El Canario at Chicago’s Cuban Fest

In case you missed it, Jose Alberto “El Canario” charged the crowd with electrifying salsa at this year’s Cuban Fest, which was held at Riis Park at Narragansett and Fullerton Avenue this past Saturday. Despite audio issues - none his doing, Jose Alberto inspired the crowd with his repertoire of tunes he has recorded over the years. Sound engineers found themselves struggling with feedback and other issues at show time (which is a no no). The crowd was smaller than expected due to the earlier severe storm that passed through the park. Those who stuck it out however were treated by a salsa Sonero who is a master of his trade. This was the third Cuban Fest event that was held at Riis Park that seems to be plagued by rain each year. Promoters may want to consider changing their dates to a dryer time. In their defense though, who can predict weather anyway.

Rica Obsesion

Here is an impressive Chicago salsa band that piqued our interest. I discovered this video on Youtube when I was looking for anything recent by today’s Chicago salsa bands. The name of the group is Rica Obsesion.  They have a modern exciting salsa sound that compares or exceeds the quality of salsa that has dominated the mainstream sound that was traditionally spoon fed to us by New York, Miami, Puerto Rico and Colombia. I am quite impressed and think this group will be around for a long time. The video was posted by “mambohiphop” on youtube recently and is a sampling of a couple of songs they recorded. I like where they are going with this and am asking everyone to support them. Hey Chicago, you really have something good here. Below is their bio that was posted by mambohiphop. Click on the link and enjoy…

Published on Youtube on Apr 26, 2012 by mambohiphop
Rica Obsesion (Chicago Salsa)
Performing: Soy Lluvia and Soy Quien Soy
Two brothers joined in blood and music founded Rica Obsesion. Dennis and Byron Calito from Guatemala; raised in Chicago, have the talent and ability to achieve in the music industry. They started playing music in church at a very young age, and were inspired by their older brother Victor. Both of them have had the privilege to perform and record with various local bands in Chicago. They have also performed with well-known artist such as, Gloria Estefan, Willy Torres, DLG, Eddie Santiago, Kevin Ceballo, Tony Vega, Van Lester, Yomo Toro, Alex D'Castro, Wichie Camacho, Frankie Negron and many more.
Dennis Calito (Timbales/Music Director) and Byron Calito (Congas/Vocals) have brought together some of Chicago’s finest musicians to make up Rica Obsesion. The Rica Obsesion family consists of Harley Figueroa (Saxophone/vocals) as musical composer, Alex Torres ( Lead Vocal ), Junior Rivera ( Lead Vocal ), Stuart Mindiman on Piano, Nathan Rodriguez Bass, Micah Frazier on Trumpet (R.I.P) ,Leon Q. Allen ( Trumpet ) and Joe Mende on Trombone.
Rica Obsesions passion for Salsa, which is vigorously projected through their musical selections from artist like Spanish Harlem Orquestra, the late Frankie Ruiz, and Soneros Del Barrio is undeniably strong. Rica Obsesion also performs variety of music such as Mergenues and cha cha cha by the late Tito Puente and many Latin Jazz tunes.
Rica Obsesion’s ultimate goal is to show their love for music in their performance, to see and feel the excitement of the audience on the dance floor. With a combination of great music and the best musicians in Chicago, Rica Obsesion is confident that their goals will be achieved and that they will be able to put Chicago back on the map for Salsa once again.
BAND: Dennis Calito- Timbal/Music Director
Byron Calito : Congas/Coro
Harley Figueroa: Saxophone / Coro
Micah Frazier: TrumpetJunior Rivera: Lead Vocal / Coro
Alex Torres: Lead Vocal / Coro
Joe Mende: Trombone
Stuart Mindiman: Piano
Richie Pillot: Bass
Brian Rivera: Bongo
http://www.ricaobsesion.net




Click on the following Link to see the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q435EQkK-4k