A LIFETIME OF MUSIC AND FUN

(all photos from Cuba performing and jamming prior to 1969 are not available)

 

Victor Alvarez and SAVOR

Victor in a 1969 performance (15 years old)

Victor  in   1987 for  a  show  in  Texas  (34 years old)

Cover of the CD/album Aller (Ayer) featuring Victor and hes 16 piece band “THE LA EXPRESS” (1985 – 1990)

PROMO PHOTOS OF THE LA EXPRESS (1998 more or less)

Victor and “SAVOR” in New Mexico.  Performances at the Eldorado Hotel  (2008 – 2011)

“SAVOR” Performing for the Santa Fe Film Festival (2010)

 

 

VICTOR ALVAREZ is the founder and leader of  “SAVOR” Cuban Street Music. Cuban born award-winning mandolinist and guitarist, Victor has traveled the world with his salsa orchestra The La Express. He has recorded under the labels of AAPA and North to South. Victor sings and plays mandolin as a Cuban laud and also plays guitar with Savor.

 

 

 

Who is SAVOR?

 

SAVOR was started by Cuban born Victor Alavarez in 1997. He was already a seasoned musician long before moving to New Mexico having paid his musical dues while living in Houston, Texas. From his days as a guitar soloist, blue grass combo mando-man, Hawaiian music minstrel and Latin big band leader back in Houston, Victor had always wanted to express his Cuban roots by playing the songs that he had grown up hearing in his native Havana. After getting burnt out with the big band scene in the big city he moved out to New Mexico. It was not long before Victor realized that his heart yearned to express his Cuban roots through his talent as a mandolin player of thirty years and that the “land of enchantment” was the place to do it.

The group started off as a quartet playing mostly music native to Mexico, New Mexico and Latin America. Over the next few years, members came and went, but Victor has kept the group together. Through this time, though the group did play some Cuban songs, Victor was determined to follow his dream of playing a more complete repertoire of true Cuban music for audiences to listen, learn about and enjoy Cuba’s often forgotten and underestimated contribution to Latin music.

Now Victor has found the desired and potent recipe for his group. The musicians that accompany him today are not from the Cuban tradition of music but have taken their influences and blended them into an eclectic evolution to produce a true “street sound” of Cuban music. On congas, hand percussion and vocals is Fred Simpson, master craftsman and musician of African drums and other percussion, is a native of the bay area of San Francisco and has played nationally and internationally for decades. Performing on acoustic bass and vocals is Eddie Soleta. A Havana native and multi-instrumentalist, Mr. Soleta is a well seasoned musician having played with such greats as Cachao. Playing bongos, hand percussion and on vocals is J.J. Oviedo a New Mexico native trained in jazz trap-set and having worked in groups varying from reggae to fusion.

The music that the group performs includes Cuban and Afro-Cuban sounds and rhythms based on the original Cuban “Son”; which is the grandfather of the modern ‘Salsa’ rhythms. The music is performed in an informal acoustic and street-like manner, making it raw and infectiously dance-able. In addition, SAVOR’s repertoire includes many other Latin American and Spanish songs for the eclectic and Latin hungry taste.

The group which fans and music lovers now see performing in many venues in Santa Fe is the product of several years of hard work and dedication to a personal quest of homage to a long vibrant Cuban heritage of great music and culture. We invite all who find themselves curious about Cuban rhythms and Cuba’s music to come out, hear us and party with us like on the streets of Havava vieja!

(Photo 1  Luis Sanchez-Saturno)

” Omi Tutu, Ana Tutu, Tutu Ile, Tutu Laroye’

Capiosile Chango