Cuba——Julian Orbon

Julian (de Soto) Orbon (1925-1991):

(b Avilés, 7 Aug 1925; d Miami Beach, 20 May 1991). Cuban composer of Spanish birth. He studied at the Conservatory of Oviedo (1935) and then moved to Havana, where he began composing at an early age and had lessons from José Ardévol. From 1942 to 1949 he was a member of the Grupo de Renovación Musical, and he was active as a music critic, essayist and pianist at concerts of contemporary Cuban music. In 1946 he studied with Copland at Tanglewood. During the 1940s and 1950s he was closely associated with the literary group Orígenes, and wrote several essays for their review. He was director of the Orbón Conservatory, Havana (1946–60), founded by his father Benjamín, and taught composition at the National Conservatory in Mexico City (1960–63). In 1964 he settled in New York; he taught at Lenox College, Washington University, St Louis, Barnard College and the Hispanic Institute of Columbia University. He received two Guggenheim fellowships (1959, 1969) and an award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1967). His Spanish-Cuban music has been influenced by a wide range of musical and literary interests, including Catholic liturgy, Gregorian chant, the music of Falla and the Halffters, and contemporary poetry; moreover, his close friendships with Chávez and Villa-Lobos have had their effect. Whether in the formal neo-classicism of his early works or the more expansive, vigorous and romantic traits of his later style, his music has always been marked by strict structural design. Occasionally he used ‘white’ Cuban and Afro-Cuban rhythms, as in Pregón and the Danzas sinfónicas.

Works

• Sonata Homenaje al Padre Soler
• Prelude and Dance, for solo guitar (1950)
• Canción para nuestro niño
• Romance de Fontefrida
• Capricho Concertante
• El Pregón
• Clarinet Quintet
• Symphony in C (1945)
• String Quartet (1951)
• Three Symphonic Versions (1954)
• Himnus ad Galli Cantum (1956)
• Symphonic Dances (1957)
• Concerto Grosso (1958)
• Tres Cantigas del Rey (1960)
• Monte Gelboé, Cantata(1962)
• Partitas 1, 2 and 3 (1963)
• Fantasía Tiento
• Liturgia en tres días
• Homenaje a la Tonadilla

Thanks for Aurelio Cunha' s work.
Photos by Angelica Bautista.

Puerto Rican——Ray Barretto

Ray Barretto (whose surname is really "Barreto"; a mistake at the time Ray's birth certificate was filed gave his last name its formal spelling) was born in New York City of Puerto Rican descent. His parents moved to New York from Puerto Rico in the early 1920s, looking for a better life. He was raised in Spanish Harlem and at a very young age was influenced by his mother's love of music and by the jazz music of musicians such as Duke Ellington and Count Basie. In 1946, when Barretto was 17 years old, he joined the Army. While stationed in Germany, Barretto met Belgian vibist Fats Sadi, who was working there. However, it was when he heard Dizzy Gillespie's "Manteca" with Cuban percussionist, Chano Pozo, that he realized his true calling in life. Barreto died on February 17, 2006 at the Hackensack University Hospital of heart failure and multiple health complications. His body was flown to Puerto Rico, where Barretto was given formal honors by the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture; his remains were eventually cremated.

 Discography 

·  Barretto para bailar (Riverside, 1960)

·  Barretto Power (Fania, 1970)

·  Charanga moderna (Tico, 1962)

·  El Ray Criollo (United Artists, 1966)

·  Fiesta En El Barrio (United Artists, 1967)

·  Guajira y guaguancó (Tico, 1964

·  Hard Hands (Fania, 1968)

·  Head Sounds (Fania, 1969)

·  Indestructible (Fania, 1973)

·  Latino! (Riverside, 1962)

·  Moderna de Siempre (Tico, 1963)

·  On Fire Again (Encendido otra vez) (Tico, 1963)

·  Señor 007 (United Artists, 1966)

·  The Message (Fania, 1971

·  The Other Road (Fania, 1973)

·  Together (Fania, 1969)

·  The Big Hits Latin Style (Tico, 1963)

·  Viva Watusi! (United Artists, 1965)

·  Que viva la música (Fania, 1972)

Thanks for Nancy Germain' s work.

Photos by Angelica Bautista.

Puerto Rican——Ernesto Antonio

Ernesto Antonio “Tito” Puente was born on April 23, 1923, at Harlem Hospital Center in New York City.  (April 20, 1923 – June 1, 2000) was a Latin jazz and salsa musician and composer. The son of native Puerto Ricans, Ernest and Ercilia Puente, living in New York City's Spanish Harlem community, Puente is often credited as "El Rey de los Timbales" (The King of the timbales) and "The King of Latin Music".  His family moved frequently, but he spent the majority of his childhood in the Spanish Harlem area of the city. Puente's father was the foreman at a razorblade factory. As a child, he was described as hyperactive, and after neighbors complained of hearing seven-year-old Puente beating on pots and window frames, his mother sent him to 25 cent piano lessons. By age 10, he switched to percussion, drawing influence from jazz drummer Gene Krupa. He later created a song-and-dance duo with his sister Anna in the 1930s and intended to become a dancer, but an ankle tendon injury prevented him pursuing dance as a career. When the drummer in Machito's band was drafted to the army, Puente subsequently took his place He is best known for dance-oriented mambo and Latin jazz compositions that helped keep his career going for 50 years. He and his music appear in many films such as The Mambo Kings and Fernando Trueba's Calle 54. He guest starred on several television shows including Sesame Street, The Cosby Show and The Simpsons

Discography

l  Absolute Best (1999)

l  Cha Cha Rumba Beguine (1998)

l  Carnival (1999)

l  Colección original (1999)

l  Cha Cha Cha for Lovers (2000)

l   Dance Mania (1958)

l  Dance Mania '98: Live at Birdland (1998)

l  Dos ídolos. Su música (2000)

l  El Rey: Bravo (1963)

l  El Rey: Tito Puente & His Latin Ensemble (1984)

l  Golden Latin Jazz All Stars: In Session (1999)

l  His Vibes & Orchestra (2000)

l  Homenaje a Beny Moré. Vol. 3 (2000

l  Latin Flight (1999)

l  Latin Kings (1999)

l  Lo mejor de lo mejor (1999)

l  Mambo Birdland (1999)

l  Percussion's King (1997)

l  Puente In Percussion (1956)

l  Selection of Mambo & Cha Cha Cha (1997)

l  50 Years of Swing (1997)

l  Tito Meets Machito: Mambo Kings (1997)

l  The Very Best of Tito Puente (1998)

l  Timbalero Tropical (1998)



Thanks for Nancy Germain' s work.
Photos by Angelica Bautista.

Puerto Rican——Juan Morel Campos

Juan Morel Campos (1857-1896):

(b Ponce, PR, 16 May 1857; d Ponce, 12 May 1896). Puerto Rican composer. He studied harmony, counterpoint, composition, and piano with Tavárez, and was regarded as the latter’s protégé. In 1877 he served as principal baritone player in Cazadores de Madrid, a battalion band in San Juan; after returning to Ponce he organized in 1882 a fireman’s band, which he continued to conduct until his death. He appeared throughout Puerto Rico as a conductor of dance music, was organist of a local church, and founded La Lira Ponceña, a small municipal orchestra. For visiting troupes he arranged operas and zarzuelas, and he himself toured South America as music director and conductor of the Compañia de Zarzuela Española Bernard y Arabella.

Although influenced in his compositions by Italian musicians who performed in Puerto Rico, Morel Campos achieved a significant national expression in his danzas, of which he wrote nearly 300. While most are for the piano, some are scored for ensembles. Some, such as La lila and Alma sublime, are stylized and highly Romantic, with full harmonies and virtuoso passages, while others are simpler and more popular in character, with incisive rhythms (No me toques and La bulliciosa). Concomitantly, Morel Campos contributed to the emergence of a recognizably Puerto Rican dance-music ensemble in which the clarinet and baritone horn are leading instruments. In addition to danzas, he wrote three zarzuelas (Un viaje por América, Amor es triunfo, and Un día de elecciones), 60 sacred works, and accomplished symphonic works including the overture La lira (1882) and Puerto Rico (1893), a full-scale symphony based on popular airs. His music is still widely performed in Latin America.

The following is a list of some of Morel Campos' Danza's:^[6]

• Conversación (Conversation)
• Felices Días (Happy Days)
• Idilio (Idiocy)
• Maldito Amor (Damned Love)
• No me Toques (Do Not Touch Me)
• Sin ti jamás (Never without you)
• Sí te Toco (Yes, I will touch you)
• Sueño de Amor (Dream of love)
• Ten Piedad (Have pity)
• Tormento (Torment)
• Un conflicto (A conflict)
• Vano empeño (Trying in vain)

Thanks for Aurelio Cunha' s work.

Photos by Angelica Bautista.

Puerto Rican——Rafael Hernandez

Rafael Hernandez (1891-1965):

(b Aguadilla, 1891; d San Juan, 1965). Puerto Rican composer, bandleader and instrumentalist. Born into a humble musical family, he and his siblings Victoria and Jesús were skilled multi-instrumentalists. During World War I, Hernández played in the Hellfighter's Infantry Band of James Reese Europe. Later, he established the trend for guitar-based trios and quartets among New York Puerto Ricans in the 1920s and 30s, founding the Trio Borinquén (1926) and the Cuarteto Victoria (1932). In the period 1932–47 Hernández lived in Mexico, continuing to compose and also conducting radio and dance orchestras, between frequent visits to New York and back to Puerto Rico. He returned permanently to Puerto Rico in 1947, remaining active as a composer and bandleader until his death.

Revered as Puerto Rico's greatest and most prolific popular composer, Hernández is said to have written over 3000 songs. He is best known for Lamento Borincano (1930), a bolero which became an anthem for Puerto Ricans. Hernández composed sophisticated songs in a semi-classical vein, reflecting his extensive training and conservatory background. Focussing on romantic and poetic themes, his compositions feature complex melodic lines, contrapuntal vocal parts and frequent major–minor tonal shifts.

Discography (Most known)

·         “Qué Chula es Puebla” How Beautiful is Puebla, the unofficial anthem of the Puebla state 1932 ).

·         “Linda Quisqueya,” another national anthem.
Perfume de Gardenias,” (most recently heard by the late Cuban singer Ibrahim Ferrer, but also by idiosyncratic Ranchera and jazz Mexican singer Lila Downs),

·         “Silencio” (Silence),

·         “Lamento Borincano” (Puerto Rican Lament),

·         “Preciosa” (Precious, a love song to his homeland),

·         “Ahora seremos felices” (Now We Will Be Happy),

·         “Campanitas de Cristal” (Crystal Bells),

·         “Capullito de Alhelí,”

·         “Culpable” (Guilty),”

·         El Cumbanchero” (The Fun Guy),

·         “Ese soy yo” (That’s Me),  

·         “Tú no comprendes” (You Don’t Understand).

Thanks for Aurelio Cunha' s work.

Photos by Angelica Bautista.

Dominican Republic——Johnny Pacheco

Born in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic, Johnny Pacheco inherited his father's passion for music. Rafael Azarias Pacheco, his father, was the bandleader and clarinetist of one of the most famous orchestras of that time--the Santa Cecilia Orchestra. It was his father that first put a musical instrument into his son, Johnny's hands. At the age of 11, the Pacheco family moved to New York where he continued polishing his musical skills. He learned to play accordion, violin, saxophone and clarinet. He attended the Julliard School of Music where he studied percussion making him the leading percussionist of the time. He performed and recorded with the most important American artists. He then learned to play flute.

The early Fania All-Stars band was made up of Johnny Pacheco, musical director and flute; Larry Harlow on piano; Bobby Valentín (later replaced by Salvador "Sal" Cuevas) on bass guitar; Ray Barretto on conga (replaced later on by others, including Mongo Santamaria, Johnny "Dandy" Rodriguez and Eddie Montalvo); Roberto Roena on bongos; and Orestes Vilato on timbales (later replaced by Nicky Marrero due to a conflict with Ray Barreto, whose singer, Adalberto Santiago, formed La Tipica 73 with Vilato, angering Barreto and forcing Patcheco to replace Vilato to prevent internal conflicts);

Discography

Celebracion          (Fania)      1989

Celia & Johnny    (Fania)     1974

De Pelicula   ( International Music)  1982

El Maestro   (Fania)     1975

El Zorro de plata y el flaco de oro ( Fania)   1981

Esa Prieta  (Fania)   1977

La perfecta combinacion  (Fania)  1971

Latin Jam  (Fania) 1965

Los compadres   (Codigo music)   1972

Mi Nuevo tambao ( Fania) 1969

Que suene la flauto  (Alegre) 1962

Thanks for Nancy Germain' s work.
Photos by Angelica Bautista.

Dominican Republic——Juan Bautista Alfonseca

Juan Bautista Alfonseca (1810-1965):

Juan Bautista Alfonseca was a self-taught composer, who was born in Santo Domingo in 1810. Even though he lacked musical training, he was considered the father of Dominican music as he  ”introduced merengue and mangulina folk dance rhythms to classical ballroom music” (Austerlitz 1997).  He did this while incorporating Dominican Folklore.  He incorporated the use of mangulina in the national anthem in (1844). He also led the first military band after Santo Domingo’s independence from Haiti. He later was in charge of the Regimental Band and was the music instructor along with his fellow composers. The band then preformed several concerts to the public in 1852, spreading the love of music freely to all.Although his obituary does not mention merengue by name, it speaks of the composer’s adaptation of the danza to a peculiarly local sensibility: “A musical innovator, Senor Alfonseca understood the people’s nature and modified the Latin American danza, giving it an entirely new, rhythmic, merry, and sensual air.” Most merengue researchers agree that this adaptation was merengue. Although Alfonseca was a member of the cosmopolitan gentry, titles of his pieces such as “The Sancocho” (a typically Dominican Soup) and “Oh Coconut!” indicate that his music was associated with local culture. Alfonseca performed merengue and other local forms such as the mangulina at ballroom dances, and his obituary mentions that his music was characterized by a “national style.” Alfonseca believed that local music was a fitting symbol for the young nation, but when he composed the country’s first national anthem, he made it a mangulina, not a merengue.

   He was not only known for his creation of the merengue but he was also known as the composer that gave a rebirth to Latin American danzas. His other works can be found in Christian Masses and waltzes.

Discography:

Juan Bautista Alfonseca’s manuscrips didn’t survive so there was little information found on his works. These are some of his compositions that were remade.

Juana Quilina

Remade by Flerida Nolasco 1956

Oh Coconut,

Remade by: Rodriguez Demorizi

 The Sancocchio.

Two masses, Merengues, Manguilinas, Danzas, and several band pieces. (Austerlitz 1997)

Works Cited

Steward, S. and Colon, W., 1999. Musica, .Chronicle Books. San Francisco, California. Pgs 101-108.

Austerlitz ,P. 1997. Dominican Music and Merengue, Dominican Identity. Temple University Press. Philadelphia. Pgs.23-24.

Davis, M. and Austerlitz, P. “Dominican Republic” Grove Music Online, Oxford Music Retrieved from:http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/44000

Coopersmith, J. Music and Musicians of the Dominican Republic a Survey. Part two. 1945. The Music Quarterly. Oxford University Press. Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/pss/739510

Thanks for Aurelio Cunha' s work.
Photos by Angelica Bautista.