Tato Torres & YERBABUENA

Last week, on PRSun Radio/blogtalkradio, I listened to an interview with Tato Torres, musician, composer and singer, of YERBABUENA (ONE WORD). I must admit that until then I had never listened to the music of Yerbabuena but had heard of them and was interested in listening to their music so the interview couldn't have come at a better time.

Tato spoke about the early beginnings hanging out at Rincon Criollo (La Casita de Chema) in The Bronx and eventually venturing out with his crew to Washington Heights. In Washington Heights the crew began playing their music on what they called YerbaBuena Mondays (Yerbabuena from hanging out by a patch of spearmint at Rincon Criollo). As their popularity grew, the name Yerbabuena became asocciated with the crew. The sounds of Yerbabuena are called Boricua roots music (bomba and plena with todays flavor). As the interview went, Tato spoke of where they are at now and where they would like to go. Towards the end Tato mentioned how the music was not just for the older generation but for entire generations of family. While Tato is in Puerto Rico, he is still very much a part of the group. The multi-talented Flaco Navaja is currently holding his own as the lead singer.

With the interview over, I decided to pay them a visit at http://www.myspace.com/yerbabuena and listen to some of their music. As I watched the videos and listened to the music I began to understand what Tato meant by it being music for the young and old alike. It's like telling someone that they had to be there in order to understand. You have to listen to Yerbabuena to understand. The sounds of Yerbabuena will have you moving from side to side and feeling good. You will want to share their sounds with familia. You've been warned, they will have you dancing.

You can see Yerbabuena performing live the 2nd Saturday of every month at Nuyoricans Poet Cafe, New York City, NY.

Tato Torres YERBABUENA - Boricua Roots Music CD