Teacher, pianist and composer born in Havana, Cuba.
An in-depth study (324 pages) of all the percussion instruments, rhythms and song styles of Afro-Cuban music, along with their applications to the drumset. The entire rhythm section is also studied in detail. The book comes with online audio that includes performances of each percussion instrument, drumset, all rhythm section instruments, as well as examples of all musical styles with full instrumentation in score form.
Joel Pena, a professional musician with many years of experience, has created the definitive method book for those interested in taking up the unique instrument known as the Cuban tres or three-course guitar. This bilingual book/audio method addresses everything from appropriate string gauges to creating authentic Latin tumbaos or groove patterns. Beginners and experienced players alike will appreciate the book's logic as each section features diagrams and exercises in standard notation to help the student understand the concepts being presented at any given point.
According to the prologue writer, Cristóbal Díaz Ayala: "it is an essential work for everyone who wants to know the future of Cuban music, in these years." It also states that: “This is the only book, which will cause a stir to the north and south of the wall of the Malecón in Havana. For me, who has spent almost a lifetime researching and writing about that always surprising phenomenon that is Cuban music, it has been an extraordinary and stupendous account of the ins and outs of the musical phenomenon in Cuba, in more than six decades of Castroism.
Crónica de la música del Caribe urbano is the subtitle of this book, a true classic updated for this edition when it is about to celebrate 40 years of its original publication. Salsa, that music from the Latin neighborhoods of New York, was born in the 1950s in the places where Cubans, Puerto Ricans or Venezuelans who emigrated to the United States met. And it was always the voice of the neighborhood, of upset love, of precarious life, of thugs and the uprooted, a way of bringing the Caribbean to the stage of the big city.
Here are gathered sixty-six portraits of our earthly gods: the musicians of Cuba. Those who walk in our memory, on our skin and in the mist of our identity. They are the faces that make up our sound DNA. These "Kabiosiles" are greetings from the depths of the heart. Vicentico, Benny Moré, Rita, La Lupe, Bola de Nieve, Celia Cruz, Machín, Arsenio Rodríguez, are some names on that map of who we are.
"This book is written by one of the masters of Afro-Cuban bass playing. It is bilingual and comes with audio files (available for free download at shermusic.com) that have Carlos playing the exercises in the book, as well as some historic Cuban recordings re-issued. It is a complete overview of the evolution of the bass' role in Cuban music, as well as a method book on all the different styles of Afro-Cuban bass playing. Endorsed by Jimmy Haslip, Chucho Valdes, and Paquito D'Rivera.
The Cuban tres guitar, also called simply the tres, is an important instrument in the evolution of Cuban music. There are people who say that without the tres, there would be no traditional son. Other people call him the king of son.
Biographical book of the Cuban drummer Chano Pozo. An investigation of Rosa Marquetti that spans from the musician's childhood in Cuba to his death in New York and his legacy.
A unique bilingual method of learning reveals the traditional technique and true essence of a Cuban folk instrument, with an accompanying CD that includes examples of the most popular Cuban styles.