Drums & Dreams
I just put up a new art show with my friend Charlie Rosario last week in the Bronx at the Bronx Music Heritage Center Lab (1303 Luis Niñé Boulevard). We hung our work side by side, and collaborated on a shrine to the great conga players, percussionists, and rumberos of Cuban and Puerto Rican origin called "Para Los Rumberos" - check an early shot of it below. Better yet, come to the Bronx and see it in person! Many thanks to BMHC's artistic directors Bobby Sanabria and Elena Martinez, as well as Jennifer Rajotte, Development and Marketing Officer (Arts and Community) for WHEDco and BMHC. Opening is May 2, 2015. DJ Andujar will be there playing vintage vinyl representing the rumba and Latin percussion genres; and Charlie Rosario will perform his spoken word poetry over rumba beats with bass and congas, featuring Los Rumberos Callejeros.
Drums and Dreams Artists’ Statement
I invite all rumberos
to come on down, to the best visual rumba show in town. It will be a colorful bembé if you know what I mean. From
collage to painting, it’s about drums and dreams.
—Charlie Rosario
My art is inspired by music, storytelling, Afro-Caribbean
and Mesoamerican cultures, and is influenced by dreams and the surreal. Through
my exploration of the subconscious, rhythm, faith, and family history, I
explore identity, sacredness, states of possession and ecstasy. Totemic
objects, metaphorical imagery, ritualistic practice and special color-coding
all play a part in forming my aesthetic and vision.
—Pablo Yglesias
Recognizing a kindred spirit in his friend Charlie Rosario, Pablo
Yglesias suggested that the two artists put on a duo show of their work. Both
are inspired by many of the same sources, utilize similar mediums of artistic
expression and have collaborated on creative projects in the past. Yet their
art is different enough that the end result of their being shown side by side
leads to complementary and synergistic results. Having a showcase that allows
the two artists to share an overview of their art in the same space is a long
overdue opportunity that will produce a polyrhythmic visual interplay greater
than the sum of its parts. In many ways, Drums and Dreams is the logical
outcome of their previous collaborations, affinities and long-standing
friendship. You might say this show is “the perfect combination” (la combinación perfecta), to quote an
often used phrase in Latin jazz.
Pablo Yglesias and Charlie Rosario: Para Los Rumberos • Installation piece (NFS)
Congueros/rumberos muertos honrados en Para Los Rumberos:
Cubanos
Ricardo “Papín” Abreu
Francisco Aguabella
Federico Arístides Soto Alejo
aka “Tata Güines”
Candida Batista
Justiniano “Justi” Barreto Blanco
Carlos Vidal Bolado
Celia Cruz
Julio “Julito” Collazo
Miguel “Angá” Díaz
Modesto Durán
Carlos Embales
Frank “Machito” Grillo
Luciano Pozo González (“Chano” Pozo)
Félix “Pupi” Insua
Pedro Izquierdo (“Pello El Afrokan”)
Silvestre Méndez
Celeste Mendoza
Jesús Alfonso Miró
Beny Moré
Armando Peraza
Jesús Pérez
Daniel Ponce
Francisco “Chino” Pozo
Arsenio Rodríguez
Israel “Kiki” Rodríguez
Ramón “Mongo” Santamaría
Merceditas Valdés
Miguelito Valdés
Carlos “Patato” Valdés
Pancho Quinto (o “Kinto”)
Alberto Zayas “El Vive Bien”
Puertoriqueños
Ray Barretto
Francisco “Kako” Bastar
Milton Cardona
Mike Collazo
Rafael Cortijo
Gilberto Miguel “Sonny” Calderón (“Joe Cuba”)
Tommy López
Frankie Malabe
Luis “Sabú”
Martinez
David “La Mole” Ortiz
Victor “El Negrito” Pantoja
Tito Puente
Martín Quiñones
Louie Ramírez
Cándido Rodríguez
Frankie Rodríguez
Joe Rodríguez
Johnny Rodríguez, Sr.
Tito Rodríguez
Rumberos Callejeros recording session with Cholo Pérez, Yogui Rosario, and Louie Montañez drumming for backing track on Charlie Rosario's spoken word piece "Drums & Dreams". Recording took place with Jacob Plasse and Quinn McCarthy at The Creamery in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, 3/24/15.
Charlie Rosario gets ready to record his spoken word piece "Drums & Dreams" while Quinn adjusts the mic.
Chico Alvarez leads recording session for "Drums and Dream" featuring the bass of Jason Youvert.
