GLOBAL | LOCAL MUSIC SERIES:
Kiki Valera y su Son Cubano (Cuba)
July 7, 6 pm, PS21 Pavilion Theater
ABOUT GLOBAL | LOCAL III:
Fourth-generation descendant of La Familia Valera Miranda, the band that brought son cubano to worldwide popularity in the twentieth century, master cuatro player Kiki Valera continues the tradition at the head of his ensemble. With its Spanish and African origins, call-and-response format, and infectious percussion beats, son cubano is at the root of many contemporary musical genres, from mambo and salsa to jazz and cha-cha-chá. As composer and director of Kiki Valera y su son Cubano, he leads an ensemble of internationally acclaimed artists including vocalists Coco Freeman, former lead singer of Adalberto Alvarez y su Son and NG La Banda, Carlos Cascante, three-time GRAMMY Award-winning vocalist of the Spanish Harlem Orchestra, trompetista Alexis Baró, and percussionist Pedro Vargas Oliva, veteran of the Barbarito Torres Band.
GLOBAL | LOCAL: Musical Worlds Meet at PS21
Our new season-long series features musicians from across the world and from our backyard. The series examines the intersection of two ideas: the continuing need to open our minds to international art and perspectives, and the growing importance of local community, place, and togetherness in an increasingly decentralized and digitized world. PS21 resides in a hotbed of creativity—the Hudson Valley—and many of its finest musicians will be presented alongside world-class international acts in this summer-long series.
Son cubano is one of the most popular musical styles in Cuba and Kiki Valera is one of its foremost exponents. Over the last century, this style of traditional Cuban music has contributed to many other genres of music including jazz, cha cha cha, mambo, salsa, songo, and timba. Cuban son is the music that made the Buena Vista Social Club worldwide stars in the late 1990s, but Kiki Valera comes from a family of musicians whose involvement with Cuban son pre-dates the BVSC by decades.
Kiki is the son of Felix Valera, the current leader 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.
Like his parents and brothers, Kiki is a virtuoso, a multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, sound engineer, and producer. He’s best known as one of the world’s greatest Cuban cuatro players, a mid-size guitar with 8 strings grouped in sets of 2. As a child, he learned to play the Cuban tres under his father’s tutelage, and by the age of 15, he was touring internationally.
Kiki continues to direct, compose, arrange, and perform throughout the world and in Seattle, Washington, where he contributes to the vibrant music scene of the Pacific Northwest as a musician and teacher.
Kiki picked up the Cuban tres under the guidance of his father Felix when he was a child. He later attended one of the most prestigious music schools in Cuba, the Conservatorio Esteban Salas, in Santiago de Cuba and by age 15 was touring internationally.
Kiki continues to direct, compose, arrange and perform internationally. He also performs and teaches in Seattle, Washington where he contributes to the vibrant music scene of the Pacific Northwest. His current project features several other internationally acclaimed recording artists including Coco Freeman (former lead singer of Adalberto Alvarez y su Son and NG La Banda), vocalist Carlos Cascante (3x GRAMMY Award winning vocalist of Spanish Harlem Orchestra), trompetista Alexis Baró (Cubanismo and Omara Portuondo) and bongocero Pedro Vargas (Barbarito Torres band).
