Lehman Center for the Performing Arts is proud to present the legendary singer ISMAEL MIRANDA: UNA VIDA DE SALSA, with special guests ANDY MONTAÑEZ and PAQUITO GUZMÁN tonight, August 17th, 2013 at 8pm. Produced by Lehman Center and José Raposo.
Lehman Center for the Performing Arts is on the campus of Lehman College/CUNY at 250 Bedford Park Boulevard West, Bronx, NY 10468. Tickets for ISMAEL MIRANDA: UNA VIDA de SALSA on Saturday, August 17th, 2013 at 8pm are $60, $55, and $45 and can be purchased by calling the Lehman Center box office at 718-960-8833 (Monday through Thursday, 10am-5pm, and beginning at 12 noon on the day of the concert), or through online access at www.LehmanCenter.org. Lehman Center is accessible by #4 or D train to Bedford Park Blvd. and is off the Saw Mill River Parkway and the Major Deegan Expressway. Low-cost on-site parking available for $5.
ISMAEL MIRANDA, the most recorded Salsa singer in the world, was born in 1950 in Puerto Rico and grew up in Manhattan's East Village. He showed an interest in music from a very young age and by the time he was eleven, he was singing and playing the congas with two juvenile groups. He recorded his first hit single, "Rumbón Melón", with Joey Pastrana's Orchestra when he was 17, which led to being hired as lead singer by bandleader Larry Harlow. Together they co-authored the Latin Boogaloo album El Exigenta (1967), and Miranda headlined the record Orquesta Harlow Presenta a Ismael Miranda in 1968. Over the next five years, he made seven albums with Orchestra Harlow which included many of his original compositions. Miranda also began performing and recording with the newly formed Fania All-Stars in 1969, and as the youngest artist in the group, he was given the nickname "El niño bonito de la Salsa" (The pretty boy of Salsa). He sang on 17 of their albums and appeared with them in the movies "Our Latin Thing" (Nuestra Cosa; 1972), "Live In Africa" (1974) and "Salsa" (1976). In 1973, along with Frankie Rodriguez, Joe Santiago, Nicky Marrero, Nelson González and
Oscar Hernández he formed his own band, the Orquesta Revelación, and released the Salsa masterpiece album Asi Se Compone Un Son. Notable Orquesta Revelación album recordings include En Fa Menor (1976), Con Mi Viejo (1976), No Voy Al Festival (1977) and Doble Energia (with Willie Colon, 1980). Several of his hit songs have attained classic status, including "Arsenio", "Pa Brovo Yo", "Señor Sereno", "Lupe, Lupe" and "Se Fue Y Me Dejo". Even though Miranda has been singing for over 45 years, his voice has retained its resounding strength and melodious qualities. He has been honored with three GRAMMY nominations, 1 platinum and 8 gold albums, and countless international honors. His most recent recording, A Man and His Music: El Nino Bonito was released in 2012.
ANDY MONTAÑEZ, nicknamed "El Godfather de la Salsa" and known for his rich, powerful vocals, was the first-born of 17 children in the Tras Talleres area of Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico. He gained international popularity during his 15-year tenure (1962-1976) as lead vocalist of the legendary salsa group El Gran Combo, producing 37 albums that included such hit songs as "Hojas Blancas" (White Leaves), "Un Verano en Nueva York" (A Summer in New York), "El Barbero Loco" (The Crazy Barber). "Julia" and "Vagabundo". In the 90's he teamed up with fellow Fania All-Stars band member and Salsa singer Ismael Miranda to record a series of boleros and Bohemian albums: Al Son del Bolero (1996), Romantics de Nuevo (1997) and Con Alma de Niño (1998). Known as one of the pioneers of the genre called Salsatón, a blend of Salsa and Reggaetón, he has collaborated with such rappers as
Daddy Yankee and Julio Voltio. Montañez, along with Pablo Milanes, won the 2006 Latin GRAMMY Award for Best Traditional Tropical Album for AM/PM Lineas Paralelas. His latest album, De Andy Montañez Al Combo (2010), reached number 5 on the Billboard Latin Tropical Album Chart and pays tribute to
El Gran Combo with new arrangements of hit songs like "Brujeria" (Witchcraft), "No Hago Más Ná" (All I Do Nothing) and "Carbonerito".
PAQUITO GUZMÁN, one of the greatest Salsa Romantica vocalists, was also born in Santurce, Puerto Rico. In 1959, at the age of twenty, he moved to the Bronx, NY, and went to work in a record shop, hoping to make connections in the music industry. Less than a year later he met Joe Quijano who hired him as the lead singer for his Caribbean pachanga band Joint Cachana, that also included Bobby Valentín on trumpet. Within three years, Joint Cachana recorded seven albums with Guzmán as vocalist including Dance to the Bossa Nova, the Mambo, the Cha Cha Cha and The World's Most Exciting Latin American Orchestra and Revue, the latter record selling 1,000 copies in the first 6 months alone and has become a cult classic often referred to as "The Nostros Album". Firmly established as a bolerista in the new "salsa" movement, Guzmán returned to Puerto Rico in 1962 to sing vocals with Chamaco Ramirez in the Tommy Olivencia band, recording seven albums. Mintiendo Se Gana Mas (1977) marked his first of over twenty albums as a solo artist, and during the 1980's he was widely popular singing in the Salsa Romantica style reaching a high point in sales with his 1986 album Salsa The Best Ballads. 2008 saw the release of Guzmán's well regarded album The Greatest Salsa Ever and his latest record, Iconos: 25 Exitos, was released earlier this year.
Lehman Center is supported, in part, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the New York City Council. The 2012-2013 season is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor
Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, JPMorgan Chase, Con Edison and through corporations, foundations and private donations.
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