Search Results for: Spanish in the United States

Incredible conversation with Luis Medina

Good afternoon, everyone. We are here with broadcaster, DJ and event producer Luis Medina. Mr. Medina, how are you today?  

I am well and ready to talk to you right now.

Mr. Medina, you have a very long career as a radio presenter. You got started in this business in 1974. What led you to spend so much time in your career on the radio? 

In 1971 I was studying architecture at San Francisco State University, but in 1974 I changed my major to broadcasting and communications in the Department of Radio and Television. When I was a kid, I was always fascinated by broadcasters on TV with their microphones. My parents gave me a toy microphone, and I always imagined I was broadcasting. At the time I was accepted in the broadcasting program, I already loved salsa because my cousin  Stella played popular music for me since I was about 8 years old. I loved all kinds of music. At home, we always had the radio on, and my parents always listened to tropical music, which was very common at that time.

In 1974 my cousin Eduardo invited me to go to a radio station called KBRG to visit some friends who had a program called Venezuela Suya. In another studio in the station, there was a radio producer named Arturito Santiago, who was the master of ceremonies for the Gran Combo de Puerto Rico when they did dances in San Francisco hotels. When I saw him doing his job, I was intrigued. Two months later, my cousin called to tell me that he’d gotten involved in a community radio station called KPOO San Francisco and asked me if I wanted to help him with the show. I brought a stack of LPs, and we did the show from midnight until 6 am. I went a few times to help, but I could not maintain that pace because I was still in college.

A few months later, he called me to tell me that he had a show from 3pm to 6pm on Sundays. He told me he was talking to other people I knew in order to do the show together. I got a segment of 45 minutes to an hour to do whatever I wanted, so I decided to start programming salsa. I helped produce several programs until I had my own show. In 1979, while I had a four-hour show on Saturdays on KPOO, KBRG’s program director, Al Carlos Hernandez, called me. KBRG was a powerful FM station at that time. That gave me the opportunity to do a commercial show.

I am part Venezuelan and part Mexican, but I grew up in the United States. I spoke Spanish perfectly until I was five years old, but when I started school, I just wanted to speak English in school and at home. When I turned 18, I decided to get my culture back and relearn to speak Spanish again. However, I’m wasn’t completely fluent in Spanish because I have to translate mentally from English. I explained the situation to Al Carlos, and he told me that he did not care. That’s how I became the first radio announcer to do salsa programming in English on a Spanish-speaking station. The program was called Sabor Caliente and it lasted about a year and a half, until they let me go due to philosophical differences. After that, I did specials in KPFA, until Víctor Castro, who produced the program Ahora, invited me to alternate weeks with him. I produced salsa shows on KPFA from 1983 to 1995.

What Medina has to say about all his combined activities

How do you balance your radio activities and event production and your job as a DJ?  

When I was a student at San Francisco State University, I became co-director of the university’s productions to present musical acts. From 1974 to 1976 I presented acts from various genres such as rock, R&B, and jazz, among others. I also presented some salsa and Latin jazz shows, including Pete and Sheila Escovedo, who were part of Roger Glenn’s band, Benny Velarde and others. I became friends with Pete and Sheila before Sheila became Sheila E and I also worked with Pete’s brother, Coke Escovedo in the 70s.

Then I met Roberto Hernandez, who had an organization that helped produced the first major street fairs in the San Francisco Mission district together with a coalition of community agencies. I got involved with the fairs, which presented the famous singer Joe Bataan among others. It was the era of Latin rock, but salsa was also booming. I was part of the renaissance of salsa music that occurred on the radio, but I also had the opportunity to play an influential role in the community in the Mission. In 1977, the Mission Cultural Center opened in a furniture store ran by artists that were organizing it. I became part of the music committee and we presented performances and salsa groups that were growing in fame at that time. I was involved on the activities of the center until the 1980s, when some of us created a production group called CMP (Cultural Music Productions). During the 80s we did a series of dances, in which I worked as master of ceremonies. I already had experience as master of ceremonies because when I was at KBRG, they gave me the opportunity to introduce some great shows with Celia Cruz, La Sonora Matancera, Oscar D’ León, Cal Tjader and La Orquesta Broadway. I was also master of ceremonies for Brazilian carnivals for about five years. With CMP I was involved in dances with Willie Colón, Bobby Valentín, Oscar D’ León, and boxing champion Roberto Durán (who at the time wanted to be a salsa singer).

Eventually I left CMP, and I was contacted by Roberto Hernandez, who offered me the position of entertainment director of his new organization, MECA. I accepted and started to help him program the schedule for events such as the San Francisco Carnival, and the 24 Street Fair. I worked with Roberto until 1994 and we presented Santana, Los Lobos, Eddie Palmieri, Luis Henrique, Willie Colón, Yomo Toro, Mighty Sparrow, The Neville Brothers, Shaggy, and many more. When Roberto Hernandez left the organization, I stayed for four more years and worked with Manny Oquendo and Libre, John Santos, Pete Escovedo and Pancho Quinto. In 1998, the president of the organization Patricia Aguayo and I had some problems, so we stopped working together.

A radio DJ and a party DJ are two completely different things. It took me a little while to adjust to being a live DJ. In the early 1990’s, the producers at the Alta Vista club hired me from time to time. Then, they moved to a ship called Alta Vista del Mar in Pier 3, and occasionally hired me as their DJ.

In 1994 I met a very ambitious young Venezuelan by the name of Adrian Goddard and started working with him at his club, 330 Ritch. It was a winning combination of Adrian’s talent as an event producer and my talent as a DJ and MC. I worked there for about nine very successful months, but then I had an opportunity with KPFA and I was forced to leave the club because the schedule conflicted. My priority was to produce my own salsa show (ironically, this program didn’t last long, but in 1997 they offered me the same slot, which would become the program Con Sabor, which I still produced today, 25 years later, at KPFA, on Saturdays from 9-11pm.)

A little later, Kimballs Carnaval hired me as a Latin House DJ, as this rhythm was very popular at that time. I wanted to please them, but it wasn’t a good fit. Eventually I was hired as a salsa DJ by the club Kimballs West. This opened other opportunities and I became the DJ in residence at the most prominent salsa clubs in San Francisco at the time, the legendary Jelly’s Cafe, where I DJ’d until it closed in 2010 and the popular Café Cócomo, which closed in 2014. I now DJ and MC primarily for special events and private parties.

Something very important in my story is that in 1997 I worked with Bill Martinez and Arturo Riera  and they both gave me the opportunity to be master of ceremonies for a very important series of concerts featuring Cuban musicians who were allowed into the States for the first time. I was the first master of ceremonies for a Los Van Van concert in San Francisco and I also represented my show and KPFA for their concert at Stern Grove in 2019. That was one of many times that I worked with that group.  I also was the MC   for Orquesta Aragon, Cubanismo, NG La Banda and other Cuban acts.

During the pandemic, I was offered a show with an online radio station called World Salsa Radio. I started the show Sabiduría con Tumbao on Wednesdays from 5 to 7 pm. What makes this show different from Con Sabor is that Sabiduría Con Tumbao is a conceptual program that focuses on certain musicians, musical themes and movements within salsa and Afro-Latin music. On the other hand, Con Sabor offers a broader perspective of salsa, Latin Jazz and música cubana from the classics to the latest.

Since the pandemic started, I produce all my radio shows at home. I managed to master the technology and built my own home studio. I am not afraid of technology or modern things. I go with the flow because I’ve learned that I should be at the forefront of technology and music. If I do not know something, I am going to research it right away. I keep an open mind and ears and I appreciate and listen to all kinds of music, something that was key when I was music director at KPFA from 2001 through 2014. In terms of my own programs, I really love salsa from the 70s, but I’m not stuck in any time period.

Who Ángel Meléndez is

Ángel Meléndez is a source of pride for Puerto Rico who lives in Chicago, United States, and has a bright musical career that has not gone unnoticed by great well-known people and record labels linked to Latin music. The producer, arranger, composer, music teacher and trombonist studied at VanderCook College of Music, where he gained most of the knowledge that would serve him to become the figure he is today.   

His hard work has allowed him to be nominated for the Best Tropical Music category at the Grammy Awards and the winner of the 2005 Annual Independent Music Awards thanks to the talent he displayed on his album Ángel Meléndez & the 911 Mambo Orchestra.   

Meléndez was great lick to collaborate with some of the greats of music such as Cheo Feliciano, Adalberto Santiago, Tito Puente, Tito Allen, Frankie Ruiz, Ismael Miranda, among many others. 

His most recent projects include the one he made with Gia Fu and Ralph Riley. Riley was in charge of the making of Big Band Maquina (album name) and was in charge of organizing the work of all the artists who lent their talent to carry out this ambitious project together with Meléndez and other producers. The album includes 11 tracks and a bonus track, as a result of the serious issue of fathering so many music professionals in a single project in the middle of the pandemic and from so many recording studios. 

We had the opportunity to talk to him to learn a little more about his career and what he is doing now. We hope everyone reading this pleasant talk will enjoy it. 

Interview 

Today we are pleased to welcome composer, arranger, instructor and trombonist Ángel Meléndez. Good afternoon, Mr. Meléndez, how are you today?  

I am doing very well, thank goodness. Although I am very cold here in Chicago, but it is not your fault (laugh). 

You once commented that you always liked the Big Band sound. How important is the number of musicians in an orchestra?  

When I was a kid, my family always organized parties and played the music of Machito, Tito Puente, Tito Rodríguez and many others. So when I went to college, the jazz band director made me his manager. When I had it in front of me, I knew that was what I wanted to. I love it. That is why I say the more the better, but there are also groups like Joe Cuba Sextet that sound great with only six or seven members.   

You have been a music teacher for several decades. Do you think training other artists has influenced your style? Do you think that you have learned from your students? 

I have had many students who have become professional musicians and also learned a lot from them. In college I learned to play many instruments on a very basic level. One of the things I have learned from my students is that you can learn to play two, three or four instruments properly. I love the piano, I bought a Spanish guitar and am learning to play flamenco late in life. 

So you never stop learning and are always looking for new instruments and rhythms to add to your work 

Yes! Right now I am working on a project with Hong Kong producer Gia Fu and she is going to kill me because she does not want anyone to know yet (laugh). It’s called the Borinchino Project and includes Chinese songs in Latin rhythms. The first song is a bolero cha cha chá. 

What was the experience of working together with Gia Fu, Ralph Raley and the rest of the team of musicians with whom you made this album? Are you happy with the result?  

Of course we are! We were all pleased with the record. What happened was that I made a jingle called Lisa La Boricua for a dance academy called Lisa La Boricua in swing dancing about 20 or 25 years ago. In Germany, it was a hit for about 14 weeks. Gia is also a salsa DJ, she was doing some work in Switzerland when she heard that track which was like a jam session. She liked it so much that she thought about collaborating with me. After many months of looking for me, he found me. So my former timbalero is now music director of Victor Manuelle and knows the best musicians in Puerto Rico. When they called me and offered me to collaborate with them, they only wanted to make two songs. I told them if I said yes, we were going to get it right and go to Puerto Rico. Since we are in times of Covid-19, the best musicians are available. We went to Puerto Rico, made two songs and loved the result, so they said to make four more songs. The second time, Gia came from Hong Kong. She is like a painter who knows exactly what she wants. She already bears in mind the idea of how this will all turn out. She can be a bit stubborn, but, at the end of the day, everything always goes as she hopes. If she imagines a song with Tito Allen singing, she got it. 

Something that got our attention at International Salsa Magazine is the way you did this project. We know that you were conceiving everything from different countries and studios thanks to new technologies. How was the process of recording from several places as far apart? How do you feel about what you achieved?   

Most of the recordings were made at Rolo Studios in Puerto Rico. The vocals for the two tracks recorded by Herman Olivera were created at Nino Cegarra’s studio, but vocals by Tito Allen were done in New York because he did not want to travel to Puerto Rico. That is why Ralph, Gia and I went to New York to record them there, but the base, percussion, brass and backing vocals were done at Rolo Studios.   

In addition, the pandemic made everything difficult, especially travel, how much do you think the pandemic has affected your work? Do you feel that things are coming back to normal? Is your work back to normal?  

It has made it impossible to go back to work. I had about three or four bookings, but everything got cancelled when the Covid pandemic was getting worse. As I told you, In part it was a blessing because no one was working. Luis Marín (Gilberto Santa Rosa’s piano player), bassist Pedro Pérez (he has worked in more than 500 recording productions), conguero Sammy García (musical director of Charlie Aponte), Pocorelli (musical director of Víctor Manuelle as I had said), Sammy Vélez (musical director of El Canario), Richie Bastar (El Gran Combo’s congocero) were available to work with us and that it was a blessing. 

Exactly. This whole situation has given you the opportunity to do other activities such as writing music, making new arrangements and many other things.  

That’s it. I put my students on an assignment and most of them paid no attention anyway. I gave them 10 or 15 minutes to practice while I sat at the piano and waited for them to tell me something. During that time, I used to write. As they say, everything happens for a reason. 

What plans do you have for 2022?  

There’s Borinchino, which is the project I am working on with Gia and Ralph wants to repeat what we already did in mambo. Right now I am writing two new musical productions with new songs. In the case of Borinchino, the album will include several Chinese songs with Latin genres such as salsa, bolero, merengue, cha cha chá, among others. In the case of the project with Ralph, it will be almost the same as we did with the previous album. 

This all means this partnership with Ralph and Gia will continue for an indefinite time? 

Of course it will! They are thrilled with me and I am thrilled with them. They are my family in Hong Kong. The two people I love most in Hong Kong. The only people I know there, but I still love them very much. 

What recommendations do you make to young people who want to do the same thing in the future? 

I would advise them to learn about their culture. Our music is incredible and has a very high level. We grew up with children’s songs like Cheki Morena, so a complicated rhythm is very easy for us. In contrast, Americans grow up listening to the A, B, C song. When kids from our Latin countries begin to learn music, it is much simpler for them to play things with complicated rhythms. What I would like to tell those who read this interview is that they have to learn about their culture and music.  

Who is Bill Martínez?

For many reasons, the music business is closely linked to the world of law, because there are many details that artists and their respective teams must take into consideration when carrying out their activities, especially when they travel outside their countries of origin or residence. That is when they should contact attorney William Martinez, who would be happy to help them to complete all required paperwork for this purpose. 

William Martinez, better known in the music scene as Bill Martinez, is an immigration attorney who is also known for organizing musical events in the San Francisco Bay Area since the 1970s, which reveals that the relationship between the legal professional and the arts has been very close for several decades now. He is a degree from the University of San Francisco, the same city where he was born, has exercised his profession, and has made his living since then. 

This man has played a very important role in obtaining visas for a fairly large number of artists and their orchestras for a few years, including Juanes, Christian Castro, Mercedes Sosa, Pablo Milanes, Isaac Delgado, Chucho Valdes, and many more. The list of groups that have managed to perform in the United States thanks to Martínez includes Los Van Van, Los Muñequitos de Matanzas, The Buena Vista Social Club, Cubanismo, and so on.   

All this without mentioning that the attorney has done a commendable job in helping artists interested in traveling from the United States to Cuba, which is really difficult because of the political, legal, and migratory friction that this implies. Bill demonstrated that it is possible thanks to his efficient efforts with the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the Department of the Treasury. There are many groups that have managed to travel to the island thanks to licenses obtained by the lawyer, as was the case of AudiosLave, a famous Californian alternative rock band whose emergence goes back to the year 2001. In 2005, the group gave a historic concert in which it performed in front of a crowd of more than 70,000 spectators, becoming the first rock band to play live in the Caribbean country. All thanks to the excellent work done by this great professional man of law.   

Another facet of this great American is his role as a producer and manager. As his official website states, he is one of the co-founders of Latino Entertainment Partners together with cultural activist Arturo Riera, with whom he sought to create an organization capable of producing around 50 concerts whose main talents will be Cuban music legends such as N.G. La Banda, Los Van Van, Orquesta Aragón, Los Muñequitos de Aragón, among others. 

This group created by Martinez has also been responsible for producing other musical events that have had the presence of The Spanish Harlem Orchestra, Eddie Palmieri, Giovanni Hidalgo, and many others. 

Enlightening talk

Nowadays, he has an extremely busy schedule due to the ravages caused by COVID-19 in terms of immigration with the closing of embassies, flight ban, among other things. Today, he will tell us more in detail about his work and how much it has been complicated by the pandemic. 

Do you only work in the issue of immigration specializing in artists?  

Yes, I only work with artists. Although from time to time I talk to clients about other issues, but I mostly work only with artist visas.  

What is the first thing you check in one of your cases? 

Well, I work with visas as you can imagine. All this depends on two things: luck and credibility. By luck I mean officials, events, and factors for the application. Credibility is also key to all this. We are talking about two visa categories: an O1 visa for a distinguished artist in the field of music or the arts and the P1 visa or P3 visa which can be issued for a maximum of one year, while the O1 visa can last up to three years. The P3 visa is for groups that have performances that serve as a reflection of their own country. Many artists may qualify for this. For example, if we are talking about an artist who has a bachata, vallenato or hip hop repertoire. As long as they are reflections of their own country, they can apply for the P3 visa. The P1 visa and O1 visa require evidence and documentation that proves that the singer is of a high standard and recognized worldwide such as foundations, press articles, among other things. That is what we have to see. You have to prove that the itinerary is credible and this can be done with contracts or invitation letters. If an applicant, cultural center, promoter or agent wants to invite an artist without any shows or contracts, it will not matter if he is well known, because he will not have credibility. On the list of things I need, the first thing I look for is the invitation letter with an itinerary, the story of the artist, documentation, his repertoire, among other things. 

The process also depends a lot on the officer who analyzes the case, am I right? 

The case can be approved at first, and then, when it goes to the consulate, you have to get lucky with the official who does the interview. You have to be lucky with the USIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) and with the second step which is the interview at the consulate. You also have to get lucky with people who do the interview, as it can be someone flexible who understands the situation very well or, in the opposite case, someone who had a bad day and will always say no.   

Is it sufficient for one of those steps to fail for the visa not to be approved? 

That is right, I have the same experience as any applicant and we use all our tools for this situation. It is like a puzzle where we have to see what works. Sometimes, we have even to ask for help from congressmen for this. This has happened to me both as a lawyer and as a producer.  

What was the most complex case in your career? 

It was my first case in 1993 with the Cuban group Mezcla. We did a festival in San Francisco called El Encuentro del Canto Popular in which we had a representation from each country in Latin America and the Caribbean. Then, we took the risk of inviting a group from Cuba, which was the group Mezcla, a rock band that used elements of Santeria. Like I said, there are two steps to obtain a visa: the application with USIS and the interview with the consulate after approval. In the case of Grupo Mezcla, the application was approved in the Immigration Service and then the members did their interviews in Havana. Subsequently, the case began to collapse until the head of the State Department for Cuban Affairs called me and told me that he had the file in his hands and that the group could not enter the country. When I asked him why, he said they were Cubans and that is all I needed to know. We made a claim in federal court, but we lost the case. Two years later, the state department’s attorney basically said they could do whatever they wanted without justifying anything. However, some time later, the Bill Clinton administration accepted that there is value in having exchanges with Cuba and, little by little, they opened the doors to allow entry to other Cubans like Changuito El Timbalero, Irakere with Chucho Valdes and Los Van Van. COVID-19 complicated everything and has had a great impact in each case, but things calmed down a bit and now artists are allowed to enter if they provide proof of their vaccination or PCR test.  

Which are the nationalities The United States denies visas most often? 

It is definitely Cuba because every Cuban has to ask for his or her interview in a third country and sometimes we are in contact with the consulates in advance to request permission to doing the interview there. Mexico is usually plan B, but sometimes we ask the consulate to allow a Cuban citizen to do an interview in their facilities. It may happen that they say that they do not accept applications from a third country. It also happens that two weeks later another consulate accept the interview without any problem. Each consulate has its own answer as to the availability and access to their system. Now we are asking for visas for Cubans in Mexico DF. I can say that Middle Eastern countries, Korea and Cuba are the most complicated places to apply for visas. 

You have also taken U.S. artists to Cuba and other complicated countries, could you tell me a little bit about that? 

Well, I participated in several exchanges with Cuba. The best known was Puentes Musicales in 1999 in which we presented 45 well-known rock artists. In 2005, we presented the rock group AudiosLave. I also worked as a lawyer in the production of the group Broadway and that was historic. It was a very important album in the history of rock and it was all done in Havana. I had a documentary on HBO about this event in Havana. We have plans to do other recordings with Broadway in Havana in the future. It is almost impossible to do exchanges of this magnitude these days owing to restrictions related to COVID-19. 

How much has COVID-19 complicated things? 

It is easier now. COVID-19 had a big impact at all levels. An application at USIS (the first step in the process) was impossible because their officials were not in offices as in the past. They were at home, so we could not do anything like as the past when we could go to an office. It was much easier to resolve situations, issues with identity and documentation. When officers are not in offices, they cannot go to the other buildings. They have to call from home to ask about applications and communication is not as effective. It is easier to resolve situations like that by being in the same building and coming face to face. COVID also has an impact on the number of people who are working in the consulates. The less people who work, the less it is possible to change dates when needed. However, the situation improved in contrast to the last year, so there is hope that some things will get back to normal.

Link to its official website: https://www.billmartinez.com/

What Orquesta La Moderna Tradición is

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 

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. 

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.  

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. 

Your social networks or websites  

Official website: www.danzon.com  

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OrquestaLaModernaTradicion  

Bandcamp: https://orquestalamodernatradicin.bandcamp.com/album/encantado-2