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He is one of Mexico’s most important musicians and cultural heritage, recuerdos del Son with Jorge Anselmo Barrientos Silva.

Jorge Barrientos was born on November 14, 1953 in Mexico City. He studied music at the Escuela del Sindicato Único de Trabajadores de la Música del Distrito Federal. Groups and orchestras in which he has worked: Mocambo, Horóscopo Tropical, Jorge y su Boogaloo, Sonora Brasilia, Sonora Mayoral, Yímbola Combo, La Justicia, Sonora.

In 1980 he founded Recuerdos del Son (director, arranger, and composer), whose group is already part of our cultural heritage of Afro-Caribbean music in Mexico. This group has participated in festivals, conferences, concerts, and courses, in the most important auditoriums and theaters of the CDMX and the interior of the country. It is worth mentioning that it has been the only Mexican group invited to Nicaragua.

Within his musical career he has been a commentator on radio stations such as Radio D, Radio Educación, La Tropi Q and XEB. He has published several works on Afro-Antillean music and especially on Cuban Son -among others- El Son Raíz y evolución, La Clave en el Son cubano, Método de Tres and a didactic disc on the variants of Son.

Regarding pre-Hispanic music, he published the research: ANALOGÍA ENTRE LOS INSTRUMENTOS DE PERCUSIÓN PREHISPÁNICOS Y LOS DEL SON CUBANO (ANALOGY BETWEEN PRE-HISPANIC PERCUSSION INSTRUMENTS AND CUBAN SON). He has given conferences, concerts and workshops in several cultural spaces such as Faculties of the Universidad Autónoma de México, Cultural Centers in Mexico City, as well as in the interior of the Republic.

He has participated in the Cervantino Festival twice, the Caribbean Festival in Managua, Nicaragua in 1984, Festival de las Artes in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Tabasco, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, etc, etc. Jorge A. Barrientos Silva was an advisor in the Chamber of Deputies, and commissioner of the Musicians Union.

He has been Secretary of Political Action and in charge of the Legal Department. In the Musicians Union, he was a founder of the Afro-Antillean music workshop, besides having given countless lectures on the Cuban Son and its variants.

Jorge, how many productions have you recorded?

FIRST PRODUCTION OF MR. GENARO ÁLVAREZ (R.I.P.D.)

INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION, OWN BRAND, EL SON RECORDS

Among those productions, which is the one that has left a mark in your musical history?

All of them have been important and, for example, the album HOIMENAJE PEREGRINO, is a product that record collectors look for and has a special value.

The album, recorded live at the Teatro de la Ciudad, is a document that contains compositions and arrangements by the members, including music and piano solos by Mexican jazzman Héctor Infanzón.

We know that you participated in a festival in Nicaragua, can you share with us about that great experience?

It was something special, since several groups from all over the world participated, among them, Italians, Venezuelans, Cubans, etc. and when playing “al tocar al tú por tú”, the Mexican musicians did not shrink.

You participated in several recordings of your musical partners, to mention a few Tony Camargo, Linda Vera, Wuelfo Gutiérrez, (former member of the legendary Sonora Matancera), what did these great musicians leave you as a musician?

Participating with great music legends is an unforgettable experience since they ask you to interpret the scores, according to the recordings that have left their mark.

Were you in the golden age of Afro-Antillean music, how did Afro-Antillean music develop in those years?

Without underestimating the work of today’s musicians, the era I lived in was very special, because each group tried to put its “stamp” on each performance, nowadays, regularly and with honorable exceptions, most of them “sound the same”.

In the present time, do you consider that Afro-Antillean music has transcended?

Yes, it has transcended, but, with the globalization of culture, sometimes there are few novelties.

Jorge, which show do you remember that alternated with the salseros from abroad?

In the fever of the ’80s, fortunately, the businessmen looked at us to alternate with the great figures, among these I can mention: Irakere, Orquesta Aragón, Gran Combo, Sonora Matancera, Sonora Ponceña, Son 14, Adalberto y su Son, etc.

¿Recuerdos del Son is already a cultural heritage of the CDMX did you imagine that someday it would happen?

The work in the cultural area has been the goal of our efforts. How nice to receive the affection and recognition of the people, who are ultimately the ones who make our career.

As director and musician of your own orchestra, has it been difficult to get to where you are?

Music and being in the show business is a daily battle, and if it has been difficult, of course, no one has the formula for success, we will continue in the daily struggle, preparing ourselves and presenting our new productions,

How did your love for the guitar, the bass and the Cuban tres come about?

First, I am a descendant of a bohemian family, where the guitar was never missing, then with time my love for the bass and then the Cuban tres began.

Are you still performing?

I’ve been performing on Saturdays at the Salón Caribe and other dance halls for 4 years. The cultural activities have been suspended for some time now (by covid) but, hopefully, the presentations in festivals and theaters will be reactivated.

Do you still feel the same adrenaline rush when you step on a stage?

Fortunately, it’s the same emotion, you never know if the public is receptive or ignores your efforts.

In your musical career, have you been honored or received recognition?

Yes, I have received countless recognitions, both for the trajectory of RECUERDOS DEL SON and for the research work I have done.

Jorge before saying goodbye we want to thank you for being and existing as the cultural heritage of the CDMX.

Would you like to close this talk with a few words?

Some say that Son is dead, Don Ignacio Piñeiro used to say: “Son is the most sublime thing for the soul to have fun, it should die, who for good does not judge it.

MAY THE SON NOT DIE, WITH CLAVE AND BONGO, MEMORIES OF THE SON.

Facebook: Jorge Anselmo Barrientos Silva

Article of Interest: Fabián Rosales Araos Chilean singer-songwriter, native of the city of Valparaíso

Our special guest this week is Henry Valladares, a brilliant, versatile, and disciplined percussionist, born on October 22nd in Barquisimeto, Lara State, to a mother from Caracas and a father from Yaracuyo.

Welcome Henry to Salsa Escrita, we would like to know how were your musical beginnings? Thank you Professor Carlos for your invitation to your well-read column. My interest in music began when I was 6 years old since I was very young I listened to salsa records by artists such as Héctor Lavoe, Willy Colón, Rubén Blades, Gran Combo, Sonora Ponceña, and all those acetate records of the time that arrived from Caracas, thanks to my mother who bought them, and in particular the record by José Mangual Jr. (Tribute to Chano Pozo) where at the end of the record there were some tracks where they taught the basic rhythms of salsa percussion (conga Milton Cardona, timbal Jimmy Sabater and the bongo José Mangual Jr.)

That would be my first influence in percussion. I remember that in those years there was a church very close to my house and I listened to the drums and bagpipe drums and I wanted to play and I built my own drum, I made it with a paint dipper and I put a piece of plastic with wick string (that was my first instrument hahaha).

Very good maestro Valladares and at what age did you begin to acquire musical knowledge in a formal way?

At the age of 8, I started my first percussion classes formally dictated at the CEPAS cultural center in San Jacinto, with professor Francisco Escalona in congas and for bongo with professor Wálter Yaguas, later I received training at the BIGOTT foundation (Afro-Venezuelan percussion) in the city of Caracas with professor Jesús Paiva and music and rhythmic reading classes with professor Jesús Blanco (Totoño), as well as different workshops and courses.

I remember one in particular dictated by the percussionist Wílmer Albornoz from Caracas and the percussionist, Pausides Jiménez, from Barquisimeto, there I learned a lot and in the Conservatory of Music Vicente Emilio Sojo of Barquisimeto with professor Tonny González, without forgetting the videos made for the years 1996, 1997 and 1998 by the teachers Giovanni Hidalgo and José Luis Quintana (Changuito), who raised my level of knowledge in the conga, timbal, and bongo.

Much of the training of a percussionist is by his own research and the training is never lost, you continue learning every day.

In what year did you start playing at the orchestral level?

Professor Carlos, in 1994 I started playing in nightclubs with regional groups, playing in groups such as Orquesta la Playa, Nino y su Orquesta, Orquesta Líder, and with most of the dance groups in the city.

Have you accompanied national artists?

Yes, friend Colmenárez, I have accompanied artists such as Billo Caracas Boys, Wladimir Lozano, Néstor Rivero (former teenagers), Betsy Núñez (bolerista), Eli Méndez, Rafa Galindo, Verónica Rey, Memo Morales, Édgar Rodríguez (El Abuelo), Wílmer Lozano, Rodrigo Mendoza, Benjamín Rausseo (Conde del Guacharo), Fabián Santa María, among others.

Have you recorded? I have recorded in different musical productions and artists of different genres.

Since 2003 to date I am a percussionist and assistant musical director of the Latinocaribeña orchestra, belonging to the Maestro Antonio Carrillo Concert Band, the heritage of the state of Lara (135 years old) making presentations in theaters and different places inside and outside the city.

I continue to study Afro-Caribbean instruments and teach in-person and online classes, also giving workshops.
In 2019 I celebrated my 25 years of a musical career, which I celebrated with a very special workshop held at the Conservatory of Music in Barquisimeto.

Henry, what are your next goals? To finish putting together my Latin jazz group.
Well Henry Valladares, for us it was an immense pleasure to have you in our salsa column praising your dedication and discipline in the Afro-Caribbean genre in the percussive part.

And on behalf of International Salsa Magazine www.salsagoogle.com, we congratulate you for your performance representing Barquisimeto.

Thank you very much Professor Carlos for the invitation, long live percussion, and keep on supporting musicians from Barquisimeto and Venezuela.

What are your social networks? Email: [email protected]; Facebook: Henry Valladares and Instagram: @valladarespercusion.

See you next time and let’s keep salseando!

Article of Interest: Cheo Valenzuela, “El Sonero de la Dulzura”