Review by Tom Ehrlich
Kiki Valera, a member of a well known Cuban son family, Familia Valera Miranda, was born, raised, and attended conservatory in the eastern part of Cuba. He currently resides in Seattle, Washington, USA. He has just released his first recording as a leader, "Vivencias en clave cubana", an outstanding project with wonderful music, exquisite mastering, and great packaging.
Among the standout features of this project are Valera's skillfully arranged songs and superb cuatro solos along with the virtuosic singing and composing of ex-NG La Banda and Adalberto Alvarez y Su Son lead singer Coco Freeman, also from the eastern region of the island. Kiki built is own Cuban cuatro which has 4 pairs of strings and differs from the more common Cuban tres with 3 pairs of strings and the Puerto Rican cuatro with 5 pairs of strings.
Cubanophiles will appreciate the wide variety of traditional Cuban genres, including son, guaracha, bolero and trova.
--Tom Ehrlich. photographer TIMBA.com
It is now avalilable on most digital platforms including:
SPOTIFY = https://open.spotify.com/album/4EQlXPXfJf7BAOpLe79dT0
AMAZON = https://www.amazon.com/Vivencias-Clave-Cubana-Kiki-Valera/dp/B07YMYR3K9/