AURORA Y ZON DEL BARRIO (SALSA AND LATIN MUSIC BAND)

Aurora Flores

Considered a 21st century Renaissance woman, Aurora Flores is a musician, writer, producer and activist. Raised in a musical family where her grandfather played plena and aguilnaldos on the accordion, her father wrote songs, her mother sang while her brother plays percussion she started as a classical musician playing violin, guitar and bass while singing in the school and church chorus before recording her first album at 15 with the Manhattan Borough Wide Orchestra as head of the bass section while studying bass privately with Frederic Zimmerman.

She went on to become the first Latina editor of Latin New York Magazine in 1974 later becoming the first female music correspondent for Billboard Magazine from 1976 to 1978. During this time she sang in the bands of Cortijo & Maelo y sus Cachimbos as well as a few local groups.

She attended the Columbia School of Journalism before breaking into mainstream journalism writing and reporting news for television, radio and print before starting a family and her own public relations agency, Aurora Communications, Inc in 1987.

With thousands of articles to her name, Aurora Flores organized her own septet in tribute to the music of Rafael Cortijo and Ismael Rivera called Zon del Barrio featuring some of her own original compositions while showcasing the vocal talents of "Papote" a young sonero from the lower east side who, while living in a hip-hop world, has embraced the polyrhythms of his Afro-Boricua ancestry.

Flores continues to write for various mainstream newspapers and magazines while teaching a Latin music history course and lecturing on the roots of the music.

A cultural consultant, she has written bilingual tunes for the hit children's show, Dora, the Explorer and conducts tours of East Harlem in a cultural, political and socio/economic content. She can be seen singing alongside Tito Puente in the Edward James Olmos Docudrama, Americanos, Latino Life in the U.S.; lecturing in the Bravo documentary, Palladium: When Mambo Was King and in the Smithsonian film accompanying the traveling exhibit: Latin-jazz, La Combinación Perfecta. Flores is currently working on a book based on her experiences in the Latino New York world.

David N. Fernandéz

Multi-instrumentalist, bandleader, musical director and arranger, David Fernandéz relies on his almost encyclopedic knowledge of the classics for his creative arrangements. He has performed with Marc Anthony, the Joe Cuba Sextet, Willie Villegas as well as Pedro Guzman, Angel "Cuco" Peña, Andy Montañez, El Topo, Ismael Miranda and Ismael Rivera, Jr. to name a few. His arrangements can be heard over the hit children's show, Dora The Explorer, Willie Villegas' "Dancer's Paradise" as well as on Chembo Corniel's recent Latin jazz recording, "Portrait in Rhythms." Born into a musical family in Bedford Stuyvesant in Brooklyn New York, David was a child prodigy who began playing bongos professionally at the age of nine. His father was a guitarist and singer with his own trio group, Los Bohemios while his older brother played trombone with various salsa bands of the 60s and 70s. David played bongos and timbales before studying piano and jazz arranging at 15. He performed with the Youngstown State University Jazz Ensemble under the direction of the late Anthony Leonardi. At the Youngstown State University of Ohio he studied jazz arranging with Sam D'Angelo. He returned to New York to study jazz piano with the late Jaki Byard later learning salsa piano and music production with Ricky Gonzalez.

Fernandéz redefined the "jibaro" bongo style of playing during his time with Pedro Guzman's Jibaro Jazz while defining the salsa style of percussion on congas and timbales.

After leading a 10-piece orchestra playing Latin music throughout Youngstown, Ohio and Pittsburgh, PA. while also playing with various other jazz artists including Bob Mintzer, John Faddis, and the late Nick Brignola, David Fernandez worked in Puerto Rico for six years before touring St. Croix as pianist with the r&b band "Tough Enough." Fernandéz returns to his native New York hometown where he is the musical director of Zon del Barrio; La TromBanda and Akunbé.

Hector "Papote" Jimenez

Youngblood Sonero

Born in New York's Lower East Side, on January 22, 1984, Papote is the lead singer for East Harlem's hottest band: Zon del Barrio where his tasty vocal stylings make him a true Sonero of the 21st Century.

A youngblood singer with old school "ma–a" living in a hip-hop world, Papote improvises verses at the moment with a natural timing and vocal facility that belies his tender years. Studying the vocal masters of the past five decades, Papote channels the spiritual voicings of these vocal giants such as Benny More, Mon Rivera, Ismael Rivera, Hector LaVoe and Marvin Santiago, among many.

Hailing from the Loisaida projects, he attended the 3rd Street music school as a child studying percussion and playing congas but it was the records of his parents that fueled his passion for hardcore salsa. His late uncle, a salsa and plena singer was a major influence on the young vocalist, encouraging him to sing while giving him pointers and solid advice.

Reflecting the soneros from the golden age of 60s salsa, Papote began singing in street rumbas around the city. Papote's professional career was kicked off with the Akunbe conjunto led by Yeyito Flores before becoming the lead singer for Zon del Barrio where he has become a founding member of the team contributing melodic voicings to the septet while expressing his own creative ideas.

John Berdeguer

Born in New York City, John Berdeguer has been hooked on the conga drum since age 11, abandoning his violin lessons which he started in the third grade. At the age of 14, he began to work with a group called Benny and his Latin Sextet.

Later he and Louis (Cholo) Rivera started a group called The Latin Soul Drive, which had a major hit in the late 60’s. In 1973 Mr. Berdeguer joined Tambo, a band started by Louis Baize and Johnny Almendra, both world renowned percussionist. From 1976 through 1979, John Berdeguer freelanced with many groups, among them Tito Puente. In 1979 John started his own band called Conjunto Bembe, which is still working today. He also began Group Gwomba, a Bomba and Plena group. Mr. Berdeguer worked with Johnny Almendra Y Los Jovenes del Barrio from 1993 till 2003. Mr. Berdeguer is currently working with Zon Del Barrio under the direction Aurora Flores and Dave Fernandez

Jose "Cheo Makambila" Echevarria

His grandfather gave him a pair of bongos when he was three years old. Since then, Cheo has followed in the footsteps of his ancestors, communicating and playing congas, bongos and timbales. His father, Hector Carmona, was the original conguero for La Sonora Poncena, Puerto Rico's oldest salsa ensemble now led by the legendary, Papo Lucca, before going on to play with Impacto Crea, Corporacion Latina and with the orchestra of vocalist Justo Betancourt. Both grandfather and father laid the musical foundation for the percussive prodigy.

Cheo was only nine when he began playing congas and timbal for a local steel band in Puerto Rico. By eleven, Cheo was playing bongos while serving as band boy for Puerto Rico's Super Combo 1. By the time he reached adulthood, Cheo was playing congas with La Terifica while expressing the native rhythms of Puerto Rico's bomba and plena with Grupo Guayacan and Grupo Cemi where they accompanied the Afro-Boricua poet, Juan Boria.

Cheo moved to New York's Lower East Side in his late 20s. There he began playing with vocalist Chivirico Davila, the band of Moncho Lena, Patato Valdes and Manny Duran. Cheo could be seen regularly playing at the original Nuyorican Poet's Cafe where he was a favorite accompanist for poets Pedro Pietri and Bimbo Rivas and at the Central Park Sunday rumbas. During this time, Cheo would listen to the great conga solos of Pancho Quinto who influenced him greatly.

Diverse in his expression of Afro-Caribbean rhythms, Cheo performed with Latinjazz great Mongo Santamaria as well as other Latinjazz ensembles throughout New York City. Further, he performed with the Afro-Boricua folkloric groups such as Quinto Sono, Benny Ayala y su Grupo Coqui and Los Pleneros de la 21.

Tommy Fernandez

As timbalero, Tommy keeps it real with old school techniques on the rhythms that lock in with Cheo’s congas and John’s bongo to create that hard core, in your face, NY rhythmic engine that drives the sound of Zon del Barrio. Born in Caguas, Puerto Rico, Tommy was raised on the Lower East Side since he was four months old. His mother recently told Tommy that she took him to a block party on Loisaida’s Pitt Street when he was two years old to hear the Ray Barretto orchestra. She approached the bandstand with little Tommy who caught the master conguero’s attention and patted him on the head with his musical blessing.

Tommy’s uncle Reynaldo Alcantara, who played timbal and bongo for Yambu and Saoco, influenced the young percussionist. Concerts and street fairs exposed him to bands such as Willie Colon & Hector LaVoe, El Gran Combo, and many others. He played in school bands but it wasn’t until after high school that Tommy started playing w/local bands such as Angelo y su Salsarenge & Somos Latinos. Later, he played with Viti Ruiz, Jerry Rivera, Nino Segarra and Hermanos Colon.

He studied privately with Jimmy Delgado, one of his idols. He took courses at Boy’s Harbor with Johnny Almendra and counsel from Edgardo Morales aside from Uncle Rey

AURORA Y ZON DEL BARRIO - CORTIJO'S TRIBE (2007)

Aurora Flores Bandleader, composer, percusion, coro
David Fernandez Musical director, arrangements, keyboards, guiro, barriles, coros, transcriptions
Hector "Papote" Jimenez Lead vocals, coros, small percussion
Jose "Cheo Makambila" Echevarria Congas and quinto
Tommy Fernandez Timbales
John Berdeguer Bongos and primo on 'Oi Una Voz'
Tommy Fernandez And Robert "Zookie Ferrer Rapers on 'Revolu'
Yomo Toro Cuatro
Sammy Ayala Vocals, percussion

review by Bruce Polin: AURORA Y ZON DEL BARRIO - CORTIJO'S TRIBE (2007)

recensione di Roberto Rabbi: AURORA Y ZON DEL BARRIO - CORTIJO'S TRIBE (2007)

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PHOTO BY ALLEN SPATZ