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April 15, 2010
Lensic Presents Bachata Roja Legends and Puerto Plata, April 24, 7PM

Lensic Presents
Bachata Roja Legends and Puerto Plata

A live showcase uniting revered figures from bachata’s storied past
with young stars from the new generation
&
The veteran troubadour from the Dominican Republic

April 24 at 7 p.m. at The Lensic

Santa Fe, NM – The Lensic Performing Arts Center is proud to present the Bachata Roja Legends and the Dominican Republic’s veteran sonero, Puerto Plata, who recently celebrated his 86th birthday and returns with his new album, “Casita de Campo,” a glorious selection of classic love songs and lilting dance numbers composed during the repressive regime of the dictator Rafael Trujillo (1930-1960). “Casita de Campo” follows his internationally acclaimed 2007 debut album, “Mujer de Cabaret.”

Dominican bachata has transcended the confines of its origins in the shantytowns of Santo Domingo to become one of Latin music's most popular styles. In 2007, IASO Records released the debut recording from Puerto Plata, and followed it up in 2008 with “Bachata Roja,” the first ever compilation of classic Dominican bachata from the pre-electric era. 

The Bachata Roja Legends concert combines classic musicians from the early days of bachata (1960's to 1980's) with some fresh new voices. They are the Buena Vista Social Club of the Dominican Republic!  The Bachata Roja Legends tour reunites several of the legendary artists of the compilation: acclaimed guitarist Edilio Paredes, star singers Ramon Cordero and El Chivo Sin Ley and the young bachatero Joan Soriano.

About the Bachata Roja line-up:

Edilio Paredes
Bio: http://www.iasorecords.com/index.cfm?subsecid=77
The requinto, or lead guitar, is the second voice of bachata, and the florid riffs of the virtuoso Edilio Paredes, who recorded with almost every major star of pre-electric bachata, pioneered the sound of bachata’s rise. Edilio’s performance always pushes the boundaries – his playing is deeply traditional yet brilliantly innovative. From a country where the guitar is ubiquitous and its masters idolized, Edilio is recognized as the most supreme of bachata’s classic period. The Bachata Roja compilation features Edilio’s lead guitar on Ramón Cordero’s “Amor del bueno”, and on tracks by Marino Perez, Blas Duran and Efrain Morel.

Ramón Cordero
Bio: http://www.iasorecords.com/RamonCordero.cfm
Ramón Cordero began singing in the early 1960s accompanied on requinto by his childhood friend and lifelong musical collaborator Edilio Paredes. Ramon’s warm, rustic voice inspired a cult following in the Dominican Republic where he reigned as one of the kings of the bachata movement in the 70s and 80s. Ramón is on a number of classic tracks of the Bachata Roja compilation: besides his own legendary ‘Amor del bueno’, Ramón’s duo is on Julio Angel’s ‘El salon’ and Efrain Morel’s ‘Esta noche me la llevo’.

Augusto Santos
Bio: http://www.iasorecords.com/index.cfm?subsecid=183
Santos is best known as a pioneering bachata guitarist, second only to Paredes in virtuosity and with just as many hits under his belt. Augusto also had a number of notable successes as a singer in his own right. The first of those, “Con el amor no se juega”, is still recognized as a classic, as is “Olvida ese hombre” (featured on Bachata Roja). In the early 1970s Augusto and Ramón Cordero formed a popular duo, “Los Inimitables”, whose repertoire contains what are perhaps some of the best crafted bachatas recorded in that period, Santos’ sensuous guitar playing and rich baritone combining seamlessly with Cordero’s plaintive tenor.

Ysidro Cabrera “El Chivo Sin Ley”
Bio: http://www.iasorecords.com/index.cfm?subsecid=164
Ysidro Ramon Cabrera, ‘El Chivo Sin Ley’ figures prominently as a bachatero whose enormous popularity and irresistible performance helped bachata break free of social stigma. El Chivo, Edilio Paredes and Augusto Santos have been musical collaborators since the early 1970s. In 1974 Chivo and Augusto achieved huge success with ‘El hijo sin padre’ – launching Chivo’s career as one of bachata’s most popular and prolific singer/songwriters.  Chivo earned his namesake with the 1977 hit “El Chivo Sin Ley” – recorded with Paredes.

Joan Soriano “El Duque”
Bio: http://www.iasorecords.com/index.cfm?subsecid=171
Raised in a rural batey on the outskirts of Santo Domingo, Joan is from bachata’s heartland – where rural migrants from throughout the Dominican Republic and neighboring Haiti settled in the outlying districts of the Dominican Capital. Joan cut his chops in the 1980s and 1990s backing established singers like Bachata Roja’s Ramón Cordero and El Chivo Sin Ley, and modern bachata stars like Zacharias Ferrera and El Gringo de la Bachata. Joan has since launched a solo career as a captivating singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His arresting vocals and picked guitar straddle the divide of old and new, never leaving far behind bachata’s roots in the campos. Joan was featured in the bachata documentary “Santo Domingo Blues,” and his song “Ya encontré la mujer” was selected for World Music Network’s “Rough Guide to Bachata.” In early 2010, film director/producer Adam Taub is releasing a feature documentary on Soriano – titled “The Duke of Bachata.”

About Puerto Plata:

Under Trujillo, Dominican musicians were largely blocked from recording and so, like other popular singers of the time, Puerto Plata found eager audiences at the underground cabaret dance halls of Santiago’s red light districts. The passage of time and Puerto Plata’s resilience have managed to preserve some of the country’s sweetest melodies and romantic lyrics, often with a wry, twinkling sense of cabaret humor. Drawing inspiration from that period when his band was one of the most active in Santiago, Puerto Plata revisits in this new album the romantic serenades and electrifying son and merengue with which he enchanted audiences during his youth.

“Casita de Campo” was recorded live in New York by iASO producer Benjamin de Menil and features the brilliant arrangements of the father of Dominican guitar, Edilio Paredes, and younger master guitarist Pablo Rosario. The musical lineup also includes Joan Soriano on second guitar, Edilio’s son Samuel Paredes on bass, and seasoned percussionists on guira, tambora and bongos.

Born in the Dominican resort town of Puerto Plata in 1923, Puerto Plata, aka José Cobles, combines the wisdom of a charming but tough grandfather with the astounding vigor one would expect of a much younger man. His three uncles were musicians and he recalls Sundays spent at their house in the presence of legendary Dominican composers and singers. His mother died when he was young and at the age of 16 he went to work as a carpenter for the United Fruit Company. His work took him to Manzanillo, to Panama, and finally led him to settle in Santiago at the age of 27. There, because of his hometown, he was christened “Puerto Plata.”

While he was living in Manzanillo, he saved pennies in a shoe box until he was able to buy his first guitar for 20 Dominican pesos. He was 24 years old — leaving him a scant 62 years to bring his musical mastery to its current level! Over the past two years Puerto Plata has performed to packed festival and performing arts center audiences throughout the U.S. and Canada.

“Casita de Campo” is a tour-de-force in composition, arrangement, superb musicianship and unusually innovative and distinctly Dominican styling – melding the traditional sonero –troubadour’s gentle melodies with more contemporary rhythms – as Puerto Plata yearns and croons through his early songs sung long ago, while refashioning them today in the continuing story and evolution of the Dominican Republic’s popular music.

Reviews for Puerto Plata:

“World Music this is not - but a magic bullet for the heart and the mind. There's no one quite like Puerto Plata out there. I can't get his music out of my head” - Junot Díaz

“The rhythms are taut and frisky, topped with spiky, stuttering leads from the requinto that sends its countermelodies dancing merrily around Puerto Plata’s memories and advice.”
- Jon Pareles, The New York Times

Event Details:
The Lensic presents the Bachata Roja Legends and Puerto Plata, April 24 at 7 p.m. at The Lensic Performing Arts Center.

Ticket Info: $15-$35; Lensic members receive 25% discount

Press Information: Please contact Emily Crawford, Director of PR & Marketing for more information at 505-988-7050 ext. 211 or ecrawford@lensic.org.

Visit www.iasorecords.com for lyrics and translations.

About The Lensic Artistic Presentations
Since 2001, the nonprofit Lensic Performing Arts Center has presented and produced artistic performances. The Lensic’s year-round programming is integral to fulfilling the organizational mission to present local, national and international artists in diversified, cross-cultural performances. Since its opening, The Lensic has increased its independent production and presentation schedule, which includes the Lensic Presents Series, a year-round effort to present diverse programming that showcases national and international talent.