Salsa Mayor just after their arrival at the airport in Milan

Although the music of Salsa Mayor has been at the top of the charts at clubs for the past year, with the exception of Maykel, the band members have remained largely anonymous. Prior to the tour, the names and faces of the band members were known only to those who had seen them in Cuba. So for all of you who haven't gotten to know the band yet, here is a brief presentation of the musicians to help guide you through the report.

So who are the members of Salsa Mayor?

Click here for a word from Maykel Blanco Cueva
Director, pianist, composer, arranger and corista
Maykel's name has been floating around timba circles for several years now but it was the 2006 release of Salsa Mayor's Recoge y vete that was his breakthrough. This CD made him a force to be reckoned with and threw open the doors of Europe to Maykel and his group.

Maykel originally began as a percussionist, studying at Gerardo Guanche Conservatory and Amadeo Roldán. Later he taught himself to play piano in order to be able to arrange his own songs.

He began directing his first group at 15 and at 23 recorded his first CD with Maykel Blanco y Suprema Ley. Suprema Ley was later merged with Javier Soto Mayor's group and the new group was named Maykel Blanco y su Salsa Mayor.

In addition to directing the group, Maykel does all the composing and arrangements and also plays piano and sings coro. Maykel is a highly talented and motivated young man (26 at the time of this article) and will no doubt be a name we will be hearing for many years to come.

One mystery solved: The other day I asked Maykel why his name is sometimes Maikel and sometimes Maykel. He said that his legal name is spelled Maikel but that the spelling Maykel is an artist name, like Isaac versus Issac I guess. Anyway, that is why you will see his name spelled differently from place to place.

Click here for a word from Norisley Valladares Gómez - "El Noro"
Vocals
Of the three singers Noro is the one who has been with Salsa Mayor the longest, almost two years now. He is tall, good-looking,  and currently features blond tips on his spiky hairdo.

He has no formal music training, but he is a very charismatic performer who easily captures the audience with his smile and his enthusiasm. He always looks like he's enjoying the concert as much as the audience.

El Noro has a timbre that is reminiscent (at least to me) of Mandy Cantero. You can hear him on the 2007 release Live, Desde la Casa de la Música.

Click here for a word from Ricardo Alberti Sanchez - "Ricardito"
Vocals
Ricardito has a rather unusual background. He was born in the Ukraine during the soviet era. He is self-taught singer and at the age of 12 he began singing as a soloist in the youth activities of his neighborhood and began his professional career at 14 with Diamante Negra.

Although he is only 22 years old, he is already been in a number of timba groups such as Tumbao Habana, Sello LA and most recently Azúcar Negra where he participated in the European tour 2006. He speaks Italian, which is helpful on tour.

Ricardito joined Salsa Mayor around the beginning of March.  With Salsa Mayor he is getting a chance to show what he can do and has taken over lead on such songs as Quitándome lo malo, Brujería and Cimarrón and also sings lead on the new song Anda pégate which ya está pegando at the concerts.

Click here for a word from Norberto Gómez Guilbeaux
Vocals
Norberto is the newest singer and with his timbre and the last name Gómez, I wondered if he was related to Pepito. However, it turns out that he is not. But he does have a brother living in France, Hector Gómez,  who is corista and güirero with Sergent García.

Before joining Salsa Mayor Norberto sang with such groups as Tumbao Habana, with whom he recorded the CD Ese huevo quiere sal and Alain Daniel.

Norberto is singing lead on the songs with a more romantic vein such as the Salsa Mayor version of Pablo Milanes' Años and the new hit Ella dice, which he starts as a ballad in concert before they kick into timba.

Click here for a word from Richard Ortega López
Keyboard
Although he's only been with Salsa Mayor since February 2007, Richard is one of the most experienced band members. He studied trumpet at La ENA and also piano as a complement.

At the age of 14 he left home for his first tour with a youth orchestra that toured Africa and Portugal. Since then Richard has played trumpet or piano/keyboard with groups such as La Calle, Colé Colé, Sello LA, Angelito Bonne and Dayron. Richard also worked as musical director of Doble Impacto, including composing and arranging.

However, Richard is best known for working for several years with Azúcar Negra where he has been both keyboardist and pianist. With Azúcar Negra he toured Europe, Canada and Jamaica.

With Salsa Mayor Richard is on keyboards, an instrument he enjoys because the keyboard, with all it's timbres and effects, gives him more inspiration. As you can tell from the little video clip, Richard prefers to play Korg or Yamaha keyboards.

Click here for a word from José Alberto Puentes Cabrera - "Pepe"
Bass
Pepe is one of the Mayores that has made me laugh the most during the tour. He loves to joke and tease and has a great sense of humor.

He studied both bass and violin in the arts schools obtaining nivel superior. Since then his has played with groups such as Cañasanta and Yumurí, before joining Salsa Mayor in 2006.

Pepe has also been filming the entire tour doing his "Pepe Reportando" segments. I'm not sure what he plans to do with the video, but he certainly has some behind-the-scenes action.

A little know fact is that Pepe not only plays the bass, but he actually makes basses. In fact he has made basses for several of the major Cuban bands.

Click here for a word from Jaime Yunier Cruz Bustillo
Congas
Jaime has been with Salsa Mayor for about 9 months now, which makes him almost a veteran in the current line-up.

Jaime is the other Mayor that makes me laugh a lot. He is good at doing imitations of people and he also likes to play all the instruments and sing. So during the sound check you might find him on congas, drum, bass, piano and vocals, as you can see in the video.

This was Jaime's first European tour and he learned a little Italian on the trip. His favorite Italian word? - quindici!

Click here for a word from Germán Castellanos Sevillano
Drums
Germán was new to the band when I went to Cuba in April. He plays drum con timbal with Salsa Mayor.

German achieved nivel superior in percussion at the school of the arts. Before joining Salsa Mayor he played in Habana Casino.

In Paris he managed to romper el cuero of one of the timbales just before it was time for the timbal solo in Que tengo. He did a fine job of playing the solo anyway, as you can see in the video.

Click here for a word from Osvaldo Huerta Cucalo
Minor percussion
But speaking of El veterano, Osvaldo has to be the musician with the longest history with Maykel. Altough he's only been with Salsa Mayor for a year, he recorded Ya Llegaron Los Cubanos with Maykel Blanco y Suprema Ley, and has in fact played on a great number of Envidia recordings.

Normally Osvaldo plays bongo/campana, but with Salsa Mayor the campana is on the drumset so he plays bongo/güiro.

Osvaldo is self-taught, and prior to Salsa Mayor he had the opportunity of touring with the Buena Vista Social Club.

Click here for a word from Ahmed González Pozada
Trumpet/electropads
Although he is quite young, only 21, Ahmed has been with Salsa Mayor since the beginning. A fundador, Ahmed is lead trumpet and section leader for the horns but also plays electropads.

Ahmed has the nivel superior in trumpet from his studies at school. His professional career has included working with Explosión Latina and Pedro Pablo y La Rebambaramba.

 At first Ahmed seems like a shy, quite guy, but don't let that fool you. He was the source of several of the rather unappreciated nicknames that were given to various band members during the tour.

Click here for a word from Raydel García Fernández
Trumpet
Raydel is a Havana native who studied at the school of the arts and achieved nivel superior for the trumpet. After graduating he played with BM Expreso, Doble Impacto and Michel Maza prior to joining los Mayores this spring where he plays second trumpet.

Although he is young, only 21, he plays very well. During the tour Maykel even added a solo for Raydel to the song Años so he would have a chance to show the world what he can do.

During the tour Raydel was pretty quiet, but I wouldn't say he is shy. I think he was just enjoying the experience of his first tour and was absorbing as much as he could.

Click here for a word from Leonel Polledo Llorents - "Pollo"
Trombone
The name Polledo provokes an immediate response from any timba fan. On the first day of the tour I asked: "Polledo, are you related to Polledo?" His answer was that Polledo (of las dos charangas) is in fact his father. He also has a brother who is a musician with Manolín in Miami.

Polledo the younger, or just Pollo as they call him, has the very same voice as his father. We sat  next to each other in the guagüita for the entire tour and I have enjoyed the vocal stylings of Polledo singing such things as Elle dice, but his rendition of Ya no hace falta is...a rare experience indeed.

Polledo is also a founding member of Salsa Mayor.

Click here for a word from Antonio Damian Segui Rolando
Trombone
Antonio also joined the band in the spring of 2007 after I had returned to Sweden, so I met him for the first time on the tour. He is quite tall and has braids down to his shoulders. With Salsa Mayor he plays second trombone.

I don't know if he has worked with any other groups. He is still completing his studies at El ISA and had to ask permission to take  a break from studying to go with Salsa Mayor on the summer 2007 tour.

During the concerts los metales are often dancing when they are not playing and from watching Antonio dance on stage, I also suspect he is a good dancer.

Click here to go to the Tour Report