About Me
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I'm a Latino born and raised in the foothills in Western New York. Blessed to live in many different locations and types of places, I've had a variety of different music teachers from different backgrounds and traditions. Since '96, I performed with the African American Cultural Center, the Langston Hughes Center Drummers and Dancers, Grupo Baoba (puerto rico) Son de Batey (puerto rico), Abundance, The Wendell Rivera Bomba and Plena Ensemble and the 12/8 Path Marching Band. My main musical job in 1998 was touring with the legendary One World Tribe as percussionist which ended formally in 2002. During that time, I began using Pro Tools LE as a tool for music composition and of course, recording. It became the medium to experiment with all the musical ideas from all the different instruments and genres that I had become interested in. Since then, I've studied in Brazil, Puerto Rico and Senegal, West Africa. In september '07, I spent a VERY fruitful month in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to meet with and record the bredren and sistren in the nascent east african reggae scene.To date, I've opened for/shared the stage with Burning Spear, Gangstarr, Merl Saunders, Culture, Viento de Agua, Simone (Brazil), Toots and the Maytals, John Brown's Body, Wailing Souls, Mickey Hart & Planet Drum, Yellowman, Alma Moyo, Steve Bernstein & Sex Mob and lots of other beautiful folks. Currently, I play with Harambee Drum & Dance NYC & Los Bomberos De Brooklyn. I teach percussion at Boy's Harbor Conservatory in East Harlem - a world renowned school for Latin percussion and through Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. I DJ all kinds of "Jamaican music" from all over the world @ my ROOTICAL sessions called: "Shaking The Tree Of Life". Live, I always throw in all kinds of other music that I love - hit me up for a mix (Shaking the Tree of Life Vols. 1/2/& 3 - roots!!). Incidentally, the incomparable DJ Kiva, designed the covers for these mixes. In the past year, I've focused on producing reggae - lots of reggae. What you hear on the player is newer music that I've made. "VALLEY OF JEHOSEPHAT", "JAH HEAVY LOAD", "RED GOLD AND GREEN" and "MELT AWAY" are all versions of rockers classics that I love. The first 3 were recorded on my recent trip to Ityopia. The new year is going to bring a new era as i'm founding an afro-punk band. I believe it'll be the first Black and Brown (Blacks and Latinos) punk band in the whole of Harlem. Look for the "FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS" or F.V.K.! To the left is a video of me playing "Kuku", west african drum and dance riddim. I'm doing this one in a couple of styles that I learned from my Senegalese bredren - 1 from upstate and the other in Dakar. This is NOT in the typical guinean form. Enjoy!
