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The 9th Annual Melbourne Latin Festival

Australia /

The 9th Annual Melbourne Latin Festival

A Celebration of Latin Dance 7, 8 & 9 April, 2017

Venue: Jason Coleman´s Ministry

The 9th Annual Melbourne Latin Festival 2017 - Flyers
The 9th Annual Melbourne Latin Festival 2017 – Flyers

Melbourne Latin Festival 2017 bringing you an even more exciting and entertainment weekend filled with: 3 Evenings of Latin Dance Shows & Parties, Over 150 Latin Dancers, 12 Latin DJ’s, 40 Dance Workshops Over 3 Days/Nights of fun!

The workshops are intended both for the complete novice as to the professional including Salsa, Bachata, Zouk, Samba, Cha Cha Cha, Argentine Tango, Kizomba, Lindy Hop and more…

The 9th Melbourne Latin Festival wil feature international sensation Frankie Martinez from USA back by popular demand, Frankie will again be divulging and sharing he’s talent and knowledge of Latin Dance.

We look forward to having this amazing inspirational artist amongst us again, as well as other interstate and local Latin artists. Saturday evening will have The Great Gatsby theme so dress in your best Gatsby costume and Lindy Hop and West Coast Swing genre’s will join in party to give it that extra Gatsby feel.

The 9th Annual Melbourne Latin Festival 2017 - Flyers 2
The 9th Annual Melbourne Latin Festival 2017 – Flyers 2

Schedule

Friday 4:00pm: Frankie Martinez Pachanga Masterclass 5:00pm: Performer Tech Rehearsal 8:00pm: Doors Open (Homeless Not Heartless Night) 8:30pm: Performance Shows 10:00pm: Social Dancing (West Cost Swing/Swing Room, Salsa Room, Bachata/Zouk Room)

Saturday 10:00am – 5:00pm: Workshops 2:00pm: Bachata Immersion Course 5:00pm: Tech Performance Rehearsal 8:00pm: Doors Open (The Great Gatsby Theme) 8:30pm: Performance Shows 10:00pm: Social Rooms (Salsa, Bachata/Zouk)

Sunday 10:00am – 5:00pm: Workshops 2:00pm: Samba Immersion Course 5:00pm: Tech Performance Rehearsal 8:00pm: Doors Open (Brazilian Theme – Wear White) 8:30pm: Performance Shows 10:00pm: Social Rooms (Salsa, Bachata/Zouk)

Featured guest

International Artist Frankie Martinez – USA

Frankie Martinez is widely regarded as one of the most innovative and renowned Latin contemporary dancers of his generation. To date, Frankie Martinez and ABAKUÁ Afro-Latin Dance Company have performed and taught in over 50 cities and over 20 countries worldwide.

They have performed at prestigious venues including Madison Square Garden, Roseland Ballroom, Lincoln Center, Aaron Davis Hall, Jacob’s Pillow and NY Summerstage amongst many others.

The 9th Annual Melbourne Latin Festival 2017 - Flyers 3
The 9th Annual Melbourne Latin Festival 2017 – Flyers 3

Master Class with Frankie Martinez

Afro and Body Movement and Isolation. Only 20 spots available Level: Intermediate/Advanced. Date: 7 April, 2017. Time: 4pm

Artists & Instructors

  • Alex Bryan – Flavoured Rhythm – VIC
  • Artia Zandian – NSW
  • Carlos & Elli – QLD
  • Debby Smits – QLD
  • Elka Eidelman – Loco Mojo – VIC
  • Izzy Washington – VIC
  • Jaime Jesus – NSW
  • Jose & May – QLD/Spain
  • Juan Carlos Ospina Sanchez – Colombia/VIC
  • Kadu Pires & Krin Bajough – NSW
  • Maxine & Akshar – Acontra – VIC
  • Mitch Billc & Ellicia McDonald – NSW
  • Nathan & Brocke – Melbourne
  • Paula Di Pietro (Hooked on Dance) – VIC
  • Pedro Gonzalez & Elysia Manger – VIC
  • Sasha Mazzeu – QLD
  • Sharon Pakir – Spin City Dance – VIC
  • Sherylanne – Salsa Republic – NSW
  • Silvi Milans – SA/Brasil
  • Sophie Contreras – VIC
  • Tomas Melgarejo – VIC

DJ’s

Salsa Main Room Dj Debilious (Qld) Dj Nathan Dj Carlos Galliano Dj Juan Carlos Ospina Dj Carlos Lopez

Zouk & Kizomba Room Dj Allan Dj Kadu Dj Mutati

Bachata Rooms Dj Kendrix – Bachata Beats Dj Alberto – Timberlero

SUPPORTING HOMELESS IN MELBOURNE

Each year Melbourne Latin Festival also support a great cause. In the past we have supported The Good Friday Appeal, Cancer Foundation, Leukemia Foundation and White Ribbon Foundation – violence against women.

In 2017 they have selected a local Melbourne base foundation Fare Share foundation.

The 9th Annual Melbourne Latin Festival 2017
The 9th Annual Melbourne Latin Festival 2017

To see more information: https://melbournelatinfestival.com.au/ FACEBOOK: MelbourneLatinFestival

To Book Online: https://melbournelatinfestival.com.au/buy-tickets/

Yerba Buena Gardens Festival 2017 in San Francisco

North America / USA / San Francisco

2017 Yerba Buena Gardens Festival (YBG Festival) proudly announces the lineup for its:

2017 Yerba Buena Gardens Festival - Free out doors fresh
2017 Yerba Buena Gardens Festival – Free out doors fresh

17th Season, which continues its tradition of bringing entertainment to downtown in San Francisco. May 7 – Oct 29, 2017, 760 Howard St. San Francisco, CA 94103

To kick off the new season, the Grammy-winning Arturo O’Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra + VNote Ensemble will open the Festival on Sunday, May 7, the first of this year’s 100 admission-free events. The very popular series Let’s Go Salsa@Jessie also will be present with the best artists. YGB Festival offers you free music, theater, circus, dance, poetry, and children’s programs with artists from the Bay Area and around the world.

Named one of the Best Urban Green Spaces in North America by USA Today, Yerba Buena Gardens is a world-renowned cultural destination for Bay Area residents, families, workers, and tourists alike. Yerba Buena Gardens is located between Mission Street and Howard Street and 3rd and 4th Streets in downtown San Francisco. Visit www.ybgfestival.org or call (415) 543-1718 for more information and complete 17th Season schedule.

Yerba Buena Festival’s exciting 17th Season promises an exceptional array of talent to please all audiences.

YBG Festival Executive/Artistic Director Linda Lucero says, “Everyone needs the spiritual sustenance, inspiration, and communal experience that only live performance offers. This summer, you’ll find your joy at Yerba Buena Gardens Festival!”

2017 Yerba Buena Gardens Festival
2017 Yerba Buena Gardens Festival

The Grammy-award winning Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra (ALJO), led by pianist, composer, and director Arturo O’Farrill, kicks off the Festival on Sunday, May 7 at 1:00pm. The ALJO brings together the drama of big band jazz, the culture of Latin music, and the virtuosity of eighteen of the world’s most accomplished solo musicians. Twelve years of critically acclaimed performances internationally have firmly established the ALJO as the standard-bearer for creative interpretation of Latin jazz greats such as Tito Puente, Frank “Machito” Grillo, and Chico O’Farrill, as well as the driving force behind new commissions from Latin music’s most talented composers and arrangers.

Arturo O’Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra + VNote Ensemble

Yerba Buena Gardens Festival includes the very popular Let’s Go Salsa@Jessie dance series, the family-friendly Children’s Series, Poetic Tuesdays with Litquake, and Thursday Lunchtime Concerts. Each and every week and weekend, the Festival has curated a lineup of musicians, dancers, poets, and actors from around the world including the Bay Area’s Kitka Women’s Vocal Ensemble on May 13, Brass Convergence II: Protest Brass on May 20, Richard Howell & Sudden Changes on May 27, NEA Heritage Fellows Michael Doucet and Tom Rigney with Flambeau on June 3, Festival-commissioned YBG ChoreoFest, a three-day site-

specific dance festival featuring 9 contemporary dance companies on June 9–11, NYC’s own M.A.K.U. Soundsystem on June 17, Circus Bella on June 23–24, AXIS Dance Company’s The Garden Project on July 1–2, Festival-commissioned Theatre Rhinoceros’ Lear! on July 7–9, Ensemble Mik Nawooj‘s premiere of Death Become Love on July 15, San Francisco Mime Troupe on July 23, SF Uke Jam Summer Uke-splosion! with Ukulenny and Cynthia Lin on July 29, Daymé Arocena + Latin Jazz Youth Ensemble on August 19, Paula West on August 26, Kugelplex with special guest Linda Tillery on September 2, Alsarah & the Nubatones on September 9, and Brooklyn Raga Massive with Classical Revolution performing Terry Riley’s In C on September 16.

Yerba Buena Gardens concert
Yerba Buena Gardens concert

The Festival closes with the 17th Annual Halloween Hoopla Sunday, October 29.

The popular series Let’s Go Salsa@Jessie, the open-air salsa dance party in Jessie Square (near the Contemporary Jewish Museum), takes place on the third Thursday of each month from May to September from 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm. Performers are Changuí Majadero on May 18, La Mixta Criolla on June 15, Somos el Son on July 20, Bobi Céspedes on August 17, and the Festival return of Ricardo Lemvo & Makina Loca on September 21.

The Festival offers the delightful Children’s Series, interactive performances specially designed for kids and families every Friday from June to August in Yerba Buena Gardens. The series presents performances by kid favorites: Caterpillar Puppets, Ka-Hon, Red Panda Acrobats, Pi Clowns, Venezuelan Music Project, Crosspulse, Unique Derique, and Non Stop Bhangra. The series ends with the wildly popular 17th Annual Halloween Hoopla on Sunday, October 29.

Yerba Buena Gardens Festival Commissions and Special Projects have commissioned the following projects to celebrate in June: Yerba Buena Gardens ChoreoFest, a brand new 3-day dance festival, June 9-11. Playwright/director/actor John Fisher writes and directs Lear!, a site-specific satirical musical based on Shakespeare’s King Lear for Theatre Rhinoceros, the nation’s, and likely the world’s, first queer theater on July 7-9 and Circus Bella on June 23 and 24. Conceived and directed by Abigail Munn and Joel Baker for Circus Bella, the show will feature high level, local and guest circus artists and includes static trapeze, rope walking, juggling, contortion, unicycle, original clowning, acrobatics, and more.

2017 Yerba Buena Gardens Festival - Photo
2017 Yerba Buena Gardens Festival – Photo

The Yerba Buena Gardens Festival also co-presents a series of admission-free outdoor programs with Union Square Live to be announced in April.

Charlie Sierra was a prominent Puerto Rican timbalero, recognized for his long musical career and virtuosity on the instrument

Carlos Manuel Sierra Sánchez, better known in the music world as “Charlie Sierra,” was born on October 10, 1956, in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico.

Charlie Sierra fue un destacado timbalero puertorriqueño
Charlie Sierra fue un destacado timbalero puertorriqueño

An excellent percussion musician from Barrio Sabana, Charlie Sierra recorded with important figures in music such as Don Mario Ortiz, Andy Montañez, Raphy Leavitt, Marc Anthony, Oscar D’León, Julito Alvarado, and many others. He even recorded the album Bravo by the Fania All-Stars in 1997.

To the worldwide community of salsa fans (salsómanos), he was a member, along with Chago Martínez, Tito De Gracia, Edgardo Morales, and Edwin Clemente, of the Gran Cumbre de Timbaleros (Great Summit of Timbaleros) that emerged in Puerto Rico’s rumbero (Afro-Cuban rhythm/rumba) scene during the penultimate decade of the 20th Century.

Charlie Sierra fue un destacado timbalero puertorriqueño reconocido por su larga trayectoria musical y su virtuosismo en el instrumento
Charlie Sierra fue un destacado timbalero puertorriqueño reconocido por su larga trayectoria musical y su virtuosismo en el instrumento

Among these five virtuosos, the majority of the recording sessions in the Puerto Rican market were divided. The others were, practically, second choices for producers.

This fortunate circumstance allowed him to develop an impressive discography as a session musician, which includes the most stellar names in salsa. Likewise, he traveled across a large part of the globe as a member of the backing bands for many of those stars.

Our biographical subject was a child when he began, without a teacher, to learn the bongos and drums which he also played on recordings and on stage and the timbales, leading him to be identified as a fundamentally intuitive musician.

At the age of thirteen, he moved with his family to Bayamón, and it was during his time as a student at the Nuestra Señora del Rosario School that he began to show signs of his talent.

At fourteen, he enrolled in the Ernesto Ramos Antonini Free School of Music (Escuela Libre de Música), where he was a disciple of the Argentine master Samuel Lipchik.

During that time, he also advanced his knowledge of the flute, guitar, and piano, instruments he would never cultivate professionally, as percussion was always his great passion.

Papo Lucca, Charlie Sierra y Cheo Feliciano
Papo Lucca, Charlie Sierra y Cheo Feliciano

However, his time at the Free School of Music was relatively brief (1972-1974). He soon began his professional career, gaining his first experiences with the Orquesta Rica and the Orquesta Tabú.

During this period, he received private lessons from the renowned professor Raúl Berríos Sánchez.

Fully immersed in the music scene, his name began to gain relevance in the salsa world following his tenure with the original Orquesta Mulenze, led by bassist Edwin Morales, during the 1976-1978 period.

At that time, this organization focused its work on providing accompaniment to solo singers affiliated with the genre, both national and foreign, who visited the island. He had the opportunity to travel with several of them: Santos Colón, Celia Cruz, Cheo Feliciano, Chivirico Dávila, Pellín Rodríguez, Yayo El Indio, etc.

From the Orquesta Mulenze, he moved to the lineup of Raphy Leavitt & La Selecta (1978-1979), with whom he had the opportunity to record hits like “La cosquillita,” vocalized by Tony Vega. He later worked with the orchestra led by pianist Tito Valentín, which featured Marvin Santiago as the vocalist.

He then joined trumpeter Mario Ortiz’s orchestra (1982-1984); he collaborated in the founding of the backing bands for the great sonero (Cuban son singer) Carlos «Cano» Estremera (1984) and the equally admired Tony Vega (1988).

In the interim, he worked independently and constantly recorded with other groups and a large number of soloists. He maintained this intense work routine until the present.

In 2009, Charlie Sierra organized his own orchestra, Paso Nivel, with which he recorded the album Ganas de bailar (Paso Nivel, CD-10692).

The album prominently features singer Efraín «Pichi» Gaetán, and included special guests such as Cheo Feliciano, Ismael Miranda, Andy Montañez, and Gilberto Santa Rosa, as well as Primi Cruz, Darvel García, and Héctor Luis «Pichie» Pérez.

Charlie Sierra was a distinguished Puerto Rican salsa timbalero, recognized for his long musical career and his virtuosity on the instrument.

He passed away on October 23, 2024, at the age of 67. Throughout his career, he collaborated with artists of the stature of Andy Montañez, Celia Cruz, Cheo Feliciano, and Bobby Cruz.

Musical Career: He began his career with the Orquesta Mulenze in 1970 and later joined Raphy Leavitt & La Selecta’s band.

Charlie Sierra y Orestes Vilato
Charlie Sierra y Orestes Vilato

Notable Collaborations:

He worked with Andy Montañez for over 25 years, being a key piece in his orchestra. He also collaborated with artists like Celia Cruz, Cheo Feliciano, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Bobby Cruz (on the hit “Sonido Bestial”), Tito Valentín, among others.

Own Orchestra: In 2009, he founded his own orchestra called Paso Nivel, with which he recorded the album “Ganas de bailar” (Desire to Dance).

 Collaborators:

L’Òstia Latin Jazz

Also Read: Orestes Vilato. Cuban multi-percussionist.

Haitian bandleader and musician Mac Gregore Brunis fulfills his dream in Montreal

We do not often write a lot about Latin music artists in Canada, so we want to remedy that situation and provide coverage to a very talented Haitian based in Montreal. We are talking about bandleader, composer, and musician Mac Gregore Brunis, an artist with whom we have been able to talk about his interesting story and career with the musical group he currently directs, Sabor 19.

Mac posing for the camera
Mac Gregore Brunis posing for the camera at an event

Young Mac’s beginnings in music

In perfect Spanish, Mac thanked International Salsa Magazine for the invitation and started by telling that music had always been more than a simple hobby for him. His first contact with this world was in his native Haiti when he was on his way to school by public transport and there were always musicians playing, so music was always part of his life. 

He also played instruments with some of his classmates who formed musical groups in the classroom.

However, his professional career would not begin until his move to Canada, where he decided to go at age 21 to study electrical engineering and where he remains to this day. Some staff members of the University of Moncton, New Brunswick, where Mac would end up studying, visited some Haitian schools to promote their educational program among young students. The fact that French was spoken in Haiti, as in Canada, also helped Mac make the decision to try his luck in North America, since Haiti did not offer him the opportunities he was looking for.

It was in this country, more specifically in the city of Montreal, that he met other music lovers who introduced him to salsa and other Latin genres. Although he had already heard salsa and bachata in Haiti because of its proximity to the Dominican Republic, some Colombian friends he made in his new place of residence introduced him much more to all this culture, especially the music.

Mac and the rest of Sabor 19
Mac Gregore Brunis and the rest of Sabor 19 at La Salsa Rossa

Sabor 19

When Mac graduated and left the province of New Brunswick to move to Montreal, he began attending salsa and bachata socials to dance on Monday nights, and it was there that he met Eduardo Ramírez. They became friends and played together some of the instruments Eduardo carried, such as maracas, güira, and bongo. When Mac told his new friend that he wanted to learn to play the piano and other instruments, he and Eduardo began meeting to practice and develop the idea of creating a musical group, which they called Sabor 19 in homage to the year it was created, 2019. 

Once they had finally decided to do something more formal in music, they invited other musician friends with whom they met weekly to rehearse. They ended up being a group of about 10 people, including Diego, who would be the band’s lead vocalist. For better or worse, the original members are no longer there, but the current ones from countries such as Haiti, Colombia, Mexico, Canada, Morocco, and Turkey, have kept the ship afloat for the past seven years.

Despite coming from such diverse countries and backgrounds, this has not hindered communication between the musicians in the least. In fact, all of them speak or understand Spanish very well, so they have managed to understand each other almost perfectly. 

Mac playing at the festival
Mac Gregore Brunis and Sabor 19 playing at the Nuits d’Afrique Festival

Original music and genres

Since the foundation of the group, they have focused on covering the most popular hits such as “El Preso,” “Canoa Rancha,” “Un Verano en Nueva York,” and many others. Their repertoire consists of a total of about 70 covers, which are divided depending on the requirements of the concert or show.

However, over the past three years, Mac and the rest of the team have felt the urge to offer something of their own to the public, so they set to work to create their own music in regards to lyrics, arrangements, melodies, and everything else. 

Silly D’Or Festival 

Sabor 19 is well known for having reached the semifinals at the Silly d’Or Festival as part of the Nuits d’Afrique Festival, which is one of Montreal’s most popular music competitions. Although they did not win first place, Mac describes their participation as a very good experience, as this gave them the opportunity to make themselves known to a much wider audience. In addition, being evaluated gave them a good sense of which aspects to improve for the future.

Read also: Alberto Gonzalez talks about his book on Hector Lavoe and his experience with ‘‘El Jibarito de Ponce’’