Retro Jazz band of Master Pengbian Sang is premiering its fourth album with free concerts of music ranging from classical to jazz in Santo Domingo and Santiago, Diario Libre reports. The Retro Jazz band will perform on Friday, 6 September 2024 at 8pm at the Centro León in Santiago and on Sunday, 8 September at 7pm in the gardens of the Eduardo Brito National Theater, in the Plaza de la Cultura Juan Pablo Duarte in Santo Domingo. Both concerts are free.
Retro Jazz’s fourth album, titled “Jazzeando el cancionero dominicano, volumen 4” (Jazzing the Dominican Songbook, Volume 4), includes iconic songs from the Dominican repertoire.
Maestro Pengbian Sang explained his thinking process for choosing the songs:
“I pre-select Dominican songs from different eras without any specific criteria, simply choosing songs that we like. After that pre-selection, which can easily be 25 or 30 songs, we select those that lend themselves to being ‘jazzed,’ that is, those that can be reharmonized and have their rhythm changed. We like many of those songs very much, but unfortunately, we cannot connect with them in terms of recreating them, so in the end, they are left out,” the renowned musician and teacher explained.
Among the songs are ‘Juan Gomero,’ a traditional pambiche by an anonymous author; ‘Y,’ a famous bolero by Dominican composer Mario de Jesús, popularized by Luis Miguel; ‘La película,’ a well-known bachata by the group Aventura; ‘Te di,’ a beautiful ballad by Pavel Núñez; ‘Mensaje,’ the iconic merengue known as ‘Arroyito cristalino’; and ‘Te propongo,’ a song by Juan Luis Guerra that was popularized as salsa by Puerto Rican Gilberto Santa Rosa and as merengue by Miriam Cruz,” maestro Pengbian Sang told Diario Libre.
The album also includes a Colombian song that, according to Sang, is now “Dominican by adoption”: “Volvió Juanita.” The undisputed “queen of merengue,” Milly Quezada, who popularized this song, participates in this new version, which has undoubtedly become an anthem for Dominicans.
“Jazzeando el cancionero dominicano, volumen 4” features three original compositions written by Edgar Molina, the band’s percussionist (Anacaona), as well as the song ‘Te digo adiós’ by Nairoby Duarte, the group’s vocalist, and the instrumental ballad ‘Katia con K’ by maestro Pengbian Sang.
“A bonus track completes the production: a new version of the emblematic ‘Siña Juanica,’ performed on piano, vocals, and string quartet,” the maestro said.
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Diario Libre
5 September 2024