It was the end of the summer of 2004, and I was starting the second year of my music studies at Berklee College of Music. Money was incredibly tight, and I constantly looked for creative ways to finance my college education. In one of my searches, I found the information for a competition named “SGAE Premio De Jazz Latino”, directed to Latin jazz composers and sponsored by the Sociedad de Autores y Compositores de España (SGAE), which is the writer’s and composer’s guild in Spain. I immediately knew this was an opportunity I should not miss.
“Latino nací, Latino soy, Latino seré!”
During that time, I felt homesick and nostalgic after a year away from my country, Venezuela. I kept thinking of my family and friends and my Latino heritage in general. The rough weather during the fall in Boston also helped with the sentiment.
Therefore, I went to a practice room and sat at the piano to start writing a song specifically for the competition. A a few days later, I had it ready. I named it “Latino Soy,” a song about what makes me proud as a Latino.
Here’s how the song starts:
“Soy del sur, de la America central, de la tierra tropical donde nunca se esconde el sol. Del Caribe donde navegó Colón, de la tierra tricolor donde nació la libertad. Vengo de un pueblo que duerme con hambre y despierta con sed, pero sonríe hacia a la vida cuando amanece otra vez. Voy de tu mano pueblo hermano, siempre lucharé por ti, pues Latino nací, Latino soy, Latino seré!”
(Translation) “I’m from the South, from Central America, from a tropical land where the sun never hides. From the Caribbean sea that (Christopher) Columbus sailed, from the tricolor land where freedom was born. I come from a town that sleeps hungry and wakes up thirsty but always smiles to life at the start of a new day. I hold your hand, my beloved people; I will always fight for you because I was born Latino, I am Latino, and I will always be Latino.”
Creating the live recording… the student way
One of the many advantages of being a Music Production & Engineering (MP&E) student at Berklee is that you get access to an incredible pool of talented musicians and state-of-the-art recording studio facilities.
I invited my friends Dave Lewis (drums), Damian Arriaga (Percussion), Ignacio Long (Electric Bass), and Anthony Morris (Flute), and we went to one of the studios to record my new song. Since this was an extracurricular activity, we only had a few hours to do it.
Although the quality of the recording we obtained was far from that of a final production, we accomplished the goal of creating a live version of the music, which was one of the requirements for submission to the competition.
Good news on my student mailbox
A couple of months later, I went to my student mailbox as I used to do every day. To my surprise, I had received a couple of letters from SGAE informing me that my song “Latino Soy” had been selected as one of the finalists for the competition. Even more, as a finalist, I was invited to travel to Havana, Cuba, to attend the Festival Jazz Plaza 2004, where all the finalist songs were going to be performed by the iconic Latin jazz ensemble Irakere. And if that was not enough, one of the letters was signed by one of my biggest music idols, the incredible Cuban pianist Chucho Valdés. As a 21-year-old music student from Venezuela, you can only imagine how overwhelming that letter felt to me.
From Boston to Havana
I flew to Havana in December 2004. Since there were flight restrictions between the United States and Cuba, I had to stop in Cancún. I remember that immediately after I exited the plane in Havana, two immigration officers asked me for my travel documents. They seemed skeptical about the reasons for my traveling to Cuba. However, I got immediate clearance when I showed them my invitation letter.
I stayed at the Hotel Presidente, just a few blocks from the Teatro Amadeo Roldan, where the rehearsals took place. I will never forget that surreal moment when I first heard Irakere play the song I had written just months before. It was indeed a dream that came true.
The day of the concert
Finally, the day of the concert came on Friday 17, 2004. I sat at the auditorium with the other seven finalists, excited for our songs to be performed live during the first part of such a magnificent jazz concert. Since my song contained lyrics, I was honored to have the great Cuban jazz singer/trumpeter Bobby Carcases perform it.
The night’s highlight was a piano duo concert by Chucho Valdés and French composer Michel Legrand, who were also judges of the competition. That was the very first time I heard these incredible musicians live, although I had already been studying the music of Chucho Valdes for a couple of years.
The experience was so immersive and overwhelming that I don’t remember much of when they announced the competition winner. It was a great Argentinean composer named Guillermo Reuter, with his song “El Gorgojo” who took the first place. However, I clearly remember feeling very grateful for being part of that incredible moment.
Unfortunately, in 2004, social media, as we know it today, had not yet been adopted. Therefore, only a small amount of digital media related to this event exists. For this reason, I am fortunate to have kept some of the original printed press to share here with you. This is the only video I could find from that time:
Chucho Valdes: Irakere 50 – On Tour!
Fast forward 20 years and a couple of months, and I’m feeling the same level of excitement and gratefulness after learning that Chucho Valdés and Irakere are currently on tour in the United States and that two of the dates are in Southern California. I also learned that the fantastic Cuban trumpet player Arturo Sandoval will join them. Although it wasn’t easy, I found tickets for the performance at the Soraya Theater in Northridge, CA, on February 20, 2025 (tonight). And for those in the Palm Springs area, another performance will be at the Palm Springs International Jazz Festival on February 21, 2025. Therefore, if you have the chance, I encourage you to go and enjoy these masters of Latin Jazz. I promise you won’t regret it!
By the way, I have another great story about how I met Arturo Sandoval, but I’ll leave that one for another time…
Sources and related information:
https://elpais.com/diario/2004/12/20/espectaculos/1103497205_850215.html
https://elpais.com/diario/2004/12/20/espectaculos/1103497202_740215.html
https://www.citizenjazz.com/Festival-International-Jazz-Plaza.html
Marco Antonio Godoy
Founder