Search Results for: Salsa
David Atanacio Percussionist, Composer and Singer Unveils a New Sound
David Atanacio, grounded in the values of honesty, integrity, loyalty, responsibility, and respect, appears to be an individual of strong moral and ethical character. He is someone who can be fully trusted, a faithful and committed friend and colleague who always tells the truth and acts with righteousness.
His sense of responsibility ensures he fulfills his commitments, while his respect makes him a considerate, open person capable of building harmonious relationships. Together, these values suggest a dependable, upright, and kind personality, making him a positive and admired presence.
Born in New York City and raised in Puerto Rico, specifically in the municipalities of Bayamón and Cataño, David Atanacio has cultivated a unique musical identity rooted in a powerful fusion of Cuban rumba, flamenco rumba, and Afro-Caribbean influences.
In 1993, he began his musical journey as a bongo player for his uncle’s “Grupo Típico,” later joining a local orchestra as a conguero in 1996. In 1997, he was presented with the opportunity to become a singer, marking a turning point in his musical destiny.
Recruited to co-found “Grupo Folclórico Yuba Iré,” it was with this group that he began to perfect his mastery of rhythms like La Bomba, La Plena, El Guaguancó, El Yambú, and more. During this same period, David Atanacio discovered his talent for composing and began writing his first songs, including one titled “Lo que dice el Tambor” (What the Drum Says).
He was recommended to work with the “Orquesta Abran Paso” from Puerto Rico, with whom he accompanied luminaries such as Ismael Miranda, Adalberto Santiago, Junior “Hommy” González (RIP), Larry Harlow (RIP), among others.
He then received a call from the Puerto Rican Maestro “Paoli Mejías,” percussionist for “Carlos Santana’s” group, who invited him to be part of his first musical project, “Mi Tambor.” On this album, David’s song “Lo Que Dice el Tambor” was recorded, appearing as Track No. 7. The album was nominated for “Best Latin Jazz Album” at the Latin Grammys in 2004.
David Atanacio: Percussionist, Composer, and Singer Unveils a New Sound
In 2003, the King of Rhythm, Mr. Afinque “Don Willie Rosario,” invited David to join the front line of his orchestra, where he remained until 2005. After leaving Willie Rosario’s Orchestra, David decided to move with his family to Tampa, Florida.
Even in his new home, David never lost touch with his roots. One day, he received a call to contribute background vocals to the production “Sobrevolando” by the acclaimed Puerto Rican group “Cultura Profética” (2019). This production earned them the Latin Grammy for “Best Alternative Album” in 2020 and a nomination for “Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album” at the 2020 Grammy Awards.
David Atanacio is a “Sonero de Calle” (Street Sonero), with ample talent and ability to succeed. He is a percussionist, composer, and possesses the added artistry of the “Soneo del Guaguancó” (Guaguancó vocal improvisation).
Atanacio is now releasing his musical proposal, “David Atanacio & Champán D’ Barrio,” featuring aged salsa and plenty of flavor.
The album contains ten tracks, eight of which are his original compositions. The production features special guest Herman Olivera, who performs a duet with David on a meticulously crafted song titled “De la Vieja Escuela” (From the Old School). The first single from this project, “Lo que dice el Tambor,” is hitting the airwaves, now presented under his orchestrated concept, “David Atanacio & Champán D’ Barrio.”
The Puerto Rican sonero recently released his latest single, “No Me Llores Más” (Don’t Cry For Me Anymore), a masterfully interwoven piece that pays homage to the musical genres that have shaped his artistic journey. The song perfectly fuses Cuban rumba, guaguancó, Spanish flamenco rumba, and son.
More than just a song, “No Me Llores Más” is a deeply personal sonic exploration that honors the genres that have influenced David Atanacio since his beginnings. Rhythms such as trova, décimas, aguinaldo, bomba, and plena have profoundly impacted his musical development, adding unique nuances to his artistic expression and reaffirming his commitment to the cultural heritage of his homeland and the Caribbean.
“No Me Llores Más” Credits:
- Lyrics, Music, and Lead Vocals: David Atanacio
- Background Vocals: Herman Olivera Jr. & Adriel González
- Musical Arrangement: Carlos García
- Piano: Yassel Puppo
- Bass: Kevin Pagan
- Trombone Solo: Carloscar Cepero
- Percussion: Diego Centeno
- Spanish Guitar: Alex García Potia
With an exquisite arrangement by Carlos García and impeccable execution by top-tier musicians, “No Me Llores Más” marks a new chapter in David Atanacio’s career. It’s where tradition and vanguard embrace to the rhythm of the drum, the guitar, and pure emotion.
This track will be available on all digital platforms starting June 14, 2025.
The rumba lives, the son renews, and David Atanacio’s voice celebrates it!
Press Contact: David Atanacio [email protected] 813-569-9581
Reference: Luis Rojas
Multi-instrumentalist Ian Dobson talks about his trips and academic background
American artist Ian Dobson, like many of his compatriots, could not resist the charms of Latin music and its huge diversity of rhythms, so today he talked with us about the way he walked to become the talented multi-instrumentalist he is today.
Enjoy Ian’s incredible story in the following lines and learn everything he has to share.
How Ian became interested in music
With just five years old, Ian already took a genuine interest in playing the drums and did not have any other family members who also liked music, except his aunt, who was a violinist. Although he does not have a very special motivation to love this instrument, he remembers that when he was 12, someone showed him a samba rhythm on his own drums, and he liked it so much that he continued playing it himself until perfectioning it. As a teenager, he was very involved in jazz, which also led him to Latin jazz and other genres derived from it.
On reaching majority, he had already discovered a little more of Latin music, so he began studying Spanish in order to understand it better, which of course helped him a lot for the following years. His curiosity about this colorful culture was such that he embarked on a series of trips to many Latin American countries, one of which was Venezuela, more specifically Margarita Island, in 1988. Ian wanted to practice his Spanish and see what rhythms he could find in that country, the most popular being salsa and merengue.
Genres and countries that most influenced Ian
Among the Latin American countries we can name are Venezuela, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Cuba. He also had the opportunity to play on several cruise ships and visit many Caribbean islands.
Each and every one of these countries had things that caught his attention musically. In the case of Venezuela, Ian was able to study the maracas during his master’s degree in percussion in Washington. One of his teachers was Euclides Aparicio, with whom he was able to learn much more about the music of this nation.
The artist points out that the country that most aroused his attention was Cuba, but he assures us that he liked all of them due to the musical and cultural diversity he found on all his trips, and he hopes to return to the same destinations someday.
Mexico was the country where he spent more time, staying there for a total of six months.
Academic background
Ian has a very interesting academic background that has provided him with a huge amount of knowledge applicable to his career. We can mention the University of Lisbon, where he was studying Portuguese and found it fascinating because there were many people from the African colonies, resulting in this music permeating Portugal and mixing with local music. One of its most renowned composers was Fernando Lopez-Graça, whom Ian had the opportunity to meet during his stay in the European country.
He became so interested in this subject that he wrote essays on how Brazilian music influenced Portuguese music and what role Africa played in all of this. Ian had already earned his bachelor’s degree from Pomona College, so he found all these topics very interesting and took them into account when it comes to studying music.
He also studied jazz at the Oberlin Conservatory, and although he did not complete his classes there, everything he learned obviously helped him a lot later on. At the University of Washington, he earned a bachelor’s degree in percussion and learned much more about music from a purely academic point of view.
Ian the multi-instrumentalist
Ian studied timpani, marimba, vibraphone, piano, drums, percussion, and many other instruments throughout his career, so he can be considered a multi-instrumentalist who has sought to specialize in as many areas of music as possible.
During our conversation, Ian showed us through video call some of the instruments he was going to play that same day, such as steel drums, an electronic marimba, a drum set, a ukulele, DJ equipment, and so on.
He assures us that he is capable of playing these instruments and others during his performances, but he loves steel drums and the ukulele, which are a fundamental part of his repertoire.
Ian the teacher
While it is true that Ian has no private students right now, he previously offered music lessons for some time, gave workshops and created online spaces for his students and followers to learn from his experience.
Today, he only offers concerts, but he always tries to make them as educational as possible. In fact, he always has a few extra pairs of drumsticks that he offers to some of his concertgoers so they can play themselves while Ian explains what to do. This makes the performance much more interactive and dynamic thanks to audience participation.
The most satisfying aspect of being a teacher was to see his students gain much more self-confidence, which led them to pursue their goals with greater intensity. No matter how bad his mood may be at any given moment, he is always happy to see others learn and enjoy what they do.
Trombone player Lindsey McMurray from the women’s orchestra Las Chikas
Lindsey McMurray, bandleader of the group Las Chikas, has graciously accepted our invitation to talk about the women’s orchestra she is leading, which makes us very happy and pleased, so we invite our readers to enjoy this interview from beginning to end and learn about the musical journey of this young artist.
How Lindsey got started in music
Lindsey’s journey to become an artist began very soon at school, when she was just 10 years old and started learning to play the trombone. Prior to this, she had already studied other instruments such as the keyboard and the recorder, but she ended up trying the trombone.
Soon after, at the age of 11, she joined the school jazz band, but it was not until college that she began experimenting with salsa in orchestras that played this genre. Until then, Lindsey had had virtually no contact with Latin music, as she had only listened to typical U.S. rhythms. However, once she discovered Latin American music, she could not escape her love for it and continues to play it to this very day.
It should be noted that the musician does not have any family member who is too. So she would be the first one to make music her profession and, of course, one of the most important areas of her life.
Professional experiences prior to Las Chikas
Before even getting to know of the existence of Las Chikas, Lindsey was on a TV show called ‘’Noches Con Platanito’’ in the musical side, but she did not really lead anything until the bandleaders of the groups who were there left. Her big break came in 2017, when she finally managed to become a bandleader herself and, in turn, started two groups at the same time.
This is because Lindsey did not want to depend on anyone be called whenever she was required, but, on the contrary, she wanted to go on developing her autonomy to the point of being the one to create jobs for others instead of looking for them somewhere else.
Las Chikas
It is important to clarify that Lindsey is not the founder of Las Chikas, but that the group already existed before she joined during the pandemic. The idea of Las Chikas was born during “Noches Con Platanito” as part of the show, but Lindsey and the other members wanted to have activities outside of the show and what the production asked them to do. At that time, the leader and founder of the group was Eliana Rose who during the pandemic wanted to settle in Southern California, so she asked the artist to take her place, which she accepted.
This posed a significant challenge for her, as she had never led a Latin music orchestra in her life. However, the novelty did not make him get cold feet, but on the contrary, it was an experience she wanted to live in order to learn from it.
The current members joined the group thanks to recommendations from friends and other people in the industry. Already at this point, it can be said that they all are her friends, to the extent that they have shared all kinds of special occasions such as birthdays, trips, and much more.
Why only women in the orchestra
What catches the attention about Las Chikas is that, as its name suggests, it is only composed of women. One of the reasons is that the industry, despite of the recent social changes, continues to be dominated by men, so these young female talents find support between themselves.
What the original founder wanted was to promote the idea that a group of girls could play Latin music without it being perceived as strange. Lindsey shares this vision with hundred percent and hopes new generations of women never think for a moment that their gender is a limitation to achieve what they want in music.
While acknowledging that there have been positive changes in recent decades, she thinks there are areas that do not have enough female representation such as percussion, bass, production, arranging, among others. It is very common for women to be vocalists in a band, but it is still unusual to see them in other areas of the project.
Las Chikas as a mix of cultures and ethnicities
On the band’s website, it can be read that the group is a mix of diverse cultures and ethnicities. In this regard, Lindsey pointed out that, while it is true that she is not a Latina, she has always sought to create something as authentic as possible that is rooted in Latin culture, of course with great respect. “Latin music is so joyful, intelligent, and capable of being beautiful to the eyes of any human being who hears it. I also want in a certain way to make non-Latinos enjoy this beautiful music as much as I do,” Lindsey added on the subject.
She also said that diversity plays a very important role, as non-Latino audiences tend to feel that they have permission to be part of the joy emanating from this music. In addition to that, the fact that the members have diverse backgrounds helps the band have different perspectives on what they want to do.
Today, Las Chikas is composed of Cuban singer Mayelin Vázquez, Cuban singer Whitney Hernández, American pianist Dolores Duran-Cefalu, bassist María Vega, Mexican timbalera Anita Garay, Mexican conga player Diana Teixeira, American trumpet player Anne King, Mexican saxophonist Marina Panzetta, and Lindsay herself on trombone.
Read also: The best of Cuban music in Tampa with Cuband Son Band
North America – August 2017
