Willy
Cruz & The Big Dub Style Sound
Like it Rubba Dub Style! Willy Cruz & The
Big Dub Style is just that and more. Big Dub Style Sound has Fresh New
approach to that Vibe that is so infectious! With Pan at the forefront
and Horns on Top, there's no real substitute for the Vibe that will Fire
Up your Tribe at your next Big Corporate Event, Beach Clambake or even
a Performance Concert.
Islandboys Steelpan Calyspo Band is Fully Licensed and Insured
WILLY CRUZ
 Willy
“Cruz” Seachnasaigh began playing drums since the early age
of 8 years old. “Yeah my mom bought my brother the Kiddie drum
set and as gifts.” By the age of 15 thru his late teens Mr.
Cruz was performing in NYC clubs such as Under Acme, CBGB, The Building,
Limelight and many others. Growing up in Brooklyn, NYC was a cultural mecca
for the young Mr. Cruz. Although he played originally in a Rock Band, his
real passion was for what he calls “The Roots of Rhythm” African
Drumming.
This passion led Mr. Cruz to several sojourns to Benin, Ghana, Mali,
cote D' Ivoire and Nigeria in the early 80's. “I went there to
explore my rhythmic soul. I felt as if I had come back to a place where
it had all began.” At the time Mr. Cruz was performing with
Atchade Assongba'a Dance Company, a Dancer from Benin, West Africa. The
two became close friends. On the last trip they made together back to a
remote village in Benin (Ancient Dahomey) for Festival For Vodun (Voodoo)
which originated in Dahomey. While there Mr. Cruz was initiated into a
Temple for Ogun and celebrated with the villagers in a Dance ritual which
was captured on video.
 For
the years to follow Mr. Cruz began to expand his Musical Explorations into
the Far East. Next destination, Borneo, Malaysia. “Doing Rehabilitative
work with injured Orang-Utan was certainly a real challenge”
states Mr. Cruz, who was granted permission by the Malaysian Government
to work as a Music Therapist for the rehabilitation of injured and abused
Orang-Utan at the Sandakan Orang-Utan Sanctuary in North East Borneo. “The
first time I entered the facility at Sandakan the doctors and staff were
really curious and amused as to how music can be used with animals whom
all to some degree sustained physical and emotional injuries from their
captors who either used them for household servants/pets to selling them
on the black market for cash! It was truly horrific to witness how these
beautiful creatures were tortured, often missing limbs, and scared to death.
Music calms the soul for us human beings, so why not the incredible Primates
whom share a close chromosomal relationship with us.” Mr. Cruz
introduced the sounds of the didjeridu, rhythm sticks and hand drums as
tools for helping Orang-Utan to re-learn how to use their hands and fingers
in an adaptive mode and also as a calming element for a creature who has
undergone a tremendous amount of stress.
After returning form Borneo, Willy began to realize if his music worked
for Orang-Utan why not for Autistic Children. He began working with children
with Mental and Physical challenges. He did Musical Therapy consulting
work in schools specifically geared for children with grave afflictions.
Through this work he began to realize how important music was in a child's
developmental stage and for his or her overall physical and mental nourishment.
“I was truly inspired and amazed by the children I worked with.
I would say I learned more from them about myself than what I gave in return.
To God's Children I am eternally grateful."
After working as a Music consultant Will realized his true passion and
calling was being a Performance Artist/ Composer and Cultural Ambassador
in his own rights. So he headed back to his beloved Malaysia this time
to go deep into the heart of Traditonal Malay Folkloric Music. His former
Malay wife introduced Mr Cruz to a native Tribe of people known as Orang
Asli (Wild people of the Forest) There he was introduced to such rare cultural
experiences as anyone can imagine. “I was living amongst former
Head Hunters in a remote river side village whereby people still hunted
and gathered as they did for thousands of years. I lived side by side with
Elders who at one time “Took Heads” from their rival nearby
tribes. The basket where they shrunk and stored the skulls was in the Long
house where I lived. It was a fascinating experience. I also had a n opportunity
to join the members of the Long house in ritual music. Performing
on Long House Drums, and a beautiful Lute style wooden instrument called
the Sape. We all would stay up late late nights, drinking Tuak (a local
alcoholic beverage/ very strong) and playing music till dawn. When we wanted
food, off we would go in the wooden Long Boats, and gather and hunt for
our provisions in the jungle”.
Mr Cruz (aka Will Seachnasaigh) also had an opportunity to studiy traditional
Malay Drumming style called Rebana Ubi in a small Island alcove in Northern
Malaysia called Kotu Bahru . He also received some training in Ritual Ramayana
Music under the Musical Direction of Pah Hamsah, perhaps one of Malaysia’s
few remaining Cultural Amabassadors. With Malaysian Drums in Hand he came
back to the USA and participated in several Malaysian Cultural Festivals
and performed with a traditional Malay folkloric group for the United Nations.
Mr Cruz is perhaps best known in the World Music arena for his masterfully
executed performances /recordings on The Didjeridu. Known amongst the Tribe
of Yolngu he lived with in the Northern Territory, as Yirdaki (Yidaki).
Many of his recordings are under his recording /performance name of Will
Seachnasaigh. He, by chance while backpacking in the Northern Territory,
Australia, was picked up by perhaps one of the most famous Didj makers/performers
in the entire World, known as Djalu Gurruwiwi. He lived with Djalu’s
family on a tiny beach area called Skee Beach. They are a family who still
goes by Aboriginal Law, and Customs and ritual music, using Yidaki, Bilma
(Clap sticks) and Dance. “We ate traditional Aboriginal foods
such as Witchety Grubs, turtle, Stingray and my favorite “Damper”
(a bread cooked in the ground with wood fire coals) and if lucky joined
with fresh stolen Honey from the aloof “Sugarbag”. I can’t
say enough good things about my experience at Skee with Djalu’s family.
It was amazing to me, I was treated like their own and given every opportunity
to learn about their culture and music to a point. I respected that line
they drew which was never apparently spoken about, but it was like “Yeah
I know I’m a kid amongst these very learned and knowledgeable wise
Mob. I knew intuitively where I could and could not go and what I was allowed
to witness”. From this experience Mr Cruz (Seachnasaigh) was
asked by two well known NY based record labels to record music based on
his Aboriginal Australian experience. Lyrichord Records www.lyrichord.com
Under the name Will Seachnasaigh. Dhapa: Songs from the Dreamtime :
http://www.lyrichord.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=110
Will also recorded for the Relaxtion Company a label known for their Mind
/Body Healing Music Series . For more info go to> http://store.relaxationhosting.com/cd3272.html
Most of Wills' Music can be found also on iTunes and Amazon.com and many
other Mp3 sites.
Currently Mr Cruz- Seachnasaigh is Composing New Music for his Projects
: Big Soka Sound, Islandboys Caribbean Combo and his main passion, A world
music Project called
“UCHAN” ( website coming soon) www.uchanmusic.com.
Stay Tuned for an Amazing Jouney!
Willy Cruz Seachnasaigh
April 2007
NEPO SOTERI
 Guitarist-bassist
NEPO SOTERI is an African citizen-of-the-world, both in terms of his life
journey and musical vocabulary. As a singer, composer and virtuoso instrumentalist,
his trademark sound is an esoteric but accessible amalgam of influences
from his past and present, an inventively forward-looking yet folklore-based
mix that raises spirits while falling smoothly on the ear.
Mr. Soteri was born in Rwanda, a small, hilly, landlocked nation located
in the Great Lakes region of east-central Africa, and grew up in Tanzania,
Kenya and Ethiopia. “We were always singing and drumming -- that
was in the culture,” he recalls of his boyhood, “My
mother encouraged me at all times, so I started singing in church choir
as a boy.” He most admired the local watwa tradition, whose
practitioners played music incessantly, as he has since done all his life.
His first performance occurred at the age of ten, when he sang and danced
before the President of Tanzania. Later, he would hear Tanzanian Taarab,
a suave, big-band blend of African, Indian and Arab elements, crisp, throbbing
Kenyan Benga groups, and Ethiopian pop, in which the rolling, jagged tempos
and five-tone melodic structures typical of Amaharic-language traditional
sources and American R&B were fused into one of Africa’s most
thrilling styles. As Congolese radio was ubiquitous on the Continent, he
became a fan of that nation’s wildly popular, guitar-driven, rumba-based
grooves. “When we moved to Tanzania, I started listening to Congolese
music,” he says, “Tabu Ley Rochereau was so wonderful!
I loved all the beautiful harmonies and the guitars -- it was all I thought
about! Then we moved to Kenya and there was so much music of all kinds
there, including many bands from Congo -- I was in heaven!”
He was also influenced by Nigerian superstar Fela Kuti and the groundbreaking
African-Caribbean combo, Osibisa.
But Western artists were also being heard and he soon developed firm
favorites among these, too. American jazz and R&B legends like Wes
Montgomery, George Benson and Stevie Wonder attracted his attention but
certain rock artists also appealed to him. “I thought I had heard
it all ‘till I heard the Beatles and Jimi Hendrix!” By
now, his career was beginning to pick up momentum. “I started
singing with some local school bands and did some competitions at a famous
club in Nairobi, Kenya, called The Starlight. There I met the Ashantis,
a very well-known band, who were then working in Ethiopia. The leader told
me that were a lot of bands who could use me as a singer. By now, I was
fooling around with the guitar so I decided to pack it up and go to Ethiopia.
In no time at all, through my friend, I had lined up gigs with Telahoun
Gesese, Alemayo Eshete, Mulatu Astatke and played for a long time with
Aster Aweke. I also backed up Manu Dibango (“Soul Makossa”)
while he was touring in Ethiopia.” He then began to pursue formal
studies on guitar, “I started taking lessons with whoever was
better than me, mostly with the Zimbabwean guitarist Andrew Wilson and
Paddy Gwada from Kenya. They were both self-taught, but man, could they
play!”
His love for music and desire for growth soon brought Mr. Soteri out
of Africa, through Europe and finally, to the USA. During his travels,
he performed with singer Goran Fristop in Sweden and the Brazilian Band
Feitico. “I first discovered jazz through a friend, mentor, and
killer bass player, Jimmy Woode, who was with Duke Ellington for 5 yrs
and had worked with just about everyone. He was then on tour and he left
me a copy of Downbeat Magazine. There was an interview in it with Quincy
Jones, where he talked about the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA.
From then on, I was addicted to the idea of going to school. It took me
awhile but I finally did get to Berklee and attended the Bass & Drum
Collective School Of Music, where I studied bass under John Patittuci.
I did a lot of private lessons, gigged with my own group, Asante, and played
bass with other bands."
Now based in New York City with his wife and young daughter, Mr. Soteri
fronts his own group, Nepo & Africa-Meets-World and with them, has
performed in every corner of the Big Apple, at the Zinc Bar, Le Bar Bat,
the C-Note, Satalla, SOB’S, the Europa Night Club, Makeda, and the
Brooklyn Botanical Garden -- he also shared the stage with South African
reggae sensation Lucky Dube and soca star Arrow at Harlem’s Apollo
Theater. Appearances at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC and
other venues up and down the East Coast have further spread the word about
his music. Aside from these endeavors, he regularly works with several
well-known local combos, including The African Blue Notes with Dr. Martin
Atagana, Bob Moses (drummer with the Pat Metheny group) & Mozamba,
The Source with Buru Djoss, Dominic Kanza’s African Rhythm Machine,
and Azouhouni Adou’s Afro Yorkers, and the Gino Sitson Group, incorporating
his own inventive yet sensitively calibrated sense of melody and rhythmic
thrust into each performance. In 2005, he participated with TR Touch on
music for the soundtrack to “The Sopranos” TV show and 2006
found him appearing on Fox Channel Five with the IslandBoys Band.
As Jimmy Woodes once said of Mr. Soteri’s instrumental chops --
“Creative, rhythmic, sensitive… I knew he was going somewhere
with this music.” About his original compositions, Ibrahim Camara,
former percussionist with Stevie Wonder’s group, says -- “...humility,
gentleness, rhythmic fire, creativity -- all that is in his music!”
With three solo albums, “Mother Nature” (2001,) “Listen
To Your Heart (2004,) and “Rwanda And Beyond” (2006,) to his
credit, his unique blend of ancestral voices and innovative, jazz-based
modernity is now poised to communicate with ever-widening audiences from
all nationalities and walks of life.
- Top
Mamiko Watanabe
(Pianist/Keybordist)
 Mamiko
Watanabe was born in Fukuoka, Japan 1980 and began studying piano at the
age of 5 at the Yamaha Music School.
Since then,she has given numerous concerts sponsored by the YAMAHA corporation,through
which she gave concerts throught Japan, the United States, Germany, Switzerland
and Mongolia. In 1999 Mamiko received a scholarship to attend the prestigious
Berklee Cllege of Music. She studied Jazz piano, improvisation and composition.
While at Berklee College of Music, she received several awards for Jazz
Piano and Composition. Mamiko Watanabe was a semi-finalists at the prestigious
Montreux Jazz Festival Solo Piano Competition in Montreux, Switzerland
in 2002 and 2003. Ms. Watanabe has tour Germany, Italy and Japan and Performed
with several Jazz greats such as Joe Lovano, Kevin Mahogany, Bobby McFerrin,
Tiger Okoshi and Phil Wilson.
Ms. Watanabe has recently moved to New York and has performed at many
venues such as the Kitano NY, the Blue Note, Cleopatra's Needle, the Triad,
Lenox Lounge,Zinc Bar,the Knitting Factory and S.O.B's. Mamiko has also
performed in several Jazz Festivals in the United States,Europe and Japan.
Mamiko Watanabe recorded her first CD as a leader"One After Another"
in 2005.
- Top
Harvey Wirht
(Drums)
- Top
David Rajaonary, aka Rainy
De, RaDe (Bass)
 David
Rajaonary, aka Rainy De or RaDe, was born in 1968 in Beroroha, Toliary
(Tuléar), Madagascar. Raised Catholic, he went to church several
times a week to watch his father play the harmonium and lead the church
choir. At age 8, Rainy De mastered the harmonium himself, and his first
performance was at his father’s church. Eventually, Rainy De picked
up other musical instruments, such as the bass and guitar.
By the time Rainy De turned 16, he was playing at area venues and was
recognized by well-known musicians for his talent in various instruments.
Playing with different artists suited him, as he never liked to be tied
down with only one group. Rainy De has worked closely with many famous
Malagasy artists, including Tiana, Bodo, Poopy, Top Mozika, Max Exception,
and Bery Kely.
In 2002, he joined the Baltimore–Washington band Ody-Gasy, playing
Malagasy music with them when time permits. With Ody-Gasy, Rainy De has
performed at such iconic U.S. institutions as the Smithsonian, the Kennedy
Center, and the Washington National Zoo.
Rainy De also collaborates with famous local bands—such as Azouhouni
(Ivory Coast), Razia Said (France/Madagascar), Island Boys Steelpan Calypso
(USA)—that specialize in a wide range of musical styles: African,
Brazilian, Caribbean, reggae, dance, Latin, and world music.
While Rainy De’s specialty is the bass, he is a highly sought-after
singer, drummer, guitarist, arranger, and composer.
Azouhouni
- Top
Dudie Comedie
(Sax)
 I
came to Yew York in 1993 and played in the jazz scene at that time
(more so than today). I play gigs, a lot of my own, but never complete
my projects. The only thing I play in, is Cody Moffett's album, which was
released in 2002 under the name "my favorite things". I play
in the Jewish scene, African scene and with Willy Cruz.
- Top
Vince Veloso
(Trumpet)
You may have seen him on Univision, Urban
Latino, Latination, Fox n Friends Morning show, at SOB's, Joe's Pub or
the Main event at the Montreal Jazz Festival 2002. You probably have heard
him on tenor sax and trumpet if you've ever watched the show Trading Spaces,
on flute on Showtime's original movies theme or all three on MTV from time
to time. Vince Veloso definitely is a hard working musician.
An NYU Music graduate , he has studied with Ted Nash, Ralph Lalama, Vincent
Herring, Steve Coleman, Jerome Callet, Kenny Werner and George Garzone.
"I owe a lot of my approach to the saxophone and music to my mentor,
Mr. George Garzone, Maceo Parker and another great saxophonist Mr. Kenny
Garrett." Since 1995, he has been working with many of the established
rock en espanol crowd, as well as many highy respected jazz musicians,
swing and funk acts.
Has worked and/or appeared with King Chango, Ozomatli,
Los Pericos, Los Amigos Invisibles, Control Machete,
Javier Garcia, Yerba Buena, Sidestepper, Sean Lennon,
Jaron Lanier, Badawi, Frank Foster, "Alkebulan"
Rodriguez, Jazz Sawyer, Kaleta, DJ Logic, DJ Spooky,
DJ Olive, DJ Kenny Summit, Kembale, Pacha, Orbita,
Mlumbo, Dave Stryker,George Garzone, Joe Shepley,
Donald Byrd, Bryan Lynch, Bobby Sanabria, Arturo
O'farrill, Sunny Jain, Victor Barrientos, Dennis
Davis, Tootes and the Maytails, Nick Palumbo and the
Flipped fedoras, Dean Shot and the blues Revue, Si Se,
Atercielados, Avatar, The Neville Brothers, Topaz,
Brenda K Starr, and many others.
Vince is also featured on an impressive number of CDs,
commercial recordings and films. He is also an
accomplished educator, both as a private teacher and
as an instructor at From The Top Music Studios and the
Academy of music of Ramapo College where he teaches
winds and music theory.
Currently he has been performing with Pacha, Orbita,
Mlumbo, Azouhnoui & the afroyorkers, Kaleta/Zozo
Afrobeat, Fast Breakin Classics, ZiloGroove/Nouvelle
Soul and The IslandBoysband(calypso band)
- Top
Alex Heitlinger
(Trombone)
 Alex
Heitlinger is a rising star among New York's plethora of outstanding trombonists.
His debut CD as a leader, "Green Light", featuring ten
original compositions, received critical praise and national radio airplay.
All About Jazz calls it "an engaging album that brings Heitlinger
to light as a composer and player to watch."
Heitlinger is also active as a freelance musician, performing with a
wide variety of styles including salsa/latin (La Bola, Lisandro Arias,
Luisito Rosario, Michel Batista, Iroko La Banda, Ochun, Itai Kriss, Conjunto
Colores, Wayne Gorbea, Grupo Cachimba, Manuel Molina), big band jazz (the
New York Symphonic Jazz Orchestra, The Duke Ellington Orchestra, Richie
"La Bamba" Big Band, the Bjorkestra, Chie Imaizumi Jazz Orchestra,
Yumiko Sunami Big Band, Russ Spiegel's Big Bad Big Band), world music (The
Afroyorkers, Willy Cruz, The Motet), and classical (the New York
Repertory Orchestra, Boulder Brass, Tucson Symphony Orchestra & Cheyenne
Symphony Orchestra).
- Top
Video Gallery
| Fox &
Friends
3.08 Mb
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Willy Cruz & The
Big Soka Sound
26.6 Mb
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| Willy Cruz
& The BigSokaSound 2
20.01 Mb
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Willy Cruz & The
Big Soka Sound 3
8.4 Mb
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