"Los guiros me estan llamando!...."

(Chekeres - Hecho por Ralph Davila, Made by the late Ralph Davila, Pic courtesy of Willie Everich)

I gotta tell you, everytime I look at these chekeres two things cross my mind, they must have sounded great, and unfortunately you can't get them anymore. These are probably one of the rarest set of chekeres around (probably more rare than even Morty Sander's creations). See, the thing about these chekeres were that they were made by the late Rafael "Ralphie" Davila. Ralph the son of legendary sonero, Chivirico Davila, brother of apkwon, guirero and rumbero Israel "Izzy" Davila, and friend to many a rumbero, passed away about 18 years ago, and believe me his friends, family, and myself included have not forgotten the legacy that he has left behind. I wanted to introduce Ralph on this board, and what better way than to show off one of the few pics in existence (that I know of) that show his great work.

According to Willie and Jose, Ralph's chekeres were made with great attention to detail. See Ralph was a great craftsman and what he used to do was cut the necks off of the gourd, and what this allowed him to do was clean the inside real good, to allow for greater resonance (as anyone that has made or noticed that most chekere with a small neck can't really be cleaned all too well at all). Ralph would then take his secret epoxy recipe and glue the neck back on where you couldn't even tell that it was taken off in the first place. I believe he would then polyurethane the outside and inside of the gourd, and then put on the beads. His bead work was pretty intricate and rather lovely if I may add. When Willie first sent me this pic I told him, man they look heavy, Willie said, "No, they were actually very light, and had a BIG sound." I can imagine the guys playing a guiro with these babies...Fuhgedaboutit!!

I would place Ralph's creations among the hardest to find chekeres out there. Ralph (that I know of), did not mass produce these beauties but would rather make them for himself or friends. This is just one of the ways that Ralph contributed his talents to the NYC scene. We will get more in depth as soon as I talk to Izzy, Willie, Jose and others that knew him. Those two chekeres in the above picture make two thirds out of a set of three. The ones in the picture are somewhere in PR and the third is owned by Ralph's brother Izzy. I talked to Willie about this set the other day. He was telling me how great they were to play and how they had seen many a guiro. I just hope that whoever is in possession of these babies either knows what he has, or at least had the decency to give them to someone that does. I believe that there still is hope that one day they will be reunited with their long lost triplet. But alas...

Just in case you are looking for something to do...

ILU AYE will be @ La Pregunta Arts Cafe (in fnt of City College) on Friday the 29th of August, $10 cover. (check out NYC events tab and flyer below for more info).

Also:

CAMARADAS el barrio Presents….. BAMBULA Door: $5 Time: 9PM Saturday, August 30th 2008 CAMARADAS el barrio 2241 First Avenue (@115th st.) Spanish Harlem, NYC Tel. 212-348-2703

AND....



ZON DEL BARRIO

Message from Aurora:

Amigos,

Bienvenidos and welcome to the Barrio Zone where history becomes music and oldskool gets a new beat.

We're ending the summer with a great free outdoor concert in the community where we live and founded ZDB: El Barrio USA. Please join ZDB along with our friends Sammy Ayala & the King of the Cuatro & Fania All-Star legend: YOMO TORO
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Harlem Meer: 110th Street btwn Fifth & Lenox Aves. Inside Central Park
Two shows: 2 & 4 p.m.

We're dedicating this show to Rob Blumenthal who was host to these outdoor concerts for the past 15 years before his untimely death in May. His wish was to celebrate the labor day weekend BIG with an international name such as Yomo's and we'll be there to do just that for you Rob!

"La Timba No Es Como Ayer..."

If you been playing or listening to any rumba within the last 20 years, its evident that rumba is not being played as it was in the 60's or 70's. Not only that but the variance in how its played with respect to region (i.e. Havana, Matanzas, NY, SF, Miami) also varies widely. I believe this is probably one of the main reasons why rumba is here to stay, it is constantly evolving.

Here are some fine examples:

(Rumberos de Cuba- Ariel Monteresi-cantante, Maximino Duquesne- quinto, Yosvanni Diaz Herrera-tumbador- Eddie De Los Santos (?) - tres golpes, El Gato, Cusito, others - coro)

(Ilu Aye - Osvaldo "Bembesito" Lora- Lead Singer, Nicky Laboy - quinto, Jonathan Troncoso- tumbador, Camilo Molina- tres dos, Fidel Tavares - guagua, Ramin Quintana - chekere, Obanilu Allende - coro, Pupy Insua and Susan Sanabria - dancers)

Rumberos de Cuba have their own style typified by the use of a cajon/tumba combination and extensive conversations between the tres dos and the tumba part. Ilu Aye are probably playing some of the best rumba in NY and their arrangements showcase their wide talents, from Bembesito's singing, to Nicky's quinto, to Jonathan's great tumbador work. They are the one's to watch for.

More to come...

"Era tremenda escopeta.." - Felix Sanabria,8/08

(Sonido Isleno - Frank Cotto, Felix Sanabria, Oscar Onyos, Michael Rodriguez (ibae), Ben Lapidus, Pic courtesy of Felix Sanabria)

"With sadness I regret to inform that Michael Rodriguez, a young and up and coming tambolero passed away on Saturday, September 29th, 2001. For those that are interested his body will be at the funeral home located at East 116th street between 1st and 2nd Ave. in el Barrio." (Felix Sanabria, O1')

Once in a while there comes along a rumbero that really stands out for various reasons. Its either their facility in learning the tradition, or their ability to properly perform the various rhythms whether it be rumba, bata, abakua, palo, or the other myriad of rhythms from Afro Caribbea.

According to the people I have spoken to, Michael Rodriguez fit this mold. A son of El Barrio (112th and Lexington Ave to be exact), he was a rather young cat at the time of this passing, but he was well on his way to being an important figure in the NYC scene. In a conversation I had with Jose Rivera the following was said:

"We were playing at this place in El Barrio, we had a rumba de cajones going on (we were playing Apache's cajones), and we started out real slow and as we were playing I spotted Mikey checking us out. Well as he left he said, "yeah, they are doing it right". (Jose Rivera, 8/08)

Getting your props from Mike was not an easy task. See Mike, as many people have told me started young, and it was as if he was born to do this. He could play, dance, sing, and he was a fast learner. According to Felix he was one of his top students at the time and Felix took him everywhere to gig. Felix told me that just early that year (before he died in 01') he took him to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in DC and Mike played some okonkolo, bongo, sang and danced up a storm.

(Michael Rodriguez ?-9/29/2001, Ibae...)

Unfortunately as I have mentioned, Mike passed away waaaaay too early, and this came as very upsetting news to the NY rumba community, his friends, and of course his family. People like Mike are the reason I put out this blog, and I just hope I did his legacy a little justice...

more info to come...