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Goodbye to El Canario de Carolina
Music in mourning
The world of music, more specifically salsa, has lost one of its greatest stars later this year 2022 and is none other than the unforgettable Lalo Rodriguez, who leaves a huge void after his unfortunate departure. In view of the unfortunate things that happened to the humanity of the great artist, we want to take this opportunity to remember the most important of his musical work and the importance of the legacy left by him.
A little of his biography
Ubaldo Rodríguez Santos, better known as Lalo Rodríguez, was born in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico on May 16, 1958 in the family formed by his parents José Rodríguez and Magdalena Santos. As a child, he soon started singing in music festivals and radio and television shows, in which he already showed the great talent that would carry him for the rest of his life. So much so that, a few years later, he was already part of his first musical group, the Tempo Moderno Orchestra.
When he was 15 years old, he received the necessary support to move to New York City, a place where some of the biggest salsa stars of the time were located. While there, he joined Eddie Palmieri‘s band and provided vocals for several songs on the album ”Sun of Latin Music”, which became the first salsa album to win a Grammy. The following year, the artists would team up again to create ”Unfinished masterpiece”, which got a nomination for the aforementioned awards. At that time, it was Palmieri himself who named him ”Lalo” for the first time.
After walking away from Palmieri, he participated in the Machito Grillo’s orchestra, with whom he recorded the album ”Fireworks”. Incredibly, this album also got a Grammy nomination, which represented fabulous numbers for Lalo. Upon coming of age, he already had three albums, a Grammy won and two Grammy nominations.
1980s
During these years, Lalo recorded a significant amount of albums and was beginning to be considered as one of the precursors of romantic and erotic salsa, a subgenre that was beginning to gain much more notoriety in those years. One of the biggest hits of his entire career was the song ”Ven devórame otra vez”, which won him a Lo Nuestro Award in the category of Tropical Song Of The Year and reached very good positions in the Latin Music charts.
1990s
In the 1990s, he continued working hard in his career, resulting in the albums ”Nací para cantar” and ”Estoy aquí”, with which he won gold and platinum records due to the large number of copies sold. These were the last record productions of the artist to be released to the public.
Recent years
Lalo never stopped being active on stages of all types, both in his native Puerto Rico and in other countries around the world. In 2020, it was announced that he was going to release a new album and already had a song selection to include in the material, although no further details had been offered.
Unfortunately, fate would not allow him to go forward with his plans and he was found dead near a basketball court in Carolina, Puerto Rico. One of the first relatives to make an appearance was his road manager.
After knowing that Lalo was found dead, his road manager Francisco Pérez, who had been working with the artist for several years. He indicated that he had communicated with him that same day and they had agreed to meet, but instead, he received the unfortunate news about his death.
During the following days, many artists expressed their sorrow for the departure of the singer and highlighted his great talent in life, such as Víctor Manuelle, Elvis Crespo, Arnaldo Vallellanes, among many others.
Read also: This is the story of Percussionist Joe González
By Johnny Cruz, ISM Correspondents, New York, New York City
Carlos “Patato” Valdés one of the best percussionists in the history of Latin Jazz.
On November 4, 1926 in the Los Sitios neighborhood of Havana, Cuba, Carlos “Patato” Valdés was born. Known as Patato, he is, quite simply, one of the best percussionists in the history of music.
Patato was born into a very santera and very musical family, his father was a tres player of Los Apaches, the port germ of two illustrious sonera groups: the Sexteto Habanero and the Sexteto Nacional.
He learned to play the tres and the botijuela before turning to percussion, first on the cajones and finally on the congas.
He was an extraordinary percussionist of outstanding participation with the “Conjunto Kubavana”, “La Sonora Matancera”, “Conjunto Casino” and the “Orquesta de Tito Puente”, among other groups, both Son and Latin Jazz.
Formed in rumbero gatherings and carnival groups, Valdés became a professional in the early forties, after trying his luck as a boxer and dancer.
He played with Conjunto Kubavana, La Sonora Matancera and El Conjunto Casino. He accumulated nicknames: Zumbito (for his performances at the Zombie Club), Pingüino (for a dance he did on television) and Patato (for his small size), and in those days, dedicating oneself to music in Cuba guaranteed hardship. Besides, Patato wanted to experiment and that was not possible playing for dancers or tourists.
In 1954, he emigrated to New York, like his leather friends: Cándido Camero, Armando Peraza, Mongo Santamaría and the pioneer Chano Pozo (murdered there in 1948).
He immediately began working with Tito Puente. His first recording in the United States was the album Afro-cuban, by trumpeter Kenny Dorham, which opened with the intoxicating Afrodisia. Those were good times for tropical music.
He was the first percussionist to improvise “Solos” with 3 or more Congas at the same time. In addition, he was the creator of the “Congas Afinables”, instruments on which he would ride to dance making them sound rhythmically.
Patato Valdes was an excellent musician, an unforgettable person. Nervous and diminutive, he spoke with an impenetrable Cuban accent; he dressed elegantly, hiding the necklaces and bracelets of Changó and other “orishas”. He looked like a living caricature, but when he hit the percussions he became a divine creature: he had power, spectacularity, sense of melody.
Those skills made him an ambassador of Afro-Cuban rhythms in the jazz world, although he will also go down in history for his extraordinary rumba recordings.
In 1956, Patato appeared in the film Y Dios creó a la mujer, teaching the dances of his homeland to Brigitte Bardot. A great moment, although an implacable Guillermo Cabrera Infante criticized the actress’s movements: “she seems to commit suicide by dancing a cross between mambo and chachachá, a really toxic cross between mambo and chachachá”.
A flexible musician, Valdés sounded as comfortable playing with Machito’s big band as with Herbie Mann’s group. However, he felt indebted to the “rumba de solar” and in 1968 he recorded a revolutionary album with his friend Eugenio Arango, alias Totico.
The exuberant Patato & Totico had genuine Havana flavor, but enriched the basic percussion instrumentation with Cachao’s contrabass and Arsenio Rodriguez’s tres.Patato expanded the creative possibilities for percussionists by playing with three or more congas.
He also made their lives easier by developing a tunable conga: fed up with the traditional method (heating the leather over fire), he installed a metal hoop and keys for tensioning.
The LP company mass-produced his model, which was to become the standard for conga players. To promote it, he formed the Latin Percussion Jazz Ensemble with Tito Puente, Jorge Dalto and Alfredo de la Fé, among others, an orchestra that would end up becoming Puente’s big band in the early 80s.
It was during this period with Dalto that the album we have chosen for today began to take shape. It was titled “Patato, Master Piece” and it synthesizes all of Patato’s genius.
“Masterpiece” is an album that travels first class through tango, jazz, descarga, guaguancó and bolero, always in a masterful way and with a luxury crew made up of names like Jorge Dalto, Artie Webb, Michel Camilo, Jerry and Andy González, Nicky Marrero, Ignacio Berroa, Joe Santiago, Néstor Sánchez, Vicentino Valdés, and Sabú Martínez, among others.
The Art of Flavor.
Unfortunately Dalto had already passed away when in 1993 the project was released by the venerable German label Messidor, the same label that had already financed some impressive sessions of Patato with Mario Bauzá or Bebo Valdés, with whom he would later record the famous El Arte del Sabor.
In fact, the great Argentine pianist had to be replaced for the last recording sessions that were made 6 years ago since his illness was too advanced, but he left us some incredible arrangements that were kept in the great majority of the themes.
Dalto left us in 1987 when he was only 39 years old. His replacement was nothing more and nothing less than a very young Michel Camilo.formed by 9 cuts among which we especially want to highlight the huge versions of Cute and Nica’s Dream, Masterpiece is an essential album for all lovers of Latin-jazz with capital letters and that is why we wanted to share it on a day as special as today.
Already recognized as a legend, Patato became more visible in the last 25 years: he had his own band, Afrojazzia, although The Conga Kings, with Cándido and Giovanni Hidalgo, turned out to be more popular.
He even made his way onto the modern dance floors, with a remix of San Francisco tiene su propio son. Just as he was returning from playing in California with the Conga Kings, his breathing began to fail.
The plane he was on had to make an emergency landing in Ohio to admit him to a hospital. The 81-year-old percussionist, a heavy smoker, was on his way to his beloved New York, but he would never get there. According to his relatives, he held out until December 4, the day of Santa Barbara, the Afro-Cuban equivalent of Changó, when the cables and tubes that kept him alive were removed.
Valdés died in Cleveland, USA, on December 4, 2007.
Fuentes: http://www.herencialatina.com/Patato/Patato_Valdes.htm
Imágenes: Martin Cohen de Congahead.com
”Salsa Con Sabor’’ and its contribution to salsa music
Platfoms to promote salsa
Just as we always promote the artists and musicians who keep alive salsa and Latin genres, we also think it is important to highlight the work of communicators who have taken the task of continuing to spread the traditional Latin music through the resources that technology has made available to us. Such is the case of Charlie Perez and the web page ”Salsa Con Sabor”, which he has been running for several years.
We talked to this talented young man, who has illustrated very well how his work has been throughout these years with the management of ”Salsa Con Sabor”, interesting anecdotes and what he earned from all this process.
Conversation with Charlie Perez from ”Salsa Con Todo”
Salsa Con Sabor was born in 2010. I was always a salsa enthusiast and it runs in the family because my father has always loved tropical music, salsa, guaguancó, son montuno, bolero, among others. I became curious about these topics while naving in the social networks, so I created a Facebook page whose aim was to be a music space to share with salsa fans around the world. By this means, we began to share music, artist biographies, salsa history, salsa ephemeris and many more” were the words spoken by Charlie when asked how this project came about.
He also told us that the page was gaining a popularity that he and his team decided to shape this idea through the creation of a website, a YouTube channel and accounts in the rest of social media. All this led several independent artists to send their musical works to ”Salsa Con Sabor” to be shared and diffused.
Important to note that all members of this great team are professionals nothing linked to the world of music. They are simply people who enjoy Latin genres and want them to stay alive over time.
What do you see in an artist before spreading his or her music?
I like to support all artists, but I don’t deny that I focus a lot on the quality of the work presented. I always check certain aspects such as the cover art, the image and how music was worked, showing whether or not an album will be worth it. We always give the opportunity to all artists to send us their work, but they must have a standard quality” said Charlie on the subject related to unknown artists sending him their albums.
Successes to date
Perez has told us that he feels incredibly grateful for all the doors ”Salsa Con Sabor” has opened for him. He has met many important people in the industry and artists with whom he has developed good friendships, something he really values.
This space has also allowed him to expand to other fields. In the case of Charlie, he is a marketer and always had the desire to start his own business, which added to his knowledge of the music industry and marketing, led him to create his own advertising agency called Tumba Media Productions. The company is dedicated to dissemination activities such as press releases, graphic design, among other things.
Another thing that has been very important for the future career of this young man has been song writing. Composing his own material has earned him contact with great artists such as Venezuelan singer Néstor Pacheco, who motivated him to make music and with whom he has a clase friendship. They even wrote some songs together such as ”Sabor y Guaguancó” and ”Mamá Inés”.
The best experiences with the website
Regarding this point, Charlie replied that his reviews have received many positive messages from the public and many artists. He and his collaborators are very glad that so many people keep an eye on their content and that their platform let them know abut new music in terms of salsa, guaguancó, bolero, son montuno and other associated genres.
We are great popuizers of new music that nobody knows about due to the amount of content you can find, which makes us very happy and be satisfied with our work” says Charlie.
Activity during the pandemic
From the pandemic, we started working on interviews a lot more than before and had to focus on making video content. Video editing tools were very important for us at this stage, since it wasn’t just about doing interviews, but also about downloading them and doing all the corresponding editing to show them to the public in the most professional way possible” says the administrator of ”Salsa Con Sabor” about his experience with the pandemic.
He also told us that there were many artists he interviewed with whom he thought would never connect, which was made possible thanks to the tools that technology offers us today. In that sense, his wife Wilendy Rosario was very important in this entire process, as she was in charge of making contacts and conducting many of these interviews in that frame of time. She is described by her husband as a fundamental part of this project thanks to her communication style and charisma.
Read also: Broadcaster and host of Con Sabor Y Amor Latino Tatiana Mezarina
Gilberto Santa Rosa arrives in Spain with his “Camínalo Tour”
The great Puerto Rican singer Gilberto Santa Rosa continues his successful concert tour “Camínalo Tour” with four stops in Spain’s most representative cities. This tour is not only to relive his best hits, but also to celebrate his more than four decades on the stage. We tell you everything in the following lines.
Gilberto Santa Rosa, an artist with four decades on the stage
“El Caballero de la Salsa” was born in Puerto Rico in 1962 and from a very young age showed talent for music, especially Latin genres. After more than four decades on the stage, Santa Rosa has left an indelible mark on Latin music, hence his nickname.
This artist has managed to be very versatile in his work, even though he concentrates on a single genre such as salsa. Many of his songs show different sides of the genre, from a very romantic salsa to one that makes everyone dance.
Another of his great talents is his ability to improvise on stage, in many of his shows it is not surprising to hear different lines from the original ones. But all this, plus his great charisma, conquers his public, as he says: “In my concerts, music is always the star of the show.”
“Camínalo Spain Tour” is the reunion of Gilberto Santa Rosa with Spain
“Camínalo Tour” began in June 2021, when he returned to the stage after the COVID-19 pandemic. It has passed through the big cities of Latin America and the United States. Finally after 4 years without stepping on Spanish soil we will be able to enjoy Gilberto in this part of his tour.
The great Puerto Rican artist will be in four cities: Barcelona, Alicante, A Coruña, and Madrid; from March 2 to 5, 2023. The announcement was made in November 2022 and tickets are already on pre-sale, so if you want to see this great salsa singer, run and secure your ticket.
The love that the Spaniards have for Gilberto is so great that the best arenas in each city were reserved for these stops. And it will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, as he himself explains: “We are a generation of artists who, if we didn’t sing on stage, would feel like we’re cheating people.”
And this love for the stage is also shown in these words: “I am very happy to be able to close this tour… which has given us so many unforgettable moments. These next concerts will be very special, because in some cities we haven’t been there for a long time and that always gives it a particular aura. The musicians who accompany me from Puerto Rico, all those who are part of the tour, and I are more than ready to present the Camínalo Tour”.
The talent, passion and charisma that Gilberto Santa Rosa imposes on his work is undeniable, which is reflected in his Latin Grammy awards for best salsa album in 2007 and 2010, best traditional tropical album in 2009, best traditional pop vocal album in 2015 and the Latin Grammy for musical excellence that he won in 2021. We are excited for this concert!