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Percussionist Celso Clemente Torres, was born on January 31, 1965 in San Juan, Puerto Rico his childhood and under the guidance of his father, Celso Clemente Sr., the young man was introduced to the world of music in 1973.

At the age of nine, he made his first big band performance at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in Puerto Rico alongside Giovanni Hidalgo with the Roberto Roena Orchestra.

When he was twelve years old, he participated in his first recording called “Borinquen All-Stars” with the great Puerto Rican trumpet player and band leader Mr. Elias Lopez (R.I.P) with the great Gentleman of Salsa Gilberto Santa Rosa, he was the lead singer of that important project.

He has been a percussionist for 40 years.  Clemente has mastered the following instruments; bongo, conga, timbal and minor percussion.

With all these instruments he has had the opportunity to be part of countless recordings in the tropical genre which have served as inspiration for new exponents of the genre.

Due to his vast experience in percussion he has been able to spread his knowledge, offering percussion workshops to different groups (children, youth and adults) with excellent results.  This has led him to create his own line of bongo bells and timpani sticks with his name.

He has had the opportunity to work in big stages such as; Madison Square Garden, House Of Blues, Coliseo de Puerto Rico “José Miguel Agrelot” Centro De Bellas Artes, among others.  He worked in these orchestras; Roberto Angleró, Moliendo Vidrio, Tommy Olivencia, Tony Vega, Tito Rojas with this work 27 years, of which he directed his orchestra in Puerto Rico and outside the Island for 20 years.

He has recorded with Roberto Angleró, Tommy Olivencia, Tony Vega, Tito Rojas, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Willie Rosario, Bobby Valentin, José Alberto “El Canario”, Rey Ruiz, Willie González, Frankie Ruiz, Puerto Rico All Star, Yan Collazo, Bomplenea, Plenarium among others.

He has also had the opportunity to be music producer, “Rompiendo Barreras” with Mario Feliciano, “Independiente” Tito Rojas, “Ritmo Caliente” with Bomplenea by Gary Vera, “Rompe La Rutina” by Del Gonzalez, “Te mando un beso” with Plenarium by Capitol Clemente.

He is an endouser of the Pearl Musical Instrument Company also in the line of cymbals “Soultone Cymbals”.

Celso Clemente is considered one of the best sounding bongos, which caught the attention of many record producers. Celso is probably the most recorded bongos player in the history of Puerto Rican salsa discography with more than 220 credited recordings.

The list of salsa legends Celso has recorded with is too long to list.

Celso is currently the timbalero and leader of the band of the famous salsero Tito Rojas (R.I.P) where he toured all over the world.

He offers Percussion Workshops to; children, youth and adults, both in person and online, based on his extensive musical experience, which is more than 42 years in the tropical genre (Salsa), bomba and plena.

Facebook: Celso Clemente Talleres De Percusión

Contact in Puerto Rico: +1 787-429-9971

Email: [email protected]

Source: Pearl Musical Instrument Company  https://pearldrum.com/eu/artist/celso-clemente

By: Diana Marie International Salsa Magazine Correspondent

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Totally agree with the premise that Mel Martínez establishes in this song of his authorship.  Yes, Puerto Rico is the same as saying: “Yo soy salsero”.

Long live the music!  Know that this implies shouting:

“Long live the musicians, so they can keep making it”.

The song starts off timidly and it seems that the arrangement asks the listener for his opinion on what he thinks of what is the first single of what will be his next musical production in a segment that presents a transcript of that “what do you think of Cholito”.

From there it pivots into a melodic design that reminds me of a segment of “I like Christmas that tastes like Puerto Rico” The shyness of the theme lasts approximately ten seconds.

Then the arrangement takes a turn that suggests that in Puerto Rico it’s Christmas all year round.

The lyrics of the song assures that all salsa-loving countries have their flavor and their flag; defined by other rhythms, highlighting the native rhythms of Colombia, Dominican Republic, Argentina and Peru. But Mel comes from Puerto Rico and asserts on behalf of all Puerto Rican salseros that: “In Puerto Rico the sun is boiling and that’s where Caliente salsa comes from”.

Evidently salsa is our pride.  We are all Mel in terms of his love for salsa, the shout of pride, the flavor and the flag”.

And speaking of flavor and flag, it is clear that still “Aníbal Vázquez as a dancer, Giovanni Hidalgo hitting a leather, Tite Curet’s songs and Sammy Marrero’s feeling” are as valid as their first day in salsa performances.

New York’s emblematic nightclubs, all of them already disappeared, stand out in the lyric.

The mention of El Corso, Latin Quarter and the unforgettable Copacabana filled me with nostalgia and joy for having been lucky enough to have been part of that history. In Puerto Rico we have also been part of the history of salsa as it was spun in Lomas del Sol, El Coabey -which has been sustained against all odds- and El Tropicana.

The groups of Luis “Perico” Ortiz, El Gran Combo, Willie Rosario, Bobby Valentín, Tommy Olivencia, La Ponceña, Roena, Mulenze and Chaney star in the list of orchestras born in our soil and that Mel includes in the lyrics of the theme. Costa Brava, Puerto Rican Power, Canayón, Mario Ortiz, Don Perignon and La Solución complete the list of outstanding orchestras in sound and category.

The patron saint festivities and the dancers arrive at the theme at the climax of the mambo, through the pregones in the voice of our favorite for several decades.

From Fajardo to Mayaguez, passing through Bayamón and Carolina, Cataño and Dorado Mel assures that our 100 x 35 and its inhabitants are salseros by birth.

The lyrics of Mel’s song are so great that it secured mention of the dancers who every year try out for National Salsa Day, which until 2020 was exclusive to Puerto Rico.

If you haven’t heard this song, I dare you to listen to it without getting stuck to it:

I don’t know where you’re from

But I love my land

I come from Puerto Rico

and Puerto Rico is salsa.

I can tell you that the choruses are deluxe.  The coros feature Luisito Carrión, Lalo Rodríguez and Carlos García; the same Carlos García who composes, arranges, sings and dances, all while masterfully dominating behind his piano.

As Mel states in this beautiful composition, which is also patriotically historical: we were born salseros.

I add by way of an intimately personal opinion that no human being is prepared to face the battle of life without the encouragement that music gives us.

I conclude by recommending you not to miss the correspondence between Pedro Perez’s bass and Emanuel Navarro’s timbal at the end of the song.

For those who doubt that musicians give us music even when it seems that the musical theme has already closed.

What is left for me to say? Long live the music!  Know that this implies shouting: “Long live the musicians, so that they keep on making it”.  Ah! And that we are still salseros.

Facebook: Mel Martinez

By: Bella Martinez “The Irreverent Salsa Writer”

Puerto Rico

Website: Bella Martinez Escribe

With a full tank, Transition by Tito Rodriguez, Jr.

Bella Martinez, International Salsa Magazine by the hand of www.SalsaGoogle.com presents and highly recommends this formidable and exquisite production of Tito Rodriguez Jr. The firstborn of the unforgettable Pablo “Tito” Rodriguez.

Long live music!  Repeat after me: “Long live the musicians so they can keep making it”.  And I add: “Long live SALSA”.

As soon as I got my hands on it I listened to it, many times.  Not that I needed an explanation, but I could not stop listening to it and go off to take care of my duties.

So much so that I had to send the radio station of the Puerto Rican salsa singer on vacation for a few days until I finished writing the note that had chosen to write itself.  The CD cover – showing the photo of Tito Rodriguez, Jr. settled on my desk for several weeks as if it belonged to the surface in front of which I sit every day.  Until one fine day I said to myself: Today I hope to be able to understand the instrumental pairing of everything that happens in this piece.

Here I go…

In the first cut (Bailando con la más fea) there were several bars after the first minute, that transported me to my days of partying in New York during the bravo launch of that orchestra that I haven’t heard for a long time.

Of course, while that orchestra sounded bigger than it was, this one I’m examining today – Tito Rodriguez, Jr.’s – sounds bigger than it is and on steroids; among other reasons because the baritone enhances the personality of this serious sounding arrangement, albeit hand in hand with a jocular lyric.

During the second theme (El vive bien) we experience a very Cuban theme of those that sandungueando the waists of those who follow the leather beats to’ fuete.

Shortly before entering the third minute, the interplay of saxophones and twists in which the baritone and bongo play suggest to me that this song shares the flavorfulness of the pregón that says “Salsa ahí na’ma’ como me gusta a mí…” from one of the tracks on Gilberto Santa Rosa’s production Colegas (2020).  In fact, Gilberto collaborates in this production, specifically in the song Volver.

In the third cut (Ándate nena), the trumpet solo stands out within an arrangement for large orchestra and allows the performance to be sprinkled with conga, marking the nostalgia of the memory of those geniuses that the traditional big bands left us as a legacy.  The saxophones sound like those of the Palladium orchestras.

The 4th track (Volver) is an arrangement where the influence of Bobby Valentín’s inventions is evident.  The track starts like the romantic arrangements of the 1990’s, although with a heavy and dominant piano, prior to the alto saxophone playing that opens the way for the rest of the saxophones in perfect synchrony with the conga, timbal and bongo.  This cut features Gilberto Santa Rosa, although the song didn’t need Santa Rosa to shine.

Tito Rodriguez, Jr. gave way to the most prolific salsa singer in commercial salsa to perform a song that was already the polished diamond of this collection.

I found it to be a classic big band arrangement with an avant-garde touch where the saxophones give way to a touch of a musical arrangement that wants to be a sonorous orchestra.  However, the perfection of the thing doesn’t let the sonorous touch tuck in the modern big band concept.  Well, I understand myself.  “Afinca y echa pa’ lante…” said Santa Rosa.

In the fifth track (Con el tanque lleno) the orchestra starts off powerful in sound and playfulness.  The song is about a “convertible, colorado y con el tanque lleno”.  The pregón reads: “Soy soltero y con el tranque lleno” (I’m single and with a full tank).  I don’t think you will be surprised when I confess that this is my favorite song in this collection.  The lyrics are funny, but the arrangement is a smashing one.

The conga’s correspondence with the melodic trombone solo by Alex Zapata’s blows sets the stage for a masterful closing by the saxophone ensemble under the leadership of Ismael Vergara’s baritone.

The sixth track (No vale la pena) is evidence of the chameleonic capacity of Sammy Gonzalez, Jr.’s voice, which can be used to proclaim, to sound, to become the most romantic rogativo in the middle of a heavy song, all within a romantic lyric full of feeling.  Well, rarely does a man play the “victim” of a sentimental breakup.

This is one of those few times, a situation that makes the pregones both jocular and nostalgic at the same time.  The contradiction of suffering and laughing is also visited at the end of the mambo, which makes the theme one of general interest in addition to the musical interest it awakens.

The seventh track (Pa ti morena) is a very brave Cuban son.  I don’t know if this son is played in that unlikely combination of the style of Tito Puente, Machito and Tito Rodriguez knowingly or if it was pure chance.  I felt like I was reaching for heaven while listening to Sammy Gonzalez, Jr.’s vocal performance when the alto saxophone solo brought me back to reality.

The beginning of cut #8 (Para los bailadores) marks the change of tempo to an aggressive one where the bongo is the one telling where the baritone is going. When the vocalist suggests to Tito Rodriguez, Jr. to enter the mambo with an anticipatory “y nos fuimos”, no one doubts the greatness of the orchestra’s sound.

The timbal solo by Tito Rodríguez, Jr. declines when the performer requests “mambo otra vez”.  It is in this track that the distinctive sound of this orchestra is most noticeable, one inspired by the traditional big bands, although influenced by the advanced currents.  In short, this is real salsa and it is salsa to enjoy.  As promised in the lyrics, this song brings to the arena a very cool rhythm that is not to be confused with charanga.

After I finished writing this note, having already listened to the complete production, I was tempted to ask Tito for an audience and ask him “a couple of questions” according to me.  That brief call went on and on and I asked him everything I could, taking advantage of the nobility of the timbalero heir to the musicality and name of one of our greatest musical glories….

During the “cañona” that I wanted to call an organic interview, Tito confirmed that Transición is his fourth album and the first to be titled in Spanish.  Let’s go well, Tito.

This album was preceded by Curious? (1978), which featured José Alberto “El Canario” and Rubén Blades; Eclipse (1995) and The Big Three Palladium Orchestra live at the Blue Note (2004).

Why the title Transición?  I’ll tell you about it next time.  Obviously, Tito deserves another chapter in my salsa journey.  Talk to you soon and I’ll tell you about his 2009 adventure when he was in Puerto Rico fulfilling one of his musical dreams.

Tito Rodríguez, Jr. Transición

By: Bella Martinez “La Escritora Irreverente de La Salsa”

Puerto Rico

WebSite: Bella Martinez

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