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Search Results for: trumpeter

Mozart & Mambo

The Instrumental Music Album With The Major Projection Of 2021

Sarah Willis playing the French Horn with Yuniet Lombida playing the saxophone
Mozart & Mambo was recorded in Havana (Cuba) in January 2020

After six years of Horn Discovery, Sarah Willis brings us in her third album the discovery of two worlds through a completely harmonic and natural fusion. Her album Mozart & Mambo combines solo pieces for Horn of classical music originating in Western Europe with the traditional rhythms of Cuba Island.

Sarah had this magnificent and unusual idea due to her multiple trips to Havana city to teach how to play this brass instrument.

“As a Horn player, I always wanted to record Mozart’s horn concerts … And when I met the Havana Lyceum Orchestra and its conductor José Antonio Méndez Padrón I had the idea of ​​recording with them. I love the way they play Mozart. I love the way Pepe works with them… So, what better way than to mix some pieces of Mozart and Mambo? Then, we have pure Mozart. We also have some purely Cuban songs, but we also have a wonderful fusion of Mozart and Mambo. And, It is the title.

… The main concert on the album is the third concert for Mozart Horn, which is one of my favorites… It’s a catchy tune… I have an arranger in Australia called Joshua Davis, and I said, listen! I have this crazy idea.

– I want to turn this piece into a Mambo.                                                                         

– He said, sure, no problem.

But he didn’t know much about Cuban percussion. So, I said:

– I have the ideal person to help us.

And I turned to a wonderful musician from Cuba, Yuniet Lombida, who plays the saxophone on the album and is one of the best saxophonists in Cuba”. Willis commented on a digital medium.

The splendid trio between the first woman in the brass section of the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Havana Lyceum Orchestra under the baton of José Antonio Méndez Padrón (Pepe), and the consecrated saxophonist from Havana, Yuniet Lombida managed to create an exceptional experience among the Concerts for Mozart Horn and Caribbean intercalated rhythms: Mambo, Son, Salsa, and Bolero.

Harold Madrigal, Yuniet Lombida, Sarah Willis, Pepe Méndez, and Jorge Aragón
Harold Madrigal, Yuniet Lombida, Sarah Willis, Pepe Méndez, and Jorge Aragón

The album consists of 10 Tracks, which stand out: Rondo Alla Mambo and the two great Cuban classics Dos Gardenias and El Manisero with arrangements by Joshua Davis and Yuniet Lombida. Likewise, Rondo K. 371 and the first movement of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (titled Sarahnade Mambo) demonstrate the subtlety of classical music with the interventions of the Cuban tradition, extolled by the Havana Lyceum Orchestra. In the other hand, the trumpeter Harold Madrigal Frías displays his virtuosity in the album with the pieces: El Manisero, Dos Gardenias, and Qué Rico El Mambo.

For this month, you will be able to witness this extraordinary musical fusion live at the Rheingau, Kultursommer Nordhessen, Young Euro Classic festivals in Berlin City, and Elbphilharmonie in the town of Hamburg in Germany.

Much of the proceeds from the purchase of the Mozart & Mambo album are for the benefit of the Havana Lyceum Orchestra to provide them with modern and new musical instruments.

Who is Sarah Willis?

Based on the biography written by Sarah

Sarah Willis in black dress with French horn on her legs
Sarah Willis was included on Queen Elizabeth’s Birthday Honor Roll, which indicates that she has been granted the title of Member of the British Empire

“People often ask me for more details about my life and my career. No dates or names, but about the how and why. So, I share a little more of the most influential and inspiring events of my life playing the Horn.

… It is true that I decided to play the Horn in my first Trumpet lesson. Actually, my first teacher was the Trombone and I adored it and the Trumpet, so I practiced as much as I could… I was used to practicing. My parents were quite strict about it, something for which I am very grateful.

… School became quite a lonely place as my classmates didn’t understand my passion truly.

… I must say that being a member of various youth orchestras was one of the most important and enjoyable parts of my musical training. Here, I met other young people who did not find it strange to spend a lot of time just practicing and listening to classical music.

After 3 years at the London music school, I “discovered” Berlin. The city was incredibly vibrant and exciting, and the first time I heard the local Philharmonic live, I decided that I had to be as close to this orchestra as possible, so I moved there. My first job was with the State Opera under the direction of Daniel Barenboim in 1991, just after the fall of the Wall that ran through the capital, so it was a very exciting time to be in the city at that time.

In 2001, I won the position at the Berliner Philharmoniker, something I had dreamed of since I first heard them play.

I started playing an Alexander horn when I was 16 years old. It was very unusual in England! I fell in love with the sound of this speaker and would not play anything else.

… My day job takes up most of my time and mental space, but since I started doing interviews with soloists and conductors for the Digital Concert Hall of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (BPh) and I became involved as a mentor and presenter of the BPh on YouTube since 2011, I have become very passionate about online music communication.

I started Horn Hangouts (musician talk show) in 2013 and have been presenting the Sarah’s Music TV show (conversations format with conductors, students, musicians, and dancers) for Deutsche Welle TV since 2014.

I love doing both with passion and I enjoy connecting with musicians from all over the world, reaching out to people who may not have easy access to live concerts or teachers”.

SalsaGoogle is International Salsa Magazine

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Bobby Valentin, the King of Bass at the Fania All-Stars Machinery

Bobby Valentin The mind of a master

Roberto Valentin “Bobby Valentin” was one of the main collaborators and arrangers of the Fania All-Stars in the 1970s, over which time he also recorded numerous solo albums. Born in 1941 in the locality of Orocovis, Puerto Rico, he began playing guitar as a child and won a contest with a band that he conducted himself at the age of 11.

He began his trumpet studies at the age of 15 shortly before he moved with his family to New York, where he continued his studies under the direction of Carmina Caruso. In 1958 he started his professional career with the Joe Quijano’s Orchestra.

Bobby Valentin, the King of the Bass of Fania All-Stars Machinery
Bobby Valentin The mind of a master

Valentin spent the next several years working as a trumpeter, guitarist, bassist and arranger for artists such as Willie Rosario, Charlie Palmieri, Ray Barreto, Tito Rodríguez and Willie Bobo, until the year 1965, when he debuted with an orchestra to his name by releasing two albums, one of them was under Johnny Pacheco‘s Fania label.

Bobby Valentin, the King of the Bass

During the following years, Valentin continued to release albums to his name under the Pacheco’s label, but he also began recording and making arrangements for the label’s band, the legendary Fania All Stars, which had the presence of important figures as Rubén Blades, Celia Cruz, Willie Colon, Eddie Palmieri, Papo Lucca, Mongo Santamaría, among many others.

In 1975, he began recording for his own label, but his work with the Fania All Stars goes on until the day. Since then, the musician continues to perform with his orchestra for the most important salsa and jazz festivals from all over the world, while at the beginning of the decade Valentin contributed arrangements for some Pacheco‘s songs, it was only natural that he released his albums under his new label.

Fania All-Stars, to which he helped define the sound through his bass playing, in classic albums of the 1970s such as the Tribute to Tito Rodríguez or the live album at Yankee Stadium.
Bobby Valentín moved with his orchestra to Puerto Rico in 1968.

And while Bobby Valentin moved with his orchestra to Puerto Rico in 1968, he continued to travel often to New York to record for Fania, in addition to working and arranging songs for the label’s band, the Fania All-Stars to which he helped define the sound through his bass, on classic albums of the 1970s like the Tribute to Tito Rodriguez or the live album at Yankee Stadium.

In 1978 he began recording for his own label, Bronco Records, through which he recorded “La boda de ella“, a song that became one of the most important of his career.In addition to continuing to release albums for his own label, the latter of which saw the light in 2016 under the name “Mi Ritmo es bueno” and Mind Of A Master in 2018.

The pop classic The Twist composed by Hank Ballard and popularized by Chubby Checker in 1960, now sounds in salsa clave in a new version created by musician, arranger and composer Bobby Valentin y su Orquesta.

For award-winning Puerto Rican composer, arranger, producer and musical director, to remember is to live, as a result of which he presented the song in Spanish and dance in order to interest the new generations.

“When I was based in New York, this was a boom, Chubby Checker recorded it! At that time, what was done in rock & roll and today’s music is called salsa and it was all about dancing. There was the chachachá, the pachanga, the boogaloo… Everything was visual, with dancing! Chubby Checkerwas in all the TV shows… I recorded the song a year and a half ago, but the premiere was pushed back for the pandemic. I figured I could do it in salsa without losing the essence of that time,” he said.

Fania All-Stars
Fania All-Stars Roberto Roena, Bobby Valentín, Johnny Pacheco

 

The Twist https://youtu.be/zf-SjdhbH9M

Sources

Amarie Magazine

Fania

Guspira Records Presents The Karamba release their first album “Camino Así”

The Karamba is a musical group formed by six women from Venezuela, Cuba, Catalonia, Panama, and Argentina. It is a multicultural mix that creates a new, special and powerful musical color.

Between the chaos, traffic, the city, and stress, they joined in 2018 with the name of the Karamba on the streets of Barcelona. Of the need to acquire strength, get rid of fears, and spread joy, members share their way of understanding music to claim the strength of women.

Together they have been strengthened, combining rhythms and tunes in order to compose a single melody that fuses son, chachachá, salsa, timba, and rap rhythms. Enthusiastic melodies that explode with effusion and a powerful message of protest and feminine sovereignty that transmits the full force of past generations who championed the feminist fight and change.

Since their union, and in just two years, the Karamba has become one of the most internationally recognized bands at large festivals in Europe. They were especially noted for their performance at the Eurosonic Noorderslag (ESNS) 2020, which is the most important professional music festival in Europe that takes place in Holland, and also at the Flawa Festival in London. They have also got Catalan audiences to fall in love with their presence at renowned festivals such as the Black Music Festival, Bioritme, Clownia, and the Esperanzah Festival, among many others.

Las Karamba is a musical group formed by six women from Venezuela, Cuba, Catalonia, Panama and Argentina. A multicultural mix that creates a new, special and powerful musical color.
The Karamba who are releasing their first album “Camino Así”.

The lyrics of their songs talk about the stories of all those women who kept silent, were under the shadow, fought alone during the course of history, and who could not explain. Now the Karamba endorse these stories in their new album “Camino Así” (Guspira Records, 2021).

The record starts off with “Presentes”, which is a clear declaration of intent. Through the music for the eponymous poem by Guisela López, they remark their values, objectives, and principles to the rhythm of a rumba tonada in collaboration with Erik Castillo, director of the group Compota de Manana.

With a Trap base, they surprise us with a change of register as they bet on electronic sounds that mark a considerable difference with respect to the rest of the songs.
The Karamba’s Cha Cha Chá takes us back to the life of “Margarita”

One of the values that take on special importance is gender equality. The Karamba leads us with a cha cha to the life of “Margarita”, a grandmother addicted to freedom. In the song “No Sabe Nah” they take a more vindicatory position, and together with singer Paula Grande, they call for the power of women. With a Trap base, they surprise us with a change in the register as they opt for electronic sounds that make a substantive difference from the rest of the songs.

The band is characterized by its constancy reflected in “Voy Subiendo” with the collaboration of trumpeter Yuri Hernández and trombonist Albert Costa. Slowly but steadily, the Karamba work to draw their path cut out for them. A path where they leave behind everything that weighs on them and does not work. In “Pasa la página” they look up to a relationship that is destined to fail.

Finally, Las Karamba strips off in "Basta Ya"
Finally, Las Karamba strips off in “Basta Ya”

With a salsa song that warms up in each beat, they encourage to look to the future with optimism and to overcome everything that has thrown them. Finally, in “Basta Ya“, the Karamba remove all social pressure and the alleged dogmas stipulated to be successful in life.

In “El Beso“, the first song they composed as a band, they remind us to love each other with intensity and continue the journey to the “Sabana”, a reflection on the frenzied pace of life that we talk. On a busy day-to-day basis, the Karamba invite you with their album “Camino Así” to relax, forget all the troubles and see the world in their own way following their tempo.

“Camino Así”, their first album, will be available on March 4th in physical and digital formats.

https://guspira.net/ca/las-karamba

LAS KARAMBA “CAMINO ASÍ” (Guspira Records 2021)

FormaGran Via de Les Corts Catalanes 1176 Bis 3º 5º (08020) Barcelona

 

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It is indisputable that the most popular orchestra in Puerto Rico and South America during the 1970s was Roberto Roena’s Apollo Sound.

On July 20, 1969 the orchestra “El Apollo Sound” of the great Puerto Rican musician Roberto Roena was born. Together with trumpeter Elías Lopés he founded “El Apollo Sound”.

This name comes from the first rehearsal of his group, which coincided with the day of the launching of the Apollo rocket to the moon.

Roberto Roena recorded 10 albums in nine years for the Sello Internacional, part of the Fania label, and although he was not a great student of music, he was able to surround himself with very good musicians and use his talent to form his own group, which is now in its fiftieth year.

It is indisputable that the most popular orchestra in Puerto Rico and South America during the 70s was Roberto Roena’s Apollo Sound.

The name comes from the first rehearsal of their group, which coincided with the day of the launch of the Apollo rocket to the moon.
On July 20, 1969 the orchestra “El Apollo Sound” of the great Puerto Rican musician Roberto Roena was born.

“Lucky 7” was his seventh release in front of Apollo with the Fania International label, after his discreet debut as leader with Los Megatones and after a fruitful career as bongocero of Rafael Cortijo’s Combo and Rafael Ithier’s El Gran Combo.

With “Lucky 7” Roena consolidated his popularity on a continental level thanks to the arrangement of an innovative song that challenged the schemes of the overwhelming salsa sound institutionalized in New York during the decade: “Mi desengaño”, by Julio Merced and Pucho Soufront.

With "Lucky 7" Roena consolidated his popularity on a continental level thanks to the arrangement of an innovative song that challenged the schemes of the overwhelming salsa sound institutionalized in New York during the decade: "Mi desengaño", by Julio Merced and Pucho Soufront.
“Lucky 7” was his seventh release in front of the Apollo on the Fania International label.

In 1976 the Apollo and its new singer Papo Sánchez, pride of Hatillo, climbed the charts with a nostalgic lyric inspired by unrequited love. In his arrangement, trombonist Merced himself incorporated the cadence of the samba, linked through its bars with a son covered with the nuances of bossa nova, jazz and bomba.

The hit “Mi desengaño” invited many to reinvent their sound and reformulate their proposals in salsa, with more elaborate arrangements and harmonic sophistication, such as those made in New York by Marty Sheller for Willie Colón.

In addition to the brilliant debut of Papo Sánchez, the excellence of “Lucky 7” rested on the arrangements and orchestrations of such great musicians as trumpeters Luis ‘Perico’ Ortiz and Elías Lopéz, pianists Papo Lucca and Jorgito Millet and the King of the Bass, Bobby Valentín.

The sequence begins with the guaguancó “Que me castigue Dios”, performed by Sammy ‘El Rolo’ González, Apollo’s star singer until “La 8va. Maravilla”, their next album. In “Que me castigue Dios” we hear at the end the then incipient Rubén Blades with the declamation of some verses that today would deserve the repudiation of feminist organizations, but that in 1976, were applauded by the prevailing macho sociology in the industry:

Roberto Roena y su Apollo Sound
“La 8va. Maravilla” Roberto Roena y su Apollo Sound year 1977.

May my mouth dry up/If I ever kiss you again/And if I ever look at you again/May my eyesight blur/I’m tired of your bad breath/I never reproached you/Your feet smell too/And I know that not even the worms/With you they wouldn’t get their hands on that day you die/You a cow and I a horse with class/I wish a truck would run over your head/Pa’ que salga la sucieza con que tú a mi me me trataste.

“Lucky 7” was also an LP that satisfied the expectations of the dancer. Although many may have crossed themselves dancing to the samba of “Mi desengaño” and the fusion of “Que me castigue Dios”, the merengue “La mala maña”, arranged by Conjunto Quisqueya pianist Chokie Acosta, the pachanga with cumbia “Estás equivocada”, the composition “A bailar mi bomba” by Arsenio Rodríguez and the guaguancós “Me le fugué a la candela”, “La hija de la vecina” and “Fea” pleased the couples who in those days overflowed halls such as Rancho Luna, El Moroco and El Carretero.

There is no doubt that the best oiled edition of the orchestral collective Apollo Sound was precisely the one that intervened in “Lucky 7“, led then by flutist Miguel Rodriguez, trumpeter Mario Cora, timbalero Cuqui Santos, conguero Papo Clemente and trombonist Julio Merced, who later defected with singer Papo Sanchez to found the band Salsa Fever. Three decades after its release it is an irrefutable affirmation.

"El Apollo Sound" by the great Puerto Rican musician Roberto Roena

Roberto Roena recorded 10 albums in nine years for Sello Internacional, part of the Fania label.
El Apollo Sound” del gran músico puertorriqueño Roberto Roena

 

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From Aruba and for the World Anoushca Jeandor Noush and Robert Jeandor

It is for me more than a pleasure and great honor to make this release of this song “Me Muero” taken to the rhythm of Merengue. Originally from the 5th Station.

Noush was born in Aruba as Anoushca Jeandor.

Being daughter of the International singer musician Robert Jeandor, she was raised in a musical environment, during her early years she started singing in a choir until beyond her teenage years, after that she was given the opportunity to perform in a local casino as a singer.

She became more popular when she won one of the biggest Carnival Music Contest, which made her the first female overall winner. She has also performed in the Netherlands and Miami.

What started as a hobby, turned into a passion, and is nowadays her living, singing different genres as R&B, Reggae, House and Latin.

From Aruba Anoushca Jeandor Noush
From Aruba Anoushca Jeandor Noush

I thank Jaime Querol, producer/arranger for his excellent musical work. Thanks to you from SalsaGoogle.com (ISM) for this opportunity.

And there will be many more.

I am a singer since my childhood. I come from a musical family. My dad’s name is Robert Jeandor.

My father worked with great musicians, he was invited by Johnny Ventura to go to the Dominican Republic to live, where he worked daily with hundreds of renowned musicians such as Juan Luis Guerra, Wilfrido Vargaz, Alex Bueno, Manuel Tejada, Jaime Querol, Ramon Orlando and many more.

I am a singer by profession, I have several productions of my own in different genres.

Today I launch myself with a musical theme that thanks to Mr. Jaime Querol for his invitation to make an international production withmy father.

Noush was born in Aruba as Anoushca Jeandor
Noush was born in Aruba as Anoushca Jeandor

This beautiful song in merengue version is for you and I hope that this to your liking Thank you very much and God bless you all.

Follow me:

https://linktr.ee/noushmusicaruba

Robert Jeandor and his Solo Banda Show

A live music band from Aruba founded by the famous Aruban musician Robert Jeandor. Known for playing different genres of music, but mostly Latin music.

Without a doubt, maestro Robert Jeand’or is the most Dominican Aruban we have ever known.

Since he settled in the Dominican Republic, where he arrived thanks to the efforts of a giant of merengue, Johnny Ventura, this singer, musician, arranger, composer, music producer and orchestra leader only made contributions to the rhythm commanded by the güira and the tambora and the one that best identifies the idiosyncrasy of the Dominicans.

Without a doubt, maestro Robert Jeand'or is the most Dominican Aruban we have ever known. Since he settled in the Dominican Republic, where he arrived thanks to the efforts of a giant of merengue, Johnny Ventura, this singer, musician, arranger, composer, music producer and orchestra leader only made contributions to the rhythm commanded by the güira and the tambora and the one that best identifies the idiosyncrasy of the Dominicans
Robert Jeandor and his Solo Band Show

Always gentle, humble and with a soul devoid of pettiness, this gentlemanly artist put his talent at the service of merengue and, therefore, of all the gear that drives it.

Robert Hubert JeanD’or Bermudez was born on May 10, 1954, in Aruba, a territory that until 1986 was part of the Netherlands Antilles and today is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. He was the son of Francisco Reinier JeanD’or from Curazaleño and Cecilia Bermudez from Aruba, who worked in the Aruban aqueduct and hospital, respectively. Don Francisco died in 1972 and Doña Cecilia in 2005.

Notice that I have written JeanD’or and not Jeand’or, because the first is the correct surname of this family, but for artistic management purposes Robert was given Jeand’or. And lucky he was that they did not remove the apostrophe and left it only as Jeandor!

His inclination for music came from his father, who guided him when Robert took his first steps in musical studies.

“My dad was my first music teacher: he wrote down for me all the chords in a notebook and there, when I was barely six years old, I started learning to play the Venezuelan cuatro and, after some time, the guitar,” he recalled.

But it was not only in Robert’s veins that musical talent ran, but also in his siblings Francisco (Frank), who played guitar and mandolin, Marlene and Percey were equally talented guitarists, Robertina and John sang, Ismael was a trumpet player and Michael was a percussionist. Several of Robert’s siblings are now deceased: Ismael and Sofia (2010), Frank (2013) and John (2014).

In the neighborhood where he was born, called Madiki, he could very often see his brothers playing almost every night, together, as a family, with his dad leading, and so he was caught by the desire to join the family clan as a musician and that led him soon after to play the guitar.

“One night my brother Frank came home and told me that there was an aguinaldo group that needed a cuatrista to reinforce. The group was called Las Blancas Palomitas and was led by Severiano Luidens, with his relatives Evelien and Jossy Luidens also standing out,” recounted Robert Jeand’or, who was only eight years old at the time and, bursting into laughter, added that the only negrito was him.

He told that his relationship with the bass happened in a fortuitous way, because during a presentation of the group the bass player did not show up, due to lack of transportation, and then Robert, being a child of about nine or ten years old, assumed to play the powerful string instrument and solved the problem generated by the absence of the titular instrumentalist.

“I grabbed the bass, without ever having played it before and as the strings are tuned in the same order as the guitar, I said I was going to play it and so I played that night and that’s how I started to play it and to this day it is my greatest pleasure,” he recalled.

The lanky artist said that he entered a music academy to study bass and singing, being instructed in both subjects by the now extinct Aruban professor Rufo Odor and in harmony with the also deceased Argentinean professor Eddy Bennet.

In his youth and as a cuatro player and singer, he briefly played with pianist Albert Dieffenthaler, with whom he performed in several television programs, hotels and bars.

In the early 70’s, he joined Los Juveniles, which was the first orchestra where he participated as bassist, singer, composer and arranger. With this group, with which he became famous in his native land, he won in three consecutive years (from 1976 to 1978) the Tumba award, an annual celebration that is part of the carnivals of Aruba. Incidentally, Jeand’or would later win this award again two years in a row (1990 and 1991).

In 1978 Robert Jeand’or was crowned King of Tumba, after performing the song “Bolombonchi”, authored by Vicente Kelly, Victor Oduber and Jeand’or himself, which was later recorded by popular Colombian artist Joe Arroyo, who died in 2016. That impactful performance was seen by Johnny Ventura, who also performed there with his orchestra and El Caballo Mayor approached the Aruban singer to see if he would be interested in trying his luck abroad.

While that experience unfolded, Jeand’or did not stop his desire to add to his musical knowledge and expand the knowledge he already possessed in harmony and composition.

His inclination for music came from his father, who guided him when Robert took his first steps in musical studies.
Without a doubt, maestro Robert Jeand’or is the most Dominican Aruban we have ever known.

In the first five years of the 70’s, he released his first recording, composed and arranged by the artist himself: “Ta di nos e ta”, a phrase that translated into Spanish means “It’s ours”.

During 1979 he released with his orchestra La Nueva Fuerza the musical production entitled Rey Di Tumba 1976-77-78, recorded in his native island and with the support of Aruba Recording Studio, where he experimented with Latin, folk and country genres, giving us songs such as “Ban bonse”, “Ata mi cos”, “Manera un wiei”, “Slip’e”, “Bolombonchi”, “Pusha bai aden”, “M’y yega”, and “Canta cu mi awor”.

Many people don’t know that Robert Jeand’or was just a few minutes away from joining the Gran Combo de Puerto Rico, after the departure of Andy Montañez. Jeand’or took the stage with La Universidad de la Salsa, during a presentation at the Caiquetio club, and performed “El barbero loco”, “Las hojas blancas”, “Pin pin pin” and other songs that Montañez vocalized. His voice impressed Don Rafael Ithier and the staff of the famous group. After Montañez moved on to La Dimensión Latina, Ventura called maestro Ithier and recommended Jeand’or to fill the position of El Niño de Tras Talleres, to which Ithier replied that yes, he knew him, but he had already recruited Jerry Rivas. It is said that there was also a delay with the American visa.

It was not long before Jeand’or became part of La Dimensión Latina, because both when Oscar de León left this orchestra and when Andy Montañez also left, the name of the Arubeño was mentioned to join this Venezuelan group. In fact, they went to look for him where he worked, but he was already in Santo Domingo with Los Hijos del Rey.

Likewise, during a visit of Larry Harlow to the island of Aruba, El Judío Maravilloso saw Jeand’or singing and told Vicente Kelly, recently deceased this year (2020) and compadre of the popular singer, bassist and arranger, that he would take the Aruban singer to New York, because he needed someone to fill the void left in his orchestra by Junior González (who died on May 10, 2012) and Kelly responded positively, but that promise was never fulfilled.

In the midst of all that, the Aruban artist opted to join the Los Hijos del Rey orchestra in 1979 and settle in Santo Domingo.

Robert Hubert JeanD'or Bermudez was born on May 10, 1954.
Robert Hubert JeanD’or Bermudez was born on May 10, 1954.

“It was Johnny Ventura who talked to me so that I could travel to the Dominican Republic as a musician, and getting there was a great experience. Once in the Dominican capital, the first recording I made was for a commercial and the person who called me for that job was a very respected musician, his name is Jorge Taveras,” he said.

With Los Hijos del Rey, an orchestra then led by maestro Dioni Fernández, he recorded merengues such as the emblematic “Yo me dominicanizo”, by the prolific Puerto Rican composer Catalino Curet Alonso, affectionately known as Tite, “La pilandera” and “La vacuna”, by Porfirio Ruiz, among others, as well as the salsas “El viento”, by Joe Nicolás, and the successful “Puchula”, by Ramoncito Díaz.

While he was performing in Puerto Rico with Los Hijos del Rey, an orchestra that was in conflict with another faction for the use of the name, Jeand’or, who in the middle of that was in a kind of limbo, received a call from composer Curet Alonso (died in 2003), who mediated for him to sing with Roberto Roena & Apollo Sound, and the artist told him that he would think about it because he had to talk first with Ventura, who has always been his advisor.

Another situation that put Jeand’or on the verge of joining a salsa orchestra: in the middle of a tour in Puerto Rico, trumpeter Nelson García, of Los Hijos del Rey, talked to maestro Bobby Valentín to include the arubeño in his orchestra and the Puerto Rican star liked the singer’s voice very much, but then he had Cano Estremera as his star sonero and everything came to nothing.

Source:

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Diario Digital Dominicano

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