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The Band |
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its name means "little carnival" and its energy is contagious... Carnavalito is the next big Latin Jazz band. |
Carnavalito grew out of a Latin music show that bassist Ricardo Granillo hosted on Shaw University's WSHA radio station in Raleigh. Enthusiastic listeners wanted to know where they could hear latin music live. To accommodate, Granillo gave them Carnavalito, an eclectic mix of music and culture. If music were a fireworks display, this is what you'd get. Carnavalito grabs hold of every Latin sound imaginable -- mambos, sambas, cumbia and merengue -- then exploes with what reviewers have called "percussive fire" and "five-alarm salsa". You can almost see colors bursting to the beat. The band itself is as rich a mix as its music. Granillo's a native of El Salvador who lived in San Francisco for 22 years before moving to Raleigh, North Carolina. Alberto Carrasquillo (trumpet and fluegelhorn), Pako Santiago (timbales and percussion) and Nelson Delgado (congas, Percussion) all grew up in Puerto Rico. Elmer Gibson(piano) is from Philly. From the beginning, Carnavalito packed in Triangle audiences. Now the group's fame is spereading through live performances and recordings. Carnavalito has performed in Washington and as part of the Olympic Village entertainment in the 1996 games in Atlanta. The group also regularly appears at music festivals like Bele Chere in Asheville, Artsplosure in Raleigh and both the Moja Afro-Caribbean festival and the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina, not to mention countless other events in the Southeast. Their first CD, Carnavalito, was hailed by Descarga Catalog as one of the top 25 Latin releases in 1996. Their recent CD Tu y Yo was not only described as "ideal music for a party" but "one of 1999's best recordings" by journalist and latin music historian Max Salazar.
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The Band in Brief:
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