Showing posts with label Merengue. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Merengue. Show all posts

10.7.20

Padre e hija ... y música


Luis Kalaff Perez

This illustrious “maker of songs” was born on October 11, 1916 in Pimentel, Dominican Republic.

He first made his living as a carpenter and thus he made his first guitar, which soon led to his becoming an excellent guitarist, a talent he inherited from his mother who was a consummate guitar player. One day he fell deeply in love with his boss’ daughter and wrote for her his first song “Yo Vi Un Celaje” (I Saw A Sign).

He became so involved in singing and composing that his friends would worry: “He has a constant ‘heart to heart’ meeting with the muses”.

When his parents separated, together with his mother he moved to Bonao, where he pursued his musical passion and formed his first group. A second love led to his composing the now classical “Serenata De Amor” (Love Serenade). He loved to fall in love and compose beautiful songs for each new love. When juke boxes and 78 rpm disks became popular local musicians worried that the new technology would replace them, but Kalaff persisted in his art.

He formed the trio “Alegres Dominicanos” with Pablo Molina and Pedro Lapaix and soon signed a contract to perform in the radio stations “La Voz Del Tropico” and H.I.Z. When Lapaix left the trio Bienvenido Brens, another one of our great composers, took his place and together they created their best hits and performed in the historic radio station “La Voz del Yuna” where all the giants of the era played.

The trio then toured throughout the country charged with preserving their autochthonous rhythms. It is then that Don Luis composed “La Empaliza” one of his most emblematic works, which has been widely recorded, including a version by Julio Iglesias.

His creative genius is inexhaustible, he is always awake, in perpetual motion; his songs appear one after another and travel throughout the world carried by the best voices of the era, from Oscar de Leon to Celia Cruz among many, many of the biggest legendary names.

His tour of musical preservation through the inland small towns resulted in excellent works added to the country’s musical heritage, including the “mangulina” rhythm, with songs such as “Baitolin”, “Compay José”, “Compadre Cholo”, “Malao” and “Guayacanal”.

In 1956 the trio signed their first contract in Puerto Rico and in 1958 they moved to New York where he increased the size of his group and called it “Los Alegres Dominicanos” (The Happy Dominicans). Don Luis Kalaff’s artistic output is so vast that the list alone of his song titles, forms a splendid songbook: “Cuando vuelvas conmigo”, “Melancolía”, “Mi gloria”. “Acuérdate”, “Estoy a tu orden”, “Demasiado corazón”. “Olvídate de mí”, “Un corazón de acero”, “Amor sin esperanza”, “Voy a olvidarte”, “Aunque me cueste la vida”. “No tengo dinero”, “Al que me robó tu amor que le aproveche” and, of course, “Siempre hace falta una Mujer”.

Undoubtedly Don Luis Kalaff must have sworn eternal love to the love of his life: Music. At 93 he is still enveloped by the creative fire that only great artists have in their hearts. He has been a Peer composer since the early 50’s – probably one of the last surviving great composers. With over 700 songs to his credit, his works have been recorded by Julio Iglesias, La Lupe, Oscar d’Leon, Celia Cruz, Daniel Santos, Sergio Vargas, and Fernando Villalona among others – a living legend in his native Dominican Republic.



Lo ultimo de 
Luis Kalaff
1965

A1. El Merengue Del Cuentazo (Merengue)
A2. Yo Tranbajo En Eso (Merengue)
A3. Se Acabo Tu Juguetico (Bolero)
A4. La Viuda Cabrera (Merengue)
A5. Aunque Me Cueste La Vida (Bolero)
A6. La Pesadilla (Merengue)

B1. A La Orilla Del Rio (Merengue)
B2. l Telefono (Merengue)
B3. Acuerdate (Bolero)
B4. Ruque Que Te Ruque (Merengue)
B5. Yo Necesito Un Hombre (Bolero)
B6. Salve De Navidad (Merengue)

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1.1.14

A Happy New (Y)ear : )

  
Cuco Valoy
Sonero Y Valor
2007

Tracks:

01 - Los Soneros De Ayer
02 - Juliana
03 - El Murmulleo (Nueve Noches)
04 - Mendigo De Amor
05 - Hoy Te Maldigo
06 - El Golpe De Bibijagua
07 - Amor Para Mi
08 - Salsa Caliente
09 - Mentirosa
10 - Celitos Baratos
11 - Quejas De Mi Barrio
12 - El Borracho
13 - La Vida A Mi Modo
14 - Valle Arriba, Mare Abajo
  
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 "THE WITCH MASTER" Cuco Valoy (singer, composer, arranger, producer) and his guitarist brother Martín began working as a duo (Los Ahijados, the Godsons) in the late '50s based on popular Cuban voice and guitar duos and trios of the time, many songs written by Cuco. 'Páginas Gloriosas' '65 ('Pages Of Glory'; available on Páginas Gloriosas, Adelante Soldados '94) was Cuco's patriotic hymn and the anthem of the short-lived 'constitutional revolution', suppressed by a military government helped by US Marines.

Listen to the music of Los Ahijados : )

'I was young,' he says (now describing himself as apolitical); 'I identified with the impoverished and marginalized against the wealthy establishment in power ... but it was a long time ago.' (interviewed by Philip Sweeney in the Independent '93). They met leaders of the budding salsa boom in New York '71; Cuco formed a twelve-piece band '75 which he named both Los Virtuosos (the Virtuous) and La Tribu (the Tribe), changed to Nueva Tribu (New Tribe) when new members were added mid-'80s. The lineup included lead and chorus voices, rhythm section and a changing front line of one or two saxophones, two or three trumpets and frequently one trombone; personnel including the splendid vocalist Henry García (mid-'70s to mid-'80s), Martín on bass, and two of Cuco's 14 sons: Marcos Antonio Valoy (sometimes on trombone) and Ramón Orlando (Valoy, piano, musical director, arranger, composer, chorus singer). Ramón left mid-'80s and became a major Dominican star. Until then, Valoy featured a variety of salsa and merengue (the DR's predominate dance form) but then deviated from this rule on albums that were largely or totally merengue. Lots of his best material was scattered through albums on the Discolor and Kubaney labels '75-83, later compiled on the Kubaney CD collections: Sonero, El Brujo (Volumen 2), 20 Exitos De Los Ahijados (with Los Ahijados), La Salsa De Cuco Valoy -- 15 Exitos, Salsa Con Coco, Bien Sobao, Sonero Mayor and Cuco y Martín Valoy (with Los Ahijados) '87-94; annoyingly, just to confuse things, the '92 compilations Salsa Con Coco and Bien Sobao have the same titles and cover artwork as Valoy's '78 and '82 releases. His key albums on Discolor were Salsa Con Coco '78, Tremenda Salsa '78 (aka Cuco Valoy y su Tribu en Curazao), Arrollando '79 and Tiza! '80, the latter including what Sweeney described as the 'superbly melodramatic salsa thriller' 'Mendigo de Amor' ('Beggar Of Love'). Cuco recorded for small firms '83-7, returning to Kubaney '88; treasures lurking among the mid-'80s albums include Cuco Valoy y su Tribu '84 on his own CVR label, Mejor Que Nunca '85 and Con Sabor del Tropico '86, both on Team. He made a substantial return to salsa on A Petición Popular Salsa '89, which was entirely arranged by Isidro Infante. Cuco reunited with Ramón on La Gran Obra Musical De Cuco Valoy '91 on J&N/Fuga Records; Infante was co-musical director, co-arranger and keyboardist on Valoy's last album on J&N, El Que Sabe! '92 and as co-arranger on Sabroso '93, his first on AVL. On Sabroso he returned to his first love, old Cuban songs; he told Sweeney it was the music he felt most deeply. Cuco settled in New Jersey '91, and with his Nueva Tribu was doing three to four gigs a week across North and South America in '93. Many of Cuco's more than 300 songs are about women, such as his monster hit 'Juliana' from Salsa Con Coco '78; 'I find it easy to write songs on the bitterness of love gone wrong because it's a part of the everyday life of ordinary people -- everybody recognizes it.' He acquired a nickname and an association with the Afro-Christian voodoo cult of santería with his merengue hit 'El Brujo' '77 ('The Wizard' from El Brujo '76, aka Corre, Policia, Corre!): a woman with a wayward husband uses a potion to bring him back. UK disc jockey Tomek decided '91 that Cuco really was a wizard, in 'his mastery of all elements of the Cuban-Dominican expression, ''merensalsa''. The immaculate swing of his band is informed by arrangements which never sacrifice the bittersweet diasporic tradition for specious modernism...' Further albums: Las Mujeres Calientes: Bachata, Merengue y Son '94 and Selección de Merengues '95 on AVL, Merengues Bombon '95 and Salsa Con Valoy '96 (compiles salsa tracks from '91-3 albums) on Mr Imperio.In 1997 DE VUELTA AL SON in 1998 A DOS TIEMPOS with Rmm in 2005 with kubaney INCTACTOand his new hit La Piedra and "Merengues Clasicos" is on digital store 2009. 



Cuco Valoy

In a career beginning in the 1950s and continuing into the present day, Cuco Valoy has known success singing son, salsa, merengue, bachata and bolero, in addition to playing and singing Afro-Dominican folk styles like palo. Not only has Valoy’s career run the gamut of Dominican musical forms, he has also seen the music from the vantage point of singer, percussionist, guitarist, producer, and even on-air disc jockey. Known chiefly as a vocalist, Valoy recorded both the rhythm guitar and the bongo for the son duo Los Ahijados which he fronted with his brother Martin, and often played piano or bass on his later merengue recordings. Many of the early merengues de guitarra recorded by bachateros like Edilio Paredes and Ramon Cordero featured Valoy on tambora. As a producer he worked with pioneering musicians like Bernardo Ortiz and Antonio Gomez Salcedo, and he was recognized by no less a figure than Radio Guarachita founder Radhames Aracena as having been the first radio disc jockey in the Dominican Republic to play bachata on the air.

Valoy was born in 1937 in Mano Guayabo, near the capital of Santo Domingo.
The Dominican Republic is home to a thriving culture of soneros, from Santiago to the capital, and Valoy grew up in the middle of it. Cuco’s father wanted his sons to be professional musicians, and though only a carpenter of humble means, he had Cuco study music at El Conservatorio Nacional de Música de la República .

Cuco’s professional career started in the late 1950s with Los Ahijados ( The god-children), a traditional son group he formed with his brother Martin and named in response to the great Cuban duo Los Compadres (The Godfathers). Without a doubt the most commercially successful Dominican soneros ever, Los Ahijados enjoyed hit after hit until Valoy turned to salsa and orchestra merengue in the early 1970s.

Cuban music exports dried up after the arrival of Fidel Castro in 1959. Inversely, in 1961, three decades of restrictions on Dominican music were lifted with the demise of dictator Rafael Trujillo. For Dominican son lovers, Los Ahijados filled the vacuum left by the silence from Cuba. Valoy was conscious of this, and in many of his songs he makes references to the great Cuban soneros of the past, artists like Miguel Matamoros and Antonio Machín. Some of the duo’s most memorable songs, like “Vaiven” and “El paso de la jaiva” have become standards in the international son repertoire.

The success of Los Ahijados left Valoy with the resources to invest in his own record label and radio station. Soon after the death of Trujillo, a wave of migration took place from the countryside to the city, and the capital’s new residents brought with them their love of guitar music; the result was the Dominican variant of bolero which has come to be known as bachata. It was in the midst of this wave that Valoy began to work as a producer, and some of the best loved of early bachatas were sung by his artists, songs like “Dos rosas” by Bernardo Ortiz and “El interno” by Antonio Gomez Salcedo. Apart from these singers Valoy’s studio was the first to employ legendary guitarist Edilio Paredes, who Valoy calls “A musician of extraordinary importance.”

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9.11.10

¡Baila!

  
JOSSIE ESTEBAN
tropical
2000

Tracks:

01. El baile del pato
02. De fin de semana
03. Borracho y sigo para'o
04. Esto si esta bueno
05. Gzando
06. Nadie
07. Nena
08. Carino mio
09. Te sigo queriendo
10. Solo, solo
11. Historia de amor
12. Ron compai
13. Me gustan to'a las mujeres
  
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This release from Jossie Esteban is one my favorites from this exceptionally talented merengue artist. Formally the lead singer of La Patrulla 15, as a soloist artist for many years now Jossie is in his element. This album follows his classic high energy, upbeat and extremely rhythmic merengue. The lyrics are hilarious as usual which will inspire you to dance and enjoy every inch of each song. This album has plenty of hits to choose from. My personal favorites are: "El baile del Pato", "Borrachao y Sigo Para'o", "Gozando", "Nadie" and "Solo,Solo'. If you like Jossie Esteban then you know what to expect. He does not disappoint. Therefore don't miss out on this wonderful album.
~Marianopolita2005 
 
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Jossie Esteban y la Patrulla 15 is a leading merengue band from Dominican Republic, formed by Jossie Esteban (born Esteban Grullón) and Alberto Martínez (known as Ringo).
The group was formed by these Dominican childhood friends in May 1979, and included musicians from Puerto Rico, but mostly Dominican Republic. Their debut album El Cuchu Cu Cha was a hit, and since then they have recorded more than 20 records, winning awards such as “the gold congo” in Colombia, “orchestra of the year” in New York, and a number of platinum discs. Some of their hit songs are "Agua de Coco" (Coconut Water), "Pirulo", "El Can" (The Party), "Un hombre busca una mujer" (a man looks for a woman), "Enamoraito" (love-struck) etc.
Since 1992 Jossie Esteban has also been part of the successful merengue threesome Zona Roja.
Mr. Esteban got strange beliefs about being born... but no trouble with music.
 
  
 
El Baile Del Pato

El baile del pato, Cuá, Cuá, Cuá
El baile del pato, Cuá, Cuá, Cuá

Un pato salió de fiesta, pa' lla pa' la capital
Un pato salió de fiesta, pa' lla pa' la capital

Se llevó muchas mujeres, para poder disfrutar
Se llevó muchas mujeres, para poder disfrutar

El pato bailand mucho, le ha dado mucho calor
El pato bailand mucho, le ha dado mucho calor

Lo meto entre mi laguna, el paso media mejor
Lo meto entre mi laguna, el paso media mejor

El baile del pato, Cuá, Cuá, Cuá
El baile del pato, Cuá, Cuá, Cuá
 
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25.6.10

Pero con Coco!

 

Pochi Y Su Cocoband 
Los Cocotuces
Pero con Coco!
1991

Tracks:

1. Bala Bala
2. Ana Victoria
3. La Seca
4. Detente
5. La Negra Pola
6. El Cacu
7. Vete Vete
8. La Sopa
9. A ti Mujer
10. Los Palmaritos
11. Dos Personas
12. El Bombillo

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These guys ride the joyousness of few horn-band popular musics left to us, and whenever the bounce starts to fall they freshen it with a touch of bachata guitar, a trombone solo, whatever. ~ Carl Hoyt and John Storm Roberts, Original Music, All Music Guide

...the year that this album came out (time frame) was around the time that the cocoband were blueprinted as one of the best merengue bands around (those days) man, sometimes i do wonder about whatever happened to those good old days with the cocoband...

...Pochy (Alfonso Vásquez) is a very talented artist who not only stands out for his merengue but has incredible salsa and cha cha talent.

I was introduced to the music of Cocoband in the early 1990's and I was immediately hooked. The rhythms are infectious and the horns lift your spirit and the enthusiasm with which the lyrics are delivered make you feel like you know what they are saying, even if you don't. I have a collection of several genres of music, but it is the latin music styles that I never tire of. Maybe it is partly because I long to understand the words, but it is also because of it's unique feel. It has no equivalent in other genres. I dare you to try and sit still while listening. Even the slower rhythms make you tap your feet.
I can think of no better reason to recommend Pochi & His Cocoband than it is just musical heaven!
~ Todd A. Johnson
  
One of the premier merengue acts of the early to mid-'90s, Pochy y Su Cocoband were a group from the Dominican Republic led by Alfonso "Pochi" Vásquez. The group recorded roughly a dozen albums over a ten-year period for the renowned Kubaney label and billed themselves under a variety of names -- originally just Cocoband, then Pochi y Su Cocoband or Pochy y Su Cocoband, also Los Cocotuces. Founded in 1988 by Vásquez, the original Cocoband  were notably also comprised of Kinito Méndez and Bobby Rafael. Along with Vásquez, Méndez -- who would split from the Cocoband during the early '90s and find success elsewhere with Rikarena  and Rokabanda, plus as a solo artist -- wrote many of the group's songs. The Cocoband made their full-length album debut on Kubaney  with Cocoband  (1989), followed by numerous other albums including La Faldita (1990), Llegaron los Cocotuces (1991), Pero con Coco! (1991), El Arrollador (1992), Canciones Cocomanticas (1993), La Coco Es la Coco (1994), El Hombre Llegó Parao (1995), Temible  (1995), and El Ombliguito (1996). In addition, Kubaney compiled a few greatest-hits collections: Grandes Exitos de la Cocoband, Vol. 1 (1994), Grandes Exitos de la Cocoband, Vol. 2 (1994), and the double-disc Coco Mixes (1998).
  
By the time of the latter collection -- a compilation of extended merenhouse remixes reflecting the changing times -- Vásquez had left Kubaney and associated himself with a new label, Fonovisa Records. Changing his billing from Pochy y Su Cocoband to Pochy Familia y Su Cocoband, he released a few albums that found him moving away from purely merengue and adopting other tropical styles such as salsa and bachata: Ponle Sazon (1998), Tu Sabes...No Te Hagas (1999), and Con Más Sabor a Coco (2001). This trio of Fonovisa releases marked a downturn in popularity for Vásquez, and after a one-off independent release, Pochy Familia y Su Cocoband (2004), he essentially entered a state of retirement. A few years later, the label Emusica purchased the Kubaney back catalog and reissued some of the best Pochy y Su Cocoband recordings of the early '90s: there were two compilations in 2007 -- the single-disc Coco de Oro and the double-disc A Man and His Music...¡Pero con Coco! -- plus a few select albums. Then in 2008 Vásquez reunited with original Cocoband members Kinito Méndez and Bobby Rafael for a 20th anniversary celebration performance at the United Palace in New York City. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide

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