Musicians banded together by a collective appreciation for the music of Latin America and Brazil recently marched on stage, clad in black dress shirts, red ties, and a vibrant energy that carried throughout BYU–Hawaii's Salsa Orchestra concert.
Professor of percussion music, Darren Duerden founded the Salsa Orchestra in 2006 after repeated recruiting for a big band jazz ensemble became too demanding. He said this semester’s group of musicians impressed him.
“The rhythm section players are as good as we've ever had,” said Duerden, “and that shows up in the underpinning of the group, and a lot of them are very tight. We have some very special players and good quality singers.”
The concert began when all the members of the band had formed a line on stage, each playing various percussive instruments and rocking their bodies in rhythm with the music. A single musician-senior Kevin Peterson from Laie-soloed on his orange, plastic trombone.
The group played five instrumental songs, featuring solos from every instrument section. Colored background lights contributed to the mood of the songs, and an overall constant bouncing feel kept the atmosphere lively and the audience engaged.
Duerden said it is this aspect of appealing to the energy of the listeners that encouraged him to create an orchestra centered on this particular genre. “I like to play audience-friendly music,” he said.
“Most people in the audience never go to hear a salsa orchestra play here. What we do is strip the ugliness and get to the core of the music itself. We want the BYUH audience to be able to enjoy music that they otherwise wouldn't be able to enjoy because there can be a lot of baggage that comes with salsa music.”
The sixth song they performed, “Yo Me Llamo Cumbia,” was of a style of music from Colombia that incorporates African, Indigenous, and European cultures. It marked the beginning of the vocalized portion of the performance. “We played the Cumbia piece, which we've never done before, in honor of our drum set player from Colombia,” said Duerden. “He’s the best drummer we’ve ever had here, and so I thought it’d be fun to play the type of music inspired by his country.”
Also in the mix was the premiere of piano player, and junior studying music and psychology from Oklahoma, Josh Mason's original composition “Como Las Estrellas,” a piece he said was, “inspired by the Argentine tango and Spanish flamenco.”
Kuyo Ulii, a freshman from Laie studying art, joined the orchestra this semester playing baritone saxophone. “It’s a lot more fun than high school band,” said Ulii. “It's really fun because it’s a new style of music that I’ve never played before, but I’m glad I joined. I especially liked the Cumbia piece because there are lots of different rhythms and I just felt like dancing the whole time.”
Dr. David Kammerer, who has played trumpet since age 10, was asked to join in on a few songs, and thought the concert upheld previous standards. “The Salsa Orchestra always does an amazing job,” said Kammerer. “The thing I like about it is that we have music majors and other majors coming together. To me that’s really gratifying.”
Salsa Orchestra is offered Fall and Winter Semesters and is planning to do a tour in Kauai in February.