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Guatemalan group Malacates Trébol Shop enchants with its Latin rock and ska

We have had the opportunity to talk with artists and groups from many Latin American countries and the United States, but so far, we had not had the honor of interviewing anyone from Guatemala. Therefore, it was a pleasure for us to talk to Leonel Fernández and Rodolfo ”Chofo” Fernández, two of the members of the band Malacates Trébol Shop, to whom we dedicate the following lines.

Malacates drummer Leonel ”Cachu” Hernández, with whom we could talk about the Guatemalan band

How did the members of Malacates Trébol Shop get interested in music?

The band Malacates Trébol Shop already has more than 27 years of creation in the country of origin of its members, which is Guatemala. They started playing ska, which basically, in the words of Leonel Hernández, has been the backbone of everything they have done during this time, but this has not prevented them from flirting with other Latin genres that they also like very much, such as cumbia, reggae, Latin rock, among others.

bout this, Rodolfo pointed out that each of the members of the band has very diverse musical tastes including rock, pop, jazz, ska, blues, reggae, funk, salsa, bolero, mariachis, among others. So, all the musicians bring to the table their own musical ideas resulting in the sound that the group has today. However, just like Leonel, he emphasized that ska is always the basis on which they build most of their project.

Previous experience to Malacates Trébol Shop

Leonel again took the floor to emphasize that all the musicians in the group had already been in other bands before being part of this project with the illusion that at some point they were going to be music professionals fair and square.

It was in this same musical environment that Leonel, Rodolfo, Jacobo Nitsch, Francisco Paez and other artists met and began to get together. Over time, they all discovered that their views on music were very similar, so it would not be long before each of them would leave the groups they were in to create something on their own.

They would all get together regularly on weekends to play music, have fun and drink some beers. With the passage of time, they noticed that they were taking things more and more seriously to the point that they decided they had to lay the groundwork for something more formal in the near future.

This represented for the youngsters the opportunity to do something serious in music for the first time and they were not going to waste it under any circumstances.

Malacates guitarist Rodolfo — Malacates guitarist and sound engineer Rodolfo ”Chofo” Hernández, with who we also talked about the band

How did the name Malacates Trébol Shop come about?

The name Malacates Trébol Shop came about just before the first rehearsal of the group because they wanted to baptize the project from the beginning, but the guys wanted something original and, if possible, humorous for people to remember it upon hearing it.

So, they all began inventing funny names to identify themselves with, such as ”Conchinflín Godinez” or ”Los Champurradas” (a typical Guatemalan bread). This is how one of the boys suggested the name ”malacates”, which was a word used by grannies to refer to children who misbehaved. In addition to that, there was a club in Guatemala called ”Trébol Shop”. This resulted in the current name of the group which is ”Malacates Trébol Shop”.

When they started to call themselves this way, people generally took it with humor and it caused curiosity, which was exactly what the musicians were looking for. At that time, musical bands used to have elaborate names with many deep meanings, so ”malacates” broke that mold and stood out from others.

In its first performances, without a doubt, the name was one of the elements that made its early audiences that enjoyed the band live have it in their memory for a long time.

First professional experiences

In order for Malacates Trébol Shop to play live for the first time in a formal presentation, the musicians rehearsed for a whole year to make sure all worked out as best as it could.

In the process, they managed to be played on the radio and generated a lot of expectation around what they could offer with their talent, so many commercial brands wanted to work and sponsor them. One of them was Pepsi, which published a campaign with a Malacates song in the background, which was a great honor for the boys and resulted in a much larger number of concerts and bookings in general.

Malacates members — Drummer Leonel ”Cachu” Hernández, trumpeter Jacobo Nitsch, singer Francisco Páez, and guitarist Rodolfo ”Chofo” Hernández

Groups and artists who inspired Malacates

As for the groups and artists who inspired the members of Malacates, we can mention Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, The Skatalites, Grupo SKA-P, Bob Marley, Cultura Profética, among others.

In addition to this, one of the founding members of Malacates and the band Bohemia Suburbana, Juan Luis Lopera, is one of the first Guatemalan artists to do some Ska in the country, which made him one of the precursors of the genre in the Central American nation.

They also used to listen very often to the group Madness, Los Auténticos Decadentes and Versuit Vergarabat.

It is on these groups that Malacates Trébol Shop has based its sound and repertoire since it was conceived as a serious project by its founders and members.

Omar Ledezma Jr. and Pacific Mambo on tour in Europe

We had several occasions to talk with Venezuelan singer and percussionist Omar Ledezma Jr. because he always has interesting things to say about his projects and tours, and this time it was no exception.

Recently, the artist along with the rest of Pacific Mambo Orchestra were doing a small tour in Europe, more specifically in France and Italy, and we wanted to know all he could tell us about these performances, most notably the great musical event Tempo Latino, which is held every year in Vic-Fezensac, France.

Omar at the festival — Omar Ledezma Jr. at the Umbria Jazz Festival in Peruvia, Italy

Pacific Mambo in Italy

Something interesting about this year is that Pacific Mambo not only went to Tempo Latino, but they also had a few shows in Italy prior to the festival. Before that, they played in one of the most important events of jazz and music in general which was the Umbria Jazz Festival that took place in Peruvia, where they had the opportunity to play after the impeccable performance by Brazilian singer and guitarist Djavan.

He also describes this concert as a great experience and a great opportunity to continue to demonstrate their talent to audiences that had never heard them before, so they enjoyed it and took full advantage of it.

Later, they had another performance in the city of Palermo, where they were accompanied by the Palermo Brass Orchestra. Omar says that this combination was spectacular and that the music sounded incredible with the brass in the background, to the extent that they spoke to the group and several of the musicians accompanied them to France to play with them at Tempo Latino as well.

Pacific Mambo at Tempo Latino one more year

Omar explained to us that he does not handle the details of the contact to Pacific Mambo to attend Tempo Latino again, but he did tell us that the singer of the group, Cristel Durandi, was the godmother of the festival, which was a real honor for all its members and they were very gratefulfor that. It can now be said that there is an important connection between the orchestra and the organization of the event for future editions.

He told us that there is nothing particularly different than previous years and that, in his case, he felt he was treated like family by the organizers and the other musicians with whom they had the opportunity to talk to. The ones with whom they shared the most were Latin jazz trumpeter Maite Hontelé and the guys from La Orquesta La 33, who had their own performances on that stage that has seen so many Latin talents shine over the years.

Pacific Mambo in Palermo — Pacific Mambo Orchestra rehearsing at The Royal Theater of Saint Cecilia in Palermo, Italy

On Saturday 27 July, it was finally their turn after Maite played with her new orchestra of young musicians, which was preparing the audience for them when they had to delight the audience with the best of their repertoire.

We are always happy to be able to bring our music to the people of France and the world in general because, as always, there were people from all over the world who traveled just to attend the festival. It was very nice to be able to play there again and soak up so much energy. Whenever we go, we always feel at home” said Omar about Tempo Latino.

General details of the tour

Omar’s tour with Pacific Mambo was conducted entirely in Italy and France. As mentioned previously, the guys had never played in Italy before, so this was something very special for them, since the people they met had excellent receptivity to their music and the organization of these concerts offered them all the support they needed in the technical, administrative and hotel part.

The first place they visited was the city of Peruvia, Italy, where they participated in the Umbria Jazz Festival. From there, they moved to Palermo, Sicily, where they had their second performance, and finally, they flew to France for Tempo Latino.

Regarding the accommodation in France, the artist told us that he and his orchestra fellows stayed in a hotel in the town of Auch, a place they had never been to before and which was about 25 to 30 minutes by bus from Vic-Fezensac. Omar highlighted the spectacular view they enjoyed on their journey and all the fields of vineyards and crops they had the opportunity to observe.

Omar and Maite — Musician Maite Hontelé and Omar Ledezma Jr.

Upcoming performances

As for the next Tempo Latino edition, it is still too early to know if Pacific Mambo will participate again in the festival, so those conversations with the group to go to France next year remain to be seen.

However, the musician could confirm that they will have a local performance in September. He also informed us that they will have a concert at Yoshi`s the first weekend of next year, which is already a tradition for the band every year.

For the time being, the band will use these months to refresh their repertoire, create new music and prepare for what is to come in 2025.

Yova Rodríguez

Latin America / Puerto Rico

Yova Rodríguez. The jibarito of Mayagüez.

Giovanni Yova Rodríguez Ruiz, was born in Mayagüez, being the youngest of six siblings, raised alone by his mother Doña Delia Ruiz Crespo. At the age of 7 he started in music singing Christmas bonuses and influenced by his maternal uncle José Ruiz Crespo ¨Pipo El Indio¨ and his great-uncle Antonio ¨Toño Ruiz who played Puerto Rican cuatro.

At the age of fifteen, he began his studies at the Ernesto Ramos Antonini Free School of Music in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.

It is here that he began his singing career and minor percussion and at the age of 16 he became the singer of the school band. In 2004 the project ¨Yova Rodríguez & his group Sakao – Akà, Homage to Polo Montañez¨ began.

Since the release of her musical work, Yova Rodríguez, the ensemble Sakao – Akà, has become one of the most sought-after ensembles in Puerto Rico, Colombia, Venezuela and New York, since 2010 she has resided in The Big Apple, La Babel de Hierro N.Y. working on the musical composition for singers of the stature, Danny Rivera, Herman Olivera, Marcial Isturiz, Orquesta Boricua Legends, and the great Andy Montañez among others and to mention a few and traveling through several Latin American countries along with most of the artists already mentioned.

Yova Rodríguez - Photo — Yova Rodríguez – Photo

In 2016 he starts with his promotional song ¨Me Quedaré¨ with arrangements by trumpeter Nelson Jaime Gazu, a song dedicated to the thousands of Boricuas who have left their beloved Puerto Rico.

In 2017 he composes the song ¨Mi Barrio¨ dedicated to his native neighborhood and was presented in Mayagüez, at the same time Mayor José Guillermo Rodríguez gives him the keys to the city and a recognition, in the same year he composes the song ¨ Borinquén se Rivanta¨ where great luminaries of La Salsa participated in New York such as:

El Pulpo Colon, Jhon Benítez, Luis Mangual, José Dávila among others and by the hand of the Cuban trumpeter and arranger Agustín Someillan Garcia, in January 2018 it is presented in Medellín-Colombia in the prominent venue Son-Habana, returns to New York and composes the theme Medellín, it is presented on June 23 with a resounding total success in the event one day of Salsa for Medellín.

Yova Rodríguez himself informs me that he is already preparing his fourth record production by the hand of the pianist, arranger Arturo Ortiz. And at the same time he belongs to the board of directors of the Galería de La Salsa in Spanish Harlem in New York.

Yova Rodríguez - flyer — Yova Rodríguez – flyer

Exclusive with tres player Iván Camblor from the group Pellejo Seco

Cuban musicians have always found the way to stand out in the entertainment world thanks to their talent and commitment and one of those examples is Ivan Camblor, tres player and vocalist with whom we have had the privilege to talk about his career and what was achieved with the group led by him right now, which is Pellejo Seco.

During the conversation, the artist elaborated on a few topics we found relevant to discuss and we were pleased to hear some of the most important data of one of the most important Cuban son groups in the Bay Area today.

Ivan playing the tres — Cuban musician Iván Camblor playing the Cuban tres live

Iván Camblor’s beginnings in music

As is the case of many other artists of his kind, Ivan showed a very early interest in music, specifically since he was at school in his hometown, Havana, Cuba. He defines himself as a self-taught composer who began his musical learning on the street, while he attended classes like any child his age.

From a very young age, many veteran musicians saw in him the enormous potential he had for music, so they began teaching him all they knew, leading him to the path of Cuban son and traditional Cuban music. Today, these genres is still his north after so many decades.

The Felix Varela School of Music

When he was old enough, Iván attended the Félix Varela School of Music, where he studied music appreciation theory, but unfortunately the island’s economic situation affected that part of his learning. Over time, the conditions of the institute started to worsen, making many teachers resign and leave students without chances to continue their studies, including Ivan, who could not see the classes he wanted because of the lack of staff.

Being unable to study what he wanted, Ivan decided to continue learning on his own with the musical groups he had contact with and that is how it continued until today.

His singing, composition and ability to play the Cuban tres came with the experience he acquired on the street and with friends who knew more about music than he did. He refers to guitarist and tres player Octavio Sánchez ”Cotán” and El Niño Rivera as his greatest teachers and influences.

With the experience gained, he had the opportunity to go through all the Cuban music companies, since there were not many tres players at that time and tres teaching was very new.

Ivan with Chucho Valdez — Pellejo Seco vocalist Sulkary Valverde, Cuban pianist Chucho Valdez, and Iván Camblor

Music composed by Iván for films

Just as Iván was in several groups, he also had the opportunity to compose original music for films and such was the case of the film ”Hacerse El Sueco” directed by his great friend Edesio Alejandro, who contacted him to support him in the musical part of the production.

It is then when he proposed him to write four or five original tracks to be used for the film, but Ivan did not mind getting credit, but helping his great friend with his project, so all the material is under his label Orula Music.

However, he is grateful for the experience and the opportunity to help a good friend who needed his talent at that moment.

Ivan’s coming to the United States

Ivan remembers his coming to the United States as one of the most difficult things he had to do, since it is not easy to leave his roots and everything he knows to seek a different kind of future in other lands.

At first, Ivan was not at all convinced of this decision, but his then partner and mother of his only son made him see that it was the best for them to leave Cuba and go to the United States to try their luck, to which the artist finally agreed.

For many years, the tres player thought the worst of his host country because of the ideas the he grew up with in Cuba, but upon arrival, he found that the reality was very different from the propaganda he was bombarded with in his childhood and youth.

Once he was there, he started working on the area of music that he liked most since he was in Cuba, composition. It was then that the idea of forming his own musical group started going round his head.

Iván creó el Pellejo Seco — Iván Camblor conceived Pellejo Seco as a Cuban son and traditional Cuban music group

How the group Pellejo Seco was created

Ivan conceived Pellejo Seco as a project in which he would pay homage to the Cuban community, so he tried to find the best musicians for the task. One of them was Cuban trumpeter Marcos Diaz, Puerto Rican Hector Lugo, trumpeter Mario Silva, Liban Montoya, Mexican singer Rogelio Maya and singer German Donatien. This is the original group with which the artist started his band, but others have already joined other orchestras or have started something on their own.

That was more than 20 years ago and, today, Pellejo Seco has managed to consolidate itself as one of the main Cuban music groups in the Bay Area. Now, it is the most required traditional Cuban music sextet in the area.

As for the name of the band, Ivan chose the name ”Pellejo Seco” as a tribute to the Cuban peasants whose skin is hard and dry as leather due to the sun and the working conditions that they are exposed to.

Gilberto Santa Rosa

Latin America/ Puerto Rico / Puerto Rico

Gilberto Santa Rosa – The Salsa Knight

Gilberto Santa Rosa (Santurce, 1962) Puerto Rican singer. Nicknamed El Caballero de la Salsa, he has been one of the most prominent performers of the genre, particularly since the 1990s. From an early age his love of music manifested itself, which led him to organize his first amateur ensemble.

At only fourteen years old, he already recorded his first songs, thanks to the trumpeter and orchestra director Mario Ortiz. His first group as a professional singer was the Orquesta Grande; Later, as a result of a performance in 1980 in homage to Eddie Palmieri, he joined Tommy Olivencia’s band. Later he sang for a time with Willie Rosario’s orchestra, with which he would record six albums.

Gilberto Santa Rosa

In 1986 he began his solo career at the head of his own orchestra within the Combo Records record company, owned by producer Ralph Cartagena. His first solo album was titled Good Vibrations. This was followed by three more jobs with the same label, which he left in 1990 to sign with CBS Records (later Sony Records).

That same year, Punto de vista was published, a romantic salsa album that went platinum and number one on the Latin charts thanks to its successful songs Vivir sin ella and Perdóname. The album also earned him the award for best Latin singer awarded by Billboard.

In 1991 his album Perspectiva confirmed a brilliant artistic career and opened up new markets for him. In May of this year he made his debut in Spain in a series of concerts in which he shared the stage with Pete Rodríguez, Johnny Pacheco and Roberto Torres, also from the Caribbean, and in September he made an equally successful Central European tour.

Gilberto Santa Rosa singing at the concert

In 1992 he recorded an album in tribute to the singer Tito Rodríguez entitled A dos tiempo de un tiempo. This work was followed by Born Here (1993) and Facing the Wind (1994), which would be his business card in Japan, a country he visited in 1995.

After the publication of Esencia, in 1996, and De corazón, the following year , in 1999 came his successful Expresion, an album that consolidated his position in the international Latin music market and that included hits like Déjate Quiero and especially Que somebody dice me, number one on Billboard for several weeks.

Santa Rosa was one of the first performers to fuse salsa music with classical music, with results such as his well-known work Salsa Sinfónica, which he presented at the Center for Fine Arts on his native island accompanied by the Puerto Rican Symphony Orchestra.

In addition to this historic performance, the concerts given by Santa Rosa at New York’s Carnegie Hall in 1995 (which would be included on the live album The Man and His Music) are well remembered; his performance at the I President Festival of Latin Music (Santo Domingo, June 1997); or the presentation at the Lincoln Center in New York with his compatriot Andy Montañez in July 1997.

Also of note are his performances at the Anayansi Theater in Panama in September 1997; at the Teresa Carreño Theater in Caracas, in February 1998; the concert at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan; and his 1998 European tour with performances in London, Milan and Rome. Apart from his facet as a singer, he showed his qualities as an actor in the play The Uneven Couple (1990), together with Luis Vigoreaux Jr. and Rafo Muñiz.