Toca, Alfredo, Toca: Alfredo De La Fe: violinist Alfredo De La Fe is back with beautiful music and a message

Latin Beat Magazine, March, 2003 by Jesse Varela

As the night progressed at Cocomo, De La Fé took the audience on a ride with the tunes Toca Alfredo Toca and Muñeca. Pure nostalgic pleasure, he renewed the tunes with seasoned and expressive improvisational skills. The voice of Alfredo De La Fé's violin is unique; loud, funky but with qualitative technique, incredible chops and melodic definition. El Cuarto De Tula, Xiomara and Pare Cochero were highlights as De La Fé and Polanco put the place into a spin.

"Music is for the barrio. Salsa, when it started, was for the barrio. Any barrio! Because, as you discover, all barrios are the same around the world. Todo los barrios son iguales. It is important to play music for the people. Some musicians make the mistake of playing for other musicians and not the people.

"It's important to be part of a community," concludes Alfredo De La Fé. "I was gone for 20 years going around the world without a family, friends or home. Now I know how important it is to take care of that community and give back to your people."

Note: Late last year, Latino Musicians Against Drugs performed its first concert at Lehman Center for the Arts, in the Bronx, with Giovanni Hidalgo, Dave Valentín, Larry Harlow, Jimmy Bosch and José Alberto "El Canario." Currently, the organization is planning a fundraising concert at Lincoln Center in NYC with Oscar D'León and Gilberto Santa Rosa to raise funds for community-based organizations who provide services in drug abuse prevention and rehabilitation. For more info on LMAD: www.alfredodelafe.com.