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In his native Honduras, romantic ballads and bolero music made up the bulk of vocalist Fredy
Omar's repertoire. But in the seven years since he moved to
New Orleans and relaunched his professional career, Omar
has discovered a truism of local audiences: They'd
rather dance than listen, especially if they don't understand
the Spanish lyrics.
"I played beautiful bolero ballads with a
quartet in Honduras," Omar said recently. "We toured all
over the country, and it was wonderful. But it's
different when people understand what you are saying. When
I came here, I started promoting my ballads. People
used to say, "I think he has a beautiful voice, but what's
he saying?" After that I realized that New Orleans is
a Carnival kind of city."
Soon after he arrived, Omar began making pilgrimages to Frenchmen Street, listening to Ruben
"Mr. Salsa" Gonzalez and other bandleaders who
played traditional Latin music. "The good thing about
old-school Afro-Cuban music is that it has beautiful melodies
and lyrics," Omar said. "It's not like the new stuff that
is mostly screaming and no content. And there was this
mix of Latin jazz musicians and the Afro-Cuban
musicians, and they improvised a lot. I really liked it. That's how
I got into this thing."
Omar joined local Latin band Ritmo Caribeno
and gained more insights into the sorts of rhythms that
moved New Orleans dancers. After Gonzalez died,
Omar approached Gonzalez's musicians and suggested
they work with him. Omar cut his first CD several
months later; most of the material was drawn from the
repertoire of Gonzalez's band.
But on his new, second CD, "Desde
Nueva Orleans," released by Louisiana Red Hot Records,
Omar and his band step out with a program of mostly
original material refined during three years of performing
three nights a week. "We realize now what is good for
the musicians and what is good for my voice," Omar said.
The new CD is something that is really for me."
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To accommodate the diverse crowds Omar attracts at different clubs, he is hosting two CD
release parties this week for "Desde Nueva Orleans": Tonight
at Cafe Brasil and Wednesday at the Red Room.
Fredy Omar con su Banda, as he and his band
are billed, has developed into a tight unit with Ralph Gipson
on piano, Jose "Pepe" Colomba on bass, Joe Canoura on
flute and tenor sax, Pupi Menes on tumbadoras, and
Cristobal Cruzado on timbales and drums (Cruzado suffered
a heart attack prior to New Year's Eve, and is currently
not performing with the band). Canoura is the most
experienced player, having shared stages with a host of
Latin greats, including Ray Barretto, Eddie Palmieri and
Tito Puente.
"He's played with all the big-time Lain
jazz musicians in New York," Omar said. "He totally
changed the sound of my band. Jose Canoura is a very
important part of my new sound. The first CD was really an
experiment; we didn't think about it. This CD is original;
the only song that is not is the tango, `El Choclo.' I have a
big tango following, so I really have to have one of
the standard tangos."
Omar and company cover a wide spectrum of traditional and popular Latin rhythms on "Desde
Nueva Orleans," including merengue, cha cha cha, son
montuno and cumbia.
"In the Latin field, you usually have to play
salsa or merengue," Omar said. "But my case, I'm from
Honduras, in Central America. When I grew up in Honduras,
my grandfather had this huge collection of music. He had
all these traditional cumbias and salsa and merengue.
He was a really good dancer, and he'd put together these
big parties on the weekends. He was almost like a deejay;
he had really good taste in music.
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"So for me, I had been listening to all
these styles all my life. When I came here, I realized
some bands play just salsa or just merengue. When I
started working, I felt that in my personal taste I prefer to be
in a party where I can dance to different styles of music.
That's why I started playing all of these rhythms,
and that's the reason I can reach a bigger crowd than
other bands.
"I get a lot of Cuban people that go to my
shows
and Colombian people. They wait to hear
their cumbias and their merengues. I have all these rhythms in
my repertoire, but sometimes you don't have time to
cover each rhythm in a set. During the break, people say,
`Hey, man. I hope you play a cumbia in the next set. You
played mostly cha cha cha.'"
The title of the new CD translates as "from
New Orleans," a qualification that should be used to
describe Omar's style of Latin music. "Mambo #504" is
Omar's salute to Mardi Gras (the title also notes that both
New Orleans and Honduras share the same area code); in
the song, he trades lines with local jazz vocalist John Boutte.
But that song is only the most overt reference to
Omar's adopted hometown; other more subtle clues are
sprinkled throughout the music.
"It's Latin music with New Orleans
accents," Omar said. "It has a New Orleans sound; people feel it.
You don't realize when you play here, because you're
not looking at that stuff. But when you go (out of town)
and hear other bands, they all have the same sound. We
have some kind of different flavor . . . from New Orleans.
"The sound is in your head, and it comes right
at the moment and you play it. You don't realize that you
are doing some New Orleans stuff. But that's what
makes the sound different."
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