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| From l - r: David
Rosado-Cuba, Raulito Rosario, Memo Acevedo, Nelson Rodriguez, “Nundo” Rodriguez,
Diana Valdes, Tito De Gracia, Rafy Hernandez, Gabriel Lugo |
Dr. Jose Alicea moved
his beloved festival to August from its customary three-day run in January and
it was good strategy. The heat was on for the 12th Annual Puerto Rican Percussion
Festival. The consensus at the end of the Fest was that Dr. Alicea, director
of the Conservatory of Puerto Rico's percussion department, had made the right
choice.
As usual, LP was out in full force. Aside from officially sponsoring the Puerto
Rican Percussion Festival, as in past, nine of our esteemed artists made the
event come to life.
Tommy Igoe,
the extraordinarily well-rounded drummer, who holds the drumset chair for The
Lion King on Broadway, gave a muscular tour de force around his instrument,
demonstrating that irrespective of the rhythm-Latin, funk, rock, or world-you
must hold the groove unshakably. Then from another perspective, Steve Fidyk,
an excellent drummer and educator, dealt a similar lesson: while music is energized
by chops, it must house the primal pulse. He joined the crème de la
crème of Puerto Rican percussion artists in his mission: Paoli
Mejias, a festival regular, as is Javier Oquendo; Gadwin Vargas, Elias
Lopez Jr., Tito
de Gracia, and David Rosado-Cuba.
An acclaimed LP artist who is a drummer, bandleader, and educator, Fidel Morales,
held a popular clinic in which he showed how folkloric rhythms, such as generated
by bata, congas and timbales, could be successfully interpreted on the drumset.
In doing so, Morales performed on a variety of LP instruments and basked in
a long round of applause. Fidel held a good rapport with his audience, with
whom he discussed a range of topics from ancestral legends to drumset technique.
During the three-day festival, many of the Island's finest percussionists
congregated to soak up the learning experience and networking opportunity.
They held informal sessions and flocked to the many master classes. Among this
group were several LP endorsers, including Andrew Lazaro, Diana Valdes, Raulito
Rosario, Nelson Rodriguez, Nelson Cintron, Carlos Lopez, “Gabo” Lugo,
Rafy Hernandez, Luis Velez, Celso Clemente, and Marcos
Ayala-Lopez, who had just won a full scholarship to the Berklee College
of Music.
LP is proud once again to support this major Puerto Rican percussion festival
situated in one of the heartlands of Latin percussion!
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