Grupo Niche is a

salsa Salsa most often refers to: * Salsa (Mexican cuisine), a variety of sauces used as condiments * Salsa music, a popular style of Latin American music * Salsa (dance), a Latin dance associated with Salsa music Salsa or SALSA may also refer to: A ...

group founded in 1978 in

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

. In 1982, the group settled in the city of

Cali Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,227,642 residents according to the 2018 census. The city spans with of urban area, making Cali the second ...

, Colombia, enjoying great popularity throughout

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

. It was founded by Jairo Varela and Alexis Lozano. Varela remained with the group throughout his life, serving as producer, director, songwriter, vocalist and guiro player. Alexis Lozano, trombone player and arranger later left to form Orquesta Guayacán. The group also included Nicolas Cristancho "Macabi" on the piano, Francisco Garcia "Porky" on the bass, Luis Pacheco, on the

congas The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest) ...

, and vocalists Jorge Bazán and Hector Viveros. Grupo Niche's first album, "Al Pasito", released in 1979, did little to challenge the dominating salsa band of Colombia at the time,

Fruko y sus Tesos Fruko y sus Tesos is a salsa group from Colombia that is popular in both Latin America and the United States. It was formed in 1969 by multi-instrumentalist Julio Ernesto Estrada (aka Fruko). Beginning with ''Tesura'' in 1969, the band has recorded ...

. Two years later, however, the group found success with their second album, "Querer es Poder", particularly with the single "Buenaventura y Caney". The group relocated in 1982 to Cali where they have been based since. After recording two more albums, Grupo Niche released "No Hay Quinto Malo" in 1984, which featured their signature song, "Cali Pachanguero". The tribute hit single to the "world salsa pito" catapulted Niche as one of the top salsa bands of Colombia. In 1986, the band incorporated Puerto Rican vocalist Tito Gomez, who had previously worked with the famous Puerto Rican salsa group, La Sonora Ponceña, and

Ray Barretto Raymundo "Ray" Barretto Pagán (April 29, 1929 – February 17, 2006) was an American percussionist and bandleader of Puerto Rican descent. Throughout his career as a percussionist, he played a wide variety of Latin music styles, as well as Lati ...

, the Godfather of

Latin Jazz Latin jazz is a genre of jazz with Latin American rhythms. The two main categories are Afro-Cuban jazz, rhythmically based on Cuban popular dance music, with a rhythm section employing ostinato patterns or a clave, and Afro-Brazilian jazz, whic ...

. Later that year, Grupo Niche released "Me Huele a Matrimonio". Afterward, yet another Puerto Rican joined, the pianist

Israel Tanenbaum Israel Tanenbaum-Rivera is an American pianist, music producer, composer, arranger and audio engineer who has produced more than 50 albums and participated in over 100 recordings. Salsa Tanenbaum has performed with many of the classic salsa art ...

, who would eventually leave the group to join a Niche spin-off band: Orquesta Guayacán. Grupo Niche is known for both its vigorous, uptempo dance music as well as slower-paced romantic numbers. Among its best known hits are "Cali Aji", "Del Puente Pa'llá", "Sin Sentimientos", "Una Aventura", "Etnia", "Gotas de Lluvia", "Han Cogido la Cosa", "Mi Pueblo Natal", "Hagamos Lo Que Diga Corazón", "Duele Mas", "Nuestro Sueño", and the famous

cumbia Cumbia refers to a number of musical rhythms and folk dance traditions of Latin America, generally involving musical and cultural elements from American Indigenous peoples, enslaved Africans during colonial times, and Europeans. Examples include: ...

"Canoa Rancha". In 2002 they recorded the album Control Absoluto in Miami Florida with the engineers Alex Arias and Jossel Calveiro. Some other singers from Niche throughout its history include Alvaro del Castillo, Floriza "La Coco" Lozano, Tuto Jiménez, Saulo Sanchez, Tito Gomez,

Moncho Santana Ramón Marcos Enrique Monserrat (born 4 March 1988), better known by his stage name Moncho, is a Swedish rapper, singer, and songwriter. He competed in Melodifestivalen 2018 with the song "Cuba Libre", and qualified to andra chansen. He is the bro ...

Charlie Cardona Charlie Cardona (born July 8, 1967) is a Colombian singer. In 1990, he became the lead singer of the musical ensemble Grupo Niche Grupo Niche is a salsa (music), salsa group founded in 1978 in Bogotá, Colombia. In 1982, the group settled in the ...

as well as

Willy García Willy Camilo García Archivol (born September 4, 1992) is a Dominican professional baseball outfielder for the New Jersey Jackals of the Frontier League. He previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago White Sox. Career Pitts ...

and Javier Vasquez, now members of the group '

Son de Cali A son is a male offspring; a boy or a man in relation to his parents. The female counterpart is a daughter. From a biological perspective, a son constitutes a first degree relative. Social issues In pre-industrial societies and some current co ...

'. Most recently joined are Puerto Ricans Oswaldo Roman and Julio Lopez and Buenaventura native Elvis Magno. They have been very successful, and some of their songs are considered Classics of

Salsa Music Salsa music is a style of Latin American music. Because most of the basic musical components predate the labeling of salsa, there have been many controversies regarding its origin. Most songs considered as salsa are primarily based on son montun ...

. The group still enjoys some of its past successes, and keeps on tour, making worldwide presentations, and singing their most memorable songs. Musician Tito Gomez, who fronted the group for seven and half years (1985–1992), died on June 12, 2007 in Cali, the city where Grupo Niche was established.

Jairo Varela

]Bandleader and co-founder Jairo de Fátima Varela Martínez was born on 9 December 1949 in

Quibdó Quibdó () is the capital city of Chocó Department, in Western Colombia, and is located on the Atrato River. The municipality of Quibdó has an area of 3,337.5 km² and a population of 129,237, predominantly Afro Colombian, including Zambo C ...

, the son of merchant Pedro Antonio Varela Restrepo and writer and poet, Teresa de Jesús Martínez Arce. His first contact with music occurred when he was eight years old, in the

barrio ''Barrio'' () is a Spanish language, Spanish word that means "Quarter (urban subdivision), quarter" or "neighborhood". In the modern Spanish language, it is generally defined as each area of a city, usually delimited by functional (e.g. residenti ...

of Roma de Quibdo where he formed the group "La Timba", essentially composed of musicians playing only the flute,

bongos Bongos ( es, bongó) are an Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. They are struck with both hands, most commonly in an eight-stroke pattern called ''martillo'' (hammer). The ...

maracas A maraca (), sometimes called shaker or chac-chac, is a rattle which appears in many genres of Caribbean and Latin music. It is shaken by a handle and usually played as part of a pair. Maracas (from Guaraní ), also known as tamaracas, were r ...

and

güiro The güiro () is a Puerto Rican percussion instrument consisting of an open-ended, hollow gourd with parallel notches cut in one side. It is played by rubbing a stick or tines (see photo) along the notches to produce a ratchet sound. The güiro ...

. At the age of 62, Varela was found dead in his Cali home on August 8, 2012, apparently from

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...

. Jairo's daughter, Yanila Varela has been the owner of Grupo Niche since her father's death.

Grupo Niche in Canada

Grupo Niche played in Montreal on July 21, 2001 for a party to celebrate the independence of Colombia (July 20). Grupo Niche was also accompanied that night with another band called Balmore Estrada y su Nueva Sensacion, who was formed in the late 1980s by Balmore Estrada. Grupo Niche also played again in Montreal, on July 15, 2006, in the festival colombiano, October 2008 and on May 8, 2010 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the band. According with the Latin site Hola Calgary on October 11, 2008, Grupo Niche played at the Jack Singer Concert Hall EPCOR Centre for the Performing Arts in

Calgary, Alberta Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Canadian Prairies, Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,30 ...

Discography

*''Al Pasito'' (1979) *''Querer es Poder'' (1981) *''Prepárate...'' (1982) *''Directo Desde New York!'' (1983) *''No Hay Quinto Malo'' (1984) *''Triunfo'' (1985) *''Me Huele a Matrimonio'' (1986) *''Con Cuerdas'' (1987) *''Historia Musical'' (1987) *''Tapando el Hueco'' (1988) *''Sutil y Contundente'' (1989) *'' Cielo de Tambores'' (1990) *''Llegando al 100%'' (1991) *''12 años con su éxito Mexico, Mexico'' (1992) *''Un Alto en el Camino'' (1993) *''Huellas del Pasado'' (1995) *''Etnia'' (1996) *''A Prueba de Fuego'' (1997) *''Señales de Humo'' (1998) *''A Golpe de Folklore'' (1999) *''Propuesta'' (2000) *''La Danza de la Chancaca'' (2001) *''Control Absoluto'' (2002) *''Imaginación'' (2004) *''Alive'' (2005) *''Tocando el Cielo con las Manos'' (2013) *'' 35 Aniversario'' (2015) *'' 40'' (2020) - Winner, Best Tropical Latin Album, 2021 GRAMMY Award *Rupelto Mena(2022)

Compilations

*''Historia Musical, Vol. 1'' (1988) *''Grandes Éxitos'' (1988) *''12 Años'' (1993) *''Historia Musical, Vol. 2'' (1993) *''Brillantes'' (1994) *''The Best'' (1994) *''Brillantes, Vol. 2'' (1995) *''El Único: Best of Grupo Niche, Vol. 3'' (1995) *''Cara A Cara'' (1997) *''20th Anniversary'' (1999) *''Siempre Una Aventura (2000) *''Antología'' (2000) *''Solamente Tú'' (2001) *''20 Años: La Danza de la Chancaca'' (2001) *''22 Ultimate Hits'' (2002) *''20 Éxitos Originales'' (2005) *''2 Grandes Voces'' (2007) *''Una Aventura... La Historia'' (2007) *''10 de Colección'' (2008) *''Los Clásicos del Grupo Niche'' (2009) *''Mis Favoritas'' (2010) *''Frente A Frente'' (2013)

References

*Waxer, Lise. "En Conga, Bonga y Campana:" The Rise of Colombian Salsa. ''Latin American Music Review'', Vol. 21, No. 2. (Autumn - Winter, 2000), pp 118–168 (2002)
Official website

External links