Category: People

Ondatropica at Lincoln Center ‘Out of Doors’

On By scenebyginaIn Colombia, family, music, New York, PeopleLeave a comment
Photo by Gina Vergel

Ondatrópica made its US debut at the Lincoln Center Out Of Doors Festival on July 27 and it was awesome, mostly because I was able to shoot photos right up front. Read Jon Pareles’ (New York Times) review of the show here.

This all-star band featured greats from the golden age of Colombian music including Michi Sarmiento, Alfredito Linares, Pedro Ramayá Beltran, Markitos Micolta and Wilson Vivero, alongside the two musicians who started this wonderful project, Will ‘Quantic’ Holland and Mario Galeano with their bands, Combo Barbaro and Frente Cumbiero.

I got to meet the very humble Quantic as he was manning the merchandise table, where I purchased the band’s self-titled debut album. I told him that his “Original Sound of Original Cumbia” and “Cartagena!” CDs mean a lot to me because my dad loves them and they help to transport him back to Colombia at a time when it’s not easy for him to visit his beloved home country.

My dad has had Parkinson’s disease for more than 10 years now and is quite immobile. He is the person who introduced my brothers and I to Colombian music as he’d blast his records every Saturday when we were growing up. It’s why my younger brother started DJing at 14. It’s why my older brother and I are insane fans of la musica de la costa. It’s why this music is in our blood.

One of the things my dad misses most in life is dancing to the wonderful music from his home country. So I was very happy to tell Quantic his CDs are on REPEAT at my parents’ home in New Jersey. He can’t quite dance; but he sure can bop to it and occasionally digs out his maracas when doing so.

Now my dad will have the opportunity to experience this new Colombian sound. Ondatrópica fuses old with new to create a progressive sound which mixes traditional Colombian styles such as cumbia, gaita and champeta with boogaloo, ska, beat-box, MCs, dub and funk. And we were quite blown away when they played a song with bits of Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man” in it!

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Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto & Geko Jones at LPR

On By scenebyginaIn Colombia, music, New York, PeopleLeave a comment

Masters of Colombian folkloric cumbia, Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto, played Le Poisson Rouge on July 26 and it was a thing of beauty. Lead singer Juan “Chuchita” Fernández may be in his 80s, but he shows no signs of slowing down as he consistently charmed the crowd throughout the nearly two hour performance. And, yes, that front row full of YOUNG LADIES.

Geko Jones, one of the New York tropical scene’s hottest DJs, kept the crowd bailando with sets interspersed with classic Colombian tunes and, of course, various remixes that put a modern take on this amazing music. Check out his latest mixtape here.

A second set by Los Gaiteros included special guest musicians, including some from M.A.K.U. Soundsystem, a Queens based, afroColombian punk, funk and jazz supergroup that I’ll be profiling in Sounds and Colours in the near future.

All photos by me.

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July 26 storm in NYC…

On By scenebyginaIn New York, PeopleLeave a comment
Photo by Ryan Brenizer

… And it’s a beauty because Fordham alum Ryan Brenizer shot it!

Brenizer, an award winning wedding photographer, is frequently hired by Fordham University’s Marketing and Communications offices for news and feature photography. We love when he is free, which is not too often since he’s almost always shooting someone’s special day.

Read all about his work here.

The ‘CounterCulture’ of the Latin Alternative Music Conference

On By scenebyginaIn People, Uncategorized, workLeave a comment
Image via Latin Recap.

My first time at the Latin Alternative Music Conference was enlightening.

I’ve always liked music that falls into this category, and it’s interesting to see it evolve. Where years ago this conference would have filled with Rock en español, this year’s artists encompass a variety of genres: electronic, indie pop and so on. NYC-based writer Marlon Bishop explains more about that here.

And, as the Associated Press’ Laura Wides Munoz explains in this piece, “alternative Latin musicians, some of whom have fan bases back home, are finding new audiences in the United States thanks in part to that online scene and the growth of second generation Latino audiences.” This only points to more growth in this area.

The panel discussions were enlightening. Calle 13’s Residente and Visitante discussed politics, religion and how Latin America on a whole inspires their music. They weren’t shy about throwing digs at tropical, urban radio stations, who play “music with botox” and the same artists, over and over again.

The LAMC press room was a flurry of activity on day one, with artists from Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Panama via Oakland and more chatted with journalists from all over. It was nice to see so many Latin American focused outlets in one place, especially since many of them no longer limit their interviews to Spanish-language only, something I find to be challenging when pitching Outernational.

The radio panel, featuring my Fordham colleague Rita Houston from WFUV, was informative and I loved that during the audience Q & A, artists from the States, Costa Rica, and Colombia asked how to overcome the radio hurdle. Most of the experts agreed: find your niche, send your music to college radio and just get your music out there to the people any which way you can.

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(Above: Residente & Visitante of Calle 13, Tego Calderon, Raka Dun and Raka Rich of Los Rakas and Miles Solay & Leo Mintek of Outernational. All pics by me.)

The four-day conference continued today with panel discussions on how to make that number one hit and a free concert by Calle 13 and Ana Tijoux for Celebrate Brooklyn! this evening at the Prospect Park bandshell.

I’ll have a couple of posts about LAMC coming out soon in Sounds and Colours so stay tuned.

Asians have surpassed Hispanics as the largest wave of new immigrants to the United States …

On By scenebyginaIn PeopleLeave a comment

Well, we may be a large (majority) minority group, but Hispanics are no longer the bees knees when it comes to migrant groups to the U.S.

The population of Asian descent has swelled to a record 18.2 million, which makes Asians the fastest-growing racial group in the country, according to a study released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center.

Read more in the New York Times story.

About 30 percent of Americans over age 65 live alone.

On By scenebyginaIn New York Times, PeopleLeave a comment

This New York Times article touches on elderly people and loneliness reminded me of my aunt, who not long ago lost her husband of more than 50 years. She’s in her 70s and lives alone, yet I know my other family members make sure she comes over often and vice versa. I don’t think she should live alone, but I know she wants to be strong and not impose on anyone.

So far, it’s working out. She’s keeping active and I think that’s important. Anyway, onto this great story:

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The Neighbors Who Don’t Knock

By John Leland

NO one on the floor can say how or why it happened, what made them different from other residents in the building. Maybe it began with a small thing: a cup of coffee brought from across the hall, a phone call at night to make sure the day’s demons were not filling up the dark.

They are about a dozen New Yorkers in their 70s and 80s, mostly women, mostly living alone, on the fifth floor of a public-housing building for older residents in Washington Heights. They have enough health problems to fill a nursing home. They are prime candidates for social isolation and the consequences it brings.

Instead, on a morning in March, they are a crowd, squeezing into the apartment of Bienvenida Torres, 78, in what has become their project for the past year, and a test of their bonds as a community. On June 30, 2011, Ms. Torres’s daughter was stabbed to death in her apartment in Co-op City in the Bronx. The police arrested the daughter’s common-law husband, who remains on Rikers Island awaiting trial. Since the killing, Ms. Torres’s neighbors have been united in purpose, to help her weather the blow.

Read more here.