Hello Music Lovers,

Thank you for checkin’ out the site.

- Johnny Escobedo “El Guajiro”

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Here's a bit about me - in case you're interested:                                                                                       I was born in Jiguani, Cuba, a small town whose back snuggles a hill from where you can see Bayamo and the plains to the north.  La Loma de Jiguani is on the northern side of the Sierra Maestra and has the stone skeleton of an old Spanish fort at the top. It’s where the town’s folk go for a cool breeze and a roll in the tall grass.

 

When I was seven we moved to a very diverse street in Washington Heights,  N.Y.C., where I had a wonderful childhood playing stick ball, off the point, skully, two hand touch, and singing a cappella in the lobby of the buildings – where the echo enhanced our vocals.  I also learned to curse in many languages.

 

Music has always been part of my life. My mother would sing-along to contemporary tunes on Radio WADO, our local Spanish language station as she hung the clothes out to dry on the clothesline between the pre-war buildings. My uncle played guitar and frequently had descargas (jams) at his apartment. At home, my father would play flamenco records (Antonio Molina, Juan Legido, Los Chavales de España, Pedrito Rico) and of course, Beny – Beny Moré (his favorite) – ‘El Barbaro del Ritmo’, Olga Guillot,  La Orquesta Aragon, Lucho Gatica, and others. 

 

As a youth in the 60’s, I was bitten by the British invasion bug.  A few of us ‘on the block’ formed an a cappella group – with me playing a large cardboard box that I painted and wrote the name ‘Roaches’ on. We sang in my living room and under the stairs in the lobby of my building. As a teenager I learned to play the drums and later, guitar – although vocals were always my strong suit. With Saturn’s Musicians, I was on the Mirta Silva Show in 1967 - on one of the first Spanish language TV stations in the N.Y.C. area. We opened and closed the show with Everybody Needs Somebody (Solomon Burke) and Get Out Of My Life Woman.  I matured singing in various bands - Blues and Rock. 

 

I married Leigh Ann and arrived in San Francisco in 1980. After a few years  playing on my own Tony Price asked me to sing for Salsa 24, where I also played maracas and guiro. I always thank Tony for getting me into performing Latin music and helping me to rediscover my Latin music roots. Years later I sang for Surco Nuevo, a Puerto Rican/Latin folkloric group with cuatro player, Scott Brown. I went on to play bass for Gil Guillermo’s Iré, where vocalist, German Donatien, christened me ‘guajiro’.  In the late 90’s I was involved in writing and recording a score for ‘Rum and Coke’, an independent feature length movie.  

 

Since then, I’ve been writing songs and playing romantic boleros, classic Latin tunes, and Cuban Son in a group called El Guajiro.

 

EL GUAJIRO  is a quartet performing classic romantic boleros and Latin standards with a Cuban twist. Our repertoire includes selections from The Buena Vista Social Club, Trio Matamoros, Los Guaracheros de Oriente, and original compositions – in the Son tradition. We also enjoy performing American standards.

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EL GUAJIRO – musicians

Johnny Escobedo – vocals/guitar

Mario Vega – flute/sax/vocals

Sylvia Sherman – bass/vocals

Roberto Medina – percussion/vocals

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Mario Vega:
Is a seasoned Saxophone and Flute player and a formidable soloist working and touring with many of the Bay Area’s most prestigious Latin music groups such as Malo and Sapo.

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Sylvia Sherman:

Sylvia is an alumna from community arts workshops at La Pena Cultural Center and Mission Cultural Center, with a focus on percussion in Cuban music, including opportunities to participate in clinics with master Cuban artists such as Los Muñequitos de Matanzas and Anga Diaz and to study with Bay Area based Michael Spiro and Jesus Diaz.  She brings her experience with percussion to her bass playing and performs with several groups including Nuevo Mundo, El Guajiro, Ray Martinez and the Latin OGs and Key Elements.  Sylvia is Program Director at Community Music Center where she works to develop community arts programs for people of all ages. 

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Roberto Medina:

Roberto has been playing music in the Bay Area for the past 20 years. He is originally from Gary, Indiana but has lived in the Bay Area for over 40 years most of it in San Francisco's Mission District.  Here he was influenced by his close friends and Bay Area greats Louis Romero, John Calloway, Greg Landau and Ito Carrillo. Presently he resides in Oakland where he worked as a registered nurse at Highland Hospital, now retired. Recent other musical projects are Ray Martinez and the Latin OG’s, Guateque, El Guajiro, Roman “Ito” Carrillo y La Herencia, El Grupo Sinigual, Madeline y los Carpinteros, Calle Ocho and the Johnny Boyd Swing Band's 2012 West Coast Tour and 2013 Southwest and East Coast Tours.

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