Latin Music USA: It's Gonna Move You - WGBH

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AdvertisementS DECEMBER 9–27 ON SALE MONDAY • SEPTEMBER 14 8AM ONLINE •10AM BY PHONE 617-266-1200 • BOSTONPOPS.ORG FOR VIP TICKETS VISIT KEITHLOCKHART.COM THE BOSTON POPS ORCHESTRA THE BOSTON POPS ESPLANADE ORCHESTRA KEITH LOCKHART CONDUCTOR TANGLEWOOD FESTIVAL CHORUS JOHN OLIVER CONDUCTOR Season Sponsor Hear all that life has to offer! Call today to schedule a complimentary hearing screening. ARLINGTON 781.646.2040 BURLINGTON 781.272.2550 MALDEN 781.324.1771 PEABODY 978.532.6650 QUINCY 617.479.7503 SOMERVILLE 617.623.1331 HOME VISITS 800.649.3074 ASK ABOUT OUR 360-DAYS SAME AS CASH & OTHER PROGRAMS EASY FINANCING PLANS! Full-Featured Digital Hearing Aids from $ 1,595ea Not valid with any other offer or discount. Expires 12/31/09 22 Full schedules: wgbh.org; Go paperless: wgbh.org/paperlessguide WGBH Member Guide 7.125 X 4.8125 for Oct-Dec 09 LO 4
AudioFile In celebration of Latin Music USA, the new WGBHproduced TV documentary premiering this month (see page 10), WGBH Radio hosts will be featuring Latino artists in every genre—from classical to Celtic to that uniquely American art form, jazz. Latin rhythms have been part of jazz since its birth in the steamy streets of New Orleans. The infusion of Latin melodies and rhythm became part of mainstream jazz in the 1940s, with greats like Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie blending Latin beats into toe-tapping big band music. From mambo to bossa nova, salsa to tango, Latin roots have shaped popular music in the US and continue to add to the country’s musical conversation. Panamanian pianist and composer Danilo Pérez is among the most influential and dynamic musicians of our time. In just over a decade, his distinctive blend of pan-American jazz (covering the music of the Americas, folkloric and world music) has attracted critical acclaim and loyal audiences. AudioFile’s Jen Goebel recently talked with Pérez about his music, his foundation and the life of a Latin jazz artist. QHow did you first get interested in music? was born into a musical environment. My A I father was a singer, and he gave me a pair of bongos when I was two years old. He played records for me all the time, and I just grew up with it. QWhat do you hope people hear in your music? A Adventure, and the power of the diversity. I grew up in a wonderful country: Panama is a meeting point and a transit point because of the canal, and has an incredible array of influences. There’s everything from tango to Panamanian folklore to salsa to Bob Marley to indigenous music to classical. I like to experience playing with no boundaries—I think of it as an international meeting point with no immigration officers. QIs there a particular piece of music that influenced you at a young age? A When I was seven, I heard Papo Lucca, a Puerto Rican pianist with a salsa group called La Sonora Ponceña. He was a big influence on me: there was a piece he played that had an outstanding piano solo. I also remember hearing Louis Armstrong playing and singing Hello Dolly! That was pretty amazing, too. Want convenient WGBH Radio reminders? Sign up for our free @89.7 e-newsletter at wgbh.org/newsletters, or call 617-300-3300. Danilo Pérez: Latin Jazz at Home in Boston QWhat are you working on now? A I’m very excited to be leading the Berklee Global Jazz Institute as its artistic director. One of the goals of the Institute is to explore the social power of music as a tool for social change. On another note, I’m also putting together a band called The Healing Band with international musicians, and our mission is to perform music to promote world peace. QHow can music bring about social change? A Music teaches important values. In music, you can’t cheat. If I give you a piece of music, you have to practice, you can’t write the answer on your hand. Another value music teaches is teamwork. We are bombarded with ways to be separate, with ways to be isolated. Music challenges that environment, and teaches you that the success of a performance depends on your cooperation with the other musicians. With jazz, you are free to say what you want to say, but it has to work in context. The other very important lesson music teaches is respect. You have to listen to each other for success. Music is about listening. Those values— honesty, harmony, teamwork and respect—are very powerful tools for social change. QTell me about your foundation. A About five years ago, I started the Fundación Danilo Pérez here in Panama to bring music to kids. We’re working in a complicated area with lots of gangs. We use music to re-incorpporate gang members and children at risk into society and help them become productive citizens. And, about seven years ago, we started the annual Panama Jazz Festival with Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory, where they offer educational programs for kids, youth and adults from all over Latin America. QHow did you come to Boston? I was six years old, my family came to A When Boston to visit an uncle of ours, and that’s when I told my mother that this is where I wanted to live. After I finished high school in Panama, I went to college in Pittsburgh to study electronics, but I had a friend at Berklee who kept telling me how great it was, and about all that was going on in Boston. So I applied, without any expectations, and I won the Quincy Jones Scholarship. QWhat’s the most challenging part of your work? A Fundraising. That’s very difficult. But I have learned to take the things I don’t like and look at them as challenges. I am a superb optimist, and I love to improvise, so trying to figure out how to achieve a goal is exciting to me. QWhat’s your favorite thing about being a musician? A You know, the answer has changed over the years. When I started, I loved the applause and all the goodies that come with performing. But now, I value the power and the responsibility that comes with being able, with a note or a chord, to light a fire in somebody’s heart. People sometimes tell me that listening to a piece of music I wrote or a performance I did helped them in some way, and I love that. I feel that when you play music, you become a servant to the divine spirit. Schedules, program info, playlists: wgbh.org/radio 23
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