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Musicians revel in
By John Berger
revival of Latin music
Star-BulletinHAWAII'S Puerto Rican community has changed in many ways since the first Puerto Ricans came here as plantation laborers a century ago. When it comes to music though, they cling to tradition.
"Puerto Ricans elsewhere are used to salsa but here in Hawaii we all grew up with musica tipica and we continue (to enjoy it)," says Nancy Ortiz, a promoter of traditional and modern Puerto Rican music.
Ortiz hosts "Alma Latina" 2 to 4 p.m. Sundays on Hawaii Public Radio, and is vice-president of the United Puerto Rican Association of Hawaii and co-chair of the Puerto Rican Centennial Celebration Commission.
"Refrescante" Quinque Domenech (CDT-1042)
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http://www.casadelostapes.com The two groups are commemorating the centennial of Puerto Rican immigration to Hawaii with "A Night Of Puerto Rican Music and Dances" at the Ala Moana Hotel 7 p.m. to midnight tomorrow The event will feature Puerto Rican cuatro player Quique Domenech and his group, Renacer Campesino, as well as dance groups and cuatro players from Hawaii.The cuatro, a 10-string relative of the guitar, links the modern salsa of contemporary Puerto Rico and the traditional musica tipica or jibaro rural folk music popular here. ("Katchi-katchi," a pidgin term for the music, is said to be an onomatopoeic term describing the distinctive scraping sound of the guiro, a Puerto Rican rhythm instrument.)
The cuatro is the national instrument of Puerto Rico and Domenech is the latest well-known Puerto Rican cuatro star to perform here. He and other cuatro players in Puerto Rico play the instrument in genres ranging from classical to jazz.
In Hawaii, the cuatro is heard in its traditional role as local Puerto Rican bands here play primarily within the Puerto Rican community. They include Tommy Valentine Y Suy Amigos, who play jibaro music at Sportsman's Lounge in Pearl City on Saturdays and the Rainbow Lounge in Kalihi on Sundays, and Second Time Around, a musica tipica band featuring Ortiz's husband John on cuatro, is a long-time attraction on the jibaro circuit. Big Island resident John Gary Guzman is not only an internationally recognized cuatro but also makes them. He too will be among Saturday's performers.
Ortiz hopes the visibility of Puerto Rican artists like Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Antony will lead to greater interest in other styles of Latin American music.
She says local Puerto Ricans have assimilated so thoroughly that "maybe 10 percent" still speak Spanish, and that young local Puerto Ricans tend to have the same tastes in music as teens in general. She compares it to the time when few Native Hawaiians seemed interested in speaking Hawaiian or preserving traditional Hawaiian culture.
She hopes the cuatro will be "discovered" in the same way that Kelly DeLima, Troy Fernandez and Jake Shimabukuro changed public perception of the ukulele.
There are a few hopeful signs. Hoku Award winner Darren Benitez included several traditional-style Puerto Rican songs on his 1998 album, "Mother of the Sea." Percussionist Lopaka Colon of Hoku Award-winning Pure Heart, is not only perpetuating the Puerto Rican musical traditions handed down by his father, Augie Colon, but plans to spend several months in Puerto Rico learning more about the music of his ancestral culture.
A Puerto Rican Renaissance in Hawaii? It could happen.
Ortiz is hoping such a renaissance materializes. "If we can only entice our young people here to carry it on that will be wonderful."
"A Night of Puerto Rican Music and Dance" featuring: Renacer Campesino and Quique Domenech Celebration
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