International Salsa Magazine

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The Salsera Fiesta Returns To Rome

The wait is over and Fiesta opens its doors with a new season of Latin concerts during the summer

Festival Fiesta has been the point of reference in Italy for Latin American concerts and events for 27 years.

Since 1995 the Fiesta club has been the point of reference for Latin American culture in Italy during summer nights in Rome.

Fiesta is located in the Rosati Tourist Park (Parco Rosati -Eur) and has an area of ​​5,000 square meters with a capacity of 3,500 people. Its distribution consists of an outdoor music room equipped with a stage with a led wall for live music and two dance rooms for different musical styles (Salsa, Mambo, Cha Cha Cha, Bachata, Rumba, Merengue, Timba, reggae, and reggaeton).

“The objective of this festival is to build a permanent cultural bridge between Italy and Latin American citizens living in Rome, promoting the value of integration between peoples and respecting different identities.” Fragment extracted from the website. https://fiestafestival.it/

In this regard, the artistic director Mansur Naziri expressed the following: “Over the years I have witnessed several changes in the audience of Fiesta. Now, we have reached the new generations, those the children of immigrants who were born in Italy feel Italian but still keep their traditions alive, even through music. Next to them are the Italians who dancing and listening to Latin songs have also learned a little Spanish, giving life to a beautiful cultural fusion…”

The most representative Salsa artists who have come to this evocative stage of the Eternal City have been Celia Cruz, Los Van Van, Rubén Blades, Gilberto Santarosa, Tito Puente, Oscar D’ León, and Marc Anthony, among many others.

This year the club with its Fiesta festival will continue to offer the best of the Latin music scene from the traditional to the most current. Here are the Salsa artists who will be performing in the cool of Rome’s nights from June to August.

PUPY Y LOS QUE SON SON

Pupy was the pianist in the Revé Orchestra

The Cuban traditional music orchestra created and directed by the pianist, composer, and director César Pedroso Fernández better known as “Pupy” will be performing on Wednesday, June 1st, and tickets don’t exceed €17.

Pupy is recognized for being one of the most important figures in Timba and traditional Cuban music. He participated in two emblematic orchestras during his career: Orquesta Revé and Los Van Van. In this last-mentioned band, he was one of the founders along with his partner and friend Juan Formell.

After 32 years of artistic career, on October 4th, 2001, he formed his band Pupy y Los Que Son Son. Its name derives from the recognition of “Son” as a musical genre where his roots come from, and the style of the band is the fusion of the different instrumental formats with the “Tumbao”.

HAVANA D’PRIMERA

Alexander Abreu spent his childhood in Cienfuegos city (Cuba), where he began playing the trumpet at ten years old.

The band of more than ten musicians created in 2008 and founded by the Cuban trumpeter, singer, and composer Alexander Abreu will take the Fiesta stage on Friday, June 3rd, and you can get the ticket for €30.

Alexander Abreu has become one of the most versatile and acclaimed Cuban musicians in Afro-Cuban music. “I have always seen Havana D’Primera with 15 people on stage, and everyone said that it was impossible, that it would be too expensive, too difficult to move… It is how we started: 14 or 15 of us and a lot of positive energy, now we are stronger than ever.” Abreu commented.

Havana D’Primera’s first album is Haciendo Historia released in 2009, followed by Cantor del Pueblo (2018), A Romper el Coco (2019), and Será que se acabó (2021).

LOS VAN VAN

Los Van Van was the first Cuban group to replace a solo singer with a vocal quartet.

The musical orchestra founded by Juan Formell in Havana (Cuba) in December 1969 will arrive on Saturday, August 6th. They will present their fusion of Cuban Son, Jazz, and Rock with the incorporation of percussion, trombones, keyboards, electronic violins, flutes, bass, and drums for a rhythmic and harmonic sound that complements the quartet of voices, and you can get tickets for a value of €30.

Prince Royce Returns To European Stages With Classic Tour

The young Bachata idol will celebrate more than a decade of experience with a series of concerts in the Netherlands, Italy, France, Spain, and Switzerland

Royce recorded “My Angel” a single that was part of the soundtrack of the sequel Fast and Furious 7.

The internationally famous Latin superstar, Prince Royce, will tour Europe with five concerts called the Classic Tour in which he will perform his greatest hits and most recent singles in a unique and special environment celebrating his ten years of artistic career.

The tour will cover the five most important cities in Europe starting on June 6th at the Zénith multipurpose indoor stadium in Paris (France), he will go through Madrid (Spain) with Las Noches del Botánico on Friday, June 24th, after he will be in the city of Zurich (Switzerland) on June 25th, will continue at the Fiesta festival in Rome (Italy) on July 2nd, and of course, will end his visit to Europe by closing the Pal Mundo Latin-Caribbean Festival in The Hague (Netherlands) on July 3rd.

“EUROPE! See you this summer on the #PRClassicTour to sing all my classics. I’m crazy to see them again!” The singer of Dominican descent expressed this on May 4th through his Facebook account.

Tickets for the Classic Tour range from €40 to €100, and you can purchase them online through his official website. https://www.princeroyce.com/

The last stop to see Prince Royce in concert on the European continent will be at the Pal Mundo Festival in The Hague, a city located in the west of the Netherlands. Here, nature and the Latin world will come together for the first time in the huge urban park in the middle of the city, Zuiderpark, located at 2533 SP, Den Haag/The Hague.

Pal Mundo will take place during the first weekend of July, and it will have approximately 50,000 attendees from all over Europe who will enjoy urban and Afro-Caribbean music, dance to Latin rhythms, and broaden their culinary tastes with typical food of the South American and the Caribbean Islands.

Geoffrey Royce Rojas de León was born on May 11th, 1989, in the Bronx (New York).

Continuing in the same tone, Prince Royce, the artistic name of Geoffrey Royce Rojas, in the last decade has obtained almost 100 million followers on his social networks, 22 world hits on radio charts, 24 Billboard Awards, 20 Premios lo Nuestro, 19 Premios Juventud, 6 Latin AMAs, and 14 Latin Grammy® nominations.

In the last eight years, this 33-year-old artist has collaborated with Selena Gómez on the hit Already Missing You, Gerardo Ortiz (Moneda), Shakira (Deja Vu), Gente de Zona and Arturo Sandoval (Tumbao), Zendaya (X), Marc Anthony (Adicto), Thalia (You Lost My Love), Daddy Yankee (Come With Me), and more recently Natti Natasha (Antes Que Salga El Sol), Mau y Ricky (Doctor), and the single that trended on the global YouTube chart along with María Becerra released on March 4th, Te Espero.

This New Yorker artist has six studio albums: Prince Royce (2010), his debut album, with which he rocketed up the popularity list with songs like Stand By Me and Corazón Sin Cara. His next record production was Phase II (2012) and was followed by Soy El Mismo (2013), Double Vision (2015), Five (2017), and his last recording to date Alter Ego (2020). This sixth album released on February 7th contains two discs “Genesis” and “Enigma” for a total of 23 songs. The genres that you will find in this compilation discs are Salsa, Bachata, Latin Pop, Reggaeton, and Trap.

“I’m excited to share Classic Tour with all my fans, who have been there for me unconditionally since the beginning of my career”… I’m still here thanks to all of you, and this tour is for you. I am full of gratitude.” Prince Royce

Marc Anthony Says to Europe Pa’llá Voy

The most influential tropical artist of the 21st century will offer a series of concerts in Spain, London, Holland, France, Italy, Switzerland, and Germany

Otra Nota (1993) was Marc Anthony’s first solo album

Si hay una fiesta pa’llá voy. Si hay una rumba, pa’llá voy. Con buena música y alcohol, cuando me llamen, pa’llá voy. With this nice choir of the song Pa’llá Voy that gives its name to the 2022 tour, Marc Anthony begins the series of concerts in Europe.

The versatile Salsa artist with the record for the most albums sold worldwide begins a series of 17 concerts on Saturday, June 4th at the OVO Arena Wembley in London (United Kingdom) with a capacity for 12,500 people. His next stop will be in the Rotterdam city (Netherlands) in Ahoy, which can hold 15,818 salsa souls, followed by Paris (France), Assago (Italy), Zurich (Switzerland), Cologne (Germany), ending his tour in 11 cities from Spain (Cornellá de Llobregat, Santiago de Compostela, Madrid, Seville, Fuengirola, Calvia, Oviedo, Valencia, Murcia, Cadiz, and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria). In this last city, the capital of Gran Canaria, Marc Anthony will step onto the stage of the Granca Live Fest that will take place on July 8th at the stadium of this cosmopolitan city with a capacity of 31,250 people.

This same tour, postponed due to the pandemic in 2020, was initially called “Opus Tour” and a year later it changed to “World Tour” now it is titled “Pa’ lla voy Tour” the homonymous name of the thirteenth album of the singer of Puerto Rican descent released on March 4th, 2022.

Pa’lla Voy was recorded during the pandemic period in Miami (United States), the place of residence of Magnus, the company of the singer awarded the Order of the Golden Sphinx by Harvard. This studio album is made up of nine Salsa pieces (Pa’llá voy, Yo le mentí, No se quita, Nada de nada, Amor no tiene sexo, Mala, Gimme some more, El que te amaba y Si fuera fácil).

“When we got to the studio to record this album, I was full of inspiration. I had time to absorb these songs, fall in love with them, and create what you can now hear.” The artist wrote on his Facebook account on March 4th.

You don’t need to carry out any additional management or expense if you purchased the tickets in 2020

Anthony, with almost three decades of trajectory, has released two singles from this new production, “Mala” co-authored by Lenier and under the production of Sergio George (producer of his first hits), and co-produced by Motiff, recognized for his work with Víctor Manuelle, Gente de Zona, Natalia Jiménez among many others.

In the same way, “Pa’lla Voy” was released this year, his most important single, and that gives life to the tour. This first track of the album was written by the Venezuelan singer-songwriter brothers San Luis (Luigi and Santiago Castillo). Another piece of information that we can provide you is about the participation of the only woman on this album, the Venezuelan singer Elena Rose, co-writer of the song “Yo Le Mentí”. Andrea Elena Mangiamarchi, known by the artistic name Elena Rose, is known for working with urban singers like Becky G, Rauw Alejandro, Tini, and CNCO.

Tickets for this long-awaited tour are between 40 Euros and 140+ Euros. The tickets purchased for the suspended tour in 2020 are valid.

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to sing and dance on Pa’lla Voy Tour,  https://www.marcanthonyonline.com/gira/ and enjoy this new salsa jewel live and listen to his greatest hits such as “Valió la pena” or “Vivir mi vida”, the latter ranked 46th among the category of the 50 most important Latin songs of the American magazine specialized in music, Rolling Stone.

José Mosquera from Barquisimeto for the World “The bodybuilder and elegant”

Barquisimeto, is well known as the musical capital of Venezuela and in this opportunity we will make special mention to the musician José Jesús Mosquera Cañizales, born in our city in the Antonio María Pineda Hospital, on May 23, 1969, son of Rafael Mosquera and Juana Cañizales, married to Yolanda García and from this union were born their children Yolanda José and Luis José.

Mosquera was always inclined to music since he was a child, participating in the musical activities of his school “Ciudad Bolivar”, located on Carrera 13 and 48th Street, in Barquisimeto, singing and playing the cuatro in a self-taught way and with the help of his father who taught him to improve his playing.

At the age of 8 he studied at Pablo Canela’s academy, at the age of 10 he learned to play guitar, also with the support of his father and his cousin Carlos Romero.

At the age of 11 he participates in the musical groups of the Christian church, standing out as a guitarist, drummer and timbalero. When he turned 15, he became interested in playing the bass guitar and during his high school studies at the Ezequiel Bujanda Combined Cycle, he met Jesús Rincón, also a musician, and joined the ranks of the “Obeligaitas” bagpipe group, where he began his career as a bass player.

When he turned 18 years old, he was part of the staff of the group “Tecnogaitas” of the Tecnológico Antonio José de Sucre and simultaneously he was bassist of the band “La Salle”. Afterwards, he is recommended to Alí Rojas and auditions to be the bassist of the “Sonora de Alí”, where he remains for 3 years.

Alí Rojas gave him the responsibility of being the bassist of the dance orchestra “Sensación”, where he remained for 15 years. In 1992, he began working as a music instructor for the Fundación del Niño until 1996.

Mosquera, besides being an excellent bass player, plays string instruments such as the cuatro, guitar and requinto.

In 1993, Mosquera turned to romantic music and created the duet “Génesis” with his friend and compadre Carlos Enrique Prince, performing in nightclubs and private parties. In 1997, he joined the Poliboys Orchestra of the General Command of the Lara State Police as a bass player, where he currently works. In 2004 he began his musical studies at the Vicente Emilio Sojo Conservatory and graduated as an academic musician in 2009 with excellent grades. José has performed on regional television stations demonstrating his qualities in various prestigious programs and in 2016, he won 3rd place in the Police Voice Festival.

Mosquera, at what date do you become interested in salsa as a musical genre?, Professor Carlos in 2007 I start playing the baby bass and in 2011 I join the K’dencia Latina Orchestra of Carlos Sanchez and also had the privilege of accompanying Benjamin Rausseo “El Conde del Guácharo”, performing with his band and with K’dencia Latina, accompanied the late Willy Rodriguez, and vocalists of national and international renown: Hildemaro, Pibo Márquez, Charlie Guzmán, Alejandro Mayora, Mariana “La Sonera de Venezuela” and the official doubles in Venezuela of Rubén Blades (Jhony Heredia) and Celia Cruz (Ibrahíma Rondón).

Mosquera finally told us that musical excellence is achieved through perseverance and dedication.

Finally we wish the best of success on behalf of International Salsa Magazine, to the excellent musician José Mosquera “The bodybuilder and elegant bass”.

See you next time and let’s keep on salsaing!

José Mosquera “The bodybuilder and elegant”.

Jesús Algarín is a Puerto Rican bassist who, at the age of 25, landed in the salsa scene

A graduate of Berklee College of Music, with his college degree in hand, the young bassist returned home to make his homeland in salsa time.

Jesús Algarín is a Puerto Rican bassist who, at the age of 25, landed in the salsa scene to make music his life project.  The young musician already walks with a firm step accompanied by the forceful interpretation of his bass, leading his own orchestra with confidence.

From the time he was born, according to what his parents told him, they used to party, so it was not surprising that at the age of 8 he was already the one who was the one who was livening up the parrandas while playing the Puerto Rican cuatro.  Algarín, who was born and raised in the heart of Puerto Rico (Caguas), candidly tells us that as a child, he discovered through our very own parrandera tradition, that music -which he refers to as a wonderful art- had a healing and restorative power.

Well advised by the adults in his family, he recounts that his uncle explained to him early in his life that if he failed to ignite his audience at the Choliseo during a parranda, it would become more difficult for him. Once he understood the advice, he applied it to himself.  Today he concludes that it is necessary to dominate every stage, from a marquee to a public square, and to take it one step at a time.

Through Puerto Rican folk music, studying and interpreting the seis, the aguinaldo, the bomba, and the plena, he was entering into what without planning it became his life project.  Later, playing the Puerto Rican cuatro purely by ear, he was able to enter the “magical” world of music, as he himself describes it.

Already in the sixth grade of elementary school, he began his formal apprenticeship at the Escuela Libre de Música de Caguas.  Before that time, he played the cuatro but did not read music.  Once he learned to read music, he decided to continue growing musically in his instrument.

Six years later, in grade 12, about to finish high school, he took part in the camps that Berklee College of Music brings to Puerto Rico every year. He auditioned for the Puerto Rican cuatro.  However, at the time, he did not achieve his goal of positioning himself. Determined not to give up, the following year he returned to the Berklee camp but changed tactics. He showed up to the workshops with a bass because he understood that the cuatro was not a good fit.  When he filled out the registration form for the workshops, he reported that his bass playing was at the advanced level, even though he knew it wasn’t true.  This adolescent idea, which added a good deal of pressure and stress to his musical performance, helped him get into the ensembles he aspired to qualify for. Today he admits that at that time, which today seems far away, he could not handle the bass because, as an instrument, it was still unknown to him.

In any case, Algarín qualified because, as we know, you have to take your chances with life.  The rest is history. 

With the bass as his main instrument, Algarín got Berklee to give him a scholarship and after four years in Boston, Massachusetts he graduated with a degree in Music Business. In other words, he spent four years making music while learning to see music as a business.

The young bass player confesses that he had not planned to be a musician nor had he thought he would make a living from music.  He did not see music as a possibility, since although it was always an integral part of his life, music was a hobby or a way to serve God in the church.  And that’s what he limited himself to until he came to Berklee’s summer workshops.  Before that, he saw himself as a lawyer and when it was his turn to enter college, he initially enrolled at Ana G. Mendez University.  There he attempted to complete a bachelor’s degree in accounting. However, from the very first accounting class he knew that accounting was not for him.

Algarín capitalized on what he learned, and has been able to stick to music as a way of life; from a more realistic and less idealistic perspective. Of course, all without losing the artistic focus of musical interpretation.  Along with his musical training, he has been preparing himself in legal issues, maintaining business awareness, focusing on the protection of music and copyrights.  He has also been responsible for making other musicians aware of the importance of registering their music with the Library of Congress and thus making the most of their work.  There is no doubt that Algarín knows his worth as a musician and from his space he has decided to serve and guide his counterparts to protect their work.

Before entering the studio to record his project, Algarín had recorded with Manolito Rodríguez.  During his student years in Boston, he was a musician in the Eric German Orchestra, the orchestra that accompanies visiting solo singers in the New England area.

Today, his main instrument is the bass, double bass, baby base or electric bass.

The bassist, a native of Caguas and graduate of Berklee College of Music, class of 2020, returned to Puerto Rico to lead his own musical project.

Two years after Algarín’s return home, the orchestra is already promoting its first production entitled “Dímelo Algarín”, which is part of his project “Jesús Algarín”. The format of the base orchestra of the project is as follows: winds (trumpet, trombone and baritone saxophone), bass, piano, conga, timbal, bongo and bell; backing singers and choirs. This, his first production, contains 5 songs, with contemporary themes in its lyrics. This lyric, however, embraces the nostalgic sonority of the sextet, complementing some of the songs with the Cuban tres. The bassist leader of his project arranged and composed these 5 unreleased tracks, which are merged in a production for which Jesús Algarín is also responsible.

The production is available in digital format on all platforms. The promotional cut is Sigue tu camino performed by Ricardo Colón, who also sings in the Willie Rosario Orchestra. The other four tracks included in the production are:  Playita, Cadencia y sabor and La calle se prendió; performed by vocalist José Luis De Jesús and Caribeña, in the voice of Marisabel Vázquez Varela.

The recording studio musicians who participated in the production are from the Caribbean.  Puerto Ricans, Cubans and Venezuelans merge in a salsa embrace; as is to be expected.

Vocals: José Luis De Jesús, Ricardo Colón and Marisabel Vázquez Varela.

Backing vocals: Jorge Yadiel Santos, Carlos García, Ricardo Colón, José Luis De Jesús, Manolo Ruiz and Carloscar Cepero.

Bass: Jesús Algarín

Piano: Aníbal Cruz and Juan Rivera

Tres: Renesito Avich

Percussion: Miguel Martínez

Trumpets: Luis Arnaldo Ramos, Angel Segarra y Nicolás Benítez

Trombone: Johan Escalante y Carloscar Cepero

Baritone saxophone: Efraín Martínez

Cuatro: Jesús Algarín.

As the son of documentary filmmaker Juan Félix Algarín, Jesús considers himself blessed to have been mentored by a father with first-hand knowledge.  His father always instructed him to be aware of music as a business in the entertainment world. Jesus knows his worth and has kept himself informed as to the costs of production and is clear as to the rates of his work.  He identifies himself as a Puerto Rican and Caribbean musician. He is in every sense of the word, a music worker.

As it is, we are still in salsa.  Yes, salsa lives! The effort, discipline and talent -in that order- of this young bandleader attest to that. Congratulations, and may you continue to “catch the ride”.

For bookings, Ángel Ilarraza: 787-347-4662 or e-mail: [email protected]