Miramar – Dedication to Sylvia Rexach (Barbes Records, 2016)
This album celebrates the legacy of Puerto Rican artist Sylvia Rexach, one of the essential composers of boleros from Puerto Rico. Boleros are the romantic ballads that started in Cuba and spread to the rest of the Spanish-speaking world, from Latin America to Spain.
Boleros are popular with various generations of Spanish-speakers and come in many forms. You’ve probably heard modernized versions performed by well-known world music acts from the Spanish-speaking world. Miramar’s aim is to bring back the old-style boleros from Puerto Rico. These songs were very popular at the time, so you could say that it’s pop music from another era.
The name of this new bolero project, Miramar, has a romantic connection to the sea. In most of Latin America and Spain, you’ll find numerous locations called Miramar: “a romantic snapshot of a place both close and far away from home.”
The band is led by members of salsa band Bio Ritmo, Puerto Rican vocalist Reinaldo Alvarez and Chilean-American keyboardist Marlysse Simmons-Argandoña along with vocalist Laura Ann Singh. “When I first heard duo music, specifically Duo Irizarry de Córdova” says Rei, “to me it was a new expression of pain and longing. It was a concrete manifestation of everything that I love about romantic music.”
Rei loved the way the male and female voices interacted in the classic bolero duos and found Laura Ann Singh, who became the ideal singing partner. “We have to breathe together and feel the songs together, emotionally and rhythmically.” Says Laura Ann, “and because we have this natural chemistry in our voices and trust each other as musicians, I think we got to skip some of the mundane aspects of learning music and go right to the subtle and the abstract.”
Dedication to Sylvia Rexach is a journey through the world of the classic Puerto Rican romantic ballads.
Miramar will be on tour next month:
June 22nd – Minneapolis, MN – Cedar Cultural Center
June 23rd – Cedar Rapids, IA – Legion Arts
June 24th & 25th – Chicago, IL – Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Court
June 26th – Cleveland, OH – Cleveland Museum of Art
June 26th – Pittsburgh, PA
July 6th – Washington, DC – Millennium Stage, Kennedy Center
July 24th – New York, NY – Lincoln Center Outdoors
Buy Dedication to Sylvia Rexach
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.