Arturo Sandoval and a Sin Miedo after-party
“This instrument is pain,” said Cuban-born trumpeter Arturo Sandoval from the stage of the Jefferson Center in Roanoke last month. Complaining that every inch of his body hurt to hit the extreme high and low notes for which he is renowned, the founding member of Cuba’s legendary Latin fusion group Irakere told us something else…
Live: The charming Los Tigres del Norte
‘They’re like the Mexican Beatles,” says Edgar Ramírez, waving a tri-color bandana and sporting a heavy, black felt cowboy hat covered with the signatures of Los Tigres del Norte in calligraphic, silver Sharpie ink. Outside of Disco Rodeo, fans endure freezing temperatures to pay $60 to see these Godfathers of Norteño, but Ramirez won free…
La Ley celebrates its fifth year; Durham gets a salsa festival
La Ley’s Fifth Anniversary, Aug. 3, Cary Beneath a sea of cowboy hats, the designer fades carved into the back of men’s haircuts carry geometric designs and lettered phrases like “100% Mexican-made.” They are as well-groomed as the turf at Cary’s Koka Booth Amphitheatre, where thousands have turned up for the fifth broadcasting anniversary of…
Durham Latino Festival; Grupo Fantasma
Durham Latino Festival grows In her native Puerto Rico, Rosalie Bocelli-Hernández grew up calling kites “cometas.” When she started working for Durham City Parks and Recreation, she was surprised that other Latin Americans have at least 10 different words for kite: “Papalote, chiringa, cometa … I have a list. That was so funny,” says Bocelli-Hernández.…
Raleigh’s Rey Norteño sings one for the road
Listen! If you cannot see the music player below, download the free Flash Player. Listen! If you cannot see the music player below, download the free Flash Player. Listen! If you cannot see the music player below, download the free Flash Player. For anyone who’s migrated to this Triangle we call home, you now have…
Rey Norteño photos
All photos by Lisa Brockmeier
La Ley anniversary and La Fiesta del Pueblo
La Ley excitement It’s 9 p.m. on a steamy Thursday in late August, and Disco Rodeo is already so packed you can’t move. By 10:15, people are being turned away. Even the balconies are standing room only. The only creatures here with space around themthe giant stuffed animals dangling from the ceiling, like midway toys…
More Latin Beat Coverage
Circle of influence
Eddie Palmieri Trio: Iridium Jazz Club It began as an experiment at the San Francisco Jazz Festival last year: Eddie Palmierithe maestro of the Latin pianoand 38-year-old saxophonist David Sanchez jammed. “It was a duo. Believe it or not, it was better because it was freer,” says Sanchez, making noises as if being blown away:…
Nestor Torres visits UNC-Chapel Hill’s Charanga Carolina
Besides a taste for fine pork barbecue, Cuba and Carolina now have another thing in common: charanga. The Cuban charanga orchestra was born in the late 19th century, a creole blend of violins, woodwinds and Afro-Cuban percussion. Four years ago, ethnomusicologist David F. Garcia founded Charanga Carolina at UNC-Chapel Hill to introduce his students to…
Travels in salsa
Nobody sings their unsung salsa heroes like Puerto Rico, where rank-and-file musicians are known by name and “nostalgia” acts like El Gran Combo, playing their 45th anniversary concert this month, remain industry powerhouses. Salsa wells up from the ground here. Or perhaps it radiates from above: After all, in San Juan, my iPod was redundant,…
Hell’s bells
John Santos and his quintet rolled quietly into Duke’s Nelson Music Room on Yom Kippur. Word of the event, sponsored by the Hispanic student group Mi Gente, barely made it outside campus, but some local drummers boosted turn out. Bradley Simmons, director of Duke’s Afro-Cuban and Djembe ensembles, loaned Santos some beautiful LP Giovanni series…
Devil went down to Georgia
This provocation from the man we had all come to see, pianist Larry Harlow, “El Judio Maravilloso,” was the final tease. This March evening, on the 40th anniversary of the Fania record label, a reunion of some 20 of salsa’s original superstars was about to perform in Atlanta’s Tabernacle. The impatient crowd had already shooed…
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