This is Orquesta Bembe, a formation of twenty musicians playing authentic salsa music. Orquesta Bembe started in 2001 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, as a jam session for professional musicians from mixed culteres, with the purpose to play authentic salsa music on a high level.

Travelling back and forth from Puerto Rico to New York in the booming years of  salsa music  gave the director and founder of Bembe, Fernando Luis Garcia, the experience to recreate today the 'on fire' sound of those years and pass his knowledge and flavour on to other musicians. 

Under his guidance the jam session grew out to be a professional big band with a  repertoire including all styles like rumba, guaguancó, cha cha cha,  bolero, bomba, merengue and latin jazz; songs from all the great 'masters' of salsa from the fifties up till now and original tunes by Fernando Luis Garcia.

The band keeps innovating and adding new tunes to the repertoire, in an effort to do justice to the originals and their composers,by bringing out the 'authentic fire' of salsa music. Being a 20 piece orchestra makes orquesta Bembe unique in the salsa scene,  its reminiscent sound and overwhelming rythms are garanteed to make any audience dance.

The CD - Carnavales is a smooth mix of authentic New York salsa, Latin Jazz and Reggaeton.The founder and director of the band, Fernando Luis Garcia, studied classical trumpet at Rutkers University New Jersey  and did his bachelors degree at the conservatory of music in Puerto Rico where he became a member of the famous symphony orchestra of Pablo Casal. He played the first trumpet with Rafael Cortijos' popular salsa band and with the Apollo sound orchestra. In Philadelphia he did his masters degree in classical trumpet and played jazz trumpet with the Philly Joe Jones band.

Since 1985 he has been living in the Netherlands , where he first studied Jazz music at the Sweelinck Conservatory and later Baroque music. During that time he worked as a singer for the famous Platters, touring Europe, and he did the Boney M show for one year.He plays the principal trumpet for the Amstelveen Symphony Orchestra since 1990 and is founder and soloist of the 'Barocco Vivace' baroque ensemble since 1997.

For information look at the website: www.orquesta-bembe.com
or contact FLG productions, Graafschapstraat 15 1h 1079PE Amsterdam
 tel.: +31 20 6447309
e-mail: korea_garcia@hotmail.com

More info may be found at: http://LatinMusicNow.net/bembe

Record Label: FLG Productions

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