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Pedro Gomez (born c. 1963) is a Salsa dance instructor from Cuba.
| This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification .(January 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) |
Pedro Gomez (born c. 1963) is a Salsa dance instructor from Cuba.
After Gomez was born, his parents decided to abandon Cuba, perhaps to allow his son to live under better economic conditions.
The Gomez family arrived in Puerto Rico. Salsa music had been popularized in Cuba by Celia Cruz, Olga Guillot and others, and, in Puerto Rico, it shared the general public's top spot among favorite types of music with American rock and pop music. Such stars such as El Gran Combo and Eddie Santiago were famous during the 1980s there. Gomez started to become interested in this type of music since he was a child, demonstrating ability to dance it from his early years.
Gomez tried to continue learning and practicing his dance moves as a teenager, after he had moved to Miami. Later, he went into the army and was stationed in Germany. After getting out of the Army, he worked for a while in Germany until he eventually settled in Rome, Italy.
Salsa is a growing music genre in Europe; Andy Montañez, another Puerto Rican star of the 1970s and 1980s, toured Belgium, Spain and other countries, for example. Gomez, basking in Salsa's new popularity in that continent, set a dancing school there.
Soon, Gomez became one of the best known dancing teachers in Europe, in part because people from Italy and other countries wanted to learn how to dance Salsa.
Gomez has popularized the Puerto Rican and New York City dancing styles, among others, in Italy as well as in other countries such as England and Denmark. He has also taught at schools in Muslim countries (particularly in northern Africa) as well as in South Africa.
The music of Latin America refers to music originating from Latin America, namely the Romance-speaking countries and territories of the Americas and the Caribbean south of the United States. Latin American music also incorporates African music from enslaved African people who were transported from West and Central Africa to the Americas by European settlers. As well as music from the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Due to its highly syncretic nature, Latin American music encompasses a wide variety of styles, including influential genres such as cumbia, bachata, bossa nova, merengue, rumba, salsa, samba, son, and tango. During the 20th century, many styles were influenced by the music of the United States giving rise to genres such as Latin pop, rock, jazz, hip hop, and reggaeton.
Salsa music is a popular dance music genre that initially arose in New York City during the 1960s. Salsa is the product of various Cuban musical genres including the Afro-Cuban son montuno, guaracha, cha cha chá, mambo, and Puerto Rican plena and bomba. Latin jazz has had a significant influence on salsa arrangers, piano guajeos, and instrumental soloists.
Salsa is a Latin dance associated with the music genre of the same name which originated in the 1960s in New York City. Salsa is an amalgamation of Puerto Rican, Dominican and Cuban dances that were popular in the ballrooms and nightclubs of San Juan and la Havana by the end of the 1950s, as well as American jazz dances. It was primarily developed by Dominicans and Puerto Ricans living in New York in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Different regions of Latin America and the United States have distinct salsa styles of their own, such as Cuban, Dominican, Puerto Rican, Cali Colombia, L.A. and New York styles. Salsa dance socials are commonly held in nightclubs, bars, ballrooms, restaurants, and outside, especially when part of an outdoor festival.
The music of Puerto Rico has evolved as a heterogeneous and dynamic product of diverse cultural resources. The most conspicuous musical sources have been Spain and West Africa, although many aspects of Puerto Rican music reflect origins elsewhere in Europe and the Caribbean. Puerto Rican music culture today comprises a wide and rich variety of genres, ranging from essentially indigenous genres like bomba to recent hybrids like Latin trap and reggaeton. Broadly conceived, the realm of "Puerto Rican music" should naturally comprise the music culture of the millions of people of Puerto Rican descent who have lived in the United States, and especially in New York City. Their music, from salsa to the boleros of Rafael Hernández, cannot be separated from the music culture of Puerto Rico itself.
Bongos are an Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed drums of different sizes. In Spanish the larger drum is called the hembra (female) and the smaller the macho (male). Together with the conga or tumbadora, and to a lesser extent the batá drum, bongos are the most widespread Cuban hand drums, being commonly played in genres such as son cubano, salsa and Afro-Cuban jazz. A bongo drummer is known as a bongosero.
Bomba is both a traditional dance and musical style of Puerto Rico. Its origins are rooted in the island's history of African slavery but today has evolved into a community expression of Puerto Rican culture. While Bomba can be used as the generic name for a number of rhythms, it is truly about a creative, interactive relationship between dancers, percussionists and singers. Today it's practiced as a communal activity in its centers of origin in Loíza, Santurce, Mayagüez and Ponce. Also, Puerto Rican migrants have brought the tradition to some parts of the U.S. mainland.
Rafael Hernández Marín was a Puerto Rican songwriter, author of hundreds of popular songs in the Latin American repertoire. He specialized in Puerto Rican styles such as the canción, bolero and guaracha. Among his most famous compositions are "Lamento borincano", "Capullito de alhelí", "Campanitas de cristal", "Cachita", "Silencio", "El cumbanchero", "Ausencia" and "Perfume de gardenias".
Ray Barretto was an American percussionist and bandleader of Puerto Rican ancestry. Throughout his career as a percussionist, he played a wide variety of Latin music styles, as well as Latin jazz. His first hit, "El Watusi", was recorded by his Charanga Moderna in 1962, becoming the most successful pachanga song in the United States. In the late 1960s, Barretto became one of the leading exponents of boogaloo and what would later be known as salsa. Nonetheless, many of Barretto's recordings would remain rooted in more traditional genres such as son cubano. A master of the descarga, Barretto was a long-time member of the Fania All-Stars. His success continued into the 1970s with songs such as "Cocinando" and "Indestructible." His last album for Fania Records, Soy dichoso, was released in 1990. He then formed the New World Spirit jazz ensemble and continued to tour and record until his death in 2006.
Roberto Roena is a Puerto Rican salsa music percussionist, orchestra leader, and dancer. Roena was one of the original members of El Gran Combo. He later became the leader of his own band, "Roberto Roena y Su Apollo Sound", arguably one of the best Latin salsa bands in Puerto Rico. Roena has also been a long-time member of the Fania All Stars, a salsa supergroup that has enjoyed worldwide success since the 1970s.
Mambo is a Latin dance of Cuba which was developed in the 1940s when the music genre of the same name became popular throughout Latin America. The original ballroom dance which emerged in Cuba and Mexico was related to the danzón, albeit faster and less rigid. In the United States, it replaced rhumba as the most fashionable Latin dance. Later on, with the advent of salsa and its more sophisticated dance, a new type of mambo dance including breaking steps was popularized in New York. This form received the name of "salsa on 2", "mambo on 2" or "modern mambo".
Sandungueo, also known as Perreo, is a style of dance and party music associated with reggaeton that emerged in the late 1980s in Puerto Rico. The dance resembles twerking. This style of dancing and music was created by DJ Blass, hence his Sandunguero Vol. 1 & 2 albums and popularized and spread worldwide by the website Sandungueo.com. It is a dance that focuses on grinding, also known as perreo, with one partner facing the back of the other. This is also known as "booty dancing" or "grinding" in the United States of America.
Tito may refer to:
Afro–Puerto Ricans are Puerto Ricans who are of predominant or partial African descent. The history of Puerto Ricans of African descent begins with free African men, known as libertos, who accompanied the Spanish Conquistadors in the invasion of the island. The Spaniards enslaved the Taínos, many of whom died as a result of new infectious diseases and the Spaniards' oppressive colonization efforts. Spain's royal government needed laborers and began to rely on slavery to staff their mining and fort-building operations. The Crown authorized importing enslaved West Africans. As a result, the majority of the African peoples who entered Puerto Rico were part of the forced migration of the Atlantic slave trade, and came from many different cultures and peoples of the African continent.
The culture of Puerto Rico is the result of a number of international and indigenous influences, both past and present. Modern cultural manifestations showcase the island's rich history and help to create an identity which is a melting pot of cultures - Taíno, European, African, Anglo American (U.S.A.), Latin American/Caribbean Asian, Hawaiian and other influences.
The performing arts on Puerto Rico have been an important form of cultural expression throughout the history of the island, particularly dance and music. Theatre has also played an integral role in shaping the culture of this Caribbean commonwealth. Puerto Rico's dance and music has emerged from the ritualized celebrations of the island's indigenous people to a diverse range of blended genres adapted from all over the world.
The seis is a type of Puerto Rican Jíbaro dance music closely associated with the décima. It originated in the latter half of the 17th century in the southern part of Spain. The seis is influenced by Spanish, African, and Taino cultures. The Arabian aspects come from Spain, where the Muslims or the Moors had ruled for over 700 years. Like other Jíbaro music, the seis is associated with Christmas, folkloric festivals, concursos de trovadores, and other large celebrations. The word means six, which may have come from the custom of having six couples perform the dance, though many more couples eventually became quite common. Men and women form separate lines down the hall or in an open place of beaten earth, one group facing the other. The lines would approach and cross each other and at prescribed intervals the dancers would tap out the rhythm with their feet.
The Jewish immigration to Puerto Rico began in the 15th century with the arrival of the anusim who accompanied Christopher Columbus on his second voyage. An open Jewish community did not flourish in the colony because Judaism was prohibited by the Spanish Inquisition. However, many migrated to mountainous parts of the island, far from the central power of San Juan, and continued to self-identify as Jews and practice Crypto-Judaism.
Cuban culture encompasses a wide range of dance forms. The island's indigenous people performed rituals known as areíto, which included dancing, although little information is known about such ceremonies. After the colonization of Cuba by the Spanish Kingdom, European dance forms were introduced such as the French contredanse, which gave rise to the Cuban contradanza. Contradanza itself spawned a series of ballroom dances between the 19th and 20th centuries, including the danzón, mambo and cha-cha-cha. Rural dances of European origin, such as the zapateo and styles associated with punto guajiro also became established by the 19th century, and in the 20th century son became very popular. In addition, numerous dance traditions were brought by black slaves from West Africa and the Congo basin, giving rise to religious dances such as Santería, yuka and abakuá, as well as secular forms such as rumba. Many of these dance elements from European dance and religious dances were fused together to form the basis of la técnica cubana. Cuban music also contributed to the emergence of Latin dance styles in the United States, namely rhumba and salsa.
Héctor Maisonave is a music entrepreneur and talent manager. During a sixty-year career, from 1954 through 2014, Maisonave organized over 7,000 Latin music concerts on five continents.
