Orquesta Broadway 40th. Anniversary

Latin Beat Magazine, Dec, 2003 by Rudy Mangual

(Flauta Records)

This release from the oldest charanga in "El Norte" (U.S.A.), Orquesta Broadway, celebrates four decades of continuous devotion to the traditional sounds end styles of Cuban music. Led by the magical flute of Eddy Zervigón, the orchestra was originally founded by the Zervigón brothers (Eddy, Rudy, and Kelvin) and baptized Orquesta Broadway by Catalina Rolón (manager of New York City's popular Palladium nightclub) in 1962, because all of its members lived on or near Broadway. Immediately the bend became the musical sensation at the Palladium and throughout the Big Apple. Zervigón's use of a five-key French wooden flute with excellent high pitched tones set the orchestra's sound apart from all others. The blending of a lead flute with violins and Afro-Cuban percussion and vocals created the successful sound of Orquesta Broadway, which rapidly earned the love of aficionados from all corners of the world. This recording delivers a repertoire of some of the orchestra's best-known hit songs, as well as new material. They open with the Eugenio Hernández classic compositions Mulata (a Cuban favorite) and Isla Del Encanto (the Nuyorican national anthem). Other favorites are Arrepiéntete, featuring the guest vocals of Rafael "Felo" Barrio (ah original member of the orchestra), and the charanga classics Yo Bailo Con Ella and La Negra Fuló. Special guest musicians in the recording include Alfredo de la Fé (violin), Roberto Rodriguez, Jr. (trumpet), Iván Zervigón (percussion), plus Eugenio Hernández and Verny Varela on vocals.