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Fusion Jonda is a Puerto Rican band that blends the Caribbean music with gypsy-flamenco sounds, melodies and rhythms. The band also centers its music in a combination of Afrobeat, jazz, Arabic music, and Indian music elements achieving a contemporary approach.

As for the band's name, the word Jonda, a Spanish anachronism for "deep", is related to the Cante Jondo (in English, Deep Singing), the very origin of Flamenco. The band sets ground on those flamenco roots and the "Fusion" begins as they implement the Hispanic, Indian and African harmonies that have been inherited in the Caribbean.

History

Fusion Jonda began in 2010 as a trio around its creator, musician-singer-songwriter Juan Luis Romero, percussionist Wilfredo "El Canela" Dávila and flamenco dancer Patricia Muñiz. From Salsa music, rock music to jazz sceneries, the music blends had not been unfamiliar to bandleader Romero who is from Puerto Rican and Dominican descent and belongs to a family dedicated to music, poetry, journalism, law and education. He studied piano and music composition at a very young age when he dreamed to produce musical interchanges between rhythms from the Antilles and Latin America. At age 13, he led his first orchestra and afterwards, he had a jazz band not without first being singer for a heavy metal music band, tenor of a Gospel music choir, chorister for the salsa legends Richie Ray & Bobby Cruz and pianist for several Tropical music bands. He is also a lawyer since 1990.

Fusion Jonda has evolved from being a flamenco trio to a one-of-a-kind musical ensemble; an array of talented musicians from different genres like reggae, rock, jazz, salsa and world music bringing together the seductive sounds of the violin, the crispness of the trumpet and trombone, the modern vibes of the bass and the exotic ethnic percussion. They all share the common goal of blending their collected inspirations creating a new, sophisticated sound. Special appearances by urban poet and rapper Javier "Insurgente" Velázquez and a tribal fusion dancer also take place during their live performances.

The band got its first major break in 2012 when it was invited to perform at the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum alongside Spanish singer Rosario Flores in front of a crowd of 15,000 during the 50th anniversary of the salsa orchestra El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico.^[1]

In 2013, the band released Fusion Jonda, their first Homonym album on its own record label, New World Latino.^[2] The album was recorded in Puerto Rico and mastered in Battery Studios in New York by Mark Wilder. Moreover, the online magazine and website All About Jazz described Fusion Jonda's album as "...the perfect example of old world vibe swathed with a new attitude yielding an exuberant production."^[3]

In 2014, Fusion Jonda performed the opening acts for Latin Grammy Award winners Concha Buika at the Luis A. Ferré Performing Arts Center in Puerto Rico and for Bajofondo at the Puerto Rico Convention Center.

Discography

• 
  Fusion Jonda^[4]
  

Band members

• Juan Luis Romero – Music director, singer-songwriter and guitarist


• Nayka Vallejo – Singer


• Javier "Insurgente" Velazquez – Rapper
  


• Patricia Muniz – Flamenco dancer
  


• William "Pipo" Torres – Bass player
  


• Wilfredo "El Canela" Davila – Percussionist


• Henry L. Rodriguez – Percussionist


• Eduardo "Sabu" Rosado – Percussionist


• Guillermo "El Profesor" Peguero – Violinist


• Joey Oyola – Trombonist
  


• Carlos Hernandez – Trumpet player
  

Awards

• 2014 – Fusion Jonda's album was selected as one of the 20 best discographic productions in Puerto Rico by the National Foundation for Popular Culture.

References

External links

• Fusion Jonda [2] Facebook


• Fusion Jonda [3] Instagram