Oscar Hernandez and Ralph Irizarry where bandmates on Seis del Solar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nOscar Hernandez:<\/strong> …and that’s a viable way, but I don’t know…I feel a little embarrassed, and perhaps I shouldn’t, about going that route. I may have to, and there is enough people that understand the parameters of what it takes to make a live recording on the level that we want to make it, which is not cheap as I said before. But I’m negotiating with it (the concept of crowdfunding) as we speak Hector, especially after winning a Grammy on our last recording and knowing I have on the table our next recording, which is as good as it gets as far as I’m concern in (Salsa) music.<\/p>\nLMC:<\/strong> Regarding crowdfunding…I see this like Ruben Blades said…’la vida te da y te quita, te quita y te da’. (life gives and takes, takes and gives – from the song ‘Maestra Vida’<\/em>). On one end you loose the CD income, but on the other you get crowdfunding, which at least the younger generations embrace very naturally. They become real fans of bands and artists and don’t mind contributing to a project, and if a band cares about them, they care about the band!<\/p>\nOscar Hernandez:<\/strong> Oh believe me, I’m not against it. I think it’s a great idea, because if you get 1,000 people contributing $20, which they can spend more than that in a week at Starbucks…it’s a very viable way for you to do a recording. And I may well cross that bridge, but at this point I’m still looking at other different possibilities, because I hate to bother people, I hate to involve other people; that’s just me.<\/p>\nBut it may be the way to go! I may have to go to our fans and say ‘this is what it’s going to take to get our next recording out’, we need to raise X dollars in order to pay the musicians what I like to pay them, to pay the arrangers what I need to pay them, to use the best studios, and get it done at the level that I need to keep the quality at the highest level. Because to me that’s the most important thing. ‘Eso se queda’, that stays forever, and for me I don’t compromise myself, I don’t compromise the integrity of what I do or how I do it.<\/p>\n
On the Spanish Harlem Orchestra Musicians and What Oscar Listens To<\/h3>\n LMC:<\/strong> …and you have some of the best musicians around; you have Ray de la Paz (singer), you don’t have Jimmy Bosch anymore, but you have Reinaldo Jorge (trombone)…<\/p>\nOscar Hernandez:<\/strong> No doubt, Spanish Harlem Orchestra has some of the best musicians. I’m happy to say the personnel of the band is pretty much the same personnel we’ve had the last 4 or 5 years. Except for Jimmy; we had to move our separate ways ’cause he was getting busy doing other things…and we moved on. I love him, he’s my brother and I wish him the best. Actually I wish this to every musician, let them do their own thing, let them be bandleaders and walk the road that I have to walk as a bandleader, which isn’t easy!<\/p>\nLMC:<\/strong> Well, Carlos Cascante, one of your singers, has his own band and will be performing at the Bellevue Jazz Festival (near Seattle).<\/p>\nOscar Hernandez:<\/strong> Carlos has been part of our band for a little over 2 years and it’s kind of a funny story. He came to one of my music seminars in LA, and I thought ‘wow, he signs pretty good’, and he gave me a copy of his record and I actually loved the way he sounded. There was something about his singing that I liked a lot. Eventually I called him up and said I was going to make a change in the singers and I was going to give him an opportunity. He came, he put his voice on the songs and I’m really happy.<\/p>\nIt’s been a learning experience for him, but he’s a team player, which is the other thing I needed, someone who understands the concept of the importance of being a team player because it’s a team. I tell everybody ‘leave your ego at the door’.<\/p>\n
LMC:<\/strong> Who do you follow these days musically? Is there an artist that you are keeping an eye on? What’s in your iPod?<\/p>\nOscar Hernandez:<\/strong> Most of what’s in my iPod is old music. Stuff I grew up listening to; from Tito Puente, Tito Rodriguez, Machito, Ray Barretto, Cheo Feliciano, Arsenio (Rodriguez), Chapot\u00edn, Miguelito Cu\u00f1i, Arca\u00f1o…that’s a good part of what’s in my iPod.<\/p>\nAs far as what I’m listening today…I always like to hear to what my contemporaries are doing, so I like to listen to what the Ponce\u00f1a is doing, what El Gran Combo is doing, Victor Manuelle, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Jose Lugo as a really good projects out from Puerto Rico…there is a good friend of mine from Venezuela who lives in New York who has a group called ‘La Clave Secreta’ which are excellent musicians…and I always have my eyes on what comes out of Cuba.<\/p>\n
I’m very particular with what I like. To me it has to be something that has to do with the essence of the root of our music. As we say in Spanish “la mata, algo que viene de la mata”.<\/p>\n
On the Spanish Harlem Orchestra’s New Album<\/h3>\n LMC:<\/strong> So when are we going to get the 5th Grammy nominated recording from the Spanish Harlem Orchestra?<\/p>\nOscar Hernandez: (laughs<\/em>) Well, we have all the music ready. I did all my arrangements, but I’m waiting for the last 2 arrangements to come in. We were planning to go to the studio June 29th and 30th. Then I get a call from Luisito Quintero, my timbalero, saying he has a tour with Chick Corea and won’t be able to make the dates. So it put a wrench into my plans ’cause I don’t want to use anybody else; and he calls me and says ‘Oscar por favor, no me dejes fuera’ (Oscar, please, don’t leave me out) (laughing<\/em>) pleading with me…and I said ‘Ok Luisito, but you really hurt me on this one’.<\/p>\nSo we are looking for other dates, and hopefully it will be soon. I feel good about the music, I feel good about what we have again, to put out another quality record. As far as what label we’re going to put it on…that’s the big surprise! Don’t be surprised with whatever happens, if I go the crowdfunding route. Hopefully not, but if that’s the way it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be!<\/p>\n
LMC:<\/strong> Oscar, thanks for your time and sharing with us in Latino Music Cafe.<\/p>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There are few people that can talk about the old days of Salsa music and how they compare to today\u00a0like Oscar Hernandez. Oscar was in the middle of the boom of Salsa music in New York when it exploded in the 70’s and today continues to win Grammy awards. I hope you enjoyed the 1st […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4267,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3],"tags":[414,662,383,293,305],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Latino Music Interview: Oscar Hernandez Part 2 - Latino Music Cafe<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n