Los Ciegos Del Barrio
¿Por Que? ¡Porque…!
This is literally the best and most diverse Latin album ever recorded as it features multiple styles of music. It features Salsa, Bachata, Merengue, Reggaeton and rock. This one's for our fans and we welcome you to our party.
We, "Los Ciegos Del Barrio", are happy to announce the release of our latest( third) album "Por Que? Porque...". The name basically translates to "Why? Because..." which is meant to symbolize our pride that we are so incredibly diverse, we can actually perform and record multiple types of music in multiple genres. Many bands say they can do that, but we believe this album actually proves our abilities and talents that allow us to be multi-faceted more than many other bands who make that claim. Wwe support and admire many bands and many styles of music, both mainstream and independent, but this album is for those who not only have supported us for the last 10 years, but also for other artists like us who have been misguided by the mainstream industry to stick with one genre of music, water down their true talents and creativity and then hear from the same industry who has advised them that they are either not good enough, or perhaps that they are "great, but..." This is our official answer to that. This is also a tribute to our fans and to ourselves as we show the ability to do, well...everything. So the basic theme of the album is "Why? Because...we can!"
This album is also, in all likelihood, our last album within the Bachata genre as we disapprove of the genre's current direction. We also use this album to springboard our growth as artists and to expand beyond anything we've done during our career. We want to experiment and be creative with many types of music so this album features Bachata with some pretty unique instrumentation as well as real fusion with Rock,
dance and Blues. We also feature 2 merengues, a Salsa, a rock song which is a remake of the first Bachata that was ever played on the radio for us after the release of our first album "No Lo Dude" called "Dime donde estas", and we also feature our version of Reggaeton which includes a twist of rap/hip hop. (That will be very interesting. We never got shot 9 times or even once, but I'm sure it's just as "Gangsta.)
For those who are seeing this band for the first time, we are "Los Ciegos Del Barrio", which means the "Blind Guys from the neighborhood." We jokingly call ourselves that because we are legally blind. So we figured we'd answer all questions in advance before they are asked as to why we sometimes carry canes or sometimes we bump into people on the way to the stage. It also answers why we would never be pulled over at any traffic stop or why we could never sneak a gun into the Latin Quarter. We put all of that wonder to rest and obviously feel comfortable enough to joke about it and are quite open to all questions about it as we are all pretty secure with ourselves and don't see it as a weakness. That's why we offer the exagerated ice breaker in jest so that we can demonstrate that security we have with ourselves. The band is from New York City. We perform in English and in Spanish. We have been playing together since childhood as we are all good friends and enjoy entertaining you.
The core members of the band are:
Alvin Suarez - Guitar, drumkit, percussion and vocals as well as the leader of the group.
derek Christopher Suarez - Bass, percussion, and vocals.
Machete - Keyboard, harmonica, accordion and just about anything he can get his hands on as well as vocals.
other members of the group:
Jaime Diaz - Rhythm guitar, bass and vocals.
Jimmy Fontanez - Drums and percussion as well as some vocals. We have to borrow him from upstate NY.
Angel Dueno - The only musician who plays with us who is not legally blind so he gets all the chicks. he's also a damn good percussionist and we also have to borrow him from upstate NY.
Appearing on the album:
Henny Fernandez - Some vocals. he was actually our percussionist until 2006 although he also sang backgrounds on our 2007 single "Brown Eyed Girl". he left the band to pursue a career in the NYPD. He was not legally blind.
Kelvin Perez - Percussion on "Brown Eyed Girl". which we released as a single in 2007. We remixed the song and put it on this album. This is the last song in which Perez and Fernandez recorded with us. he was also a member until 2006 when he left the band to pursue a career in poker. he was not legally blind so he used to cheat when we played dominoes.
Lizzy Suarez - Vocals on "Don't You Want Me" and "Por El Resto De Mi Vida". Alvin's wife. Her good work on this CD is very much appreciated.
Andre Donatien - Rock guitarist. he is to join us in our eventual move to Rock in Espanol. He is legally blind and is Trinidadian so doesn't speak Spanish, but he can play.
Tim Ouimette - Trumpet
Clarence Banks - Trombone
Jose Guevara - Guitar part in "Ciegueton" as he accompanies Alvin Suarez.
So now that you know a bit more about the group, we hope you enjoy the album and we do welcome all feedback. If you want to know about the band, you can either shoot us an e mail at losciegosdelbarrio@gmail.com or call us at (347) 772-8686. We welcome you to our "family". You can also check us out at our new improved website at http://www.losciegosdelbarrio.com or you can hit us up at our "My Space" page at http://www.myspace.com/losciegosdelbarrio which will be the casual side of us. Thank you all for your support and we hope you enjoy this album.
Latin: Bachata