Kiki Valera lanza su nueva producción musical “Vacilón Santiaguero”

VACILÓN SANTIAGUERO is Kiki Valera’s second US solo release after many distinguished years as director of La Familia Valera Miranda in Santiago de Cuba. It reaches beyond his core performing group to present collaborations with some GRAMMY® award winning musicians and to feature his favorite trumpeters, some Cuban-born, others US-born, but all with justified reputations for playing Cuban music out of love if not from DNA.

“Vacilón” is one of those words that doesn’t have a perfect English equivalent to Cuban Spanish, but something that is a REALLY good time (a little rum or aguardiente always helps) comes close.  

So what sets this apart from the vast mountain of excellent traditional albums already out there? Not only is there Kiki’s custom-built Cuban cuatro, which brings a unique texture to the sound, rather than a tres, but in his jazz-influenced hands, you will occasionally hear twists and turns in the solo work that you probably weren’t expecting when you first glanced over the song titles, which are mostly Cuban evergreens. Thanks to Kiki’s creative arrangements, this is no mere recycling of cover versions of these classic songs. 

Kiki is as demanding about the recording, mix and mastering work as with the arrangements. Much of the recording and mix was done in Kiki’s custom-built home studio, and GRAMMY® winner Michael Lazarus mastered the project. The result will be a pleasure for audiophiles - a reason, I might add - to want the physical product for your collection.

--Bill Tilford

TIMBA.com & From the Isle of Music

Ethnic Heritage Council announces 2022 Recipients of Pulakis and Tracie Memorial Awards and Spirit of Liberty Award

Kiki Valera
2022 Gordon Ekvall Tracie Memorial Award

Established in 1990 for excellence in ethnic performance and leadership in the community in the traditional cultural arts. It is named for a musician and documentarian, who devoted four decades to the study, performance and promotion of Nordic traditional music and dance. The Gordon Ekvall Tracie Music Library is located in the National Nordic Museum of Seattle.

Kiki Valera was born into a family of musicians going back to his great-great grandparents, who meticulously passed on through the generations the “Son” tradition of Cuban music. "Son" is the acoustic roots music that developed in eastern Cuba, where Kiki was born and raised and is the root of modern salsa music.

Kiki studied at the Conservatorio Esteban Salas in Santiago, toured with his famous family, La Familia Valera Miranda, and operated one of the most sought after studios in Santiago. He moved to Seattle in 2013, the year his family were artists-in-residence for the renowned Earshot Jazz Festival. In less than a decade Valera has assured the Northwest that some of the most tantalizing music of the world is here to stay in Seattle, through his performances in concerts, nightclubs, schools, benefit events and every kind of celebration. He is popular on radio shows and on music albums and as a podcast guest.

Kiki received a 4Culture grant in 2018 in which he placed his own compositions into the legacy of “Son” music, releasing “Viviencias en Clave Cubana” (Origin Records) at the 2019 Earshot Jazz Festival in Town Hall. In February 2022 he performed at Town Hall Seattle as part of Earshot’s Global Rhythms series. He was one of three artists chosen to create the live production Movement with Meklit Hedero, internationally acclaimed and Seattle-born Ethiopian American singer-composer. The production, in which the four performers told their migration stories, had its world premier at Meany Hall in May 2022. In July 2022, he was awarded his second 4Culture grant to complete his new album cuaTROmpeta.

As one of the world’s leading Cuban cuatro players, Kiki has conducted master classes at Cornish College of the Arts, University of Washington, and University of Puget Sound. He directs his local group Kiki Valera y su Son Cubano and has also played with Sonriente, Trovadoro, Mambo Cadillac, Trio Cubay, Clave Gringa and the Savani Latin Jazz Quartet. He was musical director for the large-scale Cuban music retrospective “Soy Cuba” which debuted at the Triple Door in Seattle.

John Gilbreath, Executive Director of Earshot Jazz says, “Kiki Valera brings a purity of cultural expression that is as close to the source as one could find.” Ruth Hunter and Christos Govetas of Dromeno, performers of Balkan music, nominated Kiki for this award and themselves won it in 2017. They love the ambience at Kiki’s performances in smaller venues, where guests mingle and make new friends. “Kiki Valera is more than a musician, he is also the heart of a community. It feels like a family picnic and everyone is invited.” Kiki can be reached at Valera.kiki@gmail.com.

Celebrating the day of the dead w/ Kiki Valera y su Son Cubano

Descarga con Spanish Harlem Orchestra. Jazz alley, Seattle July 2022

Meklit's MOVEMENT Live Stories & Songs of Migration

MOVEMENT Live is an evening-length performance experience, exploring the sonically rich, emotionally compelling intersection of migration and music. The show was co-developed by Ethiopian American singer-composer Meklit, and combines the energy of Meklit’s songs and band, with intimate first-person stories of her own life experiences as a refugee making music and meaning from cross-cultural origins. 

In this world premiere performance, Meklit is joined on stage by three outstanding Seattle-based artists who hold migration as a key part of their personal or family journey: Kiki Valera (Cuba), Momma Nikki (Haiti/US) and Dakota Camacho (Guåhan). Each artist contributes both songs and stories. Together, these four musicians weave a tapestry of migration music, framing immigrants, migrants and refugees as cultural innovators who push boundaries of creative expression in ways that are complex, intersectional, raw, joyous, rhythmic and offer shared space for reimagining belonging in America. 

Catching up with Cuban cuatro master Kiki Valera

By Robin Lloyd

Kiki Valera y su Son Cubano perform at Seattle's Town Hall on Feb. 25 for the Global Rhythms Series. Robin Lloyd spoke with Valera about Cuba, COVID and his latest projects.

Kiki Valera y su Son Cubano

Thursday, February 3, 2022

• 8:00 PM 8:45 PM

• Google Calendar ICS

Kiki Valera is the oldest son of the famous La Familia Valera Miranda septet, a multi-generational traditional music group from Santiago de Cuba. Since the 19th century, La Familia Valera Miranda has played a significant role in Cuban culture by collecting and preserving the deep-rooted traditions of the legendary Sierra Maestra mountain region. Their debut album, ANTOLOGÍA INTEGRAL DEL SON, released in 1982, helped initiate the explosion of interest in traditional Cuban music.

• Tagged: Cuba

Five Questions with Kiki Valera

Take a peek into the mind of Cuban virtuoso Kiki Valera, who muses on his influences, his instrument of choice, and the art of making music. Be sure to join us later in February for a live concert with Kiki Valera y su son Cubano (2/25), part of Town Hall’s Global Rhythms series! 

Para español, haga clic aquí.

Town Hall (TH): Who were your musical influences growing up?

Kiki Valera (KV): I grew up in a musical family, heirs to the legacy of Cuban Son. We used to gather several times a year to celebrate with live music and dance. These were spontaneous reunions and at that time, we were unaware of the role my family was to play in preserving the authenticity of this musical tradition. In 1982, the musicologist Danilo Orozco was conducting an investigation on the origins of Cuban Son in the eastern region of our island and through my paternal grandmother Emilia Miranda, he discovered that he could trace the we played Cuban Son all the way back to the late 19th century. In this musical environment my main influence was the Cuban Son in its purest, simplest form. After that, I began my classical guitar studies at the Esteban Salas Conservatory in the city of Santiago de Cuba, where I had the opportunity to expand and enrich my knowledge from a theoretical point of view.

 TH: What do you love most about playing the Cuban cuatro? For those who might be unfamiliar with the instrument, how would you describe its difference from a standard guitar? 

KV: What I like the most about the Cuban cuatro is its versatility from a melodic, harmonic and rhythmic point of view. The Cuban cuatro is a mid-sized guitar with eight strings, tuned in pairs of two. It has a distinctive sound that is soft and sparkly and the extra pair of strings (as opposed to the six-stringed Cuban tres) offers me the creative freedom to improvise.

TH: Your roots are in Cuba, but today you’re living, teaching, and making music here in the Pacific Northwest. How does this region inform your music? 

KV: Coming from Cuba from a musical environment like that of my family, I have tried to preserve the traditional Cuban music style as authentically as possible. Most artists are unconsciously influenced by other currents, and I am no exception. Being surrounded by a different musical environment than the one I come from, I have really enjoyed playing with excellent musicians of other genres and attending concerts of world music, jazz, Latin jazz, salsa and rock. I can say that I feel lucky to be in the cultural atmosphere of Seattle.

TH: Has the COVID-19 pandemic changed anything about music for you? 

KV: For us musicians, interaction with the public is very important. It is a kind of necessary feedback to continue offering the best of ourselves through music. I have used this time to dedicate myself to working on new projects and remote recordings with my musician friends in other parts of the country and world. Musically speaking, COVID-19 has not changed anything in me but I think that it has changed the way we socialize in a general sense and I miss playing live concerts.

TH: What, in your opinion, are the biggest gifts of son Cubano?

KV: The best gift that Cuban Son has given us is that it has allowed us to transmit joy and above all to share with the world our cultural identity.

Cuatro preguntas con Kiki Valera

Eche un vistazo a la mente del virtuoso cubano Kiki Valera, quien reflexiona sobre sus influencias, su instrumento preferido y el arte de hacer música. ¡Asegúrese de unirse a nosotros más tarde en febrero para un concierto en vivo con Kiki Valera y su son Cubano (2/25), parte de la serie Global Rhythms de Town Hall!

Town Hall (TH): ¿Quiénes fueron tus influencias musicales mientras crecías?

Kiki Valera (KV): Crecí en una familia musical, heredera del legado del Son Cubano. Solíamos reunirnos varias veces al año para celebrar en vivo con música y baile. Estas reuniones eran espontaneas y en ese momento, desconocíamos el papel que mi familia iba a jugar en la preservación de la autenticidad de esta tradición musical. En 1982, el musicólogo Danilo Orozco estaba realizando una investigación sobre los orígenes del son cubano en la región oriental de nuestra isla y a través de mi abuela paterna Emilia Miranda, descubrió que podía rastrear el son cubano que interpretábamos hasta finales del siglo XIX. En este ambiente musical mi principal influencia fue el Son Cubano en su forma más pura y simple. Posteriormente inicié mis estudios de guitarra clásica en el Conservatorio Esteban Salas de la ciudad de Santiago de Cuba, donde tuve la oportunidad de ampliar y enriquecer mis conocimientos desde el punto de vista teórico.

TH: ¿Qué es lo que más te gusta de tocar el cuatro cubano? ¿En qué se diferencia de una guitarra estándar?

KV:  Lo que más me gusta del cuatro cubano es su versatilidad desde un punto de vista melódico, armónico y rítmico. El cuatro cubano es una guitarra de tamaño mediano con ocho cuerdas, afinada en pares de dos. Tiene un sonido distintivo que es suave y brillante y el par de cuerdas extra (a diferencia del tres cubano de seis cuerdas) me ofrece la libertad creativa para improvisar.

TH: Tus raíces están en Cuba, pero hoy vives, enseñas y haces música aquí en el noroeste del Pacífico. ¿Cómo influye esta región en tu música?

KV: Viniendo de Cuba y de un ambiente musical como el de mi familia, he tratado de preservar el estilo de la música tradicional cubana de la manera más auténtica posible. La mayoría de los artistas están inconscientemente influenciados por otras corrientes y yo no soy una excepción. Al estar rodeado de un ambiente musical diferente al del que vengo, he disfrutado mucho tocando con excelentes músicos de otros géneros y asistiendo a conciertos de world music, jazz, latin jazz, salsa y rock. Puedo decir que me siento afortunado de estar en el ambiente cultural de Seattle.

TH: ¿La pandemia de COVID-19 ha cambiado algo sobre la música para ti?

KV:  Para nosotros los músicos, la interacción con el público es muy importante. Es una especie de retroalimentación necesaria para seguir ofreciendo lo mejor de nosotros a través de la música. He aprovechado este tiempo para dedicarme a trabajar en nuevos proyectos y grabaciones remotas con mis amigos músicos en otras partes del país y del mundo. Musicalmente hablando, COVID-19 no ha cambiado nada en mí, pero creo que ha cambiado la forma en que socializamos en sentido general y extraño tocar conciertos en vivo.

TH: A su juicio, ¿cuáles son los mayores dones del son Cubano?

KV: El mejor regalo que nos ha dado el Son Cubano es que nos ha permitido transmitir alegría y sobre todo compartir con el mundo nuestra identidad cultural.

Enrique “Kiki” Valera, a Cuban musician, composer and engineer born in 1966, knew from a young age that in order to gain access to musical sounds trending outside the communist country, he had to overcome these technological hurdles. His anwer: shortwave radio.

Seattle Center Festál presents Music at the Mural - Kiki Valera y su Son Cubano

Celebrate the best of summer at Seattle Center Festál presents Music at the Mural: FREE Sunday concerts from 12noon – 2pm on August 15, 22, 29 and September 5 and 12. Music at the Mural is an amazing line-up of musicians, bands and DJs, taking you on a global musical journey good for chilling and dancing on the Mural Amphitheatre lawn.

Sunday, September 5 - Kiki Valera y su Son Cubano

August Nights Summer Concert Series with Kiki Valera y su Son Cubano

It's a fiesta! 

This August, we're turning up the temperature on the Water Street Plaza. Enjoy sizzling Latin sounds from masterful musicians and acclaimed Grammy-nominated artists during our August Nights Summer Concert Series! You won't want to miss it.

Nominados Cubadisco 2020-2021 Área-1 Patrimonial

Me siento honrado y agradecido por la nominación de nuestro álbum "Vivencias en Clave Cubana" al Cubadisco 20-21 en la categoría "De la Tradicion Sonera".

Muzikifan best of 2020

Top Ten New Releases of 2020

Ballaké and Baba Sissoko (Mali) "Sissoko & Sissoko" (homerecords)
Kokoko! (Congo) Fongola (Transgressive)
Mahmoud Gania (Morocco) "Aicha" (HiveMind)
Kiki Valera (Cuba) "Vivencias en clave Cubana" (Origin Arts)
Siti Muharam (Zanzibar) "Siti of Unguja" (OntheCorner)
Baiana System (Brasil) "O Futuro não demora" (self)
Mama Sissoko (Mali) "Soul Mama" (No Comment)
Pedro Lima & Os Leonenses (São Tomé) "Maguidala" (Bongo Joe)
John Coltrane (USA) "Blue World" (Impulse)
Thelonious Monk (USA) "Palo Alto" (Impulse/Legacy)

Llora Mi Nena

Disfruta este tema “Llora mi Nena” filmado en nuestra casa con Compay Segundo, Eliades Ochoa y Pio Leyva de Buena Vista Social Club en 1996.

Enjoy this song “Llora mi Nena” filmed in our house in Santiago de Cuba with Compay Segundo, Eliades Ochoa and Pio Leyva of Buena Vista Social Club fame in 1996.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Lx_0-QkNYM

Interview with Rob Mullins

Kiki Valera's personal story is one that has every interesting element in it.The son of a Cuban music teacher with a musical family, Kiki began world touring at an early age with his dad's ensemble. His family recorded and became Cuba's official musical ambassadors to the world in 1982. As a young musician, Kiki listened intently to the cassettes of Wes Montgomery and others which had to be smuggled into Cuba in those early days of his musical life. Kiki decided to play the CUATRO after mastering other foundational Cuban folk instruments and also attending college as an electrical engineering student.

The 2019 Golden Ear & Seattle Jazz Hall of Fame Awards

By Paul Rauch

Kiki Valera y su Son Cubano’s Ear­shot Jazz Festival performance at Town Hall was a great evening for both lis­teners and dancers alike. On the heels of his new release on Origin Records, Valera led his band through the music of Vivencias en Clave Cubana (Origin, 2019) with virtuosic precision and in­fectious pulse.

Jazz fans may question why a per­former of traditional Cuban Son music would be considered for a jazz award, much less record for a well-re­garded jazz label such as Seattle based Origin. Valera took advantage of his performance in the Great Hall to pro­vide the answer. One of the world’s renowned practitioners of the Cuban cuatro, he improvises with the wisdom and melodic vision of a great post-bop adventurer, all the while never straying from the striations of form he has car­ried forward from his heralded musical family—la familia Valera Miranda.

The Great Hall was indeed lit up, with the band’s call and response vo­cals, and infectious rhythms inspiring a legion of enthusiastic dancers near the stage. Valera’s award, along with the two received by Barcelona born Marina Albero, highlights the good fortune of our city to call these inter­national stars our own. Along with Brazilian pianist Jovino Santos Neto, a past multi-Golden Ear recipient, this once remote cultural outpost and its vibrant and historic jazz scene now sports a wide and international scope.

MÚSICA CUBANA IN THE TIME OF COVID-19

By Bill Tilford

Timba.com

English:  As these lines are being written, much of the world is under restrictions on public gatherings due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is affecting musicians everywhere regardless of the type of music that they play since live performance is a much more important income source than recordings, and Cuba is no exception. Festivals and tours have been canceled or postponed, and performance spaces are closed. We encourage you to support your favorite musicians wherever they are and whatever they play, but this being a website dedicated to Cuban music, we wanted to take a moment to mention some things you can do to enjoy and be supportive of that music specifically.

If you live outside of Cuba, don't forget the musicians playing this music in your country of residence.  In addition to the immediate loss of income for all of them, the loss of key tours increases the challenges for the career trajectories of rising groups.  An example that this writer has seen personally is that of Kiki Valera y su Son Cubano, whose new recording Vivencias en clave cubana has received excellent critical, popular and radio reactions, and they were about to begin a promising tour launch with the SxSW Festival plus a series of ancillary performances and subsequent dates in other cities.  Thanks to COVID-19, they are now scrambling to find Plan Bs to stay in front of the public, Plan B being mostly videos as in many cities, even virtual concerts are now difficult if not impossible.  Hopefully they will still have a successful forward path, but one can only wonder what life might be like for them  and for many other rising artists  now had the pandemic not intervened. 
We may not be able to share physical space right now, but we CAN connect virtually.  Never forget that.  We are only as alone as we choose to be. 
We invite your comments.

Español: A medida que se escriben estas líneas, gran parte del mundo está bajo restricciones en las reuniones públicas debido a la pandemia de COVID-19. Se está afectando a los músicos en todas partes, independientemente del tipo de música que tocan, ya que la presentación en vivo es una fuente de ingresos mucho más importante que las grabaciones, y Cuba no es la excepción. Se han cancelado o pospuesto festivales y giras, y los espacios de actuación están cerrados. Lo alentamos a que apoye a sus músicos favoritos donde sea que estén y lo que sea que toquen, pero al ser un sitio web dedicado a la música cubana, queríamos tomarnos un momento para mencionar algunas cosas que puede hacer para disfrutar y apoyar  esa música especificamente.

Si vive fuera de Cuba, no olvidas a los músicos que tocan esta música en su país de residencia. Además de la pérdida inmediata de ingresos para todos ellos, la pérdida de conciertos claves aumenta los desafíos para las trayectorias profesionales de los grupos en ascenso. Un ejemplo que este escritor ha visto personalmente es el caso de Kiki Valera y su Son Cubano, cuya nueva grabación Vivencias en clave cubana ha recibido excelentes reacciones críticas, populares y de radio, y estaban a punto de comenzar un prometedor lanzamiento de gira con el Festival SxSW más una serie de presentaciones auxiliares y fechas posteriores en otras ciudades. Gracias a COVID-19, ahora están luchando para adivinar el Plan B para mantenerse frente al público, el Plan B probablemente es principalmente videos porque en muchas ciudades, incluso los conciertos virtuales ahora son difíciles, si no imposibles. Esperemos que sigan teniendo un camino hacia adelante exitoso, pero uno solo puede preguntarse cómo sería la vida para ellos y para muchos otros artistas emergentes si la pandemia no hubiera intervenido.
Es posible que no podamos compartir espacio físico en este momento, pero SI PODEMOS conectarnos virtualmente. Nunca lo olvida. Solo estamos tan solos como elegimos estar.
Invitamos sus comentarios.

Album Review of Vivencias En Clave Cubana Kiki Valera

Charlotte Algar

“Kiki Valera is a fantastic cuatro (...) player. Valera, along with famed vocalist (and childhood friend) Coco Freeman, has delivered 12 original songs that constitute a brilliant debut.... Valera adds some jazz-influenced solos, while Freeman brings a crooning feel to his perfectly executed melodies. The opening track ‘Mi Son’ starts with a cuatro-led guajeo (ostinato riff present in lots of Cuban music), light percussion and soaring vocals from Freeman. After the first verse, the bass brings in a change of harmonic feel. The bass and percussion enter in rhythmic stabs and exit throughout the song, emphasizing the groove and leaving space for Valera Alexis Baro’s squeaky trumpet decorations. Later on in the album, we are offered a different feel with ‘Para Continuar’, which offers interlocking congas and bongos from Pedro Vargas, creating a bubbling texture for Freeman to share a simpler melody..... there’s enough stylistic variation in this album to make it worth listening to from start to finish.

La inmensidad de Freeman, el talento de Valera y el culto a lo sublime

Por Ricardo R. González

Acabo de escuchar, o mejor dicho, de disfrutar, de dos joyas que por su calidad y dramaturgia pudieran ocupar espacios preferenciales en la discografía contemporánea.

Se trata de Vivencias en Clave Cubana, una especie de ajiaco musical que parte de las raíces de nuestras tradiciones para impregnarle ritmos actuales bajo una acuarela que la hacen más antillana, más del trópico.

Un proyecto acariciado por Kiki Valera, desde la ciudad norteamericana de Seattle, cuyo aval está signado por el precedente de una familia eminentemente musical (Valera Miranda) que tiene su prestigio ganado en el pentagrama de la isla, y en específico con el son.

Kiki tuvo el buen tino de escoger a Francisco José (Coco) Freeman para que lo acompañara en esta aventura, y como regalo bendito no hubo mejor fórmula.

Doce piezas mezcladas entre guarachas, boleros, sones que no se apartan de la tradición y recuerdan a íconos como Francisco Oramas (El Guayabero) o a Nico Saquito, aunque sin parecerse a nadie.

De aquí uno de los grandes méritos, defender un estilo propio nutrido de arraigos cotidianos, frases célebres, personajes típicos en circunstancias típicas, animales casi protagónicos en la historia de un pueblo, en fin, una diversidad temática que se refleja en: El caballo de Curingo, El perro de Juan, El sinsonte, o el Homenaje a Panchita, entre otras.

Cada pieza recreada gracias a los sonidos propiciados por el cuatro, la guitarra, los bajos, el bongó, o las trompetas a fin de acentuar esa cubanía que desborda por los poros.

Y el otro fonograma es Profundo amor, Un canto celestial que Coco dedica a su fe, a esa que la ha declarado como salvadora de su vida y a la que rinde tributo en cada uno de sus días.

Un regalo a Dios y a la propia existencia, a fomentar la camaradería entre hermanos, a procurar el bienestar del prójimo, a pretender hacernos mejores personas, a desterrar el mal, y a vivir en la paz que necesitan y claman los terrícolas.

Estos mensajes, de una u otra manera, sustentan los 12 tracks del álbum que nos llevan a meditaciones, a reflexionar, a cultivar esa espiritualidad que tanta falta hace.