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ISM interviews Héctor Cuevas and his Son Borojol Orchestra.

Dominican Republic where the traditional music is merengue expands to diverse musical rhythms such as bachata, rap, salsa, among others, and this time we had the opportunity to present 2 great musicians (both cousins) called Héctor and Cuso Cuevas , who have joined their talents and experiences in music to found the Orchestra who baptized it “Son Borojol” in March 2015, which is characterized by being a different and very tropical band, its name derives from a tribute to that popular sector because there the genre of son has always been danced.

Héctor Cuevas, was born in the Dominican Republic and lived a season in the USA, from the age of 13 and 14 he began his musical life with Johnny Ventura learning and working in the USA with respect to music, he was also in Caracas, Venezuela, Miami where He was musician for Hansel and Raul in the 80s.

In the “Son Borojol” Orchestra he is integrating a musical group that has several members from other countries apart from Dominicans and he mentions that the vast majority are Venezuelans, among them Cesar Augusto Anuel better known as Albondiga, a great trombonist, arranger, composer and musical director of the Latin dimension. He said he was very happy with the coupling of the members of the orchestra, who at each party give their best, showing their talents to please the dancing public.

The orchestra is composed of experienced musicians who have the peculiarity of having 3 violins (which are from the symphony), trumpeters and other instruments which manage to make a difference in quality and sound, when playing either Cumbia, Merengue, Son , Guaracha, Charanga, Traditional Salsa (La sonora matacera style, jhonny pacheco, Roberto faz)

He comments that once they had a contract with a Latin music label, where Hector wanted it to be pure salsa but they wanted a compilation of different Latin rhythms (merengue, salsa among others) but the most important thing is that the music was from Son Borojol and not from other artists, for a time they were counting on the support of maestro Sony Ovalle (who passed away on December 13, 2020).

The experience that Son Borojol has, in addition to its members, is added the great career he has had in various orchestras with his cousin and renowned bassist Cuso Cuevas (he also died in 2020), who worked with Félix del Rosario, Joseito Mateo, Jhonny Ventura, Santa Cecilia among others. For his part, Héctor Cuevas, played with the orchestras of Hansel and Raul, Jhonny Pacheco, Primitivo Santos and others in the United States.

With this project, the Son Borojol Orchestra has the objective that the public can enjoy different musical genres such as cumbia, danzones, salsa, boleros, Latin jazz and of course the son, a rhythm that every day continues to penetrate more and more in taste. popular of young people; since normally the more adult people who dance are montuno, habanero, bolero and son.

But apart from this particular objective, they have the following as their main idea:

“Our goal is to conclude some songs in the portfolio and prepare to travel to the United States, where they already want to get to know the orchestra, but for that we continue to rehearse hard, because we want to stay for many years to make our people happy every weekend and at private parties. How we are doing it ”, he expressed.

Héctor Cuevas, who is currently the musical director, once commented… “In those trips that I took to the Dominican Republic, I always had the idea of forming an orchestra of my own, since I have the experience because I had The Boston Latin Band, I met with my cousin Cuso Cuevas and we invited other proven musicians and today Son Borojol, it is a reality that continues to rise every day and our presentations speak for themselves, because we try every day to improve in quality, sound and interpretation ”.

Although he currently conducts the orchestra alone, he continues on in honor of his cousin Cuso Cuevas; During the Covid 19 pandemic, they took advantage of this time when all the events were canceled and the closure to record their new musical themes so that when the events opened they were ready for everything that came to them in the future; At least now in 2021 they began to open clubs and other venues, mobilizing dynamic activity in the country, of course with a much shorter work period than before or opening much earlier to take advantage of the regulatory time given by the government ( flexible quarantine)

Hector and Cuso Cuevas - Charanson — Photo of directors Hector and Cuso Cuevas

Currently they have many television offers and live events on the beaches of the country, and when everything is normalized with the pandemic, make their musical tour that was planned in 2020 to different countries of the world And as the penultimate stop in the USA and finally in the Dominican Republic .

A message to his viewers in this interview was the following: “That they take care of themselves, that they always have friends in their hearts and many blessings, and if they have a goal to follow that they do not deviate and always continue forward … nothing stops me and I keep moving forward and that’s what makes you feel good and reach that goal and don’t look back … ”

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4 Salsa Books You Can Read In One Week

Spanish Author Saúl Delhom Immerses Us Into The World Of Salsa In Four Simple Illustrated Texts

Ficcionario Salsero and El Antimanual de la Salsa by Saúl Delhom — El Antimanual Para Bailar Salsa. Episodio I: El Social was published in November 2019 and contains 73 pages

The computer engineer, illustrator and dancer, Saúl Delhom, recreates the culture of Salsa in an exclusive selection of four short books that are easy to understand, a substantial exploration of the representatives of the genre, and an enjoyable reading that you can finish in a week.

The author of these different texts tells us quickly and with the characteristic Spanish humor about the skills, efforts, adaptability, and approach of Afro-Caribbean music.

With these books aimed at Salsa fans, you will get motivation, reflection, knowledge of history, tips, and advice on social dance based on real stories that will not allow you to get left behind in this competitive and fascinating world of Latin dance.

The four books on Salsa by Valencia-born Saúl Delhom will make you learn the most relevant data of the Salsa industry in a fast and exceptional way.

En Clave

En clave is one of the books by the Valencia dancer with which he makes a chronological journey of Salsa through the lives of 77 women artists around the world. For this reason, you will find singers, instrumentalists, composers, and directors of the genre from Croatia, Denmark, Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Japan, Puerto Rico, the United States, Cuba, and Venezuela, just to mention a few countries.

En Clave is structured by a timeline dating from 1877 to 1995, separated by decades. So in the first instance, you will read the biography of an artist who is probably the source of inspiration for another. Then, you will come across a connection diagram as visual support and contribution of extra information that will provide you with emotional ties, teachers, professionals, and collaborations between members of the industry.

Likewise, you will find at the end of each biography the title of a song along with a printed code that you can scan through your smartphone that will link you directly to the Spotify digital platform to listen to it.

And finally, you will observe a second timeline with the exhibition as a frame of reference for contemporary male singers and groups and the exact date of the incursion and musical performance of the artist reviewed for that moment.

“In short, for this book, I have opted for that general vision of the term Salsa… This has also allowed me to include interpreters of traditional Cuban music, to travel back in time making prominent women visible, and to the future including generations of artists who merge, and they reinterpret. For that reason, you will find exponents of the Trova, Danzón, Danzonete, the Cuban point, Guajira, or Latin Jazz. ” Excerpt from the En Clave book.

Remember that you need to read this book because…

“More Salsas are known with female names than female names in the Salsa”. Saúl Delhom

El Antimanual Para Bailar Salsa: Episode I. The social

El antimanual para bailar Salsa is an ironic and humorous illustrated guide on how to successfully overcome a social dance of this Latin rhyme on a dance floor.

In this first book by Saúl, you will find answers to common questions of beginning dancers, such as: Should the girl be dragged to the floor? Is it better to dance only with your partner? Is doing many figures the best to stand out? Do I have to know all the songs of memory to be a real Salsero? Is criticizing other couples a national sport? Who moves my drink from here?

Delhom tells us that his intention in creating this project was initially purely personal and without any commercial intention, but due to its success and the liking of the experience acquired, he decided to write an extension of this book with a few extra chapters and face a second different book.

Ficcionario Salsero. 50 New Words Explained For Normal People

The Ficcionario Salsero is a dictionary of 50 words invented by the author.

These simple words with minimal modifications in the union of two of them or the exchange of one or two letters make the meaning vary entirely, creating a new terminology in salsa slang.

To do this, Saúl Delhom developed an advanced algorithm that allowed him to generate each new term, which in the writer’s words, that should already exist today.

In addition, in the last pages of the Ficcionario, you will find a story about the events that take place in a Salsa Congress and in which these new words are used as an example and that make you actively get involved in this fascinating world.

It should be noted that the style and method applied to the illustrations here are different from those applied previously.

Trivial Salsero

Finally, there is the Trivial Salsero, a Salsa cultural enrichment book. Its base consists of 360 questions that join a playlist of 160 songs.

In the questions related to a hit, for example: According to a song from El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico, what city do you recommend living in summer to have fun with charm and beauty? You will have the information about the correct answer and bring you the exact time within the song through a mark on the digital link to listen to it on Spotify.

Trivial Salsero also includes a system to choose pages randomly without the need for dice or cards.

And is that if you consider yourself a real Salsero you should already know the answers to any of these questions that appear in this book and that I leave you here below as a preamble to what you will find in its internal pages:

With what instrument is the artist Noro Morales associated?
What discipline did Celia Cruz leave to dedicate herself to music?
What nickname has the artist Charlie Palmieri received?
What is the meaning of the word Segundo of the artist Compay Segundo?

“I’ll tell you a little personal anecdote… The first time I tried a Salsa class was in a pub called Cachao. At that time, I had no idea who was the legendary double bass player Israel López “Cachao”. I believed that it was an invented word or the name of some island. Years later, I not only know his story thanks to dancing and the controversial term Salsa, but I have ended up writing a book in which appears his sister Coralia López, much less known”. Saúl Delhom

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Europe – August 2021

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North America – August 2021

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The Big Three Palladium Orchestra live at the Blue Note (2004)

The Palladium legacy lives on

The idea of bringing together the three great Palladium orchestras in an innovative concept was the brainchild of Mario Grillo, better known in the music world as Machito, Jr. whom I had promised to address on the subject of the Big Three at the Palladium.

The Big Three Palladium Orchestra live at the Blue Note

Here I share one of my dreams come true. To be able to write about what I am passionate about is a great luxury, but to have these greats of music welcome me with so much affection to fulfill it is simply magic, fantasy and illusion.

Mario Grillo was born and grew up in a home that supported and sponsored his decision to become a musician. However, his mother -Doña Hilda Torres (EPD)- forced him to practice one hour a day “the hard way” while she told him that being a musician was as serious as being a doctor or a “shyster”. Mario Bauzá was his solfeggio teacher, since reading music was mandatory in his professional path.

At the age of ten he was already playing with his father’s orchestra. When he was still in high school and only 15 years old, Mario Grillo was already the regular timbalero in Machito’s orchestra. However, Machito, Jr.’s career skyrocketed when he did not yet dream of being ready to become a bandleader.

In 1975, his uncles Mario Bauzá and Graciela Grillo Pérez left their Machito’s orchestra, forcing Machito to take action and rescue his orchestra. Machito did not seem to be affected by the fact that Mario Bauzá’s replacement had not yet reached the age of majority. At only 19 years old, Mario Grillo became a bandleader “a la cañona” as we say in Borinquen bella.

The new orchestra was affectionately called “Machito and his Kindergarten” since the musicians were youngsters hungry for musical experience. Although Mario Grillo did not know it, the virtuoso timbalero had been preparing for this moment since he was only five years old when he had performed a timbal solo with none other than the “King of the Timbal”.

In 1982, at the age of 25, Mario Grillo directed and produced the recording of the 1983 Grammy winning album in the category of Best Latin Recording. With great pride Mario adds that the recording was done in Holland and that the entire process was completed in four hours. It is worth mentioning that Machito and His Salsa Big Band won against Julio Iglesias, José Feliciano, Willie Colón & Rubén Blades and Ray Barretto.

Here is a sample of the album in reference (Arrangement by Isidro Infante):

I ask you: How did the idea of establishing The Big 3 Palladium Orchestra come about?

Mario Grillo Torres, whose name honors the great Cuban jazzman -Mario Bauzá (EPD)- and whose nephew he is, tells us that the idea came out of desperation. The booking agency of Mario Grillo’s orchestra found that its strongest market was rather in Europe and Scandinavia. However, one bad day Mario Grillo had to face the possibility of modifying his orchestra. His promoter suggested that he reduce the 16-piece orchestra to form a quintet or sextet to make the project more profitable.

Machito, Jr. laughingly recalls that he only knows about big orchestras, so he got down to work and started making phone calls. He called Tito Puente’s widow: Margie, Tito Rodriguez, Jr. and Tito Puente, Jr. Once Margie, Rodriguez, Jr. and Puente, Jr. agreed to ally with Machito, Jr. the latter returned to the booking agency in London to offer him three orchestras for the price of one. Three calls were enough for Mario Grillo to return to counter negotiate with that promoter, offering him an irresistible orchestra.

The idea entailed a large orchestra with three timbaleros. Each timbalero would play one third of the repertoire, corresponding to the repertoire of the Patriarch of the timbalero on duty. That is to say, Mario would lead the orchestra during the performance of Machito’s orchestra repertoire; Tito Rodriguez, Jr. would lead the orchestra during the performance of El Inolvidable Tito Rodriguez’s orchestra repertoire prior to the closing in which Tito Puente, Jr. would lead the orchestra during the performance of the King of Timbal’s orchestra repertoire. The booking agency representative had no choice but to give up the promoter’s original idea of reducing the large orchestra concept to form a smaller, more economical group, because no one offers three orchestras for the price of one. And Mario is not a salesman. As an important detail, the tour began after 15 concerts were confirmed, without the orchestra having posters, much less CDs to promote. And “in a crazy way”, as Mario Grillo describes it, they began to fulfill the “stews”. The first places to host that non-promotional musical tour concert were Columbia University and the Verizon Center. From there they went on to England, France, Germany, Italy, Bulgaria and Latvia.

A year into the tour, Mario Grillo was asked by the booking agency to promote a tangible during the next tour. The Big Three Palladium Orchestra, Performing the Music of Tito Rodríguez, Machito and Tito Puente was born.

This CD was recorded live at the Blue Note during two concerts that were “packed”, as Mario Grillo told me with emotion. The recording of this masterful production was coordinated from a rolling recording studio that monitored 48 microphones. The long awaited compact disc became the promotional item for the ten years that were added to that historic tour, which initially consisted of only fifteen concerts. The first concert of this historic reunion was in 2000. This year marks the 21st anniversary of the establishment of the Palladium’s Big Three Orchestra. Having come of age, this orchestra has the repertoire of the owners of the mambo. This results in more than three hundred record productions, which adds up to more than three thousand songs and no room for exaggeration; so as Mario Grillo declares: “Anything can happen”.

During the eleven years of touring Europe -Finland, Germany, Spain and France-, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Los Angeles and San Francisco -to mention a few places- Mario Grillo repeated what he did with Machito’s orchestra; this time the legacy sounds through The Big Three Palladium Orchestra. For Machito, Jr. one of the most emotional moments was when they came to Puerto Rico for the Jazz Festival. For the first time, the heirs to the mambo era – Tito Rodriguez, Jr., Machito, Jr. and Tito Puente, Jr. – teamed up again in their three-orchestras-in-one concept to bring the Palladium legacy to Puerto Rico. In fact, between laughter and mischief Mario states that his father always insisted that: “the best interpreters of Cuban music are the Puerto Ricans” adding that this assertion guaranteed him tremendous fire within the Cuban community.

When I asked Mario about his favorite instrument, he commented with a loud laugh: “women, I’m malamañoso”. Once we returned to the line of conversation, he added that he has been a TOCA artist for ten years. With a serious tone he added that he is very proud of his colleagues, fellow artistic staff members within TOCA Percussion. Among that list, he mentioned Tito Rodriguez, Jr. and the late Jimmie Morales, who, according to Mario Grillo, used to make a fire out of two coffee cans no matter what brand of instrument it was.

As you can see, each of the “Palladium’s Big Three” left behind a timbalero son, coincidentally. These three timbaleros have made it their mission to keep the Palladium legacy alive and well.

The Big Three Palladium Orchestra 3 — Two Generatios of MACHITO Frank “Machito” Grillo y Mario Grillo

With deep pride, Mario Grillo told me that in 2019, the 80th anniversary of the first Machito orchestra, established in 1939, was commemorated. The average seniority of the musicians who remain in the orchestra since its establishment is forty years. In fact, there are anecdotes that show Luis “Perico” Ortiz as an alumnus of Machito’s orchestra. It is said that when “Perico” was part of Mongo Santamaría’s orchestra, he would go to play with Machito’s orchestra during his days off. Another alumnus of Machito’s orchestra is the bongos player of the Gran Combo de Puerto Rico: Richie Bastar, who as a teenager became the substitute bongos player of that school orchestra. With the privileged memory that characterizes him, Mario Grillo states with admiration that in 1979 Machito identified excellence in Isidro Infante -also a former student of Machito- when they played in Finland.

Although Machito, Jr. has not insisted on being Machito’s son, it is not possible to forget that he is the son of one of the greats of mambo, creator of Cubop and salsa, so it is not surprising that his father is still a topic of conversation in musical circles.

Here is one of my favorites (Arrangement by René Hernández)

Website: Tito Rodríguez, Jr. “The Palladium legacy lives on”

WebsiteBy: Bella Martinez “The Irreverent Salsa Writer” Puerto Rico

WebSite: Bella Martinez

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