in this week´s episode hosts Pablo Aslan and Fernando González interview Colombian percussionist and composer Samuel Torres. He speaks about the depth and variety of Afro-Colombian music, how it relates to the African and indigenous rooted traditions in other countries in Latin America, and also music as a social statement.
If you think playing congas in a band or an orchestra means just keeping time or setting a groove, you have not heard Samuel. Yes he has done that and more playing in salsa and Latin jazz bands; collaborating with pop stars such as Ricky Martin, Alejandro Sanz, and Shakira and also with innovative artists such as singers Sofia Rei and Lara Bello and pianist Arturo O’Farrill and The Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra.
But his imaginative melodic playing of the congas and creative composing and arranging has been also featured in concerts with the Berlin Symphoniker, the Boston Pops, Bogotá Philharmonic, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In 2019 he won a Latin GRAMMY in the Best Classical Album category for Regreso, a work featuring the Nueva Filarmonia Orchestra with Samuel as soloist.
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