Dominican salsa

Last updated

While the Dominican Republic is known for shaping merengue and bachata music, its musicians have also melded these influences into the early development of salsa music amongst the Latin community of New York City in the early 1960s. A major development in those initial days of salsa occurred when Johnny Pacheco, a Dominican-born musician living in New York City, teamed with partner Jerry Masucci to create Fania Records in 1964. They started selling records from the trunk of cars on the streets of Spanish Harlem, signing up young artists, creating new sounds, and eventually having hit records. [1] Over the next 15 years, Fania Records helped define the sound, culture, and language associated with the salsa genre, a musical movement that arose partly from the unavailability in the United States of music produced in Cuba. [2]

Contents

Early history and Cuban influence on Dominican salsa performers

Cuco Valoy, also known as "El Brujo" ("the wizard" or "the sorcerer"), is a Dominican salsero/sonero and ambassador for Afro-Cuban music. He studied music theory at the Dominican Republic's National Conservatory of Music. He first gained attention in the 1950s with his brother, Martin, in the music duo Los Ahijados. The brothers provided the vocals for the band Los Compadres from Cuba. Valoy appeared in the salsa scene originally as a sonero, one of the Cuban rhythms that later gave developed into the commercial name "Salsa", in the 1970s with his hits "Juliana" (later covered by the group DLG), "El Divorcio", and "Nació Varón". Cuco's son, Ramón Orlando, known as "El Maestro", one of the pioneers of merengue típico (considered "classic merengue") of the 1980s, continued the family legacy as musical conductor of the popular band La Orquesta Internacional. In 1992, Orlando received 7 Casandra Awards, including el Soberano, the top award of the ceremony. Also known as "El Maestro," Orlando has also been an influential contributor for his work behind Latin music. [3] Orlando's influence and success continued for decades, including a Grammy win in 2005 for his merengue album "Generaciones".

Dominican Henry García has been a salsa singer for a number of years, performing with the salsa bands of both Valoy and Orlando, as well as singing on many albums by various bands, such as the hit album "Sobran Razones" by the group Fernando Echavarría de La Familia André. [4]

Santiago Cerón  [ es ] was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in 1940 and was a singer with various Dominican and Cuban based bands, including Orquestra of Pete "El Conde" Rodriguez, Tony Pabon y La Protesta and the Orquesta de Arsenio Rodriguez. He went solo around 1970, and his first album was Tumbando Puertas, featuring the hit "Lindo Yambu". After that, Cerón became the Dominican face of salsa and son both in New York city and across South America.

In addition to co-creating the Fania Records label, influential in getting the sound of salsa out of local New York City clubs and into wider-distribution, Dominican-born musician Johnny Pacheco led the Fania All-Stars, a lineup featuring many of salsa's best performers, including Dominican-born Rey Reyes. [5] Pacheco, as a performer, producer and bandleader, earned nine Grammy nominations, ten Gold records and many other awards throughout his career. [6] Fania Records helped propel the popularity of the new sound and dance by signing innovative early salsa artists like Larry Harlow, Ray Barretto and Bobby Valentín. [7]

A notable salsa performer from the Dominican Republic is José Alberto, known as "El Canario" (The Canary) for his widely adored voice, who was born in Santo Domingo in 1958. Alberto relocated to Puerto Rico with his family and later to New York in the early 1970s, where he sang with several orchestras. He received international attention as the bandleader of Típica 73 in October 1977. [8] In 1983, Alberto hired a group of well-known musicians to perform as José Alberto "El Canario" y Su Orquesta. In 1991, Alberto released his first album, Dance With Me, and saw success from the album's romantic lyrics combined with energetic salsa arrangements. Over the next few years he released albums and singles on the CBS and Sony labels, before signing with RMM Records in 1997. [6] Alberto's influence is shown in his numerous Gold and Platinum records. [8]

Another salsa star from the Dominican Republic is Raulín Rosendo, known as "El sonero enfadado" (The Angry Sonero). Born in 1957, by age 12 Rosendo was already performing with the merengue group, "El Chivo y su Banda." Rosendo was soon performing on a show televised on the Rahintel network, and by 19 had been signed to perform with a band led by Cuco Valoy. Rosendo later became co-leader, with Fernandito Villalona, of the group "Los Hijos del Rey." These groups performed salsa and merengue in large venues in New York City and abroad, leading to Rosendo recording numerous albums, including five on the Kubaney label. In 1981, Rosendo formed his own orchestra and for the first time produced as a soloist for his project, "El que te Guia." His 1995 album Uno Se Cura was nominated for at the Casandra Awards and the New York Latin ACE Awards. He had more hit songs in 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999.

Contemporary Dominican salsa

Dominican salsa continued to grow through the turn of the 21st century. For example, Juan Miguel Batista, also known as Michel "El Buenón", is an active salsero in the Dominican Republic. Michel sang with several merengue and méringue (a Haitian sound) groups, before recording his first album in 1995. He received three Casandra Award nominations in 2008. [9]

The salsero known as Sexappeal is another performer who emerged during this period. He made his debut as a salsero in 2000 with the support of Ramón Orlando, and received a nomination at the Casandra Awards and a nomination for "Revelation of the Year" at the Lo Nuestro Awards. In a 2008 interview, he stated that "Right now the local salsa is well positioned, and thanks to God, what we are doing is reaching foreign beaches and achieving major awards." [10]

Belio Antonio is a professor at the University of Florida, in addition to being a popular salsa performer. Antonio was born in Puerto Rico, grew up in the salsa movement in New York City, then moved with his parents to the Dominican Republic in the early 1980s. These diverse experiences as a Dominican, Puerto Rican and New Yorker all contribute to his salsa music. By the time he was 9, Belio Antonio was playing the guitar and singing Spanish bolero in the Dominican Republic, transitioning to Jazz and salsa as he performed vocals for Jazz groups in New York and a salsa group in Florida. Antonio released his first album, Belio Antonio: Autentico.

Mickey Taveras  [ es ] is a Dominican salsero and songwriter who started as a composer for stars like Wilfrido Vargas. After Sergio Vargas Garibaldo helped make Taveras' song "La Ventanita" an international success, Taveras went on to a solo career with his first album Lucharé, which went triple platinum in Colombia and Central America and had great success in Venezuela and Mexico in 1996. In 2000, Mickey Taveras self-produced a Latin pop/ballad album called Más Romantico that had sold well. [11]

Other contributors to Dominican salsa

Producers, composers and musical directors have also contributed to the success of Dominican salsa.

Juan Valdez is a composer and orchestral director of salsa music in the Dominican Republic. Valdez has composed music for Asdrubar and helped jumpstart Michel "El Buenón"'s career, and has prepared arrangements of songs for numerous other vocalists. Valdez, born in 1962, played with merengue bands in his early years, including Sergio Vargas. In addition to writing music for the new generation of salsa artists, he is also training tomorrow's pianists and musicians, teaching popular piano and popular music orchestration at the Dominican Republic`s Conservatorio Nacional de Música (National Conservatory of Music). In 2009, Valdez was nominated for his 13th Casandra Award for Best Orchestration and Musical Arranger.

Bienvenido Rodríguez is a salsa producer who began his career working with bachata music. Before becoming a producer, Rodríguez worked as a traveling salesman of merengue típico records in the Dominican Republic, then opened his own record store on Avenida Duarte in the Ciudad Colonial section of Santo Domingo. In 1967, Rodríguez bought a small record label, renamed it Karen after his daughter, and started producing records focused on merengue típico. By the early 1970s, he track record allowed him to obtain the exclusive distributorship for the salsa music produced by Fania Records. By the 1980s, Karen Records had become the Dominican Republic's largest and most successful label, producing many of the nation's top musicians. [12]

Notable Dominican singers and songs

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fania Records</span> American record label

Fania Records is a New York–based record label founded by Dominican-born composer and bandleader Johnny Pacheco and his American lawyer Jerry Masucci in 1964. The label took its name from a popular luncheonette frequented by musicians in Havana, Cuba that Masucci frequented when he worked for a public relations firm there during the pre-Castro era. Fania is known for its promotion of salsa music.

Marvin Santiago was a Puerto Rican salsa singer who became famous all across Latin America during the 1970s. He was also a part-time comedian on Puerto Rican television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ismael Rivera</span> Puerto Rican singer

Ismael Rivera a.k.a. "Maelo", was a Puerto Rican composer and salsa singer.

A descarga is an improvised jam session consisting of variations on Cuban music themes, primarily son montuno, but also guajira, bolero, guaracha and rumba. The genre is strongly influenced by jazz and it was developed in Havana during the 1950s. Important figures in the emergence of the genre were Cachao, Julio Gutiérrez, Bebo Valdés, Peruchín and Niño Rivera in Cuba, and Tito Puente, Machito and Mario Bauzá in New York. Originally, descargas were promoted by record companies such as Panart, Maype and Gema under the label Cuban jam sessions. From the 1960s, the descarga format was usually adapted by large salsa ensembles, most notably the Fania All-Stars.

The Fania All-Stars is a musical group formed in 1968 as a showcase for the musicians on Fania Records, the leading salsa music record label of the time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johnny Pacheco</span> Dominican-American musician (1935–2021)

Juan Pablo Knipping Pacheco, known as Johnny Pacheco, was a Dominican musician, arranger, composer, bandleader, and record producer. Born in the Dominican Republic, Pacheco became a leading figure in the New York salsa scene in the 1960s and 1970s as the founder and musical director of Fania Records.

José Alberto Justiniano, better known by his stage name José Alberto "El Canario", is a salsa singer from the Dominican Republic. José Alberto moved to Puerto Rico with his family at the age of seven, and inspired by his rich Dominican culture went on to polish his singing at Las Antillas Military Academy. He relocated to New York in the early 1970s and sang with several orchestras. He received international attention as the singer of Típica 73 in October 1977.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sergio Vargas</span> Musical artist

Sergio Pascual Vargas Parra is a performer of merengue and bolero, who was very popular in the 80s and 90s, during the "Golden Age of Merengue" and today remains active as one of the leading figures in Dominican merengue. His brothers, Kaki and Johnny, are also performers of the genre and have been by his side for much of their respective musical careers.

RMM Records, also known as RMM Records & Video Corp, was an independent Latin music record label established in 1987 and based in New York City. The label was most active during the late 1980s and early 1990s and produced primarily salsa, Latin jazz, and merengue music. At its peak, RMM Records employed 55 staff members and had distribution deals in 42 cities around the world, occupying 9,000 square feet in two floors at its Soho headquarters. The label was established by Fania Records promoter Ralph Mercado, who had established RMM Management in 1972 as an artist management and booking agency, providing bookings for Latin artists Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, and Ray Barretto.

Raulín Rosendo is a Dominican salsa singer.

Ramón Orlando Valoy García, is a Dominican musician, singer, arranger, composer, record producer and songwriter, besides being a gran maestro pianist in Caribbean rhythms. Ramón Orlando received seven Casandra awards in the 1992 ceremony, including the Soberano, which is the most important category in the Dominican awards ceremony. In 2005, he was nominated for the Latin Grammy Award in the Best Merengue Album category.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adalberto Santiago</span> Puerto Rican musician

Adalberto Santiago is an internationally known salsa singer.

Tempo Latino is a festival of salsa music and Latin music in Vic-Fezensac, France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cuco Valoy</span> Dominican singer-songwriter and musician

Cuco Valoy is a Dominican Republic singer, songwriter, percussionist and guitarist, who is versatile in salsa, son montuno, guaracha and merengue. He began performing with his brother Martín, under the name Los Ahijados. Valoy is the father of Ramón Orlando, with whom he formed the band Los Virtuosos, later changed to La Tribu. He is widely known for the song "Juliana", which was covered by the group DLG; a cover that featured Valoy's vocals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">José Peña Suazo</span> Dominican singer

José Peña Suazo, is a Dominican Merengue singer, arranger, composer and musician. Pena Suazo has played the trumpet, composed and arranged in many Dominican merengue music groups like Cuco Valoy's orchestra and La Artillería. He is currently the lead singer of La Banda Gorda.

Ramón Quián, better known as Monguito "El Único", was a Cuban vocalist, bandleader, producer and composer. An Afro-Cuban sonero, he had a simple improvising style with a distinctive nasal voice.

Antonio Rodríguez Castillo better known as Sexappeal is a Dominican Salsa singer from Santo Domingo. In 2005, he was awarded ''Best Dominican Salsa Singer of the Year'' in the Casandra awards, the most important in the country.

This article includes an overview of the major events and trends in Latin music in the 1980s, namely in Ibero-America. This includes recordings, festivals, award ceremonies, births and deaths of Latin music artists, and the rise and fall of various subgenres in Latin music from 1980 to 1989.

References

  1. ↑ "Fania All-Stars". Billboard . Archived from the original on 14 October 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  2. ↑ César Miguel Rondón The Book of Salsa: A Chronicle of Urban Music from the Caribbean 2008 - Page 42
  3. ↑ Ramón Orlando biography, Retrieved March 6, 2009
  4. ↑ Rodríguez, Nelson (2004, October). Latin beat music update. Latin Beat Magazine, Retrieved February 2, 2009
  5. ↑ Polin, Bruce (2006, February 22). Descarga.com recent DVDs, Retrieved February 4, 2009, from Descarga.com Web site: http://mail.descarga.com/pipermail/descarga-announce/2006/000135.html Archived 2009-02-16 at the Wayback Machine
  6. 1 2 Music of Puerto Rico Archived 2012-02-22 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved February 9, 2009
  7. ↑ Johnny Pacheco biography, Retrieved February 9, 2009, from JohnnyPacheco.com
  8. 1 2 The official website of José Alberto "El Canario" Retrieved February 6, 2009
  9. ↑ Michel “El buenón” cuenta su verdadera historia Archived October 25, 2010, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved February 25, 2009
  10. ↑ Nova, J. (2008). El sabor de la salsa dominicana. Retrieved February 28, 2009, from Salsa en Rosario Web site: "El sabor de la salsa dominicana - Noticias de Salsa, mundo tropical". Archived from the original on 2010-01-19. Retrieved 2009-11-29. (spanish)
  11. ↑ Biografia de mickey taveras, Retrieved February 25, 2009, from Retrieved March 4, 2009, from Univision.com Web site (spanish)
  12. ↑ Hernandez, D. P. (1995). Bachata: a social history of dominican popular music. Temple University Press.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.