Latin musicians with interesting stories to tell keep coming out and today it was Colombian singer-songwriter Marcel Portilla’s turn, who has been kind enough to talk to International Salsa Magazine in order to find out more about his career in the United States after leaving his native country in search of a better future, such as millions of artists who had made the same decision.

The beginning of Marcel’s taste for music

As we were reading in Marcel’s biography, his father, Don Gerardo Portilla, played a very important role in the taste he picked up for Latin music. When we wanted to know this from his own mouth, he was delighted by the question and told us that his father used to collect music of all kinds, whether Latin, classical or from anywhere in the world. In fact, inside his business, he had a small music room where father and son passed the time and listened to all the music Gerardo had there.

They first listened to one artist and then quickly moved on to the next one as they chatted animatedly, which usually took all day. These interactions obtained a very young Marcel love music in its various genres, including Colombian folk music and the very famous trios of that time.

Gerardo generally gave Marcel a number of cassettes to choose from that day, so that is what they listened to. This great music collector was not a professional musician, which his son Marcel found very strange given his sensitivity to this branch of art. However, his grandfather, whom he would never meet, was a trumpet player.

One of his favorite groups was the Trio Matamoros and, whenever the family went for a ride, they used to listen to their most successful songs as they approached their destination.

The singer affirms that these years were the best of his life and conserves the best memories of his childhood with much affection and many of them were shared with his beloved father.

Professional start in music

By the time he was still in Colombia, Marcel was a fan of all kinds of music and spent many hours stuck at house playing, rehearsing and listening to every single detail of the artists of the moment to try to imitate them as best he could. He also had a best friend who loved to sing, so they got together regularly to practice amateurishly. One of his favorites at the time was Jerry Rivera.

Sometime later, when he moved to the United States, specifically to New Jersey, he attended college and belonged to the institution’s choir, with which he had a performance in a large stadium. This was the first interaction he had with the public, with what he felt absolutely comfortable.

When he finished his studies, he went to North Carolina and met a guitar teacher and producer, with whom he spent a lot of time learning vocal technique, music writing and many other things for several years. After having achieved a certain level, this man made him decide to form his own band, as he saw him ready for it. 

Since Marcel had no experience at all in the subject, he had no idea how to start and where to get musicians, so this teacher started to connect him with people he already knew. In addition to that, the artist got to work by his own means and published an ad in which he requested the service of musicians to join his group, which attracted a drummer who met with Marcel and they discovered they had the same vision of music.

It was truly through this same drummer that he managed to have communication with many other musicians until October 2010, when he could complete his band with about 11 members and make his first rehearsal. This is how Marcel Polilla Band was finally born and is currently integrated by Ecuadorian guitarist Jorge Lord, Dominican bassist Carlos Baez, Venezuelan drummer Alejandro Galarraga, Peruvian percussionist Raul Verano and Dominican singer Wendy.

What Marcel appreciated the most to music

Marcel told us that what he thanks most to music is the diversity and culture that he has learned around this time. He also emphasized that he does not limit himself to salsa, but to any genre or country from which what he likes comes.

In addition, he enjoys being able to mix all kinds of rhythms and seemingly different genres and thus create new things that have never been done before.

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Joshua Levine, artistically known as Josh Levine, is one of so many examples of Americans who, without having any type of Latin roots, fall under the charm of our beautiful music and do not hesitate to make it their way of life. That is why we wanted to talk to Josh, born in New York City, a little more about his career and what brought him to where he is today.

Josh’s beginnings in music

The first instrument that drew Josh’s attention as a child was the piano, as his babysitter was a piano teacher and offered him some lessons to satisfy his curiosity. The interesting thing is that his teaching was more focused on the ear than on reading music as such, showing that there are musicians perfectly capable of playing without needing a musical score.

However, like any child, he began to have other interests such as skating, to which he devoted much of his time back then. About 10 or 11 years later, his father, who was a great jazz fan, used to listen to this genre at home frequently, to the point that the young man once again felt that passion for what he had practiced so many years ago and began to listen a little more intently to the artists his father enjoyed. 

Seeing his son’s growing taste for jazz, Josh’s father decided to take him to a concert featuring Cedar Walton’s piano trio with Ron Carter on bass and Billy Higgins on drums. He was so impressed by their performance that he decided to study bass that same day, as at the time it seemed to him the most understandable and easiest instrument to learn because of its few notes at once.

He got so good that he even became part of his high school band, a group from where great artists emerged including Carlos Henriquez, a great musical luminary who has worked with Celiz Cruz, Eddie Palmieri and Ruben Blades and is the current bass player for the Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra.

Interest in Latin music

For those same years, Josh also learned Spanish and clarified that he does not have any Latin ancestry, so this was not the motive behind his interest in this music. However, he grew up in a neighborhood in Manhattan where many Latino families lived, especially Caribbeans from Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Cuba.

Meanwhile, he was also studying biology in college and a little jazz and classical music. Upon graduation, by pure chance, he met a young Venezuelan musician named Roberto Fuentes, who was the director of Alpargata Cantorum (a very famous Venezuelan musical comedy and theater group in the 70s), who wanted to form a band with him and a few other musicians. Fuentes showed Josh a lot of Venezuelan folkloric music, taught him to play cuatro and made him listen to several songs typical of Venezuelan music such as ”Barlovento”, ”El Alma Llanera”, ”La Vaca Mariposa”, ”Pajarillo Verde” and many more.

As for classic salsa, he made him listen to Ismael Rivera, Rubén Blades, Willie Colón and many others.

Other groups Josh was in

Having been in the group with Fuentes gave him what he needed to make contact with many other groups, including that of José Luis Martínez, who was very close to Juan Carlos Formell Sr. Thanks to Martinez he learned a great deal about Cuban music, the way Cuban son is played on the bass, the pronunciation of words in the Cuban dialect, among other things. 

His big break came when he met Jainardo Batista, whom he was a big fan of when he was in his band Nu Guajiro (or Nu D’lux, as it would end up being called). It turns out that Josh went every Sunday to hear them play at the club where they were at the time and, after 10 years of following their music, they finally invited him to play with them.

After a while, the group disbanded, but Josh and Jainardo did not lose touch. And not only that, but they continued playing together and had the idea of forming something new. 

Cuarteto Guataca 

Cuarteto Guataca was born when Josh and Jainardo decided to form a new group after the breakup of Nu D’lux and counted with the participation of Dominican arranger, composer and tres player Román Lajara and Puerto Rican producer, composer and flutist Jeremy Bosch. He describes them both as musical prodigies, to the point of telling us that Lajara was the representative of the Cuban tres as an instrument at the 2024 National Jazz Day in Morocco.

Josh, Jainardo, Román and Jeremy were the members of the original quartet, but they did not play for a living because it was not enough, but as a sort of part-time job. For the same reason, the four of them also worked on other projects at the same time, as is usually the way with New York today. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, they started playing in city parks to earn some tips during the quarantine, leading their audiences to grow tremendously and many venues began to hire them to play in their open spaces. At a time when musicians were out of work, they had events at least six out of seven days to a week.

This led to them to be ready to get in a studio for the first time and record their first album, which was released in 2022 and is available on all digital platforms for all to enjoy. It should be noted that Román was not playing as often with Cuarteto Guataca, so he was replaced by Venezuelan producer, composer and pianist Gabriel Chakarji until he got back some time later.

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For several decades now, the exclusivity of the musicians in orchestras was forgotten, so now it is very common to see artists playing with many groups at the same time without being seen as traitors, as well as in the past. To know a little more about this interesting and important subject, we wanted to count with the views of our friends, Uruguayan bandleader, percussionist and singer Edgardo Cambón and Venezuelan bandleader and singer Omar Ledezma Jr., who have offered us their vision of things in the following lines of this article. 

Freelance musicians according to Cambon and Ledezma

Before continuing, we believe it appropriate to define what a freelance musician is. In the words of Omar Ledezma, a freelancer in music is a concept of work in which the artist divides himself equally among many projects in which he participates and how well he organizes his time to strike the needed balance in all his professional activities.

Nowadays, there are many musicians who offer their work under this modality, so that they are not completely tied to any specific orchestra and can play with anyone who proposes them.

This is also the case for those who work this way, but at the same time, have their own project. This is the situation of Edgardo Cambón, who, having his own orchestra, has a very limited time for hiring and rehearsals, so he makes it very clear to those who invite him to play that his priority is his own group. 

The musician has even played with four or five orchestras at the same time, but always putting his project on top of everything else and notifying in advance if he will be able to play with any of them. 

Problems with dates and schedules

Many of these musicians constantly face conflicts with dates and schedules, so it is up to them to choose carefully which event takes precedence over another.

Edgardo has said that he is accustomed to notifying in advance, either two weeks or a month, so that the orchestra can replace him on time. There are certain events for which it is usually more complicated to find replacements, such as large festivals, so the Uruguayan also takes into account the size and importance of the performance, so that his absence does not cause a setback or damage to the group in question. 

In his role as a bandleader, he offers his musicians a list of possible replacements who can cover them the day of conflict. 

Meanwhile, Omar Ledezma, as well as a bandleader, says he always tries to provide his musicians with the greatest flexibility and possible replacements on hand to prevent those absences from causing problems.

What has caused the termination of exclusivity for musicians?

In the 70s, it was not seemly for a musician play for several orchestras, especially if he was the lead singer in a specific group, as public opinion took it as an abandonment of one orchestra for another. A lot of water has flowed under the bridge and this situation has cardinally changed for several reasons. 

One of them is that a big orchestra like Ray Barretto’s had the economic capacity to demand exclusivity, since it was a time when there was much more work. As there are fewer spaces for live music, it is the musician who must decide for himself to which project he gives precedence over another.

In addition, there are also many musicians who have a regular 9-5pm job, so they just have time for one orchestra and nothing else, so they do not have the possibility to accept more offers.

According to Edgardo, what changed was the economy of music and full-time artists’ need to work in six or more orchestras in order to make ends meet. Not to mention that there is less work and many bands have reduced their size, to the point that most groups do not have more than five members.

Original music 

When questioned about a possible decline in quality and lack of originality in the Latin music scene, Edgardo commented that this was not necessarily linked to freelance musicians, but to many orchestras’ fear of playing their own repertoire and their insistence on playing the hits that everyone knows. Otherwise, their owners and musicians think that nobody would want to go to their events.

In addition to that, many promoters, radio stations and media in general tend to be wary of supporting emerging bands’ original music, but the same old hits, except for some reggaeton artists or more trendier genres today.

What does a musician take into account when choosing one orchestra or another?

In addition to the economic factor, which as we said is very important, musicians also take into account how much they like the music played an orchestra and how much they have fun and enjoy being with a certain group.

On the side of bandleaders, there are two key factors to consider when keeping or firing a musician in their project and are responsibility and discipline. If a rehearsal or activity is already scheduled, it is necessary to always arrive on time and fulfill the commitment optimally. When these details are missing, things between musical directors and artists start to get tense, which can lead to an unpleasant work environment.

In the case of Omar Ledezma, as a musician, he always hopes to receive the music in advance so he can properly prepare for the performance, rehearsal or recording he attends, since one of the things he most dislikes in his project is when one of his musicians is not ready for the event. Therefore, he always does everything he can to prevent this from happening to him and to make a good impression with his performance.

The Venezuelan artist also emphasized that musicians have to be very aware of what they are capable of and be clear about what genres they are comfortable with, which will also help them make a better decision when it comes to staying or not in an orchestra.

Conclusions

One of the things that Eduardo highlighted at the end of his participation is that, although the circumstances are not always ideal, the good musician always strives to give his best to the audience at every opportunity and with any orchestra. He stressed that music is what makes him most happy and that everything he has gained was thanks to it, which he dreamed since he was a teenager and he fully fulfilled it.

He also expressed that he can spend many hours in front of a computer working as a musician, but in front of an audience, his energy changes completely and he becomes a person who only enjoys what he does and wants the same for others.

For his part, Omar Ledezma Jr. said that each project has its time and opportunity. In his case, he is very clear about what he does and will do with each of his short and medium-term projects, whether it is a concert, a recording, a promotion, a music video, among other things. Being clear about what he wants in each project and organizing himself well are key for everything to go as well as it should be.

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