THE DANCE MUSIC IN NEW YORK AND THE CARIBBEAN.

in music •  6 years ago  (edited)

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Dear brothers and sisters of Venezuela and the Caribbean, today I want to share with you a topic that demands high emotional demand, both for the identity with the motive and for the fascination that is felt when describing it. . Talking about Caribbean music is not an easy task, that God help me in this purpose, among other things, for the quantity of products to be presented as well as for the large number of protagonists, mostly unknown by the generations born in the 21st century. .

After this introduction, we will describe some genres and rhythms that give life to this interesting story and its importance in each region; We will dive from the North American JAZZ to the exquisite Cuban SON, the CHA CHA CHA by Enrique Jorrín, the MAMBO from Dámaso Pérez Prado, the BOMBA from Puerto Rico, the PACHANGA from Eduardo Davison, the CHARANGA from Gilberto Valdez, the Cuban DANZON, the Dominican MERENGUE and the MURGA of Panama, without discarding or underestimating the CUMBIA of Colombia and the JOROPO of Venezuela.

Let's start by recalling that during the decade of the 40s, the island of Cuba was the most attractive casino for the entertainment industry and betting in the Caribbean, the famous TROPICANA received daily a distant clientele just 90 miles from Florida North American, for then the maximum splendor of the Cuban musical essence served as an incentive for the promoters of such a productive industry, it was the time of the famous Orquesta Aragón de Cienfuegos, the Casino Orchestra of the Beach, Arsenio Rodríguez "El cieguito de oro", the Orquesta América and the successful Sonora Matancera with its star Celia Cruz.

On the individual level the seed of the unimaginable future of Caribbean music begins its glorious germination, there emerge figures like Miguelito and Vicentico Valdez, Enrique Jorrín (creator of the CHA CHA CHA) Alfredo "chocolate" Armenteros, Arturo Sandoval (excellent trumpeter) Pedrito Hernández , (violin master), Miguelito Cuní, Pio Leyva, Tata Guines and José Fajardo and their stars, just to mention some prestigious exponents of the genre.

Meanwhile, in the United States, specifically in the city of New York, the figure of the excellent Cuban musician Francisco Grillo "MACHITO" and his Afrocubans, who with his very personal style achieved a SYMBIOSIS between Caribbean rhythms and American Jazz, stands out. , thus he earned his living and increased his prestige among the public enthusiast of The Big Apple.

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![]In those final years of the decade of the 40s, the place par excellence to dance and listen to music in New York was a renowned place located on 53 street, EL PALLADIUM, where the star of the moment was MACHITO AND ITS AFROCUBANS, until enterprising Mario Bauzá and Federico Pagani hired a young man from Puerto Rico raised in New York called TITO PUENTE who by then was leader of his own group LOS PICADILLY BOYS; Puente, an academic musician would be considered in the 50s as "the king of the kettledrum". However, the rise and categorization of PALLADIUM would reach ecstasy with the arrival of the most emblematic artist of the famous center; it was PABLO "TITO" RODRIGUEZ, voice, presence, flavor and identity with the audience.

Tito Rodríguez, born in Puerto Rico, had already worked with Tito Puente in the José Curbelo Orchestra, hired for a "mano a mano" against the MACHITO Orchestra; as time went on, neither Machito nor Tito Bridge with their new orchestra could be on with the unstoppable singer of "mamaguela" who played with his group pieces of the PACHANGA by Eduardo Davison and the CHARANGA by Gilberto Valdez; It is fair to mention that one of the best arrangers of the Tito Rodríguez Orchestra was the extraordinary Puerto Rican keyboardist Charlie Palmieri.

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Until this decade everything was a well deserved success for the effort of the Caribbean musicians in New York and simultaneously in the near Mexico the musical preferences dominated the Cubans Dámaso Pérez Prado "the king of the mambo" and Benny Moré "the barbarian of the rhythm" with his Mata Siguaraya. The contagion of this exceptional musical vein did not stop there, in Venezuela the dance halls enjoyed this musical stream with arrangements made by the Dominican LUIS MARIA FROMETA. "BILLO". And the arrangements of the enthusiastic Carlos Landaeta "bread with cheese" and his Sonora Caracas, in Puerto Rico the success was indescribable with the unmistakable style of Rafael Cortijo and his combo, while in Colombia the rhythm was imposed by the talented Pacho Galán.

Something circumstantial and enriching happens for Caribbean music in North America. In 1958 the famous flautist José Fajardo "and his stars" travels from Cuba to a private presentation in honor of the then presidential candidate John FitzGerald Kennedy, this fact did not go unnoticed and Fajardo is immediately hired for the PALLADIUM, Fajardo had a super band, a true musical DREAM TEAM, with the came CHOCOLATE ARMENTEROS (trumpet player of exception) TATA GUINES (conga) PEDRO HERNANDEZ AND ELIO VALDEZ (violins). with a select repertoire that immediately intoxicated the PALLADIUM based on CHARANGAS in the style of the Orquesta Aragón and the seductive Classical Danzones.

This is how we came to the 60s, the Caribbean boom transcends borders, New York dictates the pattern and the Cuban and Puerto Rican artists are increasingly admired and required in the demanding squares of the Caribbean, Venezuela and Colombia, from Mexico to In Peru New York musicians travel again and again to delight the demanding music lovers of Venezuela, Colombia and Lima, there were SONORA MATANCERA, FAJARDO AND HIS STARS, JOHNNY PACHECO, TITO PUENTE, TITO RODRIGUEZ, All, All dear readers , sharing and sowing the seeds that gave life to the victors of the 21st century. ALL, from New York to the world.

  1. TITO RODRIGUEZ acts in Venezuela and his particular instinct leads him to radically change his style and back to New York he starts an impressive and successful stage as a BOLERIST, Brilliant but never equal to his successes in the PALLADIUM.
  1. CLOSURE OF THE PALLADIUM.
    General Crisis, the prohibition on the sale of liquors in 1964 also decreed the imminent closure of the PALLADIUM and the disappearance of many dreams and projects for the musical colony that made life in the Big Apple.
    Machito, still in the environment, returned to the Jazz and his captive American public, TITO PUENTE continued to survive until the arrival of his SALVATION. Lupe Victoria Yoly Raymond. "LA LUPE".

This story will continue......

This is the end of this musical release where we only aspire to reach the sensibility of a good part of the good Latin American music lovers and of The Big Apple with the hope of showing something about the life and work of those great and unforgettable PIONEERS. </ Div>

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