Puerto Rican Gilberto Santa Rosa: “People go too fast and don’t enjoy the music”

Renowned singer Gilberto Santa Rosa will release a new album at the end of the year with music that was not included in his previous album and will perform for the first time at the prestigious Madrid festival ‘Las Noches del Botánico’ with all tickets sold out.

Despite describing himself in an interview with EFE as “a bit informal” with his albums, Gilberto Santa Rosa has been working on new music.

While composing his album, the artist recorded a lot of music that he didn’t want to include on his previous album: “People go too fast and don’t really enjoy the music, so I divided it into two parts. So, this is Debut and Second Round Vol. 2,” Gilberto confessed.

The next work by the nicknamed “Master of Salsa” will include both new compositions and versions of songs that the artist always wanted to perform.

Since his beginnings in the 90s he has worked tirelessly to make a name for himself, and according to him, this participation in the ‘Las Noches del Botánico’ festival represents “a recognition of his perseverance and talent.”

‘Auténtico Tour’ is the artist’s current tour, which began at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico, which according to Gilberto, was to start with the “blessing of the house.” The tour has been an enriching experience, full of positive energy and great receptivity from the public. “I am enjoying this process very much,” said the composer.

The artist’s hits such as Conciencia, La Agarro Bajando or Conteo Regresivo and his new songs Cartas sobre la mesa and For Sale, among many others, will be played live at ‘Las Noches del Botánico’.

According to the artist, it is precisely his repertoire that will be the star of this tour, where the orchestra will inject an energy that will infect many with its clarity in its couplings, its solitary sounds and its flavour.

Recently, the composer was awarded a prize in recognition of his musical career by the Berklee College of Music, becoming the first Puerto Rican singer to receive an honorary doctorate in music. “For me it was a great honor and very emotional to see the recognition not only for my career, but for the genre and the effort of someone with talent and determination,” the singer confessed.

The Puerto Rican said that he did not pursue a musical career, he went to music school but did not cultivate music as a discipline and described himself as “empirical.”

Gilberto Santa Rosa, known for his ability to interpret salsa, bolero and romantic ballads, explained how he began singing boleros as a child and how he later discovered his ability for rhythm: “This transition allowed me to combine the romantic with the rhythmic.”

Despite starting his recording career with boleros and ballads later, he has managed to balance both genres successfully. “The transition was quite easy for me,” he explained. Today, his romantic music still has an important place in music diffusion.

At a time, according to the artist, when two versions of the same song were made in order to have a greater diffusion, Gilberto did not understand it: “I felt a little uncomfortable, because I said, gosh, but why do that?

Although it was an imposition by the company on the artist, the Puerto Rican explained that it was very effective at that time and was a huge success.

After selling out tickets in Madrid, the Puerto Rican maestro will take salsa to other Spanish cities such as Girona, A Coruña, Jerez de la Frontera, Murcia, Valencia, Palma de Mallorca and Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

Madrid / EFE