When I was eight years old, my cousin Raymond Valderrama introduced me to a conga for the first time. The year was 1980, and at that time he was playing congas for the group "Taboo" that was from San Jose. As time passed into my teens I was always soaking up any music that had percussion in it (primarily Santana). Then when I was 15 I knew I wanted to play. From childhood I had always dreamed about playing the congas, but from my mid-teens to about the time I was about 23, I never studied. Then in my early twenties an opportunity came with a local group here in San Jose back in 1995. After an attempt to dive into the music scene I felt like I was on top of the world, then it all came crashing down. This was becuase I was told I needed to learn how to play and was let go. It hurt, however, I must say that was a good day because had that never happened, I never would have met my first teacher from San Jose, "Louie Carranza." It was Louie who introduced me to Cuban music and I've been hooked on it ever since. Just to be clear, I want to add that I also like Columbian, Puerto Rican, Venezuelan, and New York Style Salsa to name a few.
As a result from that exposure to Cuban music in 1995, five years later in 2000 I traveled to Cuba to learn the Popular and Rumba rhythms. From that trip I brought back a ton of information and videos that I still learn from today. Since discovering Youtube I've decided so share as much as I can. Also on Youtube I give some basic ideas for developing tones and rhythms on the congas. Check out my Youtube homepage (link below) to find more of what I'm really about musically and as a teacher.
Over the years I've played in many of the local bands here in San Jose and the Bay Area. After moving on to study other percussion, I now also play Timbales and Bongos, and since completing music theory last year 2007 at San Jose College, I've begun to learn how to play the Bass. My goal is to learn the up-right Baby Bass. I also want to mention that I'm not Cuban, I'm hispanic, and that I was born and raised in San Jose, Ca. Finally, I do like all kinds of music, but because I'm a percussionist, I'm more influenced by Cuban music because if its richness and swing. Below you'll find links of the artists who I've studied with.
