Search Results for: Van+Van

His reaction to the scholarship

We are here with Venezuelan percussionist and musician Omar Ledezma Jr. Good afternoon, Mr. Ledezma, how are you? Nice to meet you.

Same to you, Karina. It’s great to be participating again in the activities of International Salsa Magazine, a magazine that I have much appreciation and I’m find of it. Here we are always at your service.

According to your website, you received a scholarship to study at Berkeley College of Music. How did you receive the news that you were selected?

That was interesting because when I arrived in the United States, I applied for the scholarship, so I had to extend my stay here in order to attend the audition in a December. In January, I got a letter that said I passed the audition and awarded the scholarship to study at the school. That was one of the most important news in my life.

So you were in the United States at the time you received the scholarship.

Yes, because there was no way I could have done that in Caracas, where I am from. So, I had the opportunity to travel to Boston to apply for the scholarship. Thank goodness, I had the opportunity to come and everything worked out fine.

Regarding technical and musical issues, what differences between your native country and the United States did you notice?

The first thing I noticed was that there were many opportunities. Really, I can say that I didn’t face the same constraints as in Caracas. When I started playing, I had many opportunities to go abroad to take my art. I already had the experience of having done it in my country with many other artists.

I think It would’ve been no different if I was in Caracas because I would have taken all the opportunities, played with many people and made my career there. However, I was able to go to Boston and took that opportunity. A few months later, I was already playing with school teachers, classmates, graduates and new people I met in a very interesting way. Despite my constraints related to the language, you can establish such interaction with all of them.

We understand that you are teaching at the SF Community Music Center and work hand in hand with other academic institutions, what made you dedicate yourself to teaching and training young talent?

I think it is important to lay the groundwork for the future. The present is lived now and the past provides us with experience, but we should always open the road forward for the future and new generations. I think that legacy for musicians is very important. We have to pass those teachings on to new generations.

Do you feel that the language shut doors on you at the beginning?

Not really. I have always thought that language should not be a limitation to fulfill your dreams. You have to respect the language of the country you are moving to, but without forgetting the mother tongue with which you were born, which is why I am a big supporter of bilingualism. You have to learn English, but without forgetting Spanish. It is a very important tool for young people whose parents were born outside the United States and moved here, but they should not forget their roots.

His experience at the Tempo Latino Festival

You have already told us that you have had the opportunity to tour the world. Could you tell us a little about your experience with Tempo Latino?

It was a very important experience for me and the group that I’m in, Pacific Mambo. It was an incredible experience with a massive attendance and it was surprising that we were able to meet that many people after the pandemic. We were playing in an arena full of people where we were warmly received.

It was very nice to feel the warmth of the live audience again and massively.

How was the flight, the arrival, the reception and everything that happened before the show?

It’s interesting because when I lived on the Northeast United States coastline, it was very easy for me to travel to Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean and other parts of the United States. Moving to California makes it more difficult because the trip is longer. It takes me about 11 hours to get to any port in Europe, and then being there, you have to make connection to get somewhere else. In our case, it was a full day of travel, as we arrived through Portugal. It was there that we waited for our connection to get to France. There were many people entering through the port of Lisbon, but there was no problem at all.

Already in France, the welcome the Tempo Latino staff was absolutely incredible. The audience was already waiting for our show. Then, we arrived to the village where the festival takes place and traveled a very beautiful route with spectacular scenery. Despite the fatigue, we fully enjoyed the trip.

When you played in the arena, how many people were there?

It is difficult to count the amount of people people there. I don’t have the exact numbers, but I can tell you that the arena was packed at the time of getting to the stage. We had the responsibility of opening for other well-known groups such as Los Van Van, so the arena was already full of people at the time of performing our show.

How was the audience reception towards you?

The audience reception was very warm and touching. People did not expect the band to have that contact and respect for the public like every time we perform. Many people enjoyed the hits we have had throughout our career such as OverJoyed by Stevie Wonder, Pink Panther Mambo, among other songs. When I did my solo with the timbales and the drums, I achieved a sound very much like We will rock you by Queen and I had to keep playing it because people were singing the song. An amazing thing that had never happened to me in my career.

I heard that when you left France, you turned out to be infected with Covid-19, could you tell us what it went?

Yes, it came a surprise for me because I had not been infected since I went back to work on the street after the pandemic. I returned to my activities in the schools where I work and started providing shows again, but I had never tested positive for Covid-19 despite having been exposed. In fact, I have traveled to play in many places and even went on vacation to Venezuela, but I never contracted the virus.

When I return from my travel at the Tempo Latino festival, I was feeling a little sick and thought it was the fatigue of travel, but it turned out to be Covid-19. Fortunately, symptoms were very mild and I followed the treatment prescribed by the doctors. It took a little while for the virus to go away, but it all worked out. It was a period of forced vacation, as I had to wait about 20 days for the tests to be all negative.

Are you planning other international tours to Europe or Latin America?

We are negotiating to go to the East Coast and Canada in November. We are also making preparations for another small tour in the fall.

Today, the San Francisco Jazz Organization is going to broadcast our concert for subscribers, which makes us very happy.

What projects do you have on hand?

With regard to the band is concerned, we have talked about the possibility of making a new album and the way we want to do it. We are already looking for the music, the composers and the songs for the pre-production of this new musical work.

How it all started

Today we are going to talk with Tiffany Joy and Maqui Reyes from IndiviDúo, which is a famous and successful musical duo. Great to be with you. How are you?

Tiffany: super! Very well, thank you very much.

You two met in 2010 in Buenos Aires while both were recording your respective musical productions separately. How was that first meeting and conversation about music?

Tiffany: you are very well informed, Karina, I love it. We met at a musical party for Colombians living in Buenos Aires. We were introduced by a mutual friend, who is also from the US, but she was living in Buenos Aires at the time. Maqui had invited me to that event through Facebook, so I went with my guitar and a liter of beer. There was a moment when he started singing ohis riginal music and I do the same later. I think that’s where a connection and mutual respect began to be created, which led to us singing together later that night.

He sang Tabaco y Chanel by Bacilos and since I knew it by heart, I started singing the harmonies. The time when our voices found each other was very magical and everyone at the party thought something beautiful was happening there. Really, since that night we haven’t stopped singing and composing music together.

What did you see in each other to form a musical duo?

Tiffany: I think Maqui has a special sensitivity towards lyrics and I admire his role as a poet. In addition, he also has a musicality related to my tastes, so it is very common for us to be on the same page about some melodies with the guitar. Melodically, I feel that we get along very well.

Obviously we don’t agree on everything all the time, but I do think we have very similar taste in music, which makes us be attracted each other musically. Personally, my partner has a very powerful energy in terms of positivity, light, pushing forward and making everyone feel special.

What has been the biggest disagreement that you’ve had musically?

Tiffany: generally speaking, I tend to fall in love with ideas so fast. If I hear a chord, progression, melodic line or lyrics that I like, I don’t want us to change them. On the other hand, Maqui is super thoughtful and likes to try a lot of things before going back to the first thing and even make it better, but I think my anxiety about finishing it and singing it sets us at odds. He is very slow in terms of his process and that makes us different.

Considering that Maqui is Colombian and you are Californian, how did this influenced your musical styles?

Tiffany: Maqui is from Bogota while I am from right here in the Bay Area. I grew up listening to James Taylor, Kenny Loggins and the great singer-songwriters in blues, jazz and other typically American genres. I also did musical theater for many years, which led me to listen to the great Broadway plays. My love for Latin music began much later when I started listening to pop artists like Juanes, Shakira, Rocky Martin, Bacilos, among others. Then, I entered into the world of Latin music and started composing in Spanish. To that I must add that I loved dancing salsa and tango since I was really little.

On the side of Maqui, he comes from a completely different music background where he listened to salsa, bambuco, cumbia, merengue and many other Latin genres. Later, he moved to Argentina where he lived for 13 years and traveled throughout the country to learn to play chamame, samba and other Argentinean rhythms. This made him have a huge range of Latin American music, which we incorporate into our music. That is why our repertoire includes reggae, bolero, pop, salsa, rock, bossa-nova and much more.

How do you connect with your audience?

Your music talks about many positive and reflection messages. It talks a lot about all the important things we humans put aside because we are way too concerned with superficial things. In that sense, what kind of connection are you looking for with the audience?

Maqui: among the responsibilities of a singer-songwriter or a musician, we have to say some important things, so we believe and live the music like that. The subject treated in a song has always been important to us.

I think we have managed to connect with ourselves and people like you who, for some reason, get to listen to one of our songs and identify with it. Songs like Pelea invite you to fight against your own vices, your own demons and your own problems. It is a song that people of any age can identify with, which leads us to have a connection with them beyond music.

What are the age ranges of the people who listen to your music the most?

Tiffany: I would venture to say that those who listen to us the most are people between 25 to 55 years old.

Maqui: However, I must say that we get along very well with children. When we play in theaters or places suitable for minors, there are many families with children. In fact, we don’t rule out recording an album focused exclusively on them. Of course, we know that children don’t like the more traditional genres that we used to listen to and reggaeton is the current trend. Same way, we would include some traditional music so that little ones have the opportunity to listen to it in a fun way.

On that issue, a young salsa singer told me that what he does is a mix of rhythms, while still getting the essence of salsa. Do you plan to add urban genres to your music?

Tiffany: We don’t reject the idea of incorporating urban rhythms to our music because they are good to dance to, easy to defend live and attractive for a generic and large audience. We haven’t yet, but we are open to the possibility.

Maqui: this is a great question because everything has become polarized so much that just listening to the rhythm makes us qualify it as urban, but that’s not necessarily true. What I qualify as urban is attitude and lyrics, things that we know we will never adopt for ourselves.

It’s not our style, although we’ve got nothing against these rhythms. We would like to play them in a more elegant and familiar way.

You have been part of the soundtracks of several soap operas such as La Ley del Corazón and Si Dejo de Creer. How did this help you advance your careers?

Tiffany: It helped us get a little more exposure on Spotify, YouTube and other music platforms. It also gave us the opportunity to be much better known, as many people started to see what else we’ve done and listen to other pieces of ours.

What did you do during the pandemic?

Tiffany: because all the shows being cancelled, we dedicated ourselves to hosting a Facebook Live every Friday afternoon. At the beginning, it was very difficult because we didn’t know how to connect, but when we finally learned how to do it, we had a lot of people listening to us. We played original music, did a lot of covers, had a drinkie and toasted people from time to time.

During this time, we also found out we were pregnant, which was a surprise for us because we never thought about having children. We were composing at the time, so we ended up including a song for the baby on our album. Right when Melody (our daughter’s name) was born we did the official album release.

Read also: Story of achievement and dedication of Yoshie Akiba

First years and military life

We are talking with Puerto Rican salsa singer Jai Ramos. How are you feeling? Glad to have you here.

I’m feeling fine. Thank you very much for the invitation. I feel blessed to be able to release my songs, but more important is the opportunity I have to be here talking to you and your audience.

Why did you choose salsa as your main genre? Was it to do with your environment or your roots?

It had much to do with my roots. When I started to lean towards music, I listened to ballads and various popular music singers that we had in Puerto Rico such as Chuco Avellanet, Lucecita, Lissette, among others. I also listened to other international artists such as Nino Bravo.

However, what made the switch was to go to the movies to see Our Latin Thing with the Fania stars. That’s when I made the change to salsa.

It’s very interesting because most of the artists you mentioned are boleristas or balladers, in other words, it was a huge change.

That’s correct.

You belonged to the United States Army, how did you combine your military career with your musical activities?

Interesting and very valid question. Even though I became interested in music, the places where I wanted to take music lessons would not accept me. After I finished school and became an adult, I joined the military and started to get exposure to different local music groups after arriving in the United States. That’s how I began to develop in my spare time. Admittedly, it was difficult, but where there’s a will, there’s a way.

I’ve talked to several Puerto Rican artists who were also in the U.S. Army at various ranks.

Did you get to coexist with other artists and salseros there? If so, do you think that helped you pursue your career in music?

Absolutely. Ar first, I met a lot of people who had a lot of musical experience in their spare time even though they were serving in the armed forces and they were the ones who provided me with the knowledge needed to improve this balance. With the passage of time, I also got to know people with musical experience who are very famous today such as Angel Santos. He and I served in the armed forces at the same time and retired at about the same time, so he chose composition, while I chose music performance.

I made a career in the army for 22 years of service. During all that time, I met many people and today I have communication with many of them even though we’re now civilians.

What Ramos learned from other artists

You got to share and sing along with artists such as Ray Barreto, Celia Cruz, Grupo Niche, Oscar D’ León, Nino Segarra, among many others. What did you learn from each of them?

Good question. They all taught me that they were still human beings and have a duty to the people in spite of being so famous. They were all very humble and that gave me to understand that they are flesh and blood people like us, but that they achieved success because of their talent.

When I was on a military base in Atlanta, I had an enormous exposure to many of them and it was Mr. Enrique Mercado who invited me to be part of his orchestra, which opened up for many great artists such as Celia Cruz, Ray Barreto, Grupo Niche, Eddie Palmieri, Conjunto Libre and the King of timbales Tito Puente. When I met them, I realized that they are devoted to people, prompted me to move forward in this career.

In musical and technical matters, what did these artists teach you?

Discipline and professionalism. Many people think that music is just entertainment, but those working on it see it as their profession. I also perceived the pride of providing entertainment for people, but always with quality. I understood that idea and started to apply this in my life.

What did you learn not to do?

Some of the musicians who accompanied orchestras had certain habits that I was able to observe and I became convinced that I did not wanted to copy them. Sooner or later, I knew that such habits would eventually affect anyone.

I want to clarify that I did not see these things in any of the artists. That is why they are so professional, since they always behave well, both on and off stage. At the same time, they are humble enough to speak directly to a person like me who approached them to ask questions and get some advice.

What led you to have a solo career after having belonged to several orchestras?

I’ve always loved to be a lead singer, but I wasn’t the only one in the orchestra. However, something I noticed while being part of an orchestra is that I was always subjected to the music projects of our musical director, which stopped me from implementing my own ideas and my own music. That’s why I ventured to pursue a solo career and implement what God has put in my heart and mind.

You had already told me about your most recent release “Seguimos Como El León”, a tribute to Angel Santos Junior. Why did it take you to embark on this project? Why pay tribute to Angel Santos Junior?

Thank you for that question. I want to keep giving credit where credit is due. Angel and I were very close friends and I’m using the past tense because unfortunately he passed away on 15 April 15 this year. When I came here to San Antonio, he was one of the first musicians I met and I shared with him in many performances. As I mentioned before, he and I were in the army at the same time.

One of the things Angel has achieved was to create many successful compositions. When I decide to launch my own project, one of the people that I had in mind to get an original song was Angel. When I called him and asked if he had something available, he told me that he only has one song, which was “Seguimos Como El León”. By that time, I knew he was having health problems, but I had no knowledge that he had already been evicted.

When I listened to the lyrics, I didn’t realize that he was giving a message about himself for when he left. Almost all of his compositions had a joking or small-town tone, but this one is a message of overcoming.

By the time we finished the song, maestro Nino Segarra and yours truly agreed to record the project, master it and record it. Then, I shared it with Angel so that he could listen to it and I told him that we gave him credit. Nino Segarra and I thought it was important that everyone who listened to the song always knew that it was one of his compositions.

When we were getting ready to do the release, we learned that he passed away. So, I proceeded to communicate with his family to ask permission from them to use his image and pay tribute to him with that song. They agreed, so I changed the cover and the title of the song to make it look like a posthumous tribute to Angel and thus to perpetuate his name.

What did you learn from Angel Santos artistically and musically?

He was my mentor in this release. I carried out the project, but he mentored me into most of the steps I followed. The biggest lesson I learned from him in the last years was how to be an independent producer and how to implement the ideas I had in mind.

You have songs with titles such as “Seguimos Como El León” and “Lo Que Dios Me Dio”. We can note that these songs are focused on bringing positive messages and about personal growth. Why are these aspects so important to you? Why reflect them in your music?

I am a servant of the Lord. In my spare time, I am a minister at a church. With all the things happening today, I felt in my heart that I had to be part of the solution and bring a positive message in the midst of what is going on.

My musical proposal is based on messages about personal growth with the idea of getting people closer to the Creator.

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