Que Pasa: How was Grupo Azul formed?

Raoul; Grupo Azul started as a salsa cover-band 3 years ago. After playing salsa and Santana classics for about a year, I started writing my own songs, soon followed by other band members. During this period, some band members were replaced and Cuban sonero Eduardo Alfonso Herrera joined the band. This was a turning point for us. The unpolished voice of Eduardo fitted perfectly with the band sound. I met Eduardo when I was co-producing Alberto Muñoz' album (trombone player for Afro Cuban All Stars and Buena Vista Social Club)

Que Pasa: How did you get your first break?

Raoul: To be honest we are not really there yet. We're just standing at the beginning of something. Now, we're getting more and more media attention. Some radio stations in The Netherlands, New York, and Barcelona are playing our songs. So we hope this will render our break-through. And through this interview, we hope we can get some attention from your readers in Britain too.

Que Pasa: Introduce me to each member of the band and what they each do. Raoul: On the trombone, we have Tobias Dammers. He is a trombonist in high demand, as well as an excellent songwriter and trumpet player. Trumpet player Egbert van Veelen is a musician with whom I've played in several salsa and pop bands, so it's no surprise that I value his talents very much. German saxophone player Robert Ritscher, who studied in Hilversum (Holland), has his roots jazz music.

In his solo's he provides for a mellow jazz sound. Hear him play the soprano saxophone and you'll be in love with it. Thomas Simmons (from Curacao) is the band's second trombone player, coro singer and percussionist. Furthermore, he is a walking encyclopaedia of salsa. Pianist Valentijn Bok's talent for salsa music is best displayed in our live concerts, where there's plenty of room to hear his wonderful guajeos and piano solos. He provided our band and many other bands as well with excellent arrangements. Our bass player Hanaña Olthuis, is not only a driving force in the rhythm section but also a provider of beautiful songs and a big contributor in the organisation of Grupo Azul. The Dutch steaming redhead is a growing name in the Dutch salsa scene. Timbalero Vincent Gal has started out in salsa long before I started playing congas. We graduated at the Arnhem Conservatory on the same day. While I was still playing drums, he already played Latin percussion. I‘ve known guitarist Ton van Engelen for a long time. He started studying music at the Arnhem Conservatory at the same time as I did. We come from the same city. Bongo player Mark de Vries is a very good percussionist. Although he actually prefers to play congas, we are lucky enough to have him as a bongocero. His artistry is valued in several bands. Last but not least, we have Sonero Eduardo Alfonso Herrera, who is the most important musical driving force behind the band. He has made his mark in Cuba with former Cuban band Grupo Jelengue. No need to talk about him. You've got to hear him sing.

Que Pasa: Your trademark "Salsa a Color.. Azul" is used to describe your new salsa sound that mixes many influences. What are those influences on your music?

Raoul: We're all salsa freaks, but most of us have roots in jazz, pop and rock music as well. I think these roots give our music the form, in which we all feel comfortable. So when we started writing songs, we experimented with mixing Latin formats with pop formats. Actually this has been done by many bands many times before; we're not pretending to be original, we're just trying to create music that's close to our hearts. Because of all this experimentation, you can hear influences of Santana, Steely Dan, Tower Of Power, mixed up with the salsa styles that we use. We found out that non-salsa listeners like our music as much as salsa-listeners and dancers do.

Que Pasa: You are a Dutch salsa band. What is the salsa scene like in Holland? Is it very big? Raoul: The Dutch Salsa scene is very much alive and kicking. There are a number of world famous bands from Holland such as Cubop City Bigband, Nueva Manteca and Rumbata. Maybe this is the result of the Dutch melting pot. As you probably know, the Netherlands had colonies in South America, like Surinam and Curacao.

A lot of people from these areas came to Holland and brought their music along. So this had quite an impact on the Dutch music scene. Nowadays many young people are (re)discovering salsa and forming new bands. Rotterdam has a Conservatory for world music where you can major in salsa for at least a decennium now. Although a lot of students come from abroad, many of them stay in Holland after they graduate. At the North Sea Jazz Festival, more and more world famous salsa bands performed as a result of the increasing popularity of salsa and Latin jazz in Holland.

Que Pasa: Do you think being from Holland has given your salsa a different sound?

Raoul: Definitely! The multicultural society has a big impact on the Dutch music scene in general and on our music in particular
Que Pasa: How do you see yourselves evolving as a band in the future?

Raoul: As a bandleader, I have seen many band members grow as musicians during the process of making the CD. I hope this will continue for some time and that we‘ll get the chance to make more CD's and do loads of gigs. Our band's sound is still evolving so we're curious to know what the band sound is going to be like when we record our next album.

Que Pasa: Which artists inspire you? Who would you most like to work with? Raoul: Not only are we listening to the 70's salsa heroes like Eddy Palmieri and Ruban Blades but we also listen to today's leading stars like Franky Vasques and Jimmy Bosch. We're also listening to a lot of Cuban bands like Klimax, Manolito, Los Van Van and Issac Delgado.

The Venezuelan band Guaco is also a big inspiration and influence. I guess working with any of these guys would be a great honour.

Que Pasa: Where have you performed? What is your experience of salsa around the world?

Raoul: We've just done some gigs in Holland and Belgium, and we're having our CD presentation in Tivoli Utrecht on 29 th October. We invited some leading Cuban salsa stars to join us then, so we're looking forward to a big party and we hope things will kick off for us. We're also planning a series of gigs for Spring/Summer 2006. It is beautiful to see the growing popularity of salsa around the world, although sometimes it seems to me that it's mainly a dancer's thing. We think it's a pity that so many parties only feature salsa DJ's. As musicians, we feel that salsa parties should be stages for live music. There's just nothing like the power of live salsa music.

Que Pasa: With the emergence of new styles of music, for example Reggaeton, do you see salsa in any danger of being replaced? Raoul; No, I think it's encouraging and only natural that salsa music is evolving. More salsa bands incorporate other music styles such as Reggaeton into their music. In Grupo Azul, we try to use our own individual musical ideas and roots. Sometimes we use ideas from timba and sometimes from New York style; it all depends on the song.

We don't necessarily follow all the trends. Once you try to follow all new influences, you're always too late. But we do try to keep in mind what works for a live audience. And it is not unthinkable that we would use some influences of Reggaeton in the future.

Their album 'Contraste' is out now.

(For further information on concerts or to order a CD, check out Grupo Azul ’s website on http://www.grupoazul.nl