Q&A:  A Conversation With Edwin Bonilla

by

Javier Antonio Quiñones Ortiz

Once upon a time, there was a Cayeyana who, like hundreds of millions of people throughout human history, moved closer to la capital looking to improve her lot in life. From El Polvorín, under the safe haven of Las Tetas de Cayey, she moved to Santurce, where "Compy" was born. From the Barrio Cangrejos, like many other Puerto Ricans, even during the 19^th Century, she ended up in/or near New York. Mercedes settled in Elizabeth, and little Edwin, began a life long exposure to hard core Cuban güiros, Motown, Songo, R & B, Salsa, Jazz, Rock and too many other musical genres to mention here.

Edwin Bonilla is the most versatile Latin percussionist in the world musical scene right now, and perhaps, even in it’s entire history. Loaded statement? His work supports this declaration. This is not a matter of blind faith. Mr. Bonilla would not dare say so, but, if you are willing to hear it, his playing will prove me right. For Cachao and Arturo Sandoval, for example, his playing of timbales and bongó, is "completamente cubano." The Estefan’s owe much to Edwin’s continuous first takes at Crescent Moon studios. In effect, much of the contemporary musical sound, from Ricky Martin, to Shakira, going through Mark Anthony and Jennifer López, is rooted in the percussive ideas of Edwin. It is not just a matter of knowing how to play any particular rhythm within any particular musical expression. It is a matter of knowing how to play what, when, and how, in the language, feeling, and intention of the overall tradition, and producer’s vision of a particular tune, and/or album. Few can do this, to begin with, and hardly anyone ever has been able to do it as well as he does. Enclosed with the transcription of this interview, you will find an abbreviated version of Edwin’s curriculum vitae.

I met Edwin through my compadre, Eddie "Guagua" Rivera. "Guagua’, came into my life through Ana Rolón, who is a niece of the deceased bongocero Víctor ‘Vitín’ González, who performed and recorded with Tito Rodríguez and Ismael Rivera, among many others. From that initial introduction, we ended up becoming friends, and performing together during the half-time Show of Super Bowl XXXIII, and some Salsa gigs.

During this edition of Fusión Latina, Arturo Gómez Cruz was talking on the air about some rare recordings of Arsenio Rodríguez y sus Estrellas, and El Conjunto Azul, with Chano Pozo and Félix Chappottín. We were about to feature these as a prelude to an upcoming special program honoring Arsenio. We were very fortunate to have Edwin with us that night, since his studio work, and performances with Stevie Wonder, Gloria Estefan, and others, do not leave him much free time. Herein the unedited (the edited version of all my interviews will be featured in book form) conversation that ensued, at Miami’s WDNA 88.9 FM…

Arturo: Y además, como ya se anunció en el programa al comienzo, que tenemos con nosotros a Edwin Bonilla, que vamos a hablar ahora de EDWIN Y SU SON. Pero esta noche llegó Edwin y su bongó (laughter). Porque no sé, ahí tiene unos bongoses bien interesantes.

JAQO: Son bongos de changüí, me imagino.

Arturo: Eee, eso mismo me parecen a mí, bongoses de changüí.

(After listening to the aforementioned recordings, and taking a break, we listened to the cut "Mi Son" written and arranged by Jesús "El Niño" Pérez.)

JAQO: Seguimos en la edición de miércoles en la noche de Fusión Latina aquí en WDNA 88.9 FM. Gozando, bonito! En el trasfondo tenemos a EDWIN Y SU SON. Anteriormente escuchamos un numerito de esa producción intitulado "Mi Son". Jesús Pérez vocalizando y Edwin Bonilla tumbando, y precisamente tenemos a Edwin por acá en el estudio, y Edwin, nada, quería agradecerte que estuvieras por acá. Estás un poquito acatarrado, pero hacía falta que te dieras la vuelta por acá. Bienvenido a WDNA.

Edwin: The pleasure is mine.

JAQO: Tú has estado por acá muchas veces antes con un montón de gente por acá. Particularmente, si mal no recuerdo, no solamente has estado en algunas de las actividades que se han hecho para recaudar fondos. Hay un cassette por ahí escondió de "El Niño".

Edwin: Eso fue hecho en el ‘88, más o menos, o en el ’89.

JAQO: Cuéntame, cuéntame de eso.

Edwin: Eso fue un "fund raiser" que estaba haciendo aquí el "Dr. Rumba." Cuando estaba el "Dr. Rumba." Eso hace ya como once años, más o menos.

JAQO: Si, yo no estaba aquí cuando eso.

Edwin: "El Niño Jesús" en ese tiempo estaba aquí en Miami, y me llama, porque él había escrito un número para WDNA, que trataba sobre el "fund raiser," era un Son. Entonces me llama para venir a tocar bongó con él. Vengo yo, vino mi compadre Rigoberto Herrera. Y era el tres, un tres, era Rigo en la conga, y yo en el bongó. Y empezamos el tema de WDNA. Y era, bueno, un Son, era un Son. No me acuerdo exactamente cómo era, pero quedó bueno, muy bueno.

JAQO: Lo andamos buscando y todavía no lo hemos encontrao (laughter). Cuando aparezca lo disparamos por ahí. Edwin, me alegra mucho que estés por acá, porque esta producción, EDWIN Y SU SON, tiene una historia bien interesante que vale la pena contarla, y la tenemos en el trasfondo. Edwin , tiene un perfil, un curriculum vitae bien extenso. Ha participado en cientos de grabaciones con todo tipo de artista, pero se lanza ahora como solista en esta producción con un disco con un sabor bien, bien, bien…

Edwin: Auténtico?

JAQO: Auténtico, enraízado, y que tiene de todo un poco. Ahí hay cositas que están alante en los vientos y en el piano, pero en realidad tiene un afinque bien, bien, bien afrocubano. Y quiero que me hables un poquito de la producción, porque EDWIN Y SU SON está bien sabrosón.

Edwin: Primeramente, do you mind if I speak English?

JAQO: No, no, no. Mete mano.

Edwin: Because, you know I am from New Jersey. I was raised in New Jersey. When you don’t talk so much Spanish, se me olvida ya el dialect.

JAQO: Lo disparamos. Lo disparamos como sea.

Edwin: Bueno, as you know, JAQO is a great friend of mine for a long time, and he knows of my projects, that I work with Gloria Estefan. It’s a big pleasure and honor to work for her, and everything else that I’ve done throughout the Miami time, that is, the time I’ve been here, which includes Madonna and all that. Anyway, getting down to the point (laughter). My first love has always been Salsa and Cuban music. I grew up, actually la verdad es que I grew up hearing Motown music. Back in the late ‘60’s, mid ‘60’s. Starting in the ‘70’s, me being from "el barrio" in Jersey. Un barrio de muchos cubanos que se llama Elizabeth, New Jersey. I grew up hearing a lot of Cuban music also. So, my first experience with Cuban music was actually hearing Cuban music, not that much New York music. I grew around hearing Benny Moré, Conjunto Chappottín, los Aragón. Then came the Willie Colón, the Ray Barretto, and anything else that came from New York and Puerto Rico. But, my love has always been típico Cuban and Puerto Rican music. After doing everything that I’ve been doing, this Latin Jazz thing and all that, which I love…I also work with Eddie "Guagua" and The Latin Jazz Crew...tremendous group...tremendos músicos...after doing all of that other stuff, I wanted to go back to my roots which is Cuban Son. And the only person I could do it with was "El Niño Jesús". So, I called him up, and we started doing demos together, and he’s like an expert on that also. Between me and him, with my knowledge and his knowledge, we were able to cut an album, true to the Son from the heart. It should have been called EDWIN BONILLA: FROM THE HEART. Because this comes from the heart, you know. It was done like in three days, you know, it’s painful because we had to cut it in a short amount of time because I didn’t have much time. He didn’t have much time. We were busy with a lot of stuff. So, we got together and, let’s say, a week prior to that, and we started writing songs. Me here, and him in Montreal. Writing together, getting ideas talking through the telephone. So, by the time we got together up there in Montreal we were ready to do what we had to do. It all started with him on the piano, and me on the conga, and we figured everything else out.

JAQO: What do you play in the album?

Edwin: I play mainly conga y bongó. I am known here in South Florida as a timbalero, pailero. But I figure that for this type of music, Son, you know, it’s more común de tocar conga y bongó, you know, to make it sound típico. A timbal would add a different sound, a different element to it. Even though we wanted a modern setting of the Son, you always have to stay tradicional, you know, para ser, to be true to it. It might sound modern, but it does sound authentic also.

JAQO: True. But in the album, when timbales are used, you are also playing the timbales.

Edwin: Yes, yes I am. Okay, you wanted to know what I play. I played timbales, tumbadoras, bongó, las maracas, toqué clave e hice coro como en dos temitas.

JAQO: And Jesús played what, aside from singing, and also doing the arranging?

Edwin: He arranged, yeah, but well, between him and me, we did some arranging together, you know what I mean. But he did mainly the whole thing. He arranged, played keyboards, tres, bass, he played the flute, which I am put on here as a flute player! Everyone knows that I am not a flute player! (Laughter) It was you know, es un fallo. But anyway, he played flute, he played the bass, he did coros and he wrote the majority of the material.

JAQO: Well, you might not play flute, but I know you tried to learn a little bit of the Didgeridoo, so! (Laughter, station i.d., and brief description of Edwin’s career). How do you end up involved with figures of such stature such as Frank Sinatra, Quincy Jones?

Edwin: Everyone here knows, the people that know me anyway, know that I work with Emilio Estefan, and a lot of productions that come through here actually go through his studio. And a lot of times, not always, I am called upon to do the percussion work there. A lot of times I am there to create. Some times they just don’t want a Latin player. They want a creative type of rhythm, you know, player for a certain song. So you have to create a rhythm, you have to create an instrument. Some times you have to make something else out of a conga, making it sound different. Maybe hit it with a wire brush or bamboo sticks, or something.

JAQO: Or el experimento que hiciste con el redoblante los otros días.

Edwin: Yeah, I put a snare drum…it was a session for Carlos Ponce. His new record coming out is going to be Pop. They wanted a heavy sounding snare, like lower tone but fat. I had a great sounding snare, it was big, but they wanted it bigger, so I took a surdo drum and I put the snare on top of the surdo drum. A big surdo drum, and I put a towel under it, and it was amazing, the results you know covered the whole room and they were amazed by that. You know, I am there and I create a lot of sounds for them, you know, they like sounds that are uncommon. They do not like to do stuff that other people do. So I am there for that, I kind of create a lot of different instruments with my instruments. New sounds.

JAQO: It is fascinating that you mention that, because it makes me think of the fact that you did mention that you come into musical consciousness, so to speak, through Motown…

Edwin: Right.

JAQO: …and then you get into Latin music and now all those influences are contributing to what you do…

Edwin: Most certainly.

JAQO: …you know, enables you to deal with a whole bunch of Pop, Jazz, and the other styles of music that you play and perform. Tell me a little bit about your introduction. How do you get to learn to be able to play an authentic style Son bongo and conga and do everything else the way, you know, it is most authentic. Of course, within our context, because we are still trying to reproduce a type a style that covers a lot of years. But there is a feeling that is there, that if it is not part of the music it just misses a lot.

Edwin: Definitely.

JAQO: But you are able to do something that a lot of people can’t do. Being able to play Changüí like a changüisero, to play bongó, you know in a Son context.

Edwin: But that takes time for you to study. You have to study what you want to learn. If you want to learn the Son, you have to go to the root of it. Piñeiro, Sexteto Habanero, you know, you have to go back to the root and learn it until…it’s about love. Wanting to learn it. You have to love it and take your time to listen to it and not just listen to it and…oh, I got it, you know what I mean. No, you have to sit down, and study it, play along with it, and make sure that you have the feeling. You’re never going to play like the way he played, but just to get the feel of it, so that it can become true. And Changüí is the same thing, you cannot just grab a bongó de changüí y empezar a meterle mano bin, ban, ban. Tú me entiendes. You have to take your time. You have to listen to whatever you…you can learn whatever you want, it just takes time. You have to study. Sit down with the people that created it all and listen.

JAQO: When is it that you really get down and interested in studying all these musical styles in detail. Because a lot of your career up in New York, initially, we haven’t talked about that, was típico.

Edwin: Actually when I started hitting the scene in New York I started working with Roberto Torres. I started recording with Roberto, and I did a lot of recordings, and that was Son Montuno. So I really got into it then, you know. I actually played bongó. We traveled a lot. He had the SAR All Stars, and did a lot of bongó with him. There I got into Papa Kila and all these other cats from Arsenio because he would tell me. He would give me the idea of the sound that he wanted. The sound that it was supposed to be like on the cowbell. We didn’t use a high cowbell for conjunto, you know we used the lower one. He gave me some kind of input on the sound, on the style, and he would tell me stories. So he was a pretty big factor in that aspect of my career. Me getting into charanga, son, and conjunto.

JAQO: And the first album comes under the wing of Roberto too, so it is a full circle situation here. That’s very interesting. Well let’s cut now for a second a listen to your favorite tune in the album

Edwin: Yes, "Si Te Vas No Me Muero."

JAQO: Mientras estábamos fuera del aire decíamos que, a la verdad que el segundo numerito que es tu favorito, tratando de reproducir ese ‘feeling’ que impuso precisamente a quien escuchamos anteriormente: Arsenio Rodríguez.

Edwin: Si señor. El estilo ese de son antiguo and that was mainly the idea that we had, to reproduce in a way the old style Son, with a little bit of modern…con un toque más moderno, tú me entiendes, y I think in that song we achieved, para mí, that, just with the sound and the feeling. You know, the way this guy sang, "El Niño." I didn’t go crazy on it, actually I didn’t go crazy in the whole album (laughter), which I could have. I had three congas in the majority of songs but I never played the other conga because I figured that it would loose more of the feeling of the type of music that it is to be, which is a Son. I kind of played into a straight pattern (missing part in which we started talking about the talents of "El Niño Jesús") he would play the electric guitar and blow away like Jimmy Hendrix . You can put him like in a New Orleans type of setting, he would play like B.B. King guitar. He would play the harmonica. He would sing Son like it was the Blues. Because he has a background, an upbringing, also, in New Orleans. Some of his teen years were lived in New Orleans and he actually studied there. That’s where he really learned how to play the music, like the Cuban music. He learned it in New Orleans. He picked up a Tres, he picked up the flute. It’s amazing, for throughout all that Jazz and the Blues he was able to keep his roots intact, and yeah, he’s highly talented. That’s why I chose him y también él es mi compadre, tú sabes. Él es el compadre de mi hijo. He baptized my youngest son in Manny, who’s nine now, so I am affiliated with "Niño Jesús" for a long time.

JAQO: In more ways than one.

Edwin: In more ways, yeah, before music. Before we baptized our kid, we were playing a long time together, musically. So it’s about twelve years, man. Twelve years that we have known each other.

JAQO: It’s fascinating then, that you have two fellows here working together in this album and the two of you include a background that includes a lot of experiences and music.

Edwin: American music.

JAQO: Yet this type of music comes into the foreground, but you can move around.

Edwin: You can move around and make it sound (incomprehensible) we talked about it. We wanted to have a lot of feeling, you know. "El Niño" is great in that. A lot of times he worried, he was like: "Man, I am tired, I feel coarse." But, I kept saying, that’s what I want. I don’t want the New Orleans, the Blues, you know, with the Son. That’s the kind of sound that I want. Y los soneos, tú sabes. I want the real deal. I don’t want soneos, hablando tú sabes, de lo que no es. Porque eso pasaba mucho antes en la música de antes en Nueva York. Había un número, (laughter), hablando sobre el amor y el tipo empezaba con el lobo. Hablando de lobo (laughter). We stuck with the program you know. Los soneos, none of that was written. He would just read off the verses and that was it. Y soneaba, y cada vez que soneaba era diferente y mejor.

JAQO: As a matter of fact, you told me a story about one of the tunes in which he makes a reference to the brakes of a car.

Edwin: Oh, yeah.

JAQO: Que habla sobre los frenos del carro, tell me a little bit about that. That’s an interesting anecdote about what we are talking about, los soneos.

Edwin: Definitely, yeah. That came spontaneously. His girlfriend had his vehicle getting his brakes fixed pero eso pasó por el día, you know, we were hanging out. She took the car, we were working and he is in the booth, you know, putting his voice, the vocals. All of the sudden, el soneo va: Si tú no vienes no bailas conmigo, y empieza así, tú me entiendes. Entonces está soneando all of the sudden his girlfriend comes in, and he comes up with a soneo: Cómo quedaron los frenos del coche, mamá! The way he just brought it out, you know, spontaneously, with so much feeling, that we just left it in. And we laughed afterwards so much, pero se quedó. I mean, it was something personal Well, it isn’t personal any more, now it’s out (laughter), pero it is something that’s kept for us, you know in the studio, in the album, and it is very funny. If you listen to it and you don’t know what it’s about, it means maybe the guy just fixed the girl’s brakes pa que se mate o algo, tú me entiendes (laughter). Cómo te quedaron los frenos? Tú sabes? Were you able to put brakes? Do you know what I mean? Wow! (laughter)

JAQO: Since we are talking about influences here, in the background we are listening to "Carmen La Ronca", and for those of you who might not know, "Carmen La Ronca" was popularized back in the ‘70’s in New York by a very unique short lived group, El Grupo Folklórico Y Experimental Nuevayorkino, and one of the most distinguished figures within that ensemble was Manny Oquendo, who was the timbal and bongó player. And the tune we have in the background was the only one that was not written either by you, or "El Niño Jesús". Tell me a little bit about where "Carmen La Ronca" comes from, and the challenges you had with this. These are some high waters that you had to swim here.

Edwin: I came about that song when I was very young, fourteen, maybe fifteen, and my uncle, he is the one that got me into the music, Mario Meléndez, who passed away, may God bless him. He’s the one that got me into the conga and bongó y eso. Every time we played together, we were like in the neighborhood, we grabbed a conga and a bongó and played in the corner, in the street, that was the song he would sing, just to lead the whole jam. I always did the other voice, segunda voz para él. Él cantaba, él empezaba, yo le hacía la segunda voz y that was it. Every time we jammed that song would come out, and I did that song more in memory of him, since he was the one that got me involved, for the love that I have for him, you know, just to keep him alive.

JAQO: What was his name?

Edwin: Mario Meléndez, that way I will always keep him alive, I mean he’s always alive in me, not that I got him alive in music. That’s really how that song came about, besides it been one of my favorites songs of all time. To copy it the way they did it in New York was not easy, we tried to keep it the same style, but it always happens that your style comes out. I think we did a pretty good job with it, I mean, we didn’t ruin it (laughter). It’s a good thing we didn’t (laughter). I hope we didn’t (laughter).

JAQO: Your bongó playing in this tune in particular, you are playing according to…

Edwin: To Manny Oquendo. He’s one of my idols. He’s always been. Manny Oquendo, Guillermo Barretto, Ulpiano Díaz, Orestes Vilató. In bongó I always loved Orestes, and Manny, you know, they were always among my favorites. I figured in this song that the only way to play was "típico". If you modernized it you’re going to loose the flow of what it’s all about, la tradición, and the feel, you know. So, the only way to play it, even though nunca martillé, pero toqué típico throughout, and I think that was the key to play that song.

JAQO: As far as your conga playing in the album, we’ve talked off the air about it, and in personal conversations, and it is important that we address that. You had access to three congas and you pretty much just decided to use one, and two.

Edwin: Yes, mainly one, and the other one to adornar un poquito más. The reason why I didn’t want to use the other congas is that I thought it would lose the essence of what we wanted to do. In the beginning I thought it would work, but then after using the other conga, and, since I am a Latin Jazz player, I tend to play a lot of timba, I am also a timbero guy (laughter), besides being típico and having three congas gives you more flexibility to play timba, so I figured no, maybe if I play with two congas it will give me a better feel, and it really did. It worked out, you know, for the whole concept of what we were trying to do.

JAQO: And the style of tumbao that you are using is not the straight tumbao.

Edwin: Yeah, it’s basically straight, but it is more de sabor de conjunto como se tocaba in the ‘40’s. You heard before the tape of Arsenio, el tumbador played straight but it wasn’t really straight, there’s some sabor behind it. Y el sabor no es (vocal reproduction of two different tumbao sounds), that’s conjunto, not just one straight 1-2-3.

JAQO: And your experiences in the album, this is the first time we find you as a featured artist.

Edwin: Actually, this is the first time I’ve been in an interview, so I am really nervous.

JAQO: Really? (Laughter) Come, this is just like hanging out. But there is something also that is quite important here. You are doing all kinds of things with your hands, but you are also doing all kinds of things with your heart and your brain, you also had the opportunity here to be featured as a composer.

Edwin: Yes.

JAQO: Well, tell me a little bit about that.

Edwin: Well, this is a song I started writing coming from my background as a street drummer.

JAQO: Which one are you talking about? Which song?

Edwin: El guaguancó? Is that the one you are talking about?

JAQO: I don’t have the CD in my hands.

Edwin: I have three, the guaguancó, but the other ones were written with "El Niño Jesús". The guaguancó that’s my baby. That I wrote.

JAQO: How did that baby came about?

Edwin: That baby came about in Spain. I started writing it in Spain. I got, say, two lines in Spain. Put it away, then in France, I put two more lines on it and kept writing a verse. I think I finished it in LA. La canción empezó en España, en Francia la seguí haciendo, en Italia, which is the one we are playing in the background, and finally finished it when we got to LA. So it took me about a month to write a song (laughter), because I kept changing the words.

JAQO: And aside from this one, then, you have two that were co-composed with…

Edwin: "El Niño Jesús," "Las Islas Del Sabor," the one that talks about Puerto Rico and Cuba, which is my affiliation with Cuban music, and his affiliation with his Cuban (actually meant to say Puerto Rican) friends and people he considers family, because he also grew up with Puerto Ricans, like I grew up with Cubans hearing the Puerto Rican music and the Cuban music. We figured that combining these two islands together el estilo and their history…(laughter)

JAQO: They’ve been together since the beginning, so, that keeps in the spirit of the whole development of the music itself.

Edwin: That’s right.

JAQO: Edwin, quisiera que me hablaras un poco del tipo de trabajo que has estado haciendo en el contexto de tu trabajo con todos estos artistas grandes. Edwin has been working with some of the most important Latin productions out there, aside from his own. That has allowed him to begin establishing, in my opinion, a different orientation in the use of percussion in contemporary Pop music, in Rock, in Jazz. You just did something recently with Dave Grusin, who is a distinguished Jazz figure.

Edwin: Yes.

JAQO: I would like to hear your thoughts on that type of work, because in reality, when you think in terms of the Latin Pop work that you have done recently it has changed things. All of the sudden now, for example, Ricky Martin uses a lot of the percussive feel present in a lot of the stuff that Gloria has done so the percussive virus of Edwin Bonilla is spreading already. Tell me a little bit about that. Some of the oldest productions and the ones you have done recently.

Edwin: I have done a lot. Let’s see, everything. Actually what I’ve been doing lately is a lot of Pop music, creative Pop for me. When they call me for percussion it’s mainly to create. Like now a lot of people want the Latin feel, not the true Latin thing, just the feel. Some times that would entail combinations, like a conga rhythm on a dumbek, or a different type of instrument, cause the ethnic percussion is coming back, which is great, I love it. A lot of times I find myself doing like tumbaos on a tabla, or on a dumbek, instead of using a tumbadora. I have done that with say, Jon Secada, even with Gloria, with Stevie Wonder, stuff like that and it is mainly a lot of Pop.

JAQO: Or bomba on a djembe.

Edwin: Yeah, bomba on djembe. I forgot about that. Quinto, instead of using a barril de bomba. I use dumbeks instead of djembes to create a different sound. That would make it sound like bomba, but not bomba, it would give a different twist altogether. So, I’ve been creating, trying to create. I am always finding myself with a challenge, like right now! (laughter) I am up with a challenge here with you, but, anyway, yeah, it’s a lot of good work that I am doing. As far as Latin, I still do a lot of Latin work around town. I play with Hansel y Raúl, and Roberto, a lot of the Latin recordings, aside from Pop. I just have to shift myself mentally, from Pop, to típico, Latin to Latin Salsa.

JAQO: Do you find more percussion in Pop music today? Do you like what you hear?

Edwin: Yes, I think it’s coming back, little by little. Mainly due to Latin artists like Ricky Martin, Gloria of course, always had the percussion behind her. And, you know, Mark Anthony I believe is getting into the Pop scene. He has been to the studio and I have done work for him. He’s getting into the English Pop. That’s going to be very nice, quite interesting.

JAQO: You also did a Salsa cut, one or two, I don’t remember, but I recalled you mentioned that you did Salsa for Lenny Kravits.

Edwin: Yes. That was done about two years ago. He wanted the live sound, New York type, like my album, something like that. He wanted the old authentic Salsa style, he didn’t want the modern style. We did a pretty job with that sound. What happened was that one of the songs got so big, that that song…

JAQO: Never had a chance.

Edwin: Yep, never had a chance, cause he came into the scene and it is still big and that was about a year and a half ago. No other song in his album came out, actually (laughter). That was so big for him.

JAQO: Well that was pretty cool. They made their money off of a single, just like that (laughter).

Edwin: Very interesting.

JAQO: Quería preguntarte Edwin, tu trasfondo familiar. You were born in Puerto Rico.

Edwin: In Santurce, Puerto Rico.

JAQO: And then you go to…

Edwin: Elizabeth.

JAQO: New Jersey.

Edwin: I lived there possibly twenty-five years.

JAQO: Tell me how you came to move to Miami, cause you were coming down here quite often with la charanga…

Edwin: Casino. We were pretty busy in the ‘80’s, ‘81, ‘82, and 1983. It happened that I started playing around 1986 with Felo Barrio. He had a nice group, La Inspiración, and he was pretty busy in New York. We started around the area at the time Hansel y Raúl came up. But, he didn’t have a band, he needed a band to back him up. Felo Barrio took it upon himself to back him up around town. They got to see me play, because what happened was that Felo would play a set, and then Hansel y Raúl would play the other. Hansel got to see me play with the group. Hansel told me, "listen, if you ever want to move to Miami, you have a job." It sparked in my mind. Man, I really do want to do that. I want to get out of here you know (laughter). Ya estoy cansao del frío y estoy cansao de todo ya. So, yeah, at that time they were hot in Miami. In 1986 they were very hot. Well, they are still hot now, but they had this megahit, "María Teresa". That was a megahit here. They were working so much. My wife Jazmin, hello baby, how are you doing? (laughter) She was pregnant of our second kid. She was skeptical about moving here, very skeptical, you know, we didn’t know anyone. Actually, it came out to be a very good move for me. I got to expose myself into the music environment that I love, you know, Cuban music. I got exposed to it even more here, and started playing it even more. There were more chances for work here, as opposed to me going to Jersey and New York all the time. I was getting tired of that. Here the work was here, tú sabes. I am living in Miami and working in Miami, so it was easy for me. After that I started meeting people, and people started knowing my name around town and coño, this guy can do this, this guy can do that, he can play a little bit of charanga, he can play a little bit of conjunto, so yeah, so I started doing a little bit of everything until I started doing the Miami Sound Machine I guess.

JAQO: When is it that you really get into conga playing?

Edwin: Around that time, as a matter of fact, my first gig ever on congas was with Gloria Estefan. I wasn’t even a conguero, and I am still not (laughter). Anyway, I didn’t own a pair of congas when the gig came up to me. I think I had a tumbadora that my wife bought for me and it was laying around the house. They needed someone to play with them tumbas, so I said, yeah, I can do it, and I wasn’t a tumbador. So I had two weeks to get ready for this gig and I practiced and bought two more congas (laughter). I sat in the living room and had them backwards, so I was playing them backwards and everything. But, yeah, I think I did the gig good enough to stay on, you know. From then on I started really getting into it. When I met Giovanni he inspired me also, he gave me a lot of pointers.

JAQO: (Station ID, and messages. We heard "Carmen La Ronca" and "Son De Mi Tierra". After some other messages, we heard a few seconds of "Si Tú No Vienes No Bailas"). Esa es la invitación que nos extiende Edwin Bonilla y su Son. Si tú no vienes no bailas conmigo, Edwin anda con nosotros en esta noche, hemos estado hablando de su vida musical y también de su disquito y está con un catarrito que lo tiene bien loquito.

Edwin: Bastante.

JAQO: Pero te agradezco que estés por acá.

Edwin: Gracias a ti, gracias a ti mi hermano. This is long overdue. You asked me a long time ago to come do that, do an interview, but now, at least I have something to come with (laughter).

JAQO: Tenemos que hacer otra un poquito más mejor, como decimos, disparatadamente en Puerto Rico.

Edwin: Claro.

JAQO: Edwin inclusive anda por ahí con un bongó de changüí. Me estaba contando que lo obtuvo del Grupo Changüí.

Edwin: Del Grupo Changüí, sí.

JAQO: De allá de Oriente de Cuba?

Edwin: De Guantánamo.

JAQO: El trompetista en el disco, que tanto se distingue con sus solos y su trabajo ahí me dijiste que trabajaba con Adalberto y su Son y también con Son 14.

Edwin: El primer trompeta.

JAQO: Oriental también?

Edwin: Sí claro, igual.

JAQO: Y, también me mencionaste a Giovanni Hidalgo. Es importante que mencionemos que estás trabajando con un grupito que él tiene y también has trabajado por ahí con él por ahí en la ciudad. También has tenido la oportunidad de grabar unas cositas que aparentemente van a salir por ahí a la luz pública pronto (Can you say Celtic-Country-Afro-Cuban?), esto está muy interesante. Me consta que habló de ti en el periódico El Nuevo Día en Puerto Rico. Te agradezco mucho lo que has hecho trabajando musicalmente. El disquito está bien bueno.

Edwin: Gracias mi hermano.

JAQO: Yo sé que el disquito ya está pegaíto en Canadá, y en Europa también, así que se perfilan unas cositas bien interesantes y nada me alegro.

Edwin: Con el favor de Dios, claro.

JAQO: Se le ha dado pela, y se le seguirá dando pela.

Edwin: (Laughter) Gracias mi hermano, hasta la próxima, bye.