-- by Dena Burroughs 

Interview with Cano Estremera - May, 2006

Update:  This interview with Cano was done exactly three years ago.  He is back in L.A. this Saturday May 9, 2009.
 

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Cano Estremera, who throughout time has been known also as “El Cano“, “The Golden Kid”, the “Owner of the Soneo”, “White Estremera”, “The White One”, and “El Albino de la Salsa”, will be performing in Los Angeles this Sunday, May 28th, 2006 along with “Los Masters de la Salsa“, and as part of the 8th West Coast Salsa Congress to be held on the grounds of the Hollywood Park Casino, in Inglewood.

To many of us, this will be a first opportunity to see this tall, blond, green-eyed Puerto Rican sonero do what he is most famous for: sonear. Cano is credited to have improvised up to 130 stanzas without repeating a single phrase within a song. Not that it needs to be said, this is an outstanding and uncommon ability.

I had the opportunity, more like a thrill really, to speak to him last Friday, just a week prior to his appearance in L.A. Our conversation was in Spanish, so what you will read is a translation.

Cano is certainly a unique individual, self-assured and of strong opinions. A man with an obvious gift of expression, one of those people who speak in a way that is prettier, more thoughtful, at times in an almost poetic fashion, than the rest of us can.

He rather not talk about his career “desde el punto de vista farandulero”, or as mere show business. It is hard to get him to talk about his performances, shows, contracts and so on. Still, I gathered that he is a busy man. He was in Peru the weekend before our conversation, and was leaving to Ecuador the morning after it. He will in be Los Angeles this week and in Europe next month.

Yet he keeps humble. “Yo sali de Barrio Obrero, pero Barrio Obrero no salio de mi”, he says. I came out of Barrio Obrero, but Barrio Obrero is still in me. He feels that as a Salsa singer, as a sonero, he has a responsibility to represent his people. To be “el periodico del pueblo”, sort of a recorder of the people. Economic benefit, he says, is the consequence of work well done, but not his motivation.

His motivation, he adds, is the hope that his work could transcend, like the work of the great painters and sculptors, like the truly great musicians, into posterity.

The following was gathered from our phone conversation, Cano at his home in Puerto Rico, and I at mine, here in L.A.

Enjoy.
 

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Dena: Cano, will this be your first time in California?

Cano E.: No, I was there about two years ago for a concert. And before that, I had been there during my time with Bobby Valentin.


Dena: What have you heard about the L.A. Salsa Congress? What are you expecting to see?

Cano E.: Well, Salsa Congresses originated in Puerto Rico. We have played at several Congresses here, but this is the first time I’ll be playing at a Congress outside of Puerto Rico.


Dena: Is “La Orquesta de Cano Estremera” coming to L.A. with you?

Cano E.: No. I am participating with a project called “Los Masters de la Salsa”. It is a good concept, from Puerto Rico, and we will be performing the songs of its CD, which I am part of.


Dena: Let’s cover the basics real fast. When and where were you born? And what can you tell me about your family?

Cano E.: I was born September 2, 1958, in Barrio Obrero de Santurce, Puerto Rico. I have three kids. Two girls and a boy.


Dena: You have a fine reputation as a sonero. In fact, you are called by many “The Owner of Soneo”. How would you explain the difference between a singer and a sonero?

Cano E.: There’s only two things one needs to be a singer. First, a song that is good, in commercial terms, and second, to have a company willing to invest the money to have the song distributed.

On the other hand, a sonero is more like a jazz musician. Is someone that can do more than just follow the melody of a song, but that improvises within it, both in musical terms and lyrically. Not all singers are able to do that. You have tons of singers with outstanding voices that would never be able to improvise. It is also more than just memorizing soneos that may have been written by someone else. It is the ability to come up with lines and phrases on the spot.

When a person has a great voice, he or she can automatically be a great singer. To give you an example, think of Luis Miguel. He has always had an outstanding voice, since he was a young man. He is an awesome singer… but from that, to having him be a sonero, well, that’d be a completely different thing. Then again, if I had his voice, I may have just agreed as well to be a commercial singer.


Dena: When I think of soneros, a few names come to mind: Domingo Quinonez, El Canario, Gilberto Santarosa, Victor Manuelle. Are there any other names that should be mentioned?

Cano E.: I don’t think any of those guys sonean at the degree of difficulty that I do. They are soneros perhaps in the traditional term, but I am at the vanguard. I don’t take away, of course, recognition for the amount of work that they put in to keep themselves where they are, but it is a different thing to be able to keep on going after 50 or 60 soneos that are all different, and making a song sound new every time.


Dena: I know you’re famous for improvising lyrics for long periods of time without repeating phrases. Is this something you practice before your shows? Or does it happen right there while you stand on stage?

Cano E.: Well, some rhymes, or at least some ideas for rhymes, may be written at home. And there’s no reason to do badly on records for example, so those soneos are thought of ahead of time. For live performances, I may go on with 20, 25 soneos ready to be used. But the real art is to be able to go up on stage and deliver a different show every time.


Dena: You are quite popular in Puerto Rico. I also know you’re well known in the East Coast. But for many in the West Coast you will be new. So, how would you describe yourself? What should the folks here in the West Coast expect to see this coming up Sunday?

Cano E.: Well, I think that in terms of what they may be listening to, I will probably be more impressive as far as what soneo is. I know there’s a big Cuban influence in the West Coast, that Cuban music is often preferred. But I also know that Cubans with roots in Cuba understand what I do, what I am about.

Those that want to see a sonero “de vanguardia“, to see what a sonero is truly supposed to do, will appreciate my show.

In all honesty, I don’t pretend to be a favorite of the mainstream. My audience is mostly composed of people in-the-know. Folks who either know what I do, or want to see what I do.


Dena: I’ve also heard that sometimes you come up with rather ‘spicy’ lyrics… at least phrases packed with double meaning. Should we expect some of those this weekend?

Cano E.: Some people have chosen to say that, trying to throw dirt on me I think. The way I see it, that’s what makes the difference between an artist in the vanguard like myself, who dares to do and say certain things that those in the mainstream can’t afford, or aren’t willing, to do.

The truth is that an audience in-the-know can’t be mislead. They can see by themselves that my incorporating real life situations in my songs, rather than taking away from me, actually turns me into an innovator. What I do is nothing different from what the artists in other genres do, such as it happens in reggaeton, and it does not scare me or worry me because I have the ability to do it.


Dena: I’m curious, based on your experience and your many years involved with Salsa, what do you think is happening to this music? Is it growing or is it dying down as others say?

Cano E.: In commercial terms, there is what I call ‘vacation music’ that has always had a stronger pull than Salsa. Think of Merengue, Calypso, Reggae, the type of music that Americans love when they’re on vacation because it’s easy to move to, easy to get into. Salsa is different, is more difficult to dance, more difficult to sing, more difficult for a musician to play.

The media - radio, television - will obviously accommodate to what is more convenient, what people will respond to faster. Therefore what is happening today with reggaeton... a mix of two genres that have commercially worked before, Merengue and Reggae.

Some people may think that because reggaeton is so popular today Salsa must be dying, but the truth is that reggaeton is simply filling the needs of the moment.

Salsa is well established, it is here to stay. Its audience may not be the largest in size, but it is a loyal audience, with a defined taste.

What is needed for the further growth of Salsa is good promoters, dedicated entrepreneurs, well organized, and willing to invest their resources. If Salsa had the financial backing that reggaeton has, for example, it would take off as well.

But as long as our promoters want to run concerts with only a towel covering the back wall of the stage, we’re going to stay the same.

We can also take an example from meteorology. For a storm to happen, a combination of elements must occur… there must be warm air, and strong winds, and so on. Salsa will become a leading force in the same manner, when all the right conditions present themselves at once: an accepting market, a more relaxed dance style, respect for its artists, dedicated promoters, and so on.


Dena: How do you think the dancers in the West Coast will respond to your music?

Cano E.: The ones that dance the way I do my soneos, following the clave, the instruments, utilizing their entire body, will enjoy my music more than those who only follow dance steps. Dancing Salsa, like the music itself, needs to allow for moments of freestyle, of improvisation. This music is not like the dances from the Middle Ages, when people had to memorize steps and it had nothing to do with feeling and a lot to do with learning. This music should allow for expression and release, whether release may mean to throw your hands up in the air, or bending your back, swaying your thighs, and the like. Because of the influence that Cuban music has in the West Coast, and since Cuban dancing allows for such improvisations, I think my music will be appreciated.


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I think so too! I am definitely looking forward to Sunday evening and Cano’s performance.

I also hope that reading the above will excite some of you, and motivate you to attend his show. For more information see the calendar on the VidaSalsera.com main page, or visit http://www.alberttorresevents.com 

Thanks to Cano Estremera for the time he granted me for this interview.

Thanks, as well, to the people who helped make it possible. David who is good friends with ‘Blacky’ from Connecticut, who in turn is good friends with Cano.  A case of ‘six degrees of separation‘, of sorts.