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 Gloria Estefan's album, Destiny offers one rich percussion-scape after another, and at the heart of the groove is LP player Edwin Bonilla, along with fellow band members Daniel Lopez and Olbin Burgos. "That album is all percussion," Edwin says. "We did the song Destiny with all three percussionists together. But on everything else I went in and cut all my parts," he recalls. "For the back beats, we used LP djembes for the high end, and for the bass drum we used a lot of surdu. We combined the LP batas with the djembe, which is very rare."
Bonilla, who continues to play and record with Gloria Estefan, was born in Puerto Rico and moved to New Jersey with his family when he was three years old. He fell in love with the timbale work of Orestes Vilato on Ray Barretto's album Hard Hands. " I knew his solos before I ever had any timbales, just playing them in my bed," recalls Edwin.
A versatile percussionist, Edwin is familiar with rhythmic patterns from around the world, and has performed and recorded rock, soca, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Indian and Brazilian music. He has participated in over one thousand recordings, has performed in various videos, and has worked continuously in the studio for the past twelve years. His own recordings, Edwin y su Son, and Soy la candela, released in 1999 and in 2002 respectively, have won critical and popular international support.
Edwin has worked with an impressive list of musicians,including Gloria Estefan, Ricky Martin, Madonna, Quincy Jones, Frank Sinatra, John Secada, Arturo Sandoval, Tony Bennett, Manhattan Transfer, Patti Labelle, Thalia, Cachao, Stevie Wonder, Tito Puente Jr., and Shakira. He has also performed on numerous movie soundtracks, including those for Evita; Walt Disney's Anastasia, Something About Mary, in which he also appeared; Make Me Dance; and The Perez Family to name only a few.Currently, Edwin has performed on the following recordings: Lucero (Latin Pop), Shakira, Paulina Rubio Marc Anthony, Jimmy Smith (Jazz blues). He is also working on his own World Beat project and Gloria Estefan's new cd.
Edwin has appeared on many television specials and programs throughout the United States, South America, Japan, and Europe, including The World Music Awards, The Arsenio Hall Show, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Late Show with David Letterman, The Top of the Pops - London VH1 Honors, and many others.
LP equipment: LP
timbales, LP
congas, LP
bongos, LP
cowbells, LP
tambora, LP
batas, LP
djembe, LP
chimes,LP
shekeres, LP
triangle, LP
blocks, LP
maracas, LP
shakers
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