Spanish Harlem Orchestra has 10 years of “Salsa Dura”
The Spanish Harlem Orchestra came together 10 years ago, after Ruben Blades’ “Son del Solar” group broke up, and pianist Oscar Hernandez began searching for a new musical project of his own.
Oscar decided to do something different; bring back the old sound of the New York Salsa music sound. The one that made Fania Records a household name in Latin music. Most artists had abandoned that sound as a thing of the past. There were still a niche of classic Latin music bands that play Cuban “son” or even “guaguanco”. But not the Salsa Dura sound.
“Salsa Dura” is a hard breed to find. Many of today’s stars came from the Salsa Romantica boom. Marc Anthony, Luis Enrique, India, and others were made during that Salsa Romantica boom. Others like Gilberto Santa Rosa, Tito Nieves, and Tito Rojas consolidated their careers during that boom, although they come from the old school. Palmieri, Barretto, decided to spend more time in the Latin Jazz side, and other like Ruben Blades decided to branch out into fusion-folk.
Spanish Harlem Orchestra – Origins and Recordings
Spanish Harlem Orchestra came together in the year 2000 and had their first recording, “Un Gran Dia en El Barrio” released in 2002. The band immediately started turning heads. With seasoned singer Ray de la Paz, along two other savvy newcomer “soneros”, the band was greatly solicited. But not everyone got the word. That would change “with a little help from Oscar’s friend”.
For their second recording, Oscar brought his old boss, Ruben Blades. The album “Across 110th Street”, released in 2004, was an immediate hit and brought the group a bunch of awards, including the 2005 Grammy for Best Salsa/Merengue Album. That got the world’s attention.
Since then, the Spanish Harlem Orchestra has recorded two more albums; “United We Swing (2007) and their latest, “Viva La Tradicion” (2010).
As a fan of that type of Salsa music, I can’t be happier for the milestone achieved by the Spanish Harlem Orchestra. They even came here to the Seattle area to participate in the 2008 Bellevue Jazz Festival. Oscar Hernandez is a consummate professional, with a ton of experience from the early days of salsa, when he was a teenager, working in recordings like Ismael Miranda’s “Asi Se Compone Un Son”, which was Ismael’s solo debut album.
If you like the old Salsa Dura, the 4 albums of the Spanish Harlem Orchestra will put you back in the swing of dancing.
Updates on Spanish Harlem Orchestra
Since I wrote this blog back in 2010, the Spanish Harlem Orchestra released their 5th album, self-titled “Spanish Harlem Orchestra”. I also had an extensive and candid interview with musical director Oscar Hernandez.
Links:
Latino Music Cafe Interview: Oscar Hernandez (Part 1)
Latino Music Cafe Interview: Oscar Hernandez (Part 2)
The above interviews took place in 2013. I had another interview with Oscar in 2017, so search for it here in Latino Music Cafe.