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

Puerto Rico: To Politicize or Not?

In my last post I decided to make a quick point on Puerto Rico's economy and as I usually do I injected somewhere in there a line or two with my opinion, nothing dramatical. Well, it just so happened that a fellow Tweeter (see Twitter) read the post and communicated via Twitter that she refused to pay the salaries of those who don't show up for work. I agree and would think that anyone in their right mind would think the same and also agree. She also communicated several other tweets in good discussion. That's all good, but what caught me by surprise was when she responded with "you don't live here so your perspective is from what you hear from the news only, and that could be dangerous"! Now, how shocking is that?.... Since, I would need several people together to be able to count the fingers and toes of each one to then even come close to the amount of family I have living in Puerto Rico. My response, even better, was that my mother lived on the island and what affects her affects me. Yes, it very important what goes on, whether politically or not, because if a situation were to arise that affected her I would like to know.

While a good amount of information is received through media it is safe to assume that we don't live in a vacuum. Media will report what media sees fit. It may be opinionated, one sided or neutral. That is not for me to decide. Outside of that vacuum, it is very easy to touch that speed dial button and talk on the phone (thanks to unlimited minutes and free nights/weekends!). It is from the voices of those who I communicate with, and that are directly affected by island politics, that I can have my perspective. Now, is that dangerous? I think not.

I must say that it actually felt good to have that bit of communique because it provided some of the fodder for this post. As I stated in my previous post in response to comment... discussions on this subject can lead to greater understanding among those who know and those who are willing and want to learn. With that, we can move forward and hopefully begin to resolve some of the issues facing Puerto Rico.

P.S. Thanks to that fellow tweeter. From Mr." Yo no tengo pelos en la lengua".

Puerto Rico's Economy

Things aren't looking good en La Isla Del Encanto. I'm sure many of us in the U.S., as I do, have some family there and can only feel their pain. While the current economic picture in the U.S. is still grim things in P.R. are worse. As of March, the unemployment rate was reaching 15%. Making the situation worse was the news, that the government was planning to layoff 30,000 public employees. The reality of it all is getting closer as protestors by the thousands hit the streets of San Juan.

At this point, one can only hope for the best. Ay bendito, que pasa en Puerto Rico?