When Richard Bravo attends the Latin Grammy Awards in Seville, Spain on Thursday (Nov. 16), the ceremony might be a considerably bittersweet second. Nominated for the primary time for his personal work together with his expensive pal Camilo Valencia, for his or her instrumental album Made In Miami, the Venezuelan drummer and percussionist — a three-time-Latin Grammy winner — couldn’t be extra proud. However he should journey with out the composer and most important architect of the album: After present process a 3rd coronary heart transplant, Valencia died on Sept. 6, only a few days earlier than the nominations had been introduced.
“It made me very blissful” to obtain the nomination, Bravo tells Billboard Español, saying that he discovered from associates who despatched him screenshots by which his and Valencia’s names appeared. “I used to be in Europe and I used to be like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t consider this!’
“The primary particular person I considered was Camilo,” provides the artist, who’s at the moment on tour with Juanes and also will carry out with the Latin Grammys band on the awards present. “I stated, ‘Wow, all the hassle on this report and all of the sacrifice, the time, the power, the cash, the whole lot, and it occurred.’”
Valencia, an award-winning Miami-based multi-instrumentalist, arranger and producer born in Cuba, labored all through his profession with stars like Carlos Santana, Ricky Martin, Shakira, José Feliciano and plenty of others. He was additionally the musical director of TV reveals reminiscent of La Voz Children, A Oscuras Pero Encendidos and Viva El Sueño, and created numerous jingles for commercials with Bravo and Carlos Oliva.
“Right here in Miami, not a day goes by that I activate the radio or the TV and one thing that he did doesn’t come out,” says his brother, bassist Rafael Valencia, additionally an skilled musician who labored on the album and obtained a nomination for finest association for “Songo Bop,” his solely track on Made In Miami.
He says that, earlier than he was hospitalized, Camilo went to his home for lunch and instructed him that that they had submitted Made In Miami for the Latin Grammy nomination for finest instrumental album, and that additionally they despatched his track for the very best association class. “I assumed, ‘Why!?’ I appreciated his preparations higher,” he remembers with fun, earlier than including with emotion: “That was a present that Camilo gave me earlier than he left.”
Nominations had been introduced on Sept. 19, 13 days after his demise resulting from sudden problems. He was about to show 64.
Made In Miami is the one album of his personal that Camilo Valencia acquired to report. Comprised of 11 songs, the mission pays tribute to the cultural range of his adoptive Miami, fusing parts of pop, jazz, funk, R&B, bebop, songo, salsa, samba and Afro-Cuban. Famend musicians from Arturo Sandoval and Ed Calle, to Milton Salcedo, Philip Lassiter and Luis Enrique, participated within the album. All the songs, apart from “Songo Bop,” had been written by Valencia over the course of 20 years.
It began with the primary coronary heart transplant, says Bravo, his pal for over 30 years: “I instructed him, ‘Camilo — as a result of he all the time had music in his head — why don’t you make use of your time within the hospital, when you get better, and begin writing songs?’ The primary one he wrote was referred to as ‘CCU,’ which is the hospital’s cardio unit, and that’s the way it began. Little by little he wrote the songs, and in recent times we began recording all the album.”
Along with “CCU (Coronary Care Unit),” which opens Made In Miami, there are songs like “Hurricane Jiménez,” devoted to his heart specialist, and “One Coronary heart at a Time,” devoted to his second donor, “a youngster from Puerto Rico who was murdered by robbers to steal his automotive,” says his brother Rafael. However there are additionally titles that pay tribute to the household, reminiscent of “Café Union,” which is called after the restaurant his father owned in Cuba, and “Papadin,” a track in honor of Bravo’s father, with whom Valencia was additionally shut.
Household is a crucial aspect that’s additionally very current musically on the album. “It’s very particular, as a result of not solely are all of the Valencias, however all of the Bravos right here,” explains Bravo. “There’s my brother, my son and my nephew, who recorded the identical track [‘Papadin’],” in addition to Rafael and his son Ralfy.
When speaking about his emotions the day of the nomination, Bravo remembers that he all the time thought that he and Valencia would journey to Seville collectively. “I assumed he was going to depart the hospital,” he says. “He did it 3 times [before], and I assumed it was going to occur.”
Valencia is survived by his son Eric, his brother Rafael, his sisters Barbara and Maria, and a big prolonged household. In his honor, a lot of them will attend the Latin Grammy Awards ceremony.
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