Search Results for: World Salsa

How it all started

Today we are going to talk with Puerto Rican composer and vocalist José Manuel Rivera Rivera, better known as Josean Rivera (https://www.facebook.com/unsoneroparaelpueblo). Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Rivera, how are you doing? It is lovely to have you here.

Thank you so much for the invitation. Thank heaven I’m fine and I hope you’re too.

This is Josean Rivera, Puerto Rican composer and vocalist

Your name is José Manuel Rivera Rivera, but you are known artistically as Josean Rivera. Where does this name come from?

That’s a nickname my parents called me since very early childhood. I don’t know where it came from because my name is José Manuel. Instead, Josean is almost always used for people named José Antonio or José Ángel, but I’ve always been called that and ot still is (chuckles).

And you are still called that way to this day.

Yes, to this day. This is so.

I understand that you knew your calling as a vocalist when you were 15 years old. How did this happen?

More or less. I became interested in music long before that, but I liked percussion instruments such as the conga or the timpani. Through some friends, I met Miguel El Pollo Torres from El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico and used to go to the patron saint festivities. When I saw the dynamic Charlie, Papo and Jerry had when singing with El Gran Combo, I said I like that, let’s see what can be done.

In one of your most recent songs, you paid tribute to Raphy Leavitt. What did this pianist and La Selecta represent for the rest of your career?

A very important stage because it was my first participation in a renowned orchestra. I had many experiences and learned a lot from him, Sammy, Carlitos and the rest of the membership. They were like a family.

I understand that you were in medical school and, later, in the army. How did you combine these activities with your role as an artist?

I started studying medicine and then I understood it wasn’t my thing, so I joined the army. Everywhere I went, I always found local orchestras playing traditional salsa or covers. Also, working in the U.S. Army is not like that of other countries where soldiers are not allowed to go out and spend locked up. In our case, it was a normal job like any other, so we were able to engange in other activities with no problem.

However, when we had to travel to other places, we had to get some time off of work, take a vacation and stuff like that.

Raphy Leavitt and La Selecta were very important for his carrer

Music and the army

Many of your Puerto Rican-born colleagues also followed the military path when they go to the United States. Did you find any of your colleagues in the army? If so, did that help you or influence you in any way?

By sharing some time and being part of many shows with people from the armed forces or international singers who were going to perform where we were, I was able to sing with them and do the chorus for them. I think that helped me a lot.

I read that it was in the year 2016 when you decided to found your own orchestra. What led you to that? What made you then become a soloist?

What happened is that I belonged to the orchestra of Raphy Marrero, so I recorded two albums with him. The thing is that I was moved from one base to another, which made it very difficult for me to meet with the orchestra and do my activities with them, so I decided to try something by myself and see how it went.

Do you feel that you have achieved your goals or still have a long way to go?

We have achieved a great deal. As a soloist, I have made four musical productions and am working on the fifth one. We have already selected the songs and the arrangements, so we are going to start recording very soon.

The dream of every artist is to be able to play on stage and, owing to the whole issue of Covid and quarantine, all the activity decreased, but little by little things are getting back to normal.

You have experienced everything from classical to modern salsa, which is the style you enjoy singing best?

Since I grew up with El Gran Combo, La Sonora Ponceña, Willie Rosario and Bobby Valentín, of course that kind of salsa is my strongest point. I grew up in that environment where salsa is a little braver, but you have to sing anything because you have to try to please everyone.

Josean Rivera loves salsa brava, but sing anything

With what other musical genres have you experimented or would you like to experiment?

In the different orchestras in which I was, I got to sing merengue, bolero, cha cha chá and things like that. I can sing anything. In fact, I’ve come to sing some boleros in my albums as a soloist.

Which of these genres attrack most people?

Merengue and bachata are very popular.

What did you do during the pandemic?

We decided to make a new abum and used all that confinement time to select the songs for the album.

Have you returned to the stage?

I’ve already toured two or three times. I went to Washington, Seattle, Florida, among others. God Lord willing, we’re going to go to Colombia, Peru, Panama, and Mexico. We’re promoting the latest album Esto No Es Secreto.

What advice would you give to young artists who want to devote themselves to these genres?

My advice to those who want to start an artistic career is to dare to do so. The means to get ahead are there. You have to be active, let people get to know you and make promotions in different countries because that is how your music will reach the world. You have to keep moving forward and never giving up.

The biggest problem that these young artists will have to go through, based on your understanding.

I think the biggest problem is that there are no record labels anymore. One of the biggest obstacles is the budget for an album, whether it is a complete production or just one single at a time. It costs money.

Since there are no record labels to support you financially, it’s hard for the newer artists to record their albums.

Josean Rivera singing on stage

 

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]

 

By Bella Martinez, ISM Correspondents, San Juan, Puerto Rico