Retumba Revisited......9/20/00 South Street Seaport

Despite the fact that this is not purely folkloric in nature I chose to posted it here because of the over all emphasis on percussion. These are several excerpts from the all women ensemble Retumba playing at the Seaport in NYC. Retumba presents the entire spectrum of playing singing and dancing.

20,000

Well we've hit the 20k mark, and hopefully we will be around for many more. Willie and I have always tried to provide as much information in regard to and in respect to the NYC hand drumming scene (i.e. rumba, bomba y plena, Dominican Roots, etc...) If you are new to the blog, stay tuned because we still have a couple of tricks up our sleeve.


Ralph

Camilo Ernesto Molina Gaetan

(Oba Ire - Camilo playing caja, Phot Credit: CEMGMusic)

New York has always been fertile ground for young and upcoming talent. As expected Camilo Molina is no exception. A native of El Barrio, Camilo has achieved what most never get to achieve. He has acquired such a proficiency within so many styles of percussion that he has made himself an indispensable asset within the NY percussion scene.

(Tony Rosa and a younger Camilo, Photo Credit: Martin Cohen)

Taken from Camilo's myspace:

Camilo Ernesto Molina Gaetán is an accomplished percussionist of 18 years old and is a graduate of Heritage High School in El Barrio, New York. At the age of two, Camilo began studying with Los Pleneros de la 21 – a community based group dedicated to playing folkloric Puerto Rican music – in their children’s workshop. It was as a student in the workshops where Camilo had met his first teachers: Alberto “Tito” Cepeda and Juan Gutierrez – both considered master Latin percussionists - with whom he studied Afro-Puerto Rican Folkloric music (Bomba y Plena). Advancing in skill through the years, Camilo has progressed from being a student to graduating into a percussionist teacher for the community workshops offered by Los Pleneros de la 21.

Camilo has also studied at Boys Harbor Conservatory with renowned percussionists Johnny Almendra, and Louis Bauzo since the age of four. Under Mr. Almendra’s guidance, Camilo studied Salsa and Jazz percussion instruments (Congas, Timbales, Bongós and Drum-set). Under the tutelage of Mr. Bauzo, Camilo has had the opportunity to study Afro-Cuban folkloric rhythms and instruments including Rumba, Bata drums, Guiro/Bembe and Santería chants. Camilo is also a graduate from the Julliard School of Music (2003) under the MAP/PATH after initiating said programs in fall of 2000.

Through the years, Camilo has traveled to Cuba to participate in FolkCuba, the Annual Havana Jazz Festival in December 2000 with the group Insight as well as for a cultural exchange as a member of Los Pleneros de la 21 in the summer of 2003. In 2008 Camilo also traveled to Berlin, Germany as a member of Los Pleneros de la 21, to perform in the world famous House of World Cultures. In New York Camilo has participated in workshops with Los Hermanos Cepeda and Afro-Cuba de Matanzas in the Dos Alas program (1996 & 1998). In the fall of 2000, Camilo had the great honor to be selected as one of ten semifinalists to compete in the Thelonious Monk International Afro-Latin Hand Drum Competition (at the time he competed against Pedrito Martinez). He went on to become a finalist and was selected third place winner, who, at age ten was the youngest finalist in the 14-year history of the competition. Camilo also received a proclamation from the City Council of New York honoring him for his musical talents and achievements in the fall of 2000, as well as the Celia Cruz Scholarship (2004) which allowed Camilo to travel to Miami, Florida to perform in the Latin Billboard Music awards in a tribute to Celia Cruz. He has also received The Harbor Achievement Award (2001), which was awarded to him by music mogul Russel Simmons.

Camilo has played/plays with Ilu Aye, Los Pleneros de la 21, Yerbabuena, Oba Ire, Anya Ade, and various other groups in the city. Camilo is well known and respected within the Afro Caribbean drumming scene in NY and all over the states. It is obvious that his hard work and dedication has paid off so far, let's just hope this is just the tip of the iceberg for the young percussionist.

(Camilo playing traps with Yerbabuena, Video Credit: NYCityKids)

The End of an Era, or ?

(Yerbabuena, Photo Credit: Julian Gerena-Quinones)

I was seeing posts everywhere that the Thursday night Yerbabuena spot at Camaradas was coming to an end. Any of you who are in the NY City area know that the YB's have held court on Thursday nights at one of El Barrio's favorite watering holes for a couple of years now and so much to the point where the Yerbabuena and Camaradas name have become synonymous. When I heard the Thursday nights were coming to an end, I was scramblin' to find info as to whether they would be calling it quits at Camaradas completely or just moving to another night, fortunately the latter proved to hold true.

(Yerbabuena, Photo Credit: Julian Gerena-Quinones)

Few groups bring the kind of energy that the YB's do, but after lookin' at their roster, comprised of young Nuyorican's and city dwellers alike, it really doesn't seem so surprising. It is just a matter of expressing the way they talk, walk, live, eat and breathe, just in the form of bomba and plena. Tradition and Modernity, Old and New, coming together in a form so cohesive that you can no longer separate the two. No more labels people, it just is what it is.

So that said, let me just pose a question? Yo Tato, when are we going to get another recording from the YB Camp?

Oh, and if you want to catch the Yerbabuena crew do what they do best, you will need to troop it out to Camaradas on their new night on every last Saturday of the month where you can see Tato, Flaco, Melissa, Julissa, Aubrey on vocals, Guillo on bass, Hector on cuatro, Bebo and Nick on barriles, and the crew of dancers whom without we could not call it bomba y plena.

Camaradas
2241 First Avenue
El Barrio, NYC 10029
212-348-2703



(Yerbabuena in action, Bebo and Nick on barriles, Video Credit: maldonadojustin)