YERBABUENA

YERBABUENA
yerbabuena, hierbabuena, n., f. : wild spearmint, mint
yerba, hierba, n., f. : herb : grass : weed
buena, n., f., adj. : good
Note: the Spanish name "yerba-buena" ("good herb") is used to describe several varieties of mint, including Satureja douglasii, Satureja chamissonis, and Mentha spicata (spearmint)



photo by Angelo Valentin



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PRESS, PROMOTERS, BOOKING AGENTS & SPONSORS
Promoters with excellent network in the entertainment industry
Booking agents with clients interested in booking one of the fastest rising musical phenomenons of the current Latino/Puerto Rican Renaissance
Sponsors interested in having quality product(s) endorsed all by artists that are delivering increasingly popular music and significantly influencing today's new "Latin" era of entertainment.
CONTACT: 845-641-3095 or tatotorres@yerbabuenainc.com
Tato Torres &
YERBABUENA
Boricua ("Puerto Rican") Roots Music
A new Boricua generation is embracing their traditional musical expressions. The work of Tato Torres & YERBABUENA is the product of everything that leads to a contemporary Puerto Rican musical experience.



Tato Torres
YERBABUENA (one word) is a group of individuals who come together to play the music that they love under the musical direction of singer-composer-musician Tato Torres. It is composed of musicians, singers and dancers from the New York City area, who share an intense passion for the musical traditions of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean.
The last thing that will come to your mind while at a YERBABUENA event is that you're watching a show, it feels more like a cross between a jam in the park, a spiritual ceremony and a family reunion. They convey wholeness and harmony, and their music is moving beyond belief. The music they play is, by nature, participatory. Whether bomba, plena or música jíbara, it's all interactive. And being witness to their vibrant sounds and the deep joy that making music together gives them, just leaves the audience no choice but to join in the chorus or dance for the drums. After a YERBABUENA session, you'll be uplifted, tired and happy.



photo by Amy Ponce



The concept of YERBABUENA developed during the summer of 1999 at the renowned Rincón Criollo Cultural Center (aka "La Casita de Chema") in the heart of the South Bronx, and has been growing since. It developed out of the need for cultural expression, redefinition and re-appropriation of the Puerto Rican musical heritage by a new generation of Boricuas. For a long time, Puerto Rican musical traditions have been constricted by commercial culture and generally limited to holidays and "folkloric" presentations.YERBABUENA is an important part of the struggle to develop and promote identity through living Puerto Rican musical traditions such as bomba, plena and música jíbara.



photo by Felipe "El Jibaro" Garcia
While well-recognized Boricuas like Willie Colón, Marc Anthony and Ricky Martin are known worldwide for their "Latin" flavor, groups like Plena Libre, Los Pleneros de la 21, Viento de Agua, and now YERBABUENA, have been changing the way people listen to traditional Puerto Rican music in New York City and beyond.
YERBABUENA reclaims the Puerto Rican music often branded as "folkloric," refusing to accept its packaging as frozen-in-time museum pieces, only vaguely connected to contemporary culture. Instead, they make gorgeous music that incorporates past and present. YERBABUENA taps right into the core of who Boricuas are as a People.
Boricua Roots MusicBoricua Roots Music is a musical movement in which Boricua musicians have combined and re-combined elements of traditional and/or folkloric music as contemporary musical expressions. This style of modern music, which reaches back to the roots of Boricua (Puerto Rican) tradition has come to be called "roots music" or "música de raíz" in Spanish. The movement is also often referred to simply as "roots" or "raíces" in Spanish.
YERBABUENA RELEASES 1st CD



New York City's Hottest Boricua Roots Music Crew: Tato Torres & YERBABUENA released their first independent production "BORICUA ROOTS MUSIC" on October 14th, 2006.
The album titled "Boricua Roots Music" is available now on-line!!!
WHERE TO BUY THE CD????At the moment, you can buy the CD directly from YERBABUENA at any of our future appearances (check out our calendar).
The album titled "Boricua Roots Music" is available now on-line!!!buy it on-line
CURRENTLY AVAILABLE @ The following locations:
in NYC:
El Barrio Music Center1870 Lexington Ave. (bet. 115 & 116 Sts.)
El Barrio, NYC
Phone: (212) 876-3409
Email: info@elbarriomusiccenter.com
Casa Amadeo Record Shop786 Prospect Ave., Longwood
The Bronx, NYC
Phone: (718) 328-6896



in Puerto Rico:
The Poet's Pasage203 Calle Cruz
San Juan, PR 00933
Phone: (787) 567-9235
Gradually, the CD will begin to be availabe in selected music stores in NYC, and very soon it will be available everywhere.
We appologize to everyone outside the New York City area and hope to make the CD accessible to you all very soon.
Sincerely,
Tato Torres
YERBABUENA, INC.