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www.anthonyblea.com
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www.anthonyblea.com
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Courtesy of Rita
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ANTHONY BLEA:
CHARANGA THAT SWINGS
Rita interviewed Anthony Blea,
dynamic violinist and leader of Anthony Blea Y Su Charanga, the San Francisco hard-driving band
that keeps dancers grooving “
WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
San Francisco, third generation. My father was originally from New Mexico and my mother’s grandmother was from
Guadalajara.
HOW DID YOU START PLAYING VIOLIN?
I used to see my grandfather play
when I was a very young kid. I was mesmerized by him. So when I got into the fourth
grade, they offered music in the public schools in
San Francisco
—Paul Revere
elementary school. They said who wants to take music lesson and I said
"I do". I started with a violin that my grandfather gave
me. The next year in 5th grade, I got
bussed to
Leonard
Flint Elementary
School
and I took up violin again The teacher, Mr.Chessman, taught me a lot things over the next 2 years.
WHAT WERE YOUR OTHER EARLY EXPERIENCES WITH MUSIC?
I went to a summer music workshop offered at
Lowell High School. The program was really big back then. The
SF symphony was involved with it and they coached groups of kids and gave a
concert and demonstration.
That was a heck of an
experience. Without that I don’t think I would have pursued music as
far as I did. I became aware of what was going on in music citywide with
all the rest of the kids. I came in contact with other teachers at all the
different levels. I did this program for 5-6 years. I got an award in my
last year for being there so many years. Someone recognized my talent and
recommended me to the Conservatory of Music. That year the conservatory
asked me to audition and I got a full scholarship.
WHAT DID YOU DO AFTER THE S. F. CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC?
I went to Manhattan School of Music
from 1984-1988 and got my bachelor's degree. I studied with some of the
premier teachers in the world. I came back here and got a master’s
degree at the Conservatory in the quartet program. This was a special
program that was strictly focused on chamber music, particularly quartet
programs. The String quartet requires a unique style of playing. When I
went into the program, that’s how I wanted to make my living playing
chamber music—quartet music in particular. I played with the San
Francisco Opera for a few seasons. I played what they call the "Freeway
Philharmonic"—I made a living playing with the Fresno symphony, Marin symphony—any
orchestra that you can get into.
Then you drive from town to town. When I went to Europe,
I played in symphonies. Later I
moved to Portugal
for 3 years and played with a chamber orchestra there.
HOW DID YOU GET INTERESTED IN CHARANGA?
When I was 15, I studied at the
Conservatory of Music Preparatory School in San Francisco. By that time, I was a
pretty accomplished violinist. My brother took me to see Tipica Cienfuegos (John
Santos’ first band) at the Rathskeller
restaurant in San. It was about 1976 or 1977. Back in those days there were
only a handful of Salsa bands in the Bay Area-- Tipica
Cienfuegos, Ritmo 74, Salsa Caliente
and Benny Velarde.
After the show, I was talking
one of the violinists and he said " Do you
want to try playing this violin?" I said okay since I had never played
a violin plugged into an amp. So I ripped into this concerto. Then
everybody in the band stopped and looked over at me as if to say "Who
the hell is that?" The next
week John Calloway called me asked to check out their rehearsal. I came
down and I was hired right then. The first gig I played was at the San Francisco Civic Center,
opening for Celia Cruz, Johnny Ventura and
Ismael Miranda.
YOU PLAYED WITH CHARANGA
BANDS IN NEW YORK?
Orchestra Broadway, Charanga
76, Tipica Noel, Jose Fajardo, Tipica 73 and Charanga
Sensual. But my main band was Charanga
America
and
Charanga 76. I learned a lot from that
experience during my time in
New
York
. But when I came back to the Bay Area, there
was only one charanga band in
the Bay Area—Ritmo Y Armonia. Roberto Borrell was the leader, Tregar
(Otton) was on violin
and Fito (Reinoso) was
the lead singer. So the summer of 1995 I put Charanson together
and in October our first gig was at El Rio.
WHICH GROUPS INFLUENCED THE STYLE OF YOUR BAND
?
A big influence was Charanga 76 in New York
. I played
with them for 4 years-- a great band. Also I played with Batachanga (a
S.F.
charanga
lead by John Santos) for 4 years and my group's sound
is directly related to them.
Back then all of us looked to
New
York for the charanga
sound—to groups
like Orquesta Broadway, Tipica
73, Tipica Novel and Tipica
Ideal. The New York
charangas had a special hard driving, disciplined
sound that all of us admired. But Batachanga
(1980-84) had aspects of jazz and Cuban music. Some songs with were pure
Cuban folkloric music, with John playing bata
drums and singing and a little bass in the background. There are other
selections where John made a rumba into a song. I incorporated that feel
into my band.
HOW ARE CUBAN CHARANGAS DIFFERENT
FROM
NEW YORK
CHARANGAS?
The Cubans play a very traditional, old styled charanga-
a more acoustic sound. Another important difference is that in the Cuban
style of charanga, the coro
(vocal
chorus) was performed by a group of 3-4 voices singing in unison. But In my group we use more voices singing harmonies and have
solo voices and lead vocals. A lot of the Cuban charangas
don’t have lead vocals.
New York band's like Tipica 73,
with an
all-star line up of musicians played music with a progressive cutting edge sound. They had a big horn
section—trumpet, trombone, saxophone and flute and full percussion section with bongos,
timbales and congas. Orestes Vilato (Bay Area
legend who currently plays with John Santos and Machete Ensemble) on
timbales was one of the original members. What set them apart was the range
of music they played, the style of their arrangements and just the swing
that the band had. They could play
traditional charangas because Alfredo De La Fe,
on violin, was with them They could also turn around and play Latin jazz
with Mario Rivera playing saxophone and fluteSo a lot of my ideas for the band go back to Tipica 73 –things like the power of the driving
violins and the aggressive horns section.
WHEN DID YOU FIRST THINK ABOUT MAKING THE CD VIRGEN DE LA
CARIDAD?
I started thinking about it 1998 or 1999. The band has been playing for
about 3 years and we were just playing cover tunes (music previously
recorded by other artists). The band members started saying “We need
to make a recording and we need to get some original songs." I wanted
us to play the music with respect for its history and using first class
musicians.
TELL ME ABOUT MY FAVORITE SONG ON THE CD, TUMBA RANDY?
The tune starts off as a rumba, a guaguanco.
Right away Alfredo comes in with a “call”. The call is commonly
used in rumbas. Rumbas often start with drums and then the lead singer
comes in with a musical phrase to set the key and tempo of the song. Then
the number goes into the verse performed by the singers. But on Tumba Randy instead of the lead singer delivering the
call, Alfredo plays it on the violin. This is something I had never heard
anyone do before. I have heard the call played on a trumpet or performed by
a singer. Alfredo really makes his violin sound like a voice. He plays the
same types of calls that the rumberos sing. Since
I grew up playing congas and performing rumbas, I had listened to all those
calls. It was a natural thing to include rumbas in the music and it turned
out really great for him to play that tune. Originally I was the only
violinist on the tune playing a long solo instead me trading solos with Alfredo.
I think the concept of alternating violin solos makes the tune more
interesting. . It was truly an honor to play with him.
A LOT
OF THE MUSIC ON THE CD IS COMPOSED BY CUBAN ARTISTS ELIADO AND YUNIOR TERRY. WHAT WAS IT LIKE WORKING WITH THEM?
I played on their CD Los Terry:
From Africa to Camaguey produced
by Bay Area producer Greg Landau back in 1997. Greg went to Cuba to record the Terry family and he added
the John Santos on timbales and me on violin at his sound studio in San Francisco. Years
before I had been listening to Eliadio ( Don Poncho Terry) with older charanga
bands like Orquesta Maravilla
de Florida playing violin and chekere. Both of
his sons Yunior and Yosvaney
are musicians in New York.
So in 1998 I talked to Eladio when he was in town
and I told him I was looking for tunes to record. He said that he had
written 5 tunes that had never been recorded. Yosvany
added the modern touches to the tunes. I also added some things to give the
music our personal touch. Later Yunior Terry contributed Tumba Randy, Que Vida and
Pa Eso. I think they are three of
the best songs on the CD. At the time Yunior was
going to school for music composition in LA and he wanted to experiment, make
a new sound and get his name out there as a composer. Making this CD has been a long process
WHAT
ABOUT THE TITLE SONG VIRGEN DE CARIDAD, WRITTEN BY YOUR VOCALIST ORLANDO.
Orlando has
composed a bunch of songs. He sang the melody into a recorder and then
John Calloway arranged it. Virgen de la Caridad refers to the saint of charity. She reaches out to
all the downtrodden people who need some loving from above. The song has a
lot of meaning for Orlando.
Virgen De la Caridad became the title song in part because we needed a concept
for the CD . I wanted to use my
daughter Ariana and I suggested that we use her on the cover dressed in white
dress. She looked the Virgin. I think the image is creative and
beautiful and expresses the sentiment of the music.
Orlando Torriente,
vocals
ALFREDO DE FE IS ONE OF THE FEATURED ARTISTS ON THE CD. WHY DID YOU BRING HIM ON BOARD?
Alfredo was one of the few Charanga violinists
out there performing when I first started playing Salsa back in 1976 and
1977. At that point I had never heard any salsa violins. Since I was
playing with Tipica Cienfuegos,
Santos
recommended that I listen to a few recordings of Alfredo’s to get of
idea of how violins are supposed to sound in charangas.
He said if you want to get some ideas for some solos and improvisations,
check out these CDs. So I listened to Pupi Legaretta, Brindes and
Alfredo. They produced some classic violin solos. I would transcribe those
solos and play them note for note. I learned a lot of licks and guajeos just by listening to Alfredo
. When I was 18 finally got a chance to meet him and play with him
in New York,
while I was playing with Charanga Casino. I saw him play with Tipica
73 at the Village Gate. Unfortunately he had to leave the U.S. for 20
years (due to legal problems) and I could feel a void in the music. Though
we did not correspond while he was away, people continued to tell him about
my progress. So when I heard he came back to the States just a few years
ago, I contacted him. When he said he was going to be in San Francisco playing at Café Cocomo, I asked him to record a tune for the CD.
You ALSO SNAGGED YOUR OLD FRIEND JIMMY BOSCH FOR THIS RECORDING?
 I first meet Jimmy (photo by Peter Maiden) when I first studied and
played in New York
in the 1980’s. Back then Jimmy was playing with Manny Oquiendo Y Conjunto Libre and
sometimes he would appear with Eddie Palmieri. He was also pretty close to
my age. I loved the sound of his trombone—Like Alfredo he had an
aggressive approach to the music with a lot of swing. He had a lot of
energy. On stage he was not just standing there immobile like some horn
players. He was dancing around, singing the coros
and tearing it up. I loved that sound. Later when he was appearing in San Francisco, I got
him to record with us on the first Batachanga
album. That album is vintage Jimmy Bosch—really fresh and raw. He was
just a kid then, maybe 21 years old
So I have known him since then. So for
this album I wanted to get in the studio and just let him tear it up on his
solos.
For more info: go to
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