HOT SALSA : Adalberto Alvarez y su Son

Adalberto Alvarez y su Son (photo Artcolor)

Sample from
Y que tu quieres
que te den
in
Adalberto Alvarez
y su Son
(Artcolor ; 1993)

CD selections :

Adalberto Alvarez
y su Son
(Artcolor ; 1993)

El Chévere
de la salsa...
el caballero del son
(Artcolor ; 1993)
(with Issac Delgado)

Magistral !!!
(Milan latino ; 1997)

To order

Ask any young Cuban, of course fan of Charanga Habanera and Paulito F.G. what he thinks of Adalberto Alvarez y su Son : every time one gains, because youth adores him. However, Adalberto plays the son, old traditional music of the age of their grand grandfather.

But this musical form, from now on classical, knew to adapt to time to remain always young, under the regenerating influence of a line of musicians attached to the form, and whose Adalberto Alvarez is the latest to date.

Born in 1948 in Camaguey (Cuba), Adalberto creates Son 14 in the 70's, which reinvigorates the tradition, before rejoining Havana and launching his current formation, Adalberto Alvarez y su Son, in 1984. It is that Adalberto is an unconditional son musician, in spite of the trend which privileges the charangas and more percussive formations.

The lyrics, with the style of the day and registered in the time, evoke everyday life and its difficulties, material or amorous; they sometimes also speak about santeria - Adalberto Alvarez is babalao, a priest of this religion -, as in the famous Que tu quieres que te den, which mixes rap, African tradition and son.

The music, electric but without excess, is integrated perfectly in modernity and is able to make like salsa to any beginner. To the traditional son formation are added electric keyboard, timbales, trombones and other brilliant brass, for an orchestra which pushes Aramis Galindo ahead, powerful singer with a palpably feeling. (The former singer Jorge Luis Rojas - whose voice is a pearl - flies for some time of its own wings: he sings always as well... but the music and the lyrics of its disc, Rojitas y su Orchestra: Regálame tu encanto, are unfortunately insipid).

When Adalberto is on stage, quality is always present:. " The career of a musician is like that of a cyclist. Some manage to gain a leg, even two, but they exhaust their forces before gaining the series. For me, the important thing is to be among the first and to reach no matter what happens the finishing line... In life, it is necessary to know how to put one's talent at hard test "