SAXTONS RIVER — Main Street Arts welcomes spring with the debut performance of De Lomas y Sones, the new Cuban dance band led by singer/percussionist William Armando Rodriguez on Saturday, April 13.
The band's name translates as “Of Hills and Songs,” and pays tribute to its Vermont home base. Its speciality is Afro-Cuban son, the dance style at the root of salsa, cha-cha, and mambo. With congas, bongo acute, bass, piano, flute, saxophone and vocals, De Lomas y Sones promises an evening of deeply grooving Cuban sounds.
To get you in the mood, Main Street Arts is teaming up with Saxtons River eatery, The Dish, offering a Latin-themed buffet dinner from 6 to 7 p.m.
Maricel Lucero will polish your salsa dancing skills, or get you off on the right foot if you're new to salsa, with a dance lesson at 7:30, and the band starts at 8. Pleasant Valley Brewery hosts a cash bar at Main Street Arts before and during the show.
William Rodriguez is De Lomas y Sones' lead singer and chief percussionist. From the city of Santiago in eastern Cuba, he arrived in the United States in 2010. He graduated from the Conservatorio de Música Esteban Salas in Santiago, and taught both classical and Cuban percussion in Santiago's vocational arts program for several years before becoming head of the program's percussion department.
Rodriguez performed with many groups such as the popular Septeto Tipico Tivoli, where he infused other Cuban and Caribbean rhythms - bachata, merengue, cumbia, timba - into the group's repertoire of son.
In 2010, Septeto Tipico Tivoli traveled to the United States as part of a Cuban-American cultural exchange, giving concerts and workshops throughout New England. Rodriguez elected to stay here. He has been teaching at the Vermont Jazz Center in Brattleboro, working with Dartmouth College's Barbary Coast Jazz Ensemble and Gospel Choir, and making guest appearances with local groups such as Simba and Alafia.
Maricel Lucero, De Lomas y Sones' female lead vocalist, also hails from Santiago. She came to the United States at the age of 10, but has never lost her passion for Cuban music. She is an award-winning soprano known for her performances in a variety of genres such as opera, musical theater and Latin American music.
Her solo CDs include “Canciones de mi Tierra,” a collection of traditional and modern Cuban songs, and “Esto Sabe a Ti,” a collaboration with Septeto Tipico Tivoli. She teaches high school chorus and directs the Feminine Tone women's chorus of Springfield.
De Lomas y Sones' other musicians represent a solid crew of area professionals. Saxophonist/flautist Jon Weeks is a well-known performer from western Massachusetts. He has performed with many Latin, jazz, and soul bands including The Temptations, Sol y Canto, Orquesta Unidad, Ray Gonzalez, and Northside Saxophone Quartet. He plays with Brattleboro-based afrobeat band Alafia and the Latin big band Creación, teaches privately, and is the director of instrumental ensembles at Charlemont Academy.
Wayne Roberts, on bass, is also from western Massachusetts, where he recently transplanted from New York City. Wayne has toured internationally and has played with such luminaries as Attill=a Zoller, Hal Galper, Lew Tabackin, Jaki Byard, and Billy Childs.
Pianist/trombonist/composer Dan DeWalt plays extensively in New England, is an original member of the world beat ensemble Simba, and the leader of Green Mountain Mambo. Julian Gerstin, congas, is lead drummer for the Afro-Cuban traditional dance ensemble Iroko Nuevo, and also performs with Alafia, the Balkan/Middle Eastern/Caribbean jazz ensemble As Yet Quintet, and other area groups.