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Search Results for: Salsa music

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”

Read also: Legacy of the Cepeda family after eight generations 

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.

Lengaïa Salsa Brava
The whole orchestra Lengaïa Salsa Brava

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.

Read also: John Narváez and Elizabeth Rojas from Salsamania

José Alberto “El Canario” and his orchestra enjoy a great international reputation in the Latin music scene.

His start in music was as a drummer, then as a bongo player, with some 48 years in Latin music and as a sonero, today in International Salsa Magazine through www.salsagoogle.com, José Alberto Justiniano Andújar, better known artistically as José Alberto El Canario, was born on December 22, 1958 in Villa Consuelo in Santo Domingo Dominican Republic.

José Alberto El Canario
José Alberto El Canario

El Canario began to have a passion for music from a very young age, first playing drums, bongo and timbales, at the age of 7 his mother Adalgisa, recognized dancer of the golden age of “Radio-Televisión Dominicana”, took him to live on the island of Puerto Rico, as a professional dancer she had to perform in important international theaters.

El Canario began to study in a military school in Las Antillas, then in 1970 he moved with his father to New York, where he began to sing with several orchestras, receiving international attention as the leader of the Típica 73 in October 1977, where he earned 25 dollars for each presentation and recognized it as his university in the life of art.

José Alberto credits his compadre Roberto Geronimo for his successful artistic career. Geronimo discovered him as an artist and managed him for many years. El Canario also sang merengue at the onset of his musical journey.

In 1983, José Alberto established his own band and gained fame as a major Latin star after his debut album Noches Calientes released in 1984.

Jose Alberto is a renowned singer who has recorded numerous chart-topping hits, including “Sueño Contigo”, “Hoy Quiero Confesar”, “Te Voy a Saciar de Mi”, “A Gozar”, “Es Tu Amor”, and “Quieres Ser Mi Amante”, among others, for his 1988 album Sueño Contigo and several others.

His inimitable voice and unmatched improvisational skills have earned him international acclaim. Jose Alberto has collaborated with several contemporary artists such as Johnny Rodriguez, Mario Rivera, Nicky Marrero, Oscar D’Leon, and Celia Cruz.

El Canario began to have a passion for music at a very young age, first playing drums, bongo drums and timbales.
El Canario began to have a passion for music at a very young age, first playing drums, bongo drums and timbales.

José Alberto “El Canario” has earned multiple gold and platinum records due to his high number of album sales.

He has achieved success not only in the United States and Europe but also throughout Latin America, including his native Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Peru, Venezuela, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, and Costa Rica.

The nickname “El Canario” was bestowed upon him by a New York disc jockey who christened him so in a disco due to his improvisational skills; “Canta canario” was the catchphrase he would belt out through the control microphone.

José Alberto ‘El Canario’ and his Orchestra have gained immense international recognition in the Latin music industry.

His musical prowess and captivating voice make his live shows some of the most thrilling performances.

El Canario, winner of the “Congo de oro” in 2005 – an award given to the best musical groups presented at the Festival de Orquestas del Carnaval de Barranquilla – and of three Latin Grammys in 2013, 2015 and 2018, is one of the undisputed artists of Latin music with a career spanning some 48 years.

Arturo Sandoval, Oscar D' Leon y El Canario
Arturo Sandoval, Oscar D’ Leon y El Canario

Throughout his career, José Alberto El Canario has gained international recognition for his unique voice and style, but also, according to his biographies, for his improvisations on stage.

José Alberto El Canario y su Orquesta enjoys great international renown in the Latin music scene.
José Alberto El Canario y su Orquesta enjoys great international renown in the Latin music scene.

Also Read: Jimmie Morales a conguero for the history of Afro-Caribbean music

Omslig D’ León: “I am the son of the sonero of the world, but I have my own style and I am creating my own musical history

Omslig D’ León enters the world of musical art hand in hand with his father Oscar D’ León, who works functionally as a dancer, choreographer, percussionist, background singer and singer, this young Venezuelan talent has already traveled the world in its breadth and length, through almost all the countries of North America, Europe and Latin America.

Omslig decided to start his career as a soloist and create his own history with new challenges, forming his own orchestra with his own compositions, innovating with his own unique and international style.

Omslig D' León I am the son of the sonero of the world
Omslig D’ León I am the son of the sonero of the world

“He recently toured Europe for more than two months, including performances in Switzerland, Germany, Italy and Istanbul”.

“And with you, the sonero of the world, Oscar D’ León. Any Venezuelan or fan of the emblematic salsero from Caracas would be thrilled to hear such a presentation, but when you carry his blood, the adrenaline is even greater. His son, Omslig, explained it this way.

It was inevitable that I would become a musician. It’s not just my father, Oscar, it’s my mother, it’s my whole family that has music in their blood,” said the son of one of the most important salsa musicians in history.

Omslig, who began his musical career at the age of 16 as a lectern player in his father’s orchestra, with which he toured the world for 23 years, was in Panama to promote his solo career, which recently took him on a European tour that included Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Istanbul, among other countries.

He will stay a while longer in the isthmus, a country that he says has treated him wonderfully, and then he will travel to Peru and Colombia. “People will think that I am 100% influenced by my father.

Although I learned a lot from him, especially responsibility, I have my own style,” said the director of the orchestra La Melena, referring to his musical project in which he covers songs by various artists, including Panamanian Omar Alfano and Venezuelan Frank Quintero.

Omslig D' León I am the son of the sonero of the world, but I have my own style.
Omslig D’ León I am the son of the sonero of the world, but I have my own style.

Not everything is rosy.

Being the son of Oscar D’ León can be very good, but it can also be difficult. He recalled that in the past there were people who “wanted to throw his last name in his face.

“Don’t think that because you’re Oscar’s son it’s going to be easy. I don’t think you sing the same as your father. Things like that have been said to me, but I have moved forward and thank God with his support and a unique style,” he explained.

For those who think that everything has been handed to him on a silver platter, he wanted to leave this anecdote from when he was in Oscar D’ León’s band. “We were in the Canary Islands, we had already finished the show and the next day, very early, we had to take the ferry to another island.

I fell asleep and my dad dropped me off. In the lobby he left me a note saying ‘you have to learn to be responsible’ and that marked me. Then I was able to make it, but I had to pay for everything.

¿Reencuentro de Leones?

Omslig admitted that he would like to reunite with his “soul mate”, his brother Yorman, to start a musical project and, if the opportunity arises, with Iroska, better known as “La Mazucamba”, Oscar’s daughter, who currently lives in the United States.

“A few days ago my dad called me to tell me that why don’t we do something together and the truth is that it would be great. We’ll see, but it was there and something important is going to happen,” he explained.

For now, Omslig is concentrating on his work as a soloist, with several confirmed performances, and continuing his work as a father, already with three children and happily married.

“I will continue to sing my father’s songs, I will continue to keep his name high, but with the tasty and fusion style of Omslig D’ León,” concluded the 42-year-old native of Caracas.

Omslig León enters the musical artistic world hand in hand with his father Oscar D' León.
Omslig León enters the musical artistic world hand in hand with his father Oscar D’ León.

In a few words

One place: Milan, Italy.

One food: lasagna.

Artist: Luis Enrique.

A person you admire: Will Smith.

A musician: Robert Vilera.

Hobby: Painting.

Why Omslig: Oscar, Moises (paternal grandfather) and Ligia (mother).

Also Read: Freddy de Jesús Ortega Ruiz “Coco & su Sabor Matancero”

Sources:

Peggy Blanco (Manager)

Panama El Venezolano

Metamorphosis: from music to photojournalism, a reinvention without limits

In the salsa scene, we are privileged to have the presence and companionship of Felix “Guayciba” Ayala.Guayciba is one of the greatest photojournalists Puerto Rico has ever produced.

He has moved from the musical notes that embrace our ears to now capturing visuals that awaken our five senses of unrepeatable moments.

I appreciate and share first hand the reference of how this idea begins, how the seed of wanting to be a photojournalist is planted, after having directed the Guayciba Group for 12 years.

“In the mid-’80s, a group of friends and I got together. We started playing and put together a Christmas repertoire. People liked it, and they told me, ‘Hey Felix, you should form a group, you sound great.'”

Félix “Guayciba” Ayala y Chucho Valdes
Félix “Guayciba” Ayala y Chucho Valdes

Encouraged by the public’s reception, they set about the task of banding together and formalizing a repertoire of Christmas music, which they later expanded to include popular music. In 1987, the group did not yet have a name, but the musicians were already rehearsing and playing in a bar in Santa Rosa (Bayamón, Puerto Rico).

In 1988 they started calling themselves Murciélago Sound Machine and got their first professional contract, for which they charged $200.00. During one of the rehearsals, Felix’s neighbor, who owned a movie and video rental store, offered to give him the name of his store: Guayciba; which he had already registered with the State Department.

The rest is history.

Felix liked the name, even though he still didn’t know what it meant. Guay-ciba means to take care of the stone.  It turns out that our Taino Indians communicated by carving messages on stones, which we now know as petroglyphs.

This form of communication of our Indians, the Tainos, was engraved on the stones that are part of our heritage.

Since 1989, Guayciba claims to have lost his last name – Ayala – to replace it with the name he is known by in the media, Guayciba.

On the salsa stage we have the privilege of having the presence of Felix "Guayciba"
On the salsa stage we have the privilege of having the presence of Felix “Guayciba”

This was the name of the musical group of which Félix Guayciba was the director, composer and singer.  As the main member and founder, he took on the task with commitment and in 1989 they released their first record production, entitled Nuestra música primero en LP, because CDs were not yet widespread in the market.

Felix remembers that the first singer of Grupo Guayciba was Gisela Ortiz.  Some time later, Gisela got thyroid cancer and when she lost her voice, she had to be replaced by Aidita Encarnación.

Guayciba recalls that Aidita made her debut with the group during the “Coffee Festival” in Maricao and remained with the group until it disbanded in 2000.

In 1991 they produced Echemos pa’lante, which opened the door to radio stations on the island. In 1992 they produced Por ti doblaré rodillas, and in 1993 they released what Felix considers their masterpiece under the title Borinquen, nido de amores.

Félix affirms that this production became the classic album that consolidated them in Salsoul, Z-93 and Estereotempo.  Later they released La revolución apoya lo nuestro. In 1999 they released their last album, Contra viento y marea.

In this last Guayciba production, Maestro Luis ‘Perico’ Ortiz made two arrangements: “Déjame Soñar” by Perín Vázquez, which Tito Puente had already recorded on the 100th album, backing the voice of Tony Vega (Antonio Vega Ayala), the cousin of Félix Guayciba Ayala. The six albums of the Grupo Guayciba were recorded in the studio of Maestro Pedro Rivera Toledo, and in Contra viento y marea Maestro Rivera Toledo recorded the saxophone.

Félix “Guayciba” Ayala
Félix “Guayciba” Ayala

In his last album, the song “Por nada la cambiaré” was composed by Guayciba and dedicated to his homeland, Puerto Rico.

They never recorded Christmas music because their mission was to defend our music, the seis, the bomba, the plena and the guaracha, among other indigenous rhythms. The time came for the group to disband, but as Guayciba affirms: “We left a legacy for the musical history of our nation (…) Guayciba was, is and will be one of the best musical groups in the history of typical Puerto Rican music. I have retired, but at least we have left a legacy for history, we have left a mark”.

With the arrival of the new millennium, Guayciba’s musical stage ended to give way to the visual arts, making it clear that he had not retired from the humanistic arts, but had reinvented himself and now stood out in the visual arts.

The images captured by Guayciba’s photographic lens are full of life and movement. The viewer sees as if the artist, athlete or object in the photo comes to life.

Guayciba reflects while explaining how the image speaks or remains silent, depending on the adjustment made, the movement given, the position and the light.

He hastens to clarify: “I have used my musical career to distinguish myself in photography. I photograph artists the way I want them to photograph me.

I try to make the image I take of an artist or a show speak. In photojournalism, the photo has to speak.”

Guayciba made the decision to move from music to photojournalism as a result of a deep depression that he faced and fought with professional help.  Once the decision was made, he began training at the University of Puerto Rico.

He never forgot what one of the specialists who was part of the medical team that helped him recover told him: “I have faith in you.  If you are going to be a photojournalist, I want you to be the best photojournalist”.

Felix attended classes every Wednesday for three hours. He remembers his first photographic experiments.  One that comes to mind is Ricardo Arjona, who performed for an entire season at the Centro de Bellas Artes. Felix would leave his weekly class to go to the CBA, where he would stay until late.

On the salsa stage we have the privilege of having the presence of Felix "Guayciba"
On the salsa stage we have the privilege of having the presence of Felix “Guayciba”

The next day he would go to a megastore to develop the photos from the night before and bring them to the professor to evaluate the shots.  The professor would give him advice on what to do to improve the photos he had in hand.

Another moment he remembers with emotion was in 2002, when Fania played a concert at the Juan Ramón Loubriel stadium in Bayamón.

Guayciba already had a digital camera, and during that concert, he says he used 25 rolls of film with 36 exposures each.

He says this was his first international assignment. The first time he photographed an international artist was when he was still a photography student, practicing with Ricardo Arjona in the Fine Arts Department.

As a result of that coverage, he got in touch with the Guatemalan artist, who was thrilled with the photos Felix took, saying at the time that they were the best photos he had ever taken, adding that the Puerto Rican had captured his best side.

Felix has continued to evolve and has had the opportunity to cover concerts by Elton John, the Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney, among others.  He says: “The only thing I don’t do is pornography, weddings or quinceañeras”. His specialty is artistic shows and sporting events.

Guayciba is the longest serving photographer to cover the Coliseo de Puerto Rico since its inauguration in 2004, when Sonora Ponceña, Richie Ray & Bobby Cruz and Roberto Roena’s Apollo Sound performed in that memorable concert produced by Pepe Dueño.

One of the highlights of his career was a trip to Cuba in 2009, where Guayciba was the official photographer for the Puerto Rican delegation that went to the Cuba Disco Festival, which was dedicated to Puerto Rico in that edition.

He has taken more than 24,000 pictures of Cuba. The most memorable experience of his trips to Cuba was visiting the resting place of Che Guevara.

He continues to learn from all the images he has taken and published.  “At one point, during the performance of the 2013 musical Pedro Navaja, the Caballero de la Salsa, Gilberto Santa Rosa told me, “You have to let yourself be criticized and you have to accept criticism as long as it is constructive criticism.”

Felix added and still maintains: “It depends on who is criticizing you, because there are people who criticize you just to make fun of you; yes, you know, out of envy”. In fact, Felix understood that he had the best photos of Gilberto.

When he went to see him to show him, Santa Rosa told him: “They’re good, but these photos where I’m alone don’t say anything because it could be at the Fine Arts Center or it could be in some theater.  This concert is symphonic, where is the symphony orchestra?” Santa Rosa was right. “From that ear flattery I learned that you have to take the picture of the artist and the complements like stage, orchestra, etc..  It’s like writing a story.  You have to include the day, the historical setting, the characters, and make sure that the viewer can get a picture of what happened there in the moment. It’s more of a frozen in time effect.

Guayciba considers Conrado Pastrano her teacher and mentor. She expresses gratitude for all that she has learned in photography and acknowledges that there is still more to learn.

Conrado is an exceptional colleague who takes the time to explain ways to correct unwanted effects in images. Guayciba has developed her own unique style by studying the works of other colleagues and drawing inspiration from each of the photojournalists whom she admires.

Guayciba is highly regarded as one of the top photojournalists in Puerto Rico, although he is humble and has never claimed the title for himself.  He recognizes that there are others who may be more talented than him.  His motto is: “I may not be the best, but I am proficient in my craft and the photos I take convey a narrative.”

When he is at the ball park, he adeptly adjusts his lighting, shutter speed, and lens to capture the intricate details on a ball despite its velocity exceeding 100 miles per hour. When artists perform on stage, Guayciba faces the task of restoring their natural appearance despite the color filters and stage lighting often making them look unnatural or cartoonish.  Overcoming these challenges and bringing the images to life, imbues these artists with renewed enthusiasm for their craft, a pursuit they have devoted over two decades to.

At 68 years of age, he prays daily for longevity. He abstains from drugs and alcohol, including wine, champagne, and cider. His sole indulgence is tobacco and photography.

To view Félix Guayciba’s artistic works and keep in touch with this vital advocate of Puerto Rican culture, please visit the publication at www.guayciba.com. To email him, please use [email protected], or follow his IG account at https://www.instagram.com/guay54/.

To reach him by phone, please dial 787-637-8617. He is always available and eager to assist with his usual helpful demeanor.

Bella Martinez Puerto Rico

Also Read: Bella Martínez presents “Las memorias de Jimmie Morales: un conguero para la historia” [Read more…] about Metamorphosis: from music to photojournalism, a reinvention without limits

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International Salsa Magazine (ISM) is a monthly publication about Salsa activities around the world, that has been publishing since 2007. It is a world network of volunteers coordinated by ISM Magazine. We are working to strengthen all the events by working together.