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Wednesday Aug 20, 2003.     By Agúzate

Music Feed

ANDY MONTAÑEZ at Viva Chicago Latin Music Festival
Saturday, August 23
Petrillo Band Shell 8p.m.–9:30p.m.

No stranger to Chicago, Andy Montañez was awarded with the first star of the Paseo Boricua Walk of Fame from the city last year. His story, however, begins in an entirely different place. Born in 1942 in Santurce, Puerto Rico, Montañez gained international acclaim during his 15 years with El Gran Combo. In 1977 “El niño de Tras Talleres” (The boy from Tras Talleres) shifted to the Venezuelan sounds of Dimensión Latina before launching his solo career three years later.

In the course of his 43-year career, Montañez has shared the stage and recorded with some of the most respected artists of the Latin music industry, including Papo Luca, Juancito Torres, Roberto Roena, Luigui Texidor, Fania All-Stars, Gilberto Santa Rosa, and Víctor Manuelle. His soulful voice and jovial character reminds us of other Afro-Puerto Rican sonero pioneers like Ismael Rivera, Pete “el Conde” Rodríguez, and Cheo Feliciano. (Abner Bardeguez and Omar Torres)

DOMINGO QUIÑONES at Viva Chicago Latin Music Festival
Sunday, August 24
Petrillo Band Shell 3:20p.m.–4:15p.m.

Considered one of the few "younger generation" Salsa singers keeping the sonero (improviser) tradition alive, Domingo Quiñones balances romantic and socially conscious songs. He sang early in his career for El Conjunto Nativo and studied the craft as backing vocals for Rafael de Jesus and Jose Alberto “El Canario.” He then polished his skills with the Conjunto Clásico, Luis “Perico” Ortiz’s Orchestra, Louie Ramírez and Roberto Roena.

Since becoming a solo performer, Quiñones has achieved a great deal of popularity during a time when record companies tend to manufacture singers, still retaining his integrity as an artist. Recently, he solidified his position as a true improviser when he battled Cano Estremera in “Duelo al Anochecer”. There is no doubt that this young man is a force to be reckoned with in the world of Salsa. (Abner Bardeguez and Omar Torres)

MARACA Y OTRA VISION at Chicago SummerDance
Saturday, August 30
Grant Park’s Spirit of Music Garden, 601 S. Michigan, 7:30 p.m.
Lisa “La Boriqua” gives free salsa dance lessons from 6-7:00 p.m.

At their return to SummerDance, Maraca y Otra Visión will undoubtedly prove why they are one of the best Latin dance bands from Cuba--or anywhere. Led by virtuoso flautist Orlando “Maraca” Valle, the 12-piece band has great jazz chops, but also know how to deliver the goods that salsa dancers want. At its Chicago SummerDance appearance last year, Maraca and company worked the crowd into a frenzy with its incendiary rhythms. The explosive performance culminated with a Cuban comparsa in which the group transformed Grant Park into a Havana street during carnival, as each band member grabbed drums, jumped off the stage, and directed the ecstatic audience around the dance floor in a long conga line.

An alumnus of Cuba’s greatest jazz group, Irakere, Maraca is well versed in all Cuban popular styles spanning the last hundred years, from the elegant danzón to Latin jazz and salsa — all featured on last year’s Grammy-nominated album Tremenda Rumba! (Ahi-Nama). Many of the tracks on the band’s latest dance compilation, the CD/DVD combo The Best of Maraca’s Bailables (also on the same label) are timba, the new style of Cuban salsa currently dominating the island’s nightclubs. (Joseph Derr)

ISMAEL MIRANDA at Fiesta Boricua
Sunday, August 31
Division St. between Western and Sacramento

Ismael Miranda started his musical exploration when he was 9 years of age. Born in a musically oriented family, “El niño bonito de la salsa” learned from the sounds of the barrio in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. His first hit came with the Joey Pastrana Orchestra, where he recorded the Boogaloo classic “Rumbón Melón”. (The Boogaloo was a short-lived genre that combined Rhythm and Blues, Soul, Rock and Roll, and Swing.)

In 1967 he joined forces with the great Jewish-American pianist Larry Harlow. Ismael stayed with Harlow for four years and recorded eight albums. Some of his major hits include “Abran paso” and “Arsenio”. In 1971, Johnny Pacheco, Jerry Massucci, and Larry Harlow himself recruited the 19-year-old Puerto Rican to be one of the lead singers of the Fania All-Stars. As the youngest artist in this historical congregation of Latin musicians, Ismael Miranda traveled the world and became one of the protagonists of the 1970’s salsa explosion. (Abner Bardeguez and Omar Torres)

TEGO CALDERÓN at Fiesta Boricua
Sunday, August 31
Division St. between Western and Sacramento

After acquiring a huge following in his native Puerto Rico and establishing many fans in New York, performing artist Tego Calderón will make his first visit to the Windy City. Tego Calderón is considered by many to be on the verge of becoming a pivotal figure in Afro-Caribbean music. He was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico and grew up in a poor community. His lack of resources did not get in the way of his amazing talent. In fact, it has fueled his work with influences, themes, honesty and a clear trajectory. Trained in street corner jams and San Juan’s Escuela Libre de Musica, Calderón combines Hip Hop with Classic Salsa, Reggae, Afro-Puerto Rican and Afro-Cuban rhythms. He adds his skills as composer and songwriter to create a smorgasbord that delights the ears and makes bodies dance. Most important of all, Calderón’s lyrics send powerful messages: sharp commentaries on poverty, racism, national pride, and humanity. Tego Calderón is a genuine artist with an original vision. (Abner Bardeguez and Omar Torres)

CANO ESTREMERA at Fiesta Boricua
Sunday, August 31
Division St. between Western and Sacramento

Cano Estremera is known in the Salsa music business as a difficult person. His last performance in Chicago was marred by his frustration with a local band that could not please his demands, because of the little time they were able to spend rehearsing together. Nevertheless, Estremera is a first-rate singer of the sonero (improviser) tradition, and must have sensed something good in the Chicago crowd to return for his second concert in less than a year. He began his career in Puerto Rico as a folkloric singer of Afro-Puerto Rican musical styles Bomba and Plena. He later moved on through the great Salsa bands La Mulenze and the Bobby Valentín orchestra before initiating a solo career. Many of his live performances are legendary, as he gets inspired and delights audiences with strings of improvisational phrases full of wit and double entendres, or battles other singers on stage. It is acknowledged that he has delivered a record of 130 improvisations in a row. (Abner Bardeguez and Omar Torres)