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Search Results for: Salsa

Sophy Hernández, Luis Perico Ortiz and much more this month

News about the current music scene

As every month, we bring to you all of the entertainment news related to Latin music and the current situation of its most important exponents in order to keep all our dear International Salsa Magazine’s community of readers informed, which is always very aware of the latest news. 

Today, we are going to talk about two beloved stars who have left Latin music at the top because of their great talent and perseverance they have shown during their artistic careers. It is always an honor for us to be aware of all their projects and make them known through this platform.   

A new book by Sophy Hernández 

Cover of the book by Sophy
Front cover of the book by Sophy Hernández

Famed Puerto Rican singer Sophy Hernández has published a book about her life entitled Sophy de Puerto Rico: Desde lo más íntimo (El poder de luchar para triunfar). In this material, the artist reflects on all she has lived through to become the person she is today and unburdens herself to certain difficult details in order to be able to forgive herself. Likewise, she also talks about some unprecedented details of her family and personal life that have not been previously shared.   

Sofia Hernandez Font (her birth name) recently commented that she has spent many years going through places that were very important to her during her childhood, so that she could begin to rehash as many details as possible about what she has been through in the town of San Sebastian, where she spent most of her years as a child. It was precisely there that her passion for music was born, which would become her career as an adult. Sophy seeks to motivate any young person who reads the book in the future to achieve their dreams despite the circumstances. 

After she has presented the book, the singer expressed that the work has served as an outlet for her, since she was able to describe on the pages those painful moments through which she passed, but at the same time, to forgive those who caused them. She also talks about the extramarital affair that her mother (black) had with a married man (white) and how she made his way up and get ahead. 

Luis Perico Ortiz’s new recording production   

Solo Entre Amigos
Cover of the album Sigo Entre Amigos

Puerto Rican trumpeter Luis Perico Ortiz has recently announced that he will be recording his latest album with some very special guests. After more than a decade staying away long from the stage and dedicating to teaching, the artist has revealed that he will get back to the recording studio to record his latest album with several hugely successful singers such as Milly Quezada, Domingo Quiñones and Tony Vega. Due to the friendship that binds him to the aforementioned stars, the material will be called Sigo Entre Amigos, like the first promotional single.   

Ortiz commented how happy he was with the reaction of his friends at the moment of proposing to work with him on the album. He said that Quezada, Quiñones and Vega did not even let him finish talking and were made available to whatever he needed. 

As for the musical aspects of the album, Perico has made it known at least six of the songs will have the typical style of the salsa singer’s other works, but three others will be based on the big band concept. 

By: Johnny Cruz correspondent of International Salsa Magazine in New York City, New York

Johnny Cruz Present – December 2021

Thumbnail related to Sophy Hernández

Thumbnail about the Spanish Harlem Salsa Gallery

Noticias con Sabor – Luis Medina

Thumbnail about Luis Medina

What effects does music have on our brain?

Undeniably, music plays a very important role in the life of every human being, even if he/she is not dedicated to it in a professional manner. This is because this set of sounds has very specific effects on the brain that might surprise those who deny how influential it can be at various levels. 

Since we were just kids, we are fully exposed to all kinds of musical genres, some of which can help us develop our mental and brain capacities which, as an effect, can lead to a better memory, a higher concentration and much more attention to the activities we do. At the same time, our mathematical, language and conflict resolution skills. 

The ear is an extremely powerful stimulation tool for our brain, which has made it to be taken into account as one of the many ways in which certain physical and mental suffering can be treated. In the specific case of music, we must remember that not all musical genres serve to achieve the same goals, so we should evaluate each of them individually. 

Music is important to our brain
Brain and music

What effect does salsa have on the brain? 

Salsa

In the case of salsa, we can say that the brain will receive a very special cocktail of adrenaline and dopamine, which will bring as a consequence the activation and relaxation of certain areas of the brain at the same time. It might seem counterintuitive, but it is really not. Given that salsa is a genre that invites to body movement, the effects are numerous, such as the stress relief, the increase in cardio-vascular capacity and a tremendous improvement in the coordination and balance. 

What is happening with salsa can perfectly happen with other dance rhythms such as bachata, merengue, kizomba and many others. There are many physical trainers and coaches who use these genres to relax their clients after having used other sounds of greater impact.   

Jazz 

One of the biggest benefits brought by jazz on the brain is total relaxation of the body and the mind in those moments when we can be full of stress or anguish. Many used to think that this genre induced sadness in those who listen to it, but it there is evidence that the opposite can happen.   

In fact, it has been proven that jazz can have the same calming effect as a cigarette in a smoker. The same can happen with blues, which is very similar to jazz, so its effects on the brain are similar.

Classical Music 

A lot has been said and studied about the effects that classical music can have in certain areas of the brain. There are also many myths about it, such as becoming more intelligent when we listen to it, which has already been proven to be completely false. What is true is that it can help us develop our ideas in a better way and learn in a more optimal way. In fact, it has been proven that several symphonies put the brain in a state of alert that can be highly conducive to learning in many cases. 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, world-famous composer of the Classical period

More information here: Frequency 432 Hertz and what experts say on this issue

Arturo O’Farrill’s career and upcoming projects

The story of Arturo

Latin America has given rise to a great number of musical legends who have made history in the United States and Arturo O’Farrill is one of them. Arturo O’Farrill Valero is a bandleader, composer, arranger, pianist and jazz and Latin jazz musician who was born in Mexico City, fruit of the union of his parents Chico O’Farrill and Lupe Valero. Both were closely linked to the world of music since before their son was born, which means that the young O’Farrill followed the footsteps of his parents. 

His family lived in Mexico City until the mid-1960s, when they decided to move to New York City, where Chico began to work as a musician and to establish contacts with some of the greatest musicians of the moment, such as Dizzie Gillespie, Lester Bowie, Celia Cruz, Tito Puente, La Lupe and many others. His first contact with music was at the age of six, when he began taking piano lessons, which he did not like very much, but then he changed his mind and decided that music was what he wanted to dedicate his entire life to. 

One of his big breaks took place when composer and jazz pianist Carla Bley contacted him to play with her band at Carnegie Hall. After getting some kind of piano and organ experience with this group, he started making solo collaborations with Howard Johnson and Steve Turre.   

This is Arturo O'Farrill
Arturo O’Farrill

In the 1990s, he joined his father to help him revive his musical career. Given that Chico was in a rather vulnerable state of health, he had to delegate the hiring of his musicians to others, so Arturo wanted to intervene to help his progenitor and formed the Chico O’Farrill Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra that began playing at Birdland every Saturday night. Once his father passed away in 1995, he went on to become the orchestra leader. 

In the early 2000s, Lincoln Center jazz program director Wynton Marsalis contacted Arturo to ask him to help with a concert entitled The Spirit of Tito Puente. The problem was that the Lincoln Canter jazz orchestra did not get what it took to play Latin jazz. As expressed by O’Farrill in the Wall Street Journal, he tried to make the musicians to play jazz in a more Afro-Cuban way, but he could not manage to. They ended up playing a quite traditional type of jazz, but failed to capture the essence of what Arturo wanted to obtain as a result. 

That’s when he knew they needed a very special group of musicians who could play music with the right approach for the genre. After that, Marsalis invited the musician to found and lead an Afro-Cuban jazz band that would perform at Lincoln Center regularly, which was baptized as the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra (ALJO) after accepting the proposal. One of the things which have characterized the orchestra since its beginnings has been the use of a large instrumentation very typical of traditional jazz bands and a three-piece percussion section. 

Arturo and his piano
Arturo O’Farrill while performing

Arturo O’Farrill’s new album 

According to some media reports, the artist released his latest album entitled Dreaming In Lions on September 24. In the album, O’Farrill leads a very special group of 10 musicians The Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble and receives the cooperation of the Malpaso Dance Company from Cuba. 

The artist was inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s novel The Old Man and the Sea (one of his favorite books at a young age) to give a name to his album. Its protagonist is a Cuban fisherman who starts dreaming of lions prowling the African shores while doing his job at sea. 

What he is trying to achieve is that those who listen to the album are not just listeners of it, but also actively participate in that dream, even if it is not real.   

FIREWALL 

  1. Del Mar
  2. Intruso
  3. BeautyCocoon 
  4. Ensayo Silencio
  5. La Llorona

DREAMING IN LIONS 

  1. Dreaming in Lions 
  2. Scalular
  3. HowI Love 
  4. TheDeep 
  5. WarBird Man 
  6. Strugglesand Strugglets 
  7. IWishWe Was 
  8. Bloodin the Water 
  9. Dreams So Gold
album Dreaming in Lions
Arturo O’Farrill’s new cover album Dreaming in Lions
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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.