Search Results for: salsa
In Barrio Marianao in Havana, Cuba was born Armando Peraza was a Latin jazz percussionist
Peraza (May 30, 1924-April 14, 2014) was a Cuban Latin jazz percussionist.
Thanks to his collaborations with guitarist Carlos Santana, jazz pianist George Shearing and vibraphonist Cal Tjader between 1950 and 1990, he is internationally recognized as one of the most important figures in the field of Latin percussion.
Known primarily as a conguero and bongocero, Peraza is also a skilled dancer and composer. He has appeared on recordings by Pérez Prado, Machito, George Shearing, Charlie Parker, Tito Puente, Cal Tjader and Carlos Santana. Performances with Santana, Shearing and Tjader brought him international fame.
He was inducted into the Smithsonian Institute and had three “Armando Peraza Days” from the city of San Francisco.
One of the most important and respected figures in the world of percussion.
He is a legendary master on both congas and bongoes, whose unorthodox style and story are an inspiration to countless young musicians.
He began his artistic career in the early 1940s, played with singer Alberto Ruiz’s Kuvabana ensemble where he played the bongo and moved to San Francisco in 1949.
At the New York World’s Fair he played congas in an African pavilion with a Nigerian.
This African arrives and says to me: “Man, what part of Africa are you from? I told him, I am from Cuba. He said: “Don’t tell me” He later worked with the orchestras of Paulina Álvarez and Dámaso Pérez Prado, and the Bolero group.
In 1947 he moved to Mexico, where he joined with Mongo Santamaría the ensemble Clave de Oro, and in 1948 they both traveled to New York as percussionists accompanying the dance couple Pablito y Lilón.
At the end of that year, Peraza joined Slim Gaillard’s jazz combo with which he traveled throughout the United States. After arriving in New York in 1949, Armando became a sought-after musician, especially in the contemporary Bebop and Latin Jazz scenes.
Armando built a reputation for impressively fast and complex hand technique, experimental techniques and great talent for entertaining. He flourished in progressive atmospheres that combined jazz with Afro-Cuban styles and was at the center of a new expression called “Cubop”.
He has played on more than 100 albums and is the composer of more than 40 songs. Some of these works include collaborations with Mongo Santamaria, George Shearing, Cal Tjader and Carlos Santana.
Settled in San Francisco, California, in the early 1950s, Peraza began working with pianist George Shearing’s quintet, where he demonstrated his mastery as a player of the tumbadora and bongo; also in this period he recorded several albums of Cuban folk music with Mongo Santamaria.
In the 60’s he joined the quintet of vibraphonist Cal Tjader, with whom he remained for several years and with whom he popularized Chano Pozo’s Guachi guaro. In the 1970s, he joined Mongo Santamaría’s orchestra, with which he participated in the Montreaux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.
Later he worked with Carlos Santana’s rock band, in which he remained for 17 years, until his retirement from artistic life in the 90s.
He possessed a great capacity to obtain the most unusual sounds of the bongo and the tumbadora, and distinguished himself for his extraordinary solos on both instruments.
He died on April 14, 2014 in California, United States, as a result of pneumonia.
Joseíto Mateo “They call me the Negrito del Batey, because work for me is an enemy”
Joseito was a consecrated Dominican merenguero who began his career in the 1930’s, better known as “El rey del merengue, El diablo Mateo”.
As a child he learned to sing and dance. He sang at the “Fiestas de la cruz” and at wakes, since at that time the deceased were prayed to with songs.
Mateo began his career as a singer during the 30’s, a period in which he was gaining the public’s favor.
Some time later he was requested by the record label “SEECO” to join the cast that in Havana would record with the Sonora Matancera.
Those were the years of the Trujillo Era in which Dominicans required an exit permit to travel abroad.
At first, this document was denied to Joseito.
As a consequence, in Havana, once the record was contracted and the pieces that would be part of it had been selected, including “El negrito del batey”, Joseito’s place was taken by the Dominican singer Alberto Beltrán, who was known since then by the Cuban public as “El negrito del batey”, instead of his true inspirer.
He was born on April 6, 1920 in Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic).
In one of his later trips, he decided to stay in Cuba to sing in CMQ, together with Celia Cruz and La Sonora Matancera, a very popular group at that time.
After the assassination of Rafael Trujillo on May 30, 1961 and the end of his dictatorship, Joseito decided to try his luck in Puerto Rico.
In 1962, Joseíto participated as vocalist in the first tour of the “Gran Combo” to Panama, to promote the album ‘El Gran Combo con Joseíto Mateo’.
There he met the young singers Pellín Rodríguez and Andy Montañez, who ended up replacing him in the Puerto Rican group.
“El Gran Combo was very good to me, I adapted to sing plena, bomba, guaracha, boleros, but then I had to return to Santo Domingo to clear my name.
They were falling behind all those who were with Trujillo, and in the Republic they said I was a spy and was on the run”.
Mateo’s professional work has spanned more than 70 years and constitutes an important reference of the Dominican musical culture.
He was nourished by the roots of merengue and became a singular exponent of it. His innovative style was characterized by a stage participation enriched by his particular way of dancing and singing.
Some of his best known songs are Madame Chuchí, Dame la visa, La cotorra de Rosa and La patrulla, among others. Joseito is known as “El Rey del Merengue” (The King of Merengue).
On November 11, 2010, Mateo was recognized at the 11th Latin Grammy Awards with the Latin Recording Academy’s Musical Excellence Award for his contributions to Latin music.
He retired in 2001, close to his 82nd birthday and after recording 50 “elepes”.
Joseíto Mateo passed away on June 1, 2018 at the age of 98, due to leukemia. He spent his last days in the Hospital de las Fuerzas Armadas.
Source:
https://www.buscabiografias.com/biografia/verDetalle/8662/Joseito%20Mateo
The Tambor, Tumbadora or Conga is a percussion instrument of great importance in Latin music
The drum, tumbadora or conga as a soloist instrument in Cuban music or jazz bands, had as its first figure Chano Pozo, who, upon receiving the invitation of Mario Bauza and Dizzy Gillespie to participate in his big band, turned the world of jazz upside down.
This explosive union resulted in compositions such as Manteca or Tin Tin Deo.
They also created the roots of what is known today as Latin Jazz, which was originally called Afro Cuban Jazz “Cubop”.
After the surprising death of Chano Pozo, figures such as Cándido Camero, Carlos “Patato” Valdés, Mongo Santamaría, Armando Peraza, Tata Guines and Ray Barretto emerged who gave development and personality to the conga drum as a solo instrument.
It should be noted that Ray Barretto was born in New York and is of Puerto Rican descent.
He would be the first important figure in the world of conga drumming not born in Cuba. As a teenager, Barretto took care of his siblings in the evenings while his mother worked and spent hours listening to the radio.
There he was influenced by jazz and, in addition, his mother listened to Cuban and Puerto Rican music at home. This is how he formed his taste and love for music.
Mario Bauzá
He was a saxophonist in Justo Azpiazu’s orchestra and trumpet player in the Machín Quartet. Later, he joined Chick Webb’s orchestra as principal trumpet. In 1933 he was named director of the orchestra, and remained as such until 1937. Between 1937 and 1939 he played with the orchestras of Don Redman and Fletcher Henderson. And in 1938 he joined Cab Calloway’s band.
We can also affirm that Mario Bauzá is the musical godfather of two great jazz legends: Ella Fitzgerald and Dizzy Gillespie. Because it was Bauzá who made Calloway meet the then young trumpeter John Birks Gillespie, and Chick Webb incorporated Ella Fitzgerald into his band.
Chano Pozo
Luciano Pozo González, better known as Chano Pozo was born in Havana Cuba on January 7, 1915 and died in New York, December 3, 1948, was a Cuban percussionist, half brother of trumpeter Félix Chapolín.
Percussion instruments are instruments that produce sound when struck, shaken or percussed in some way.
This percussion can be done with drumsticks, with metal bars, with the hands, with keyboards or by striking two bodies against each other. This wide variety of possibilities allows for a wide range of sounds and types of instruments.
He shined shoes and sold newspapers, played music in many places and even danced in the well-known Havana comparsa of “Los Dandy”.
He belonged to the Abakuá Secret Society, which explains the perfect mastery he had of the drums of the rite. He had the habit of playing sacred rhythms on his congas, as well as singing Abakuá and Yoruba songs.
He worked in the public transmissions of the radio station Cadena Azul, together with figures of the stature of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, being with Dizzy when he popularized the well-known theme of “Manteca”.
Dizzy Gillespie
He was born on October 21, 1917 in Cheraw, South Carolina.
Son of a bricklayer and occasional musician who treated him very badly.
The young Gillespie hit on everyone: “I was a devil, a strong devil”.
At the age of fourteen, he began playing the trombone, but soon switched to the trumpet, which he was already playing proficiently when his family moved to Philadelphia in 1935. There he got his first important contract with Frank Fairfax’s orchestra.
His life changed as he transformed from a thug in his youth to a true citizen of the world, supporting social causes such as racial integration.
Ray Barretto
Of Puerto Rican parents from Aguadilla, Raymundo Barretto Pagan was born on April 29, 1929 in Brooklyn, New York. He spent his childhood and youth in the Bronx and Spanish Harlem.
He grew up with his mother Dolores Pagan and his siblings Cecilia and Ricardo.
As a child, when he was only 10 years old, he listened to Arsenio Rodríguez, Machito, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Harry James, Los Panchos, Pedro Flores, Daniel Santos and Miguelito Valdez.
At the age of 17, in 1946, he joined the U.S. Army.
In Germany he discovered his taste for music represented in Bebop, listening to the songs “Shaw Nuff” by Charlie Parker with Dizzy Gillespie and “Manteca” by Dizzy Gillespie with the Cuban Chano Pozo, who became his source of inspiration. It was at that time that he became thoroughly acquainted with jazz.
“The word percussion comes from the Latin percussio, a variation of the word percussus, which refers to the action of striking, shaking or vibrating something repeatedly.”
Percussion instruments have a great importance in music because, within a group of instruments, their usual function is to mark the rhythm of the piece. This means that they are often seen as the heartbeat of a musical composition.
Because of their primary role in creating and maintaining the rhythm of a piece, percussion instruments often work in conjunction with bass instruments, including the double bass or electric bass.
There are a large number of percussion instruments that can be classified according to different criteria. In this article you can find the most important classifications used today.
Many of these instruments are simple and rudimentary. It is due to their simplicity that percussion instruments are the oldest in the history of mankind.
The evolution of technology and music gradually allowed the development of more complex instruments, among which are wind instruments and stringed instruments.
Sources:
https://www.instrumentosdepercusion.com/
http://clasica.latinastereo.com/Salsero-del-mes/Mario-Bauza
http://old.latinastereo.com/html/genteLatina/salseroMes/RayBarretto/cronologia.shtm
Cabaret Sauvage’s 25th Anniversary with Latin Essence
This atypical room located in the Parisian capital will offer Latin music for a month
Originally, Cabaret Sauvage was a Magic Mirror installed for only a few weeks in 1994.
A quarter of a century is the occasion for Cabaret Sauvage will celebrate its anniversary month with a Latin music festival. From July 1st to August 6th enjoy a colorful summer at Parc de la Villette – 59 boulevards Macdonald 75019 Paris, France.
This mythical place was created by Méziane Azaïche in December 1997. This first urban cultural park located in the heart of Parc de la Villette is surrounded by nature, has a terrace overlooking the Canal de l’Ourcq, has a circular dance floor, tables, benches, lights, and beveled mirrors. In the summer of 2019, they modernized this place with a new tent making it the first soundproof Magic Mirror in the world.
At Cabaret Sauvage you can eat, drink, dance, meet your neighbor from the next table, or even lounge on the terrace. Through its diversified program, you will be surprised by the quality of circus shows, dances, and night concerts with artists from all over the world.
During this anniversary month, Cabaret Sauvage https://www.cabaretsauvage.com/agenda welcomes attendees in a spirit of unity and acceptance with mixes of rhythmic genres for their knowledge and enjoyment, starting with Yuri Buenaventura on Saturday, July 9th. Doors open at 7:30 PM and the price is €35.
Yuri’s Salsa is marked by the lyricism of Europe and the drums of Africa. During his childhood, he listened to Gregorian chants, French songs, and classical music (melodies admired by his father) just as he enjoyed moving to the rhythm of percussion, marimba, and songs from the African continent that still sounds on the Buenaventura’s beaches (Colombia), his native island.
Máximo Francisco Repilado Muñoz “Compay Segundo” was the leader of the Compay Segundo y Sus Muchachos band.
The Latin music festival continues with Grupo Compay Segundo – Buena Vista Social Club on Friday, July 15th, and tickets are €25.99 (pre-sale price). Doors open from 8 PM on this day.
This group revives Cuban music before the revolution and expresses its distinguished stamp with a warm and unique sound.
This ecliptic music venue will bring Los Van Van in August, specifically on Friday, August 5th, and the doors open at 7:30 PM, and the ticket price is €35. On this occasion, César “Pupy” Pedroso will join this orchestra.
Los Van Van or better known by many in Latin America as “the Rolling Stones of Salsa” are a band created by Juan Formell in 1969 and has been a school for many current Salsa artists.
Cabaret Sauvage’s anniversary month ends with Chico Trujillo + Sidi Wacho on Saturday, August 6th. Doors open at 7:30 PM and the price of admission is €27.
Chico Trujillo began his musical career in Valparaíso (Colombia) in 1999. His project combines traditional Colombian Cumbia with Punk and has become today the standard-bearer of this new wave of traditional Colombian music accepted by many fans and exported for a long time to the European and American stages.
Likewise, the Sidi Wacho group is nomads born on the island of Valparaíso (Colombia), Roubaix (France), Lima (Peru), and Barbès (France). Their band is made up of two MCs (Rap vocalists), a trumpeter, an accordionist, and a percussionist who mix sounds and dialects accompanied by their war cry “La Lucha Sigue” (the fight continues) in an environment of Cumbia, Balkans, and Hip Hop.