Tag: singer

Grandmother, 81, releases debut album with grandson and is nominated by Latin Grammys for “Best Norteño Album”
Irma Silva singing with her grandson, Jorge Loayzat, with the band Buyuchek on their family’s ranch in General Terán, Nuevo León, Mexico. (Courtesy Universal Music Latin Entertainment)

Irma Silva was born and raised on her family’s ranch, “Rancho El Naranjo,” in General Terán, Nuevo León, Mexico. Ever since she was a little girl, she dreamed of being a singer like her uncles who were members of the Norteño band, Los Alegres de Teherán, which formed in the 1940’s. Instead, due to her family’s wishes, she became a seamstress.

However, because of the encouragement from her grandson, Jorge Loayzat (singer and bajo sexto player of the Norteño band Buyuchek), to pursue music, Silva – now 81 – says her days are currently spent doing interviews for press around the world. She has not only completed her first album, “Las Canciones de la Abuela” (“The Songs of Grandmother”), but it has been nominated for “Best Norteño Album” by the 20th annual Latin Grammy Awards. This week, they traveled from their home in Monterrey to attend the red carpet event in MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on November 14.
- Irma Silva and her grandson, Jorge, arrive in Las Vegas on November 11 in preparation for the Latin Grammys. (Courtesy @JorgeLoayzat)
“I loved to listen to my father sing, and I used to love to sing,” says Silva in Spanish, explaining that during the era of her youth, it was looked down upon for girls to pursue singing as a career.

She repeats often that she thought her dream of singing was over forever and still can’t believe what is currently happening.

“I really thought that at 81, that it wasn’t the right time…” says Silva, “I didn’t want to do it, but my grandson is very stubborn. I am very happy now…very happy.”

Working on the album, which took approximately a year, was also therapeutic for her because the 14th of November additionally marks the one year anniversary of the death of her oldest child of four.

“We filmed the music videos on the ranch of my family,” says Silva. “Working on the album this past year…it helped me.”

Creating the album also meant a lot for her 28-year-old grandson.

“I remember the songs she used to sing me when I was still in the crib,” says Loayzat, explaining he has felt so many emotions working on this project with his grandmother who worked hard her whole life, and gave her all to her family. “I’m happier for her, more than for me. She has never even been to a concert, not to mention on a stage. I’ve already been singing for 16 years.”

He says he had always wanted to record an album with his grandmother since as long as he can remember.

“I was thinking a simple album,” remembers Loayzat. “It was my bandmates that motivated me to make a complete professional album. A lot of people got involved to help us complete it.”

“I have a lot of friends whose parents sing very well, but they don’t record them thinking that it won’t result in anything,” says Loayzat, “but I’ve witnessed, in doing this project, that working on something noble brings many rewards…one of them being learning that it’s never too late to achieve your dreams.”

It has also opened up more ideas for the duo to work together. Coming next is an album with the Norteño artists of his grandmother’s youth, which is her next dream.

“We already recorded the song, “Nueve dias” (“Nine days”),” says Loayzat, adding that his grandma sings it with Norteño legend Poncho Villagomez, and it will drop on November 22. “Unintentionally, she has just started a music career.”

“I now want to tell young people to fight for your dreams,” adds Silva. “I had once thought that I was too old, but here I am singing a very old song, ‘La Pajarera’ – the same song my teachers would make me sing when I was seven, and now I’m singing it again.”

This time, however, she is singing on an international stage.
November 14, 2019
Flamenco singer Juana la del Pipa on her Gypsy culture

Juana la del Pipa (Photo/Christine Fu)

Juana la del Pipa, once known as the “Tina Turner” of Flamenco, for her strong legs and dynamic nature, is still turning on passionate performances at 68.

The deep-voiced Gypsy cantaora (singer) was born and still lives in, Jerez de la Frontera, located in the Andalusian region of southern Spain. The city of more than 200,000 is best known for its sherry (“Jerez” is the Arabic word for “sherry”), its fine horses, and its classic Flamenco music and dance tradition. And like most of Andalusia, Jerez de la Frontera has a large Arab and Gypsy influence.

In many classic Flamenco songs, Juana says it is customary that many lyrics are in Caló – their Gypsy dialect. However, her primary language is Spanish. When having a conversation, she ends almost every sentence with “cariño.” The Spanish expression for “my love.”

Juana seems to live every day driven by feelings. Flamenco, an extremely emotional musical genre, seems to run through her veins and make her heart beat. And when she sings, the words seem to flow from the depths of her gut, through her heart, and out of her mouth with a passionate force only capable from a deep-seated love, which has also known great pain and sadness.

“It came down through my genes,” says Juana in her in her native Spanish. “It is my life, and everything I feel, my love.”

From as far back as she can remember, Juana remembers Flamenco being a part of her life. After all, she lived her entire life in Barrio Santiago, the neighborhood coined as the birthplace of classic Flamenco, and nearly all of her family members are Flamenco musicians of some form. Her nephew is the world-renowned Antonio El Pipa.

“It’s important in Flamenco circles to know what town you’re from,” explains Juana, who is related to the Parrilla guitar-playing family and both the Zambo and Terremoto singing clans. “Barrio Santiago is where you can hear the best original Flamenco – the most Gypsy. We have a certain way of approaching the rhythm.”

It is common for families there to sing and dance together, as Flamenco expresses her people’s way of life, their philosophy, their struggles and pride in their culture.

Juana started singing among her family at age 11. Then at 15, she sang at the Mairena del Alcor Festival, which began her professional singing career.

“I felt marvelous the first time,” says Juana. “It was, I don’t know what I felt…I can’t explain it.”

She says she was mainly influenced by the talents of Manolo Caracol, Tio Borrico, and Terremoto, because their singing reflected her Gypsy culture, and they transmitted deep feelings.

But the most memorable moment of her career, she says, was at 15, when she sang a solea for her mother, while her mother danced for her.

“That was an incredible honor for me,” says Juana, explaining that it took place at the wedding of her niece.

Her mother played an integral role in her life. Juana inherited her name, “Juana la del Pipa,” from her mother, a world-famous Flamenco dancer. And her mother got the name, because when she was young, she sold “pipas,” the Spanish word for “sunflower seeds.”

“She was a great person,” reminisces Juana. “[Her character] was the first thing I learned about her. And she danced until she died.”

Today, when Juana’s not on tour, or performing at an event or family functions, she spends her days cleaning, cooking and taking care of her 19 grandchildren.

Professionally, she sings as soloist in many festivals around the world, accompanied by different guitarists. Most recently, she will be returning to sing in New York with world-renowned dancer José Maya on February 17 (her first time in NYC was at age 28, and has come many times since then), and then in San Francisco on February 19 and 23.

Like her mother, she says she hopes to continue performing classical Flamenco until her last breathe.

What advice about life would she give her 20-year-old self?

“The most important thing in life is your health. I take care of myself with food. I eat lots of fish,” says Juana. “Keep fighting in life, and don’t give up the struggle. Stay strong, my love.”

February 10, 2017
Bibi Ferreira, 94, performs in NYC and shares her life

Bibi Ferreira (Photo/Willan Aguiar)

Bibi Ferreira is an entertainment powerhouse in Brazil — she’s been singing, acting, directing and producing for the past 75 years. At 94, she is also a force that doesn’t quit.

The “Grand Dame,” as she is often called, was recently in New York City performing “4 x Bibi” at Symphony Space, a show saluting her four singing peers — Frank Sinatra, Édith Piaf, Amália Rodrigues, and Carlos Gardel.

“They are not my favorite singers, but they are the best,” says Ferreira, in her deep, strong voice, about why she chose these four to tribute. “Piaf was a composer herself.”

Although born in Rio de Janeiro, Ferreira speaks perfect English, as well as Spanish, French and her native Portuguese.

“I had a lot of work to do,” she says about her childhood. “I was brought up in a British school. My mother was very tough with me. I spoke five languages at the age of 15. I also learned the piano and violin. It was a very, very busy life. I did whatever my mother wanted.”

Ferreira’s mother was Spanish ballerina, Aída Izquierdo, and her father, the prominent Brazilian actor, Procópio Ferreira. So the stage became Bibi’s second home from when she was still only months old.

“A very special night for me was an opening act with my father on February 28, 1941,” says Ferreira about her professional stage debut at age 18 in the Italian play “La Locandiera.” “My father – the greatest actor from Brazil – taught me everything I know.”

Bibi performing in “La Locandeira” at age 18. (Courtesy Montenegro y Raman Art Productions)

Throughout her career, Ferreira brought some of Broadway’s biggest musicals to Brazil in the 1960’s — as well as starred in them — such as, “My Fair Lady,” “Hello, Dolly!”, and “Man of La Mancha.” She sang and acted, touring worldwide, and even hosted various television programs, including Curso de Alfabetização para Adultos — a televised literacy course which taught more than 30,000 people in Brazil.

“It was one of the things that most honored my career,” says Ferreira, who takes the art of communication very seriously. “My career has been a success – one on top of the other…The most important thing for an actor is to make yourself understood.”

It wasn’t always an easy ride for Ferreira. She was married five times and had one daughter. Her last, and most successful, marriage was to Brazilian playwright, Paolo Pontes. However, after only eight years together, he died of stomach cancer at the age of 36, and she never married again.

“Since I remember at the age of 12, I never decided anything in my life,” said Ferreira about her professional life. [My parents] decided my life…It’s a very severe way of living, but I like music very, very, very much – I really prefer the musicals.”

These days, although she still performs and tours occasionally, she is now free to wake up when she wants.

“I wake up, have my coffee and milk, go for the mail,” says Ferreira. “Sometimes I play a little piano which I adore. Then my assistant tells me what I have to do. I get ready, get dressed.”

What is her most important piece of life advice which she wishes she could give her younger self?

“Try to be simple. I think simplicity is the most important thing in life. It’s very important to just be yourself…The most important thing in life is to communicate. Just be happy. I could eat everything I want, and my health is good, so I’m happy!”

September 28, 2016
Jazz singer, Joan Cartwright, pursues doctorate at 68

Singer Joan Cartwright (Photo: Whitfield Moore & Son Photography)

Joan Cartwright has spent a good portion of her life traveling around the world singing jazz. Music had been her first love since the age of four when her mother put her in dance school, and her childhood home in Queens, NY was often filled with the sounds of jazz records being played by her father.

Now 68, Cartwright lives in West Palm Beach, Fla. where she remains a creative force using many different platforms – from writing books, blogs, and poetry. In March, she taught her first college course in speech communication at Southeastern University. She also heads Women in Jazz South Florida, a non-profit organization she founded to support the success of fellow women jazz musicians, and hosts a weekly radio talk show called “Music Woman.”

“Musicians are messengers,” says Cartwright, who calls herself “a communicator” above all else. “Music is about delivering messages. So I don’t see music as necessarily art, but as communication.”

Ever since she was in college, she was adamant about combining her love of music and communication. And now she is finishing up her doctorate in marketing at Northcentral University.

“My passion now is to get my doctorate,” says Cartwright. “I’m working on my dissertation research right now on women in jazz, music publishing and marketing. I have to interview 20 women composers and ask them about their marketing practices.”

She says she realized early on that musicians have very poor business skills, and she decided to pursue that topic, because she wants to help them – especially women, because the jazz music industry has long been dominated by men.

Cartwright herself remembers returning to New York to sing after getting her master’s degree in communication from La Salle University in Philadelphia.

“New York was a little tougher,” she says about the music industry in the early 80’s. “In Philly, there were five or seven of us jazz singers. In New York, about 30.”

She said she would hustle during the day doing odd jobs like word processing and working as a legal secretary, and at night she would sing.

“I used to be a street musician in Central Park for a while with my boyfriend who was a drummer,” remembers Cartwright. “Sometimes we’d make more money there than in the clubs.”

In the 90’s, she got her first contract which allowed her to tour Europe.

“I met a piano player who became my music arranger, and he produced my first CD in Catania, Italy, called ‘Feeling Good,’” recalls Cartwright.

“I toured Italy for four years with him, and I sang in Spain, Austria, Germany and England, Holland, France and Switzerland. I met some wonderful musicians and got to see a lot of famous musicians.”

When she moved to Florida in 1996, she had collected so many photographs of beautiful places and people all over the world that she decided to take them to the publisher of African American Travel magazine. She ended up writing for them for four years.

These days, she’s excited to be back recording music with her daughter, and fellow singer, Mimi Johnson, and also plans to keep teaching business courses once she finishes her doctorate in December.

“I keep doing what I’m doing…and then I’m going to publish “The Best Business Practices for Women Musicians,” because women have to use different strategies than men use,” says Cartwright. “One of my triumphs is that I’ve got a collection of at least six CDs of music with 63 songs from 45 women. So nobody can never say that women don’t write music.”

And what is her one piece of life advice that she wishes she could tell her younger self now?

“Love yourself first,” says Cartwright, adding that she is “blissfully single” after four marriages – she’s even written a poem about it. “Women tend to give away their hearts to men, and men generally take those hearts for granted.”

April 28, 2016
The King of Latin Soul, Joe Bataan, on what matters in life

(Courtesy Joe Bataan)

Born Bataan Nitollano to an African American mother and Filipino father, Joe Bataan grew up in Manhattan’s East Harlem in the 1950’s and 60’s – otherwise known as “Spanish Harlem,” or “El Barrio.”

During that time, “El Barrio,” was a mainly Puerto Rican neighborhood where many Latin sounds started to boom. Bataan, who ultimately became a leading figure in Latin soul music, as a self-taught pianist and vocalist, was specifically influenced by Latin boogaloo and African American doo-wop. Fania Records spotted his talent, and signed him in 1966 – through which Bataan released his famous “Gypsy Woman” in 1967. He was also a main subject of the 2014 documentary on Latin boogaloo in New York City, “We Like It Like That.”

“My first ambition was to become an athlete,” recalls Bataan, now 73. “I wanted to follow in the steps of Jackie Robinson. That didn’t realize, so at around 9, I decided I wanted to become a singer. I used to buy hit parade books and imitate the artists every Saturday morning – from Frank Sinatra to Tito Rodriguez.”

Watching movies, he says, were also an inspiration to him.

“It was like a romantic period – what you couldn’t see, you could sing about,” says Bataan. “Music gave you a good feeling and gave you a different outlook on the world. It was like an injection of happiness. It was motivating. That’s when my dream started.”

However, his dream took a little detour. At 15, Bataan found himself as the leader of a gang called the Dragons and with a pregnant 13-year-old girlfriend. He was also sent to a correctional facility for stealing a car. It wasn’t until he was freed five years later, that he was able to resume his dream of becoming a musician.

“I started a band and learned the piano,” says Bataan. “It took me like six months to put that band together [Joe Bataan and the Latin Swingers]…I found a group of young kids, around eight musicians that stuck with me – ages 11, 12 and 13 – I was 19. I taught myself the piano, and then I helped teach them. It was all trial and error.”

He says it took a lot of hustling to become successful.

“You just don’t pick up and say, ‘I’m a star,’ says Bataan. “You had to find out what was available, seek out executives to listen to you, and get a following from the public. I started out with a dream, and then I was able to fulfill it little by little. No one ever gave us anything. We had to go out and get it.”

After a breakup with Fania, Bataan founded Salsoul Records in 1973. “Salsoul” was the term he gave the sound which blended salsa and soul. In the late 70’s, he ended up recording a rap hit under that label called, “Rap-O Clap-O.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcA4-HinQpQ

In the 1980’s, Bataan’s music career plummeted due to a gambling habit, and he took another detour back to Bridges Juvenile Center in the Bronx. However, this time it was for 25 years, but not behind bars.

“At 40, I found a job as a youth counselor exactly where I had been locked up [years ago],” says Bataan, who by then was raising a family. “I needed a job to pay my rent, but it turned my life around. I got to mentor troubled kids, just as I had wished someone had done for me. It makes me feel good that I had a meaningful part of my life besides music.”

He says he used techniques inspired by karate to create the discipline the 10- to 17-year-olds so craved and needed.

“Their role models were silly,” says Bataan. “They believed in somebody who had gold chains. A lot of them didn’t have parents, and they’d been on their own from a very young age. They needed motivation to change their life. If they don’t hear this from somebody, they’re lost.”

Now that he’s retired from the juvenile center, he says that he is currently writing a book called, “Streetology.” It gives youth tips on how to survive in life, including how to speak on a job interview, and how to be respected.

“Playing music for people is my pastime, but I also like to think I’m bringing a message,” says Bataan. “God has come into my life…He’s what allowed me to be here today. My faith in God has protected me all of my life.”

Bataan explains that he grew up in Catholic school, but he wasn’t ready for God as a young boy. It wasn’t until he was in his late 50’s that he had his encounter with who he calls “The Big Boss.”

“I went to see ‘Star Wars’ one day after work,” he recalls clearly. “I was borderline diabetic, eating all this popcorn at the movie. I came out, and I started to bleed out of my mouth. I started to lose consciousness, and I went into a coma. When I was in a coma, I felt God say, ‘Joe, why do you keep running away from me? I’m going to give you one more chance.’ I know he brought me back to life. The doctor had told my wife I wasn’t going to make it.”

Coincidentally, he always sang his song, “The Prayer,” to himself for many years before that incident, but it took him 30 years to finally sing it in public.

“I wasn’t ashamed anymore,” says Bataan about now one of his most popular songs. “I’m not just chasing women anymore – or a new house, or a new car. Joe Bataan is never going to be rich. God has me on a mission now. Everyday I wake up, and I thank God for another day.”

And each day is busy. He enjoys taking care of his grandchildren daily, and he’s also back in the music business and very active touring.

“Every month I’m performing somewhere around the world,” says Bataan who will be in Philadelphia on March 25 and on April 9 at Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts in New York.

He leaves us with this advice for life he wishes he had when he was younger:

“Don’t get involved in something unless you have a passion for it. Never give up, and never accept the word ‘no.’ If you’re weak with your drive, you should pick another profession. You might not become wealthy, but that’s not the only thing that matters in life – it’s living, teaching and sharing…You also have to believe in something – a higher being to guide you in life. You must take care of your body to enable to do what you need to do in life, and knowledge – it’s criminal to let a day go by without learning something new. Spirit, health and knowledge.”

March 24, 2016