Artist Bio:
The sound of summer in Nu Yorica — the most northerly capital of the Caribbean. Organized by Eddie Bobe, on Sunday afternoons over the past 30 years, New York's Central Park has been the meeting place for celebrating NYC Rumba. Here a mixture of Nuyoricans (New York Puerto Ricans), Afro-Cubans and some Afro-Americans drum, sing and dance from early afternoon until late into the evening.
Unofficial food vendors sell Puerto Rican and Cuban dishes as well as rum, beer and shots of "Mamahuana," a homemade alcoholic drink. Despite regular harassment by the authorities, the gatherings continue to thrive.
Central Park Rumba captures the uniqueness of New York's rumba scene with its special mix of Cuban and Nuyorican master musicians, which both unites it and sets it apart from rumba in its original home of Cuba.
Eddie was born in the late '50s in Puerto Rico to a Cuban father and a Puerto Rican mother, the beat of drums running through his blood from his first breath. Eddie's experience and knowledge encompass the musical traditions of the Caribbean as well as the Caribbean´s African heritage. Eddie is a master percussionist, vocalist, composer, arranger and instructor in the Cuban, Haitian and Puerto Rican folklore traditions. He specializes in Cuban rumba and bata drumming, Haitian voodum, and Puerto Rican bomba, plena and jábaro music.
Eddies father was a percussionist and singer in Puerto Rico, thus, Eddie began singing very early with his father. Later he came across the sound of Mongo Santamaria. Mongo´s percussion style impressed him so much that he said to himself: "That's what I want to do!"
Currently, he teaches master classes at Julliard, the New School for Social Research and other schools. He also plays in many different of bands and groups and appears for a moment in the film "The Thomas Crown Affair," where he is seen playing the bongos. He also played on the soundtrack to the film.
Bobé has been an essential part of the Central Park Rumba for 25 years. For more than 30 years, Nuyoricans, Afro-Cubans and African -Americans have gathered in the park to play the Rumba. He was asked to create a CD which represented the New York rumba sound, and which captured the spirit of the rumba in New York. Soon after, he handpicked master percussionists for the studio recording of Central Park Rumba.
Bobé describes himself and his music is eclectic, in the same way the rumba played in Central Park is eclectic. The drumming of rumba is precise and accurate, despite the many different influences from Puerto Rico, Cuba, Africa, and America.
As a percussionist his expertise includes the drum set, bata and conga drums (tumbadoras), timbales and bongos. He has made a unique contribution to the lineage of playing multiple congas in creative and contemporary music settings. He also specializes in transposing hand drum concepts to the drumset.
He has performed and recorded with Eddie Palmieri, Paquito D'Rivera, Peter Erskin, Michele Rosewoman, Afro-Cuba Drum Ensemble, Art Pepper, Chico O'Farrill, and Steve Coleman, as well as many others. —Courtesy Calabash Music
