladimir se queda con Oscar”, which clearly shows that those speculations or rumors that were made in the salsa milieu at that time were a reality that quickly materialized.

“Last February 20, the bolerista presented his resignation to Dimensión Latina and began to work his notice period. In the meantime, he has already begun his rehearsals with Salsa Mayor and will soon be fully incorporated into this group that already threatens to become a real monster not only nationally but also beyond our borders, which we have no doubt he will now achieve with this valuable acquisition” (Swing Latino. March 1978).

Now, only a month had passed when another news about the orchestra of the dancing bass shakes the salsa milieu, “¡SE DISOLVIO LA SALSA MAYOR!”, headline that appeared in Swing Latino for May 1978 and stating: “Seven of the ten musicians that made up the prestigious group of Oscar D’León, left the orchestra for economic reasons”.

The rest is already known history, the negrito from Antimano reassembled his orchestra with some musicians from “La Critica” and others who came from the orchestra “La Renovación”, which at the same time also dissolved and the rumba continued.

Con Bajo y Todo Oscar D' León's "La Salsa Mayor" — Con Bajo y Todo Oscar D’ León’s “La Salsa Mayor”

In August of that year 1978, Oscar D’León’s last album was announced under the name of “LA SALSA MAYOR”, a fabulous double LP, that just by looking at its cover you could already feel the strength with which the sonero from Caracas was coming along with the diminutive in stature but great with his voice, Wladimir Lozano.

The internal title of the album spoke for itself, “TRANQUILO Y SIN MIEDO”, this makes us think that the phrase had a double meaning, remember that the musicians who defected to form the other Salsa Mayor, recorded that famous song: “Fuimos Amigos”, where they throw a few puns at Oscar and this “calm and fearless”, returns them in the song: “La Mano”… “Why did not you follow me when I gave you my hand?”Now it weighs on you, you fell in the mud”… Chorus: “Que te vaaaya bien”.

The album is excellent as almost all the ones published by D’León in those past decades, all the songs are good, but I can’t help but comment and recognize that the song that I liked and still like the most from this double album is “MARIA”, maybe because in every man’s life there has always been a Maria…My respects and salsalutation to all of you.

Enrrique “Culebra” Irierte y Dj. Augusto Felibertt

Oscar D’León y su Salsa Mayor (double play) (1978) ths-1225

Disc 1 – Side A

Que cosa tan linda (Oscar D’León) Singer: Oscar D’León
Consentida (Alfredo Nuñez de Borbón) Singers: Wladimir and Oscar
La mano (Sandy Omar González) Sung by: Oscar
Te llamo (D.D.) Sing: Wladimir and Oscar

Disc 1 – Side B

Dulce desengaño (Armando Beltrán) Sung by: Oscar and Wladimir
De frente Panamá (L: Andrés Vega, M: José Zamora) Sung: Oscar D’León
Mira que eres linda (J. Brito) Sung by: Wladimir Lozano
Consígueme eso (Pedro N. Perez) Sings: Oscar D’León

Disc 2 – Side A

Sandunguera (M. Guerra) Sung by: Wladimir and Oscar.
Piénsalo bien (Agustín Lara) Sings: Wladimir Lozano
Ven morena (R. Paz) Sing: Oscar D’Leó
Ausencia (Rafael Hernández) Sing: Oscar and Wladimir

Disc 2 – Side B

Reclamo místico (M. Matamoros) Sing: Wladimir y Oscar

María (Florentino Padrón) Sing: Oscar D’León

Chancunche No. 1: Sing: Wladimir and Oscar

*Que noche tan linda (B. Diez, A. M. Romeu)

*Inconsolable (Rafael Hernández)

*Micaela (Raúl Guillaume)]

Musicians:

Enrique “Culebra” Iriarte (Piano).

Oscar D’León (Bass)

Rhadames Pimentel (Congas)

Edward Pimentel (Timbal)

Hungary Rojas (Bongo)

Ángel López (1st Trumpet)

César López (2nd Trumpet)

César Pinto (3rd Trumpet)

Tarcisio Piñango (1st Trombone)

Pedro Piñando (2nd Trombone)

Andrés Mendoza / Pedro Vilela (Tres)

Oscar D’León (Vocal)

Wladimir Lozano (Vocal)

Oscar D’León / Víctor Mendoza / Humberto “Tigre” Becerra (Backing Vocals)

Enrique Iriarte / Oscar D’León / José “Cholo” Ortiz (Arrangements)

Other Credits:

Intersonido C.A. Recording Studios.

Sound Technicians: Agustín Verde and Carlos Guzmán

Mixing: Rafael Hernandez

Art Direction: Víctor Mendoza

Idea, Design and Album Art: Drago Fernández

Photos: All Freddy.

Source:

José “Cheo” Guevara

Enrrique “Culebra” Iriarte

You can read: Víctor Porfirio Baloa Díaz, more commonly known as Porfi Baloa

”Salsa Con Sabor’’ and its contribution to salsa music

Platfoms to promote salsa

Just as we always promote the artists and musicians who keep alive salsa and Latin genres, we also think it is important to highlight the work of communicators who have taken the task of continuing to spread the traditional Latin music through the resources that technology has made available to us. Such is the case of Charlie Perez and the web page ”Salsa Con Sabor”, which he has been running for several years.

We talked to this talented young man, who has illustrated very well how his work has been throughout these years with the management of ”Salsa Con Sabor”, interesting anecdotes and what he earned from all this process.

Charlie Pérez, administrator of ''Salsa Con Sabor'' — Charlie Pérez, administrator of ”Salsa Con Sabor”

Conversation with Charlie Perez from ”Salsa Con Todo”

Salsa Con Sabor was born in 2010. I was always a salsa enthusiast and it runs in the family because my father has always loved tropical music, salsa, guaguancó, son montuno, bolero, among others. I became curious about these topics while naving in the social networks, so I created a Facebook page whose aim was to be a music space to share with salsa fans around the world. By this means, we began to share music, artist biographies, salsa history, salsa ephemeris and many more” were the words spoken by Charlie when asked how this project came about.

He also told us that the page was gaining a popularity that he and his team decided to shape this idea through the creation of a website, a YouTube channel and accounts in the rest of social media. All this led several independent artists to send their musical works to ”Salsa Con Sabor” to be shared and diffused.

Important to note that all members of this great team are professionals nothing linked to the world of music. They are simply people who enjoy Latin genres and want them to stay alive over time.

Charlie Pérez and his wife Wilendy Rosario

What do you see in an artist before spreading his or her music?

I like to support all artists, but I don’t deny that I focus a lot on the quality of the work presented. I always check certain aspects such as the cover art, the image and how music was worked, showing whether or not an album will be worth it. We always give the opportunity to all artists to send us their work, but they must have a standard quality” said Charlie on the subject related to unknown artists sending him their albums.

Successes to date

Perez has told us that he feels incredibly grateful for all the doors ”Salsa Con Sabor” has opened for him. He has met many important people in the industry and artists with whom he has developed good friendships, something he really values.

This space has also allowed him to expand to other fields. In the case of Charlie, he is a marketer and always had the desire to start his own business, which added to his knowledge of the music industry and marketing, led him to create his own advertising agency called Tumba Media Productions. The company is dedicated to dissemination activities such as press releases, graphic design, among other things.

Another thing that has been very important for the future career of this young man has been song writing. Composing his own material has earned him contact with great artists such as Venezuelan singer Néstor Pacheco, who motivated him to make music and with whom he has a clase friendship. They even wrote some songs together such as ”Sabor y Guaguancó” and ”Mamá Inés”.

Logo of the website

The best experiences with the website

Regarding this point, Charlie replied that his reviews have received many positive messages from the public and many artists. He and his collaborators are very glad that so many people keep an eye on their content and that their platform let them know abut new music in terms of salsa, guaguancó, bolero, son montuno and other associated genres.

We are great popuizers of new music that nobody knows about due to the amount of content you can find, which makes us very happy and be satisfied with our work” says Charlie.

Activity during the pandemic

From the pandemic, we started working on interviews a lot more than before and had to focus on making video content. Video editing tools were very important for us at this stage, since it wasn’t just about doing interviews, but also about downloading them and doing all the corresponding editing to show them to the public in the most professional way possible” says the administrator of ”Salsa Con Sabor” about his experience with the pandemic.

He also told us that there were many artists he interviewed with whom he thought would never connect, which was made possible thanks to the tools that technology offers us today. In that sense, his wife Wilendy Rosario was very important in this entire process, as she was in charge of making contacts and conducting many of these interviews in that frame of time. She is described by her husband as a fundamental part of this project thanks to her communication style and charisma.