Tregar Otton, founder of the orchestra, playing the violin
Orquesta La Moderna Tradición has been one of the most legendary groups of Cuban music in its entire history. It is a group whose members are based in San Francisco, California, and consists of 11 members who play different genres such as danzón, timba, guaguancó, cha cha chá, son, rumba, charanga, among others. They also mix in elements from American jazz, violins, and Afro-Cuban rhythms.
The beginning of this orchestra’s story goes back to 1996, since they started to perform throughout the United States to bring the best of traditional Cuban music to every corner of the country and transport Cuban immigrants back to the Havana’s streets and clubs during the 50’s. All the success accumulated allowed them to perform at the San Francisco Jazz Festival, the Smithsonian Institution, the Lincoln Certer and many other venues of high prestige.
Recently, Orquesta La Moderna Tradición once again displayed their talent at Yoshi’s, a jazz club and restaurant located in Oakland, California, whose reputation in the San Francisco Bay Area is not up for discussion. Our editor Eduardo Guilarte was present at the show to cover the details of the event, which left all those present in awe.
Conversation with Tregar Otton, founding director of the orchestra
Tregar Otton and Maru Pérez-Viana, his wife and an important part of the orchestra
Based on the above, we talked with Tregar Otton, founder, director, composer, and violinist of the group. This talented musician, born in the Marshall Islands and raised in Texas, started to learn about classical music from an early age and joined the Berkeley Symphony while he still was a teenager. By the 1990s, this musical promise worked as a regular part of Virgilio Mart Y Sus Majaderos, La Tipica Novel and the Charanga Orquesta Broadway.
By the year 1995, Otton founded Orquesta La Moderna Tradición with Roberto Borrell. At the beginning, the group started to become well-known for its soft sounds of Afro-Cuban charanga, which are accompanied by a set of wind instruments and violins that give a unique touch to this group’s music.
Today, we have the welcome presence of the musician to talk about each and every one of the issues raised in this brief review and anything he wants to reveal to our dear readers. It is such a pleasure to have you here today, Tregar. How are you feeling?
I am fine here near San Francisco. Good to see you today.
Very good, Tregar. You got started in the world of music at a young age. Could you tell us a bit about your beginnings?
I started playing violin when I was four years old and my family had a violin teacher as a neighbor. My parents did the laundry for all our neighbors, so we met her and she ended up giving me classes every day. After that, I studied a lot of classical music, bought music when I was about 20 and fell in love with it because it used the violins differently from classical music. I really enjoyed playing dance music because the connection with the public is quite different from that of classical music. In the case of classical music, many people get bored, but Cuban music and salsa music make a much more direct connection to the audience. There is nothing like playing for a floor with dancers.
We understand that you were born in the Marshall Islands, but grew up in Texas, is that correct?
Yes. After my dad married my mom, they both moved to Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, in the middle of the Pacific. After that, I grew up in Corpus Christi, Texas, till I was 13 or 14 about when I moved to California.
I asked because it is very interesting how you set your eyes on Cuban music despite your origins. Where does this interest in Cuban music and the rhythms you play come from?
For the same reasons I play dance music. It caught my attention when I heard Charanga de La 4 or one of these New York bands. I was impressed that violins were part of the percussion and were making repetitive sounds with the refrain and the son montuno. We are more part of the rhythm section than the melodic section in many of our songs. We can dance while we are on stage. I was also impressed by the improvisations of Cuqui and Alfredo de la Fé. I had many Latin friends I met in college while learning Spanish because no one in my family spoke it.
How did Orquesta La Moderna Tradición come about and who joined you in its foundation?
I was working with a group. I was in New York, where I was playing with the Broadway Orchestra and the Orquesta Tipica Novel. I was very lucky to have been in that city because I got to know many veteran musicians in the 80’s like Renato Valdés, Virgilio Martí, and Adalberto Santiago. I visited a Cuban friend from San Francisco named Fito Reinoso, who had a group called Ritmo Y Armonía and he visited us here in New York. I was tired of the cold in New York, so I decided to go to San Francisco, where Tito and I had the idea of creating a group. It was there that I met a great drum instructor and dance teacher Roberto Borrell, who joined us to found Ritmo y Armonía. After two years, we had to be apart, but Roberto and I still wanted to play danzón. At least here in the Bay Area, it is very difficult to get singers. The ones we have are good, but there are not so many. So, we planned to make a danzonera or danzón group. When the orchestra began to work, we only played danzón songs, rehearsed every week and did many tours with this musical genre because there was a boom with swing dancing and dance music during the 40’s. So, we were surfing that wave. So, we were surfing that wave and doing collaborations with swing groups because it was older music. Danzón is a very rich genre, but it is no of interest to many people because they do not know how to dance it, so we started expanding our repertoire to include more modern and dance music. We still play danzones, but only two per set. There are still musicians from the original group in the orchestra including Michael Spiro. Roberto went to Peru about a decade ago, so Michael and I stayed with the group and invited Eduardo Herrera, who is a singer born in Caracas, Venezuela, to perform with us. We expanded the repertoire by doing the best we could with my own creations. Let’s remember I am the arranger of the group, so I do some songs and we have one that is included in the new recording in which I wrote the music and maestro Carlos Caro from Cuba added the lyrics.
Orquesta La moderna Tradición at one of its shows
Although rhythms like danzón are not so popular, did you feel the acceptance of the public?
There were many people who knew danzón who began to notice that it was a very interesting genre due to the presence of the violins. As Roberto Borrell is a dance teacher, he teaches many of his students how to dance danzón, which is not easy because they should be affixed on each turn they have to make according to the sounds of the instruments.
Can you go from one genre to another in the same song?
Yes, we do that a lot. On our new album, we have rhythms with batá drums from music of Santería, which we use for our danzón songs. It sounds complicated when I explain it, but it is easy at the time of listening to it.
What makes Orquesta La Moderna Tradición different from other Latin music groups in the United States?
Well, I know no other group that plays danzón or charanga. There are two genres of popular dance music in Cuba that come from son montuno, which uses violins and flutes. In the case of charanga, the musicians use violins and flutes. Since the 70’s and 80’s, charanga is now no longer heard in the United States. In Cuba, neither do you hear danzón much. We are a group that has so many danzones in the repertoire. There are not too many groups that play cha cha chá. Me being an arranger, I try to create cha cha chá songs that are not copies of what was played by Orquesta Aragón and other bands in the 40’s and 50’s.
Given that music has evolved so much, what reaction do you perceive from the young public when you play charanga, cha cha chá, danzón and other rhythms?
Interesting question. For young people who do not know and are not salsa fans, our music sounds like salsa because it is difficult to distinguish the genres without knowing them well. However, I work as a music teacher and I have many groups of children, in which there are many salsa fans. They listen to Ray Barreto, Willie Colón, and Hector Lavoe. They also like charanga and understand it well. However, I think danzón is more difficult because it has to be a reflection of what people are feeling in their culture. Cha cha chá is simpler and innocent, but danzón is finer and refined. I think music can influence people and play its part in changing the direction of their culture.
Can you tell us a little bit about your performance at Yoshi’s?
Because of COVID-19, for a year and a half, we could not do anything. We could not even rehearse until the vaccine came on the market. We got this date with Yoshi’s because we have played there many times before as well as Yoshi’s in San Francisco. So, they gave us a date and we had the support of local DJs like Luis Medina, Chuy Varela and Jose Ruiz. We also made use of social media to promote us, sell our CDs and attract people to our shows. The staff of Yoshi’s was impressed because it is rare that a local band has been able to sell so many tickets. We were very excited to see so many people loving us and showing how much they love music. We have a large audience that is very loyal to us and has been going wherever we perform for over 20 years.
Orquesta La Moderna Tradición performing at Yoshi’s
What are your future projects?
We get everything ready for the repertoire of the new album. When I was in New York, I was working with Juan Carlos Formell, Juan Formell’s son, who is the bass player and took over his father’s position in Los Van Van. I was one of the first people he met here in the United States and we became very good friends. Then he told me that I could arrange any of his songs without any problem, so I have about four or five of his songs ready and some others that I have not finished yet. We have enough material to make at least two albums, but it is very expensive. One could only cost us about $15 to start with.
Cover art work for the Orquesta La Moderna Tradición new album El Encantado
The Most Recognized Pianist Of The 21st Century Comes Back To The Voll-Damm Barcelona Jazz Festival After Two Years
Chucho Valdés has received the award for Musical Excellence from the Latin Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and was inducted into the Hall of Fame of Latin Composers
The master Chucho Valdés returns to the stage of the Voll-Damm Barcelona Jazz Festival on November 23rd, 2021 after two years of absence. The most recognized Cuban pianist of the 21st century will present his most recent musical production La Creación, a suite in four movements that exalts Yoruba-African history and its influences in South America and the Caribbean. A work dedicated to Olodumare and the worldwide celebration of his 80 years of life.
The founder of the Irakere group comes back to the incomparable sound of the Big Band, Afro-Cuban percussion, Blues, and the set of voices that represents his histrionics as a director, composer, and pianist with La Creación.
On this album, Valdés is accompanied on arrangements, keyboards, and conducting by Canadian Juno award-winning Cuban musician Hilario Durán and the Grammy Award winner and Emmy nominee John Beasley. Playing the Drums is Grammy winner and two Latin Grammy nominee Dafnis Prieto. Also, in La Creación stand out Erick Barbería, Yosvany González Franco, and Felipe Sarria Linares (Batá and voices), José A. Gola (Double Bass and Electric Bass), and Roberto Jr. Vizcaíno (Percussion). Former Van Van member Yeny Valdés adds her melodious voice to this production, while two Grammys winner Brian Lynch and “Daring Improviser” (rated by Jazz Times) Etienne Charles do it by playing the Trumpets. On the other hand, Carlos Averhoff Jr., considered one of the new voices in the new generation of Cuban jazz saxophonists, flaunts his virtuosity on the Tenor Sax and Marcus Strickland on the Alto Sax.
So remember…
Enjoy the concert of the master Chucho Valdés & The Yoruban Orchestra in the Iberian Peninsula!
Date: Tuesday, November 23rd
Time: 8:30 PM
Address: Palau de la Música Catalana. Music auditorium located on Sant Pere més Alt street in the Ribera district of Barcelona, Spain.
Ticket: From 26 €
Chucho Valdés was born on October 9th, 1941, in Quivicán (Cuba)
In addition to this presentation in Barcelona, the winner of six Grammys and four Latin Grammys, Chucho Valdés has scheduled an autumn tour that will visit the main cities of France and the neighborhood of the principality of Monaco, Monte Carlo. Finishing his tour in the city of Girona – Spain (December 4th) and Castellón de la Plana – Spain (December 11th). Tickets can be found from € 15 depending on the location.
Currently, Dionisio Jesús “Chucho” Valdés Rodríguez, with more than 60 years of experience, directs a course of group classes that contain 14 recorded chapters lasting one hour. This exclusive virtual academy for pianists was inaugurated on March 15th, 2021. However, this online study platform already includes live lessons and individualized tutoring with the delivery of certificates for advanced pianists.
“After the experience of the group classes in a virtual way, I realized that the students have different needs, so I decided to start with individual classes for advanced musicians. In this way, the classes will be focused directly on the needs of each one”. Chucho Valdés.
Perhaps These Data May Interest You:
To attend the Festival, minors under 16 must be accompanied by their father, mother, or legal guardian
The Barcelona Voll-Damm Jazz Festival is one of the oldest events and a world reference in Europe. Their first concert was held on November 3rd, 1966.
In this festival, master classes are offered by the best specialists, conferences with fascinating and current topics, meetings with artists, as well as outstanding concerts (some free) for fans and lovers of the Jazz genre.
For 32 years (1989) The Project has been the Barcelona promotion company in charge of organizing this autumn meeting annually.
The Project was created in 1988 and organizes more than 400 concerts a year with approximately 10,000 musical calls to date.
The Voll-Damm drink became part of the festival in 2002, becoming its main sponsor.
The United States Will Be The First Country Where The Panamanian Artist Will Present Salswing Tour!
Rubén Blades will be recognized as “Person of the Year” at the Latin Grammys on November 17th in sin city, Las Vegas (Nevada)
The multifaceted artist and political activist, Rubén Blades, announced his return to the American stage with his friend and fellow countryman Roberto Delgado & Big Band, starting next November 20th.
The Salsero icon announced the beginning of his tour through his official Facebook account: “We are very happy to be able to work and get in touch with our audience again, after almost two years without being able to do so. With the Roberto Delgado Big Band, an orchestra of 20 musicians that is sounding better, we are eager and want to share our latest album Salswing!, and the usual songs… Please, don’t stop getting vaccinated”.
There are eight cities that the living Salsa legend will visit in North America, starting on November 20th in Oakland (CA), Los Angeles (CA), Atlanta (GA), Miami (FL), passing through Boston (MA), and New York (NY) on November 28th and December 2nd respectively, and having as a special guest the extraordinary American actress, singer, and wife of Blades, Luba Manson who will be showing the repertoire of her Jazz album Triangle released in October 2020.
Rubén Blades and Luba Manson have been married since 2006
Later, Salswing Tour! & the Roberto Delgado Big Band will present their penultimate concert this year on Friday, December 3rd in Washington (DC), and will close this magnificent tour on Sunday, December 5th on the southwest shore of Lake Michigan at the mighty Arena Arie Crown Theater in Chicago (IL).
Regarding this great 2021 tour, Nelson Albareda, CEO of Loud And Live, the company in charge of carrying out this series of concerts and those of Latin stars such as Carlos Vives, Juanes, Farruko, among many others, commented: “It is an honor for us working with a Latin icon, who has inspired generations through his salsa music and long artistic career. Rubén Blades is not only a great artist but also a great ambassador, and activist for our Latin community”.
The prestigious Panamanian songwriter will show for the first time the eleven songs of his most recent album “Salswing!” title that also gives the name to the tour.
“Music is a universal gift, and from Panama, we renew our contribution with this album, SALSWING!”. Rubén Blades
Salswing! has 11 tracks including, Mambo Gil, Cobarde, Canto Niche, and Ya No Me Duele, the latter written by Jeremy Bosch and Rubén Blades with arrangement by Tom Kubis. Salswing! was recorded in collaboration with the record’s bassist and musical producer, Roberto Delgado, and his band made up of 20 talented Panamanian musicians, and it was released on the digital market on April 15th, 2021.
“Although the connection between Jazz and Salsa has been historically documented, much remains to be described and recognized. The combinations and collaborations between musicians of these genres have been numerous over the years and include figures of the stature of Mario Bauza & Dizzy Gillespie, Machito & Charlie Parker, Luis Russell, and Louis Armstrong. With this record production, I try to continue that relationship, verifying that art does not have a nationality but rather represents a spirit that transcends races, geographies, and languages”. It is extracted from his official page.
Rubén Blades has been performing with Roberto Delgado & Bing Band for ten years in the most prestigious stages around the world. In these eight concerts, there will be a historical tour of recognition of the Latin origins of jazz as well as the influences of the son, Afro-Caribbean music, and swing. In addition to including the hits always chanted by the crowd in any corner of the planet.
Roberto Delgado and his Orchestra along with Rubén Blades won a Grammy for Best Latin Tropical Album in 2018
Roberto Delgado was born in the capital of the Chiriquí province in western Panama on June 27th, 1961. This prodigious artist has developed in the musical environment as a Producer, Singer, Bassist, and Arranger.
His upward career began with his studies at the prestigious Conservatory of Music of Fine Arts in Mexico City (Mexico) and later at the Golden West College of Huntington Beach California (United States).
With more than 40 years of experience, Roberto has been a member of ten Panamanian groups counting the Salsa singer orchestra, Roberto Blades (1992) and he is currently the director of his big band made up of 20 musicians and with whom he has shared the stage since 1996 together with the master Rubén Blades.
In the enormous list of famous artists that Delgado has accompanied in productions and tours in addition to the Blades brothers are Cheo Feliciano, Celia Cruz, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Ismael Miranda, Andy Montañez, Tito Nieves, La India, Víctor Manuelle, José Alberto “El Canario”, Luigie Texidor, Maelo Ruiz, Charlie Aponte, Joan Manuel Serrat, Carlos Vives, and many more.
The conductor together with Rubén Blades has performed on the major international stages, including Madison Square Garden (New York), Hollywood Bowl (Los Angeles), Shepherd’s Bush (London), Poble Espanyol de Barcelona (Spain), numerous Latin American auditoriums, and acclaimed festivals in Europe and the Caribbean.
Also, this duo has three Latin Grammys (2015, 2017) and two Grammys for Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album in 2016 and 2018.
Currently, Roberto Delgado (60 years old) and Rubén Blades (73 years old) continue to transgress the barriers that will be the first Latin artists touring Salswing! in the middle of the pandemic throughout the North American territory.
An important fact to attend the Rubén Blades and Roberto Delgado & Big Band concert series in Los Angeles County is mandatory to wear masks. At the moment, mandatory vaccination in the United States only applies to public employees and workers of large companies.
On this occasion we have the opportunity to interview the Peruvian Sonera called Fanny Almanera also known as La Sonera del Callao, her nickname comes from her native country El Callao, Peru.
She was born on January 23 and is the 9th daughter of her parents (Don Héctor Almenara and Carmen Barreto), from a very young age she knew and learned many things about the music of both parents; in the lyrical genre thanks to his mother and his best teacher Dona Ana María Parodi and with respect to his father who is / was a collector of the best exponents of Salsa (especially Cuban and Puerto Rican music), both listened almost all the time to Justo Betancourt, La Lupe, Candido Fabre, Benny More, Ismael Rivera, Los Papines, Irakere, Luis “Perico” Ortiz, among others.
When she turned 16, she realized that she was passionately and in love with the dynamic salsa genre and made the decision to leave the choir and classical music, since her love and her taste is for the salsa musical, thanking her father greatly for showing her , show him and listen to the best collection of salsa music to date … “Music is like medicine … it fills the soul and innovates over time” and over time, while gaining his experience, his own audience would give him their nickname La Sonera del Callao and with the favor of God take his parents, especially his father, to Cuba.
Memory of the brave Sonero Cano
She also had the honor of participating for the first time in the choir to Junior Gonzales and alternate Grandes with Peruvian Orchestra such as Peru Salsa by Beto Villena, Las Estrellas de la Maquina by Boris Gomez, La Nueva Generación by Franco Covetto, during that time chosen as the best nobel voice of the salsa genre for the 80s; and at the same time he made several recordings for different groups, likewise he recorded an unpublished song of his own entitled “Yo Te Espero”.
Unlike other musicians, Fanny Almanera during this season met and currently has friends of renowned musicians, who interacted with her and her family, even before becoming a singer.
Ray Barreto and singing Adalberto Santiago de Fannia
Between the 70s and 80s, Las Leyendas Latinas arrived in Peru with Ray Barreto and Adalberto Santiago, who gave him the great opportunity to sing with them “Quitate La Máscara”, then with Linda Caballero (La India), the song “Mi Primera Rumba ”, Then with the salsa pharaoh Oscar de León with the song“ Toro Mata ”and also with the great Lebrón Brothers with the song“ Sin Negro no hay Guaguancó ”. With the Owner of the Soneo Carlos “El Cano” ESTREMERA the song “Amame en Camara Lenta”, with Frankie Vazquez “El Cuarto de Tula”, with Yolanda Rivera the song “Rumba en el Patio”, Vity Ruiz brother of Frankie Ruiz the song “La Cura”, with Aldalbeto Santiago on the song “Nadie se Salva de la Rumba”.
In all these golden opportunities, he managed to ask her many questions to perfect her singing, including knowing more about how to rhyme the phrases and after a while with her imposing voice, Fanny captured the attention of the greats of salsa, representing Callao and for which the Chalaco people named it “La Sonera Del Callao”.
Singing with Linda Caballero, the best known India and Fanny La Sonera del Callao
She tells us that she is very happy with this great experience acquired, especially that she met many internationally recognized artists, many met them in person and others thanks to social networks, expressed by many who have a very beautiful voice, which is why she sang many songs musical expressing that at the time of singing he likes it because it is his passion with all his steps (vocalization, expression, movement).
During the Covid-19 pandemic it affected her like the rest of the world, in her case the recordings of her musical themes could not be made as before since the recording studio did not work as before, she had to sing with a smaller group of people, they couldn’t get together to practice; Although he was on a halt due to the pandemic, he was able to record a challenger “El Virus Se Mata Con Musica”, invited by a Cuban musician which was also recorded by Cuban artists, which was successful as it was heard in different parts of the world.
Thank God, despite all the complications that arose regarding her musical career, she achieved many things during this pandemic and also remained active thanks to social networks and is currently activating social activities in clubs, where They work in small groups live or online.
Fanny Almenara, continues with her impeccable musical career, loving music and recording a song entitled “Amor de mis Amores”, a salsa version with the Orquesta NG del Callao Director Franco Crovetto.
For her vast artistic career, she was awarded by different musical associations and by the company Pinsen Callao, Asocosalsa Peru (Ceremony Tite Curet, Busto Hector Lavoe, Charlie Palmieri and 25 Anniversary of Artistic Life (Okonkolo Association) and a few days ago she received the award The Miami Radio Salsa Superior Award Director Richard Roman (“La Dama De La Salsa” Award)
Fanny La Sonera del Callao the Los Award award from Radio Salsa Superior of Miami Director Richard Roman
After his voice reached Cuban pages like the page “Benny More”, “Un Millón De Adalsoneros” and “Al Son Del Pinar Del Rio” She was invited to the day of Son 8 de mayo led by the gentleman of son Adalberto Álvarez, later I also record a song authored by the Reyna del merengue Milly Quezada “Gracias A Ti” dedicated to those who are always in the front line such as doctors and nurses in Covid 19 and the latest that the production of the song La Sitiera Tributo has recorded to the Cuban diva Omara Portuondo in which Nelson Gonzales participated in the tres, Eddie Montalvo on the congas, Nohelia Zambrano from Colombia on the violin and Luis Perico Ortiz on the Trumpet
The 50th anniversary of Willie Colón’s musical career will be celebrated in the National Auditorium in Mexico City.
William Anthony Colón Colón Román, better known as Willie Colón, was born in New York City, United States on April 28, 1950, his passion and dedication were highlighted in the salsa genre, being a salsa musician, singer, American composer of Puerto Rican origin which gives him a special touch, since salsa is characterized by the abundant use of percussion (clave, maracas, conga, bongo, tambora, cowbell, among others). This is inherited from the African musical influence mixed with jazz, which permeated the Latin American Caribbean since the colonial times and gained high popularity in 1960 for being the novelty of the moment in the lowest and highest society, starting in New York with Dominican singer Johnny Pacheco.
In the case of Willie Colón as a musician, he has been characterized by the fusion of rhythms such as son, mambo, guaracha, cha cha cha, guajira, Colombian cumbia, rumba, Venezuelan joropo, among others; He was also known as the master trombonist, blended various Caribbean African, and urban rhythms, formed one of the most important teams of Latin music of the seventies with vocalist Hector Lavoe and is considered one of the pioneers in the development of the genuine salsa movement in the late sixties and the early seventies.
His music, which has been a great influence on modern Latin Jazz, because it reflects a traditional lyrical rhythm and generates the goodbye and the hope as he was forced to leave his country to settle in the United States, and during his musical career, he got 11 Grammy nominations and received 15 gold and 5 platinum records.
It is worth mentioning that Willie Colón is one of the few artists who have worked with several well-known artists on the international scene in his entire career, some of them are: Hector Lavoe, Ray Barretto, Bobby Valentin, Reynaldo Jorge, Celia Cruz, Tito Puente, and David Byrne.
With the arrival of the new coronavirus (COVID-19) in late 2019, the world changed drastically everyone, including artists of which many have remained quarantined and others have been promoted on social networks or online events to avoid catching this dangerous virus. Now in 2021, the quarantine has relaxed and we have managed to keep a highly effective biosecurity system to be able to do certain witnessing activities such as events and/or musical concerts.
Willie Colon’s Flyer at the National Auditorium of Mexico
So if you want to do something different during this quarantine, buy your ticket for the Willie Colon concert to be held on June 18, 2021, which promises to be a unique spectacle at the National Auditorium in Mexico City to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his career in the world of music.
The National Auditorium is known for being an entertainment center located on Paseo de la Reforma Avenue in Colonia Chapultepec (a neighborhood in Mexico City) where a variety of musical events are held to promote musical talent in general and to be an appealing tourist point for culture.
the organizers that boast the salsa event confirmed to us that “With his retirement still far from his list of priorities, Willie Colón is ready to go to Mexico again.” And if you want any news, we inform you that the artist is also currently engaged in writing his memoirs and producing emerging salsa groups, so we will be able to delight in the knowledge acquired by the salsa master Willie Colon soon.
