Tribute to the traditional Local conductor leads tribute to

Tribute to the traditional Local conductor leads tribute to

Tribute to the traditional Local
conductor leads tribute to
Merengue in the Dominican
Republic
By Jessica Rosero union City Hudson Reporter
staff writer
Oct 07, 2007
"The event consisted of finding boleros from the
Dominican Republic from the 1960s to today,
and transforming them into merengue," said
Enyi.
But why? While boleros have always been soft
and usually romantic ballads, merengues are
known for that fast rhythmic dance beats.
"Because we believe that the [true] merengue has
deteriorated today," said Enyi. "We reunited this
form of music with that form of music."
According to Enyi, at one time the merengue
was very similar to boleros in their lyrics, which
were typically romantic. Very different to the
merengue dance music of today often with lyrics
that some don't agree with.
One of the Dominican Republic's signature
sounds could be heard throughout all the
provinces of the country on Sept. 17 with the
televised concert event "El Merengue se Llena
de Bolero Unplugged" (The Merengue is filled
with Bolero) featuring the traditional orchestra
accompaniment.
Known as the official dance and music of the
Dominican Republic, merengue is a marriage of
fast-paced tempo, brass, and percussion, which is
typical of some Latin Caribbean music.
However, in today's computerized world big
bands have been replaced with few
instrumentalists and music software.
"Orchestras have been reduced to no more than
four to five musicians," said Enyi-K, orchestra
conductor and Union City resident. "To conduct
a good merengue you need about 10 to 11
musicians."
"El Merengue se Llena de Bolero Unplugged" is
a tribute concert to the heyday of merengue
music.
Bringing back tradition
The event consisted of a number of famous
songs from the 1980s, and also had another twist.
In addition to celebrating the music, they also
took some of the country's famous boleros
(ballads) and transformed them into traditional
merengue.
"The lyrics used to touch upon the social issues
of the day, love, and they would give a
message," said Enyi. "Today's composers have
not committed to this tradition, and have thought
only about rhythm without thinking about the
message."
"The merengue traditionally was very rich in
harmony and instrumentals," he added. "I want
the youth to take this event as an example, that
the merengue can still be orchestrated in this
grand form."
Celebrating the music
The country's Superintendencia de Valores,
which is similar to the U.S. stock market,
sponsored the live concert last May in the capital
city of Santo Domingo. The event brought
together some of the most renowned merengue
stars from the 1980s forward, accompanied by a
live orchestra under the direction of Enyi-K
"We did a live concert, where they represented
the glorious days of merengue during the 1980s,"
said NG.
Originally from the Dominican Republic, Enyi
also performed with the famed Dominican
orchestra Kenton during the beginnings of his
music career.
Over the last several years Enyi has
continuously traveled to his homeland as an
honored guest and performer, receiving
recognitions from both the music world and from
government dignitaries..
"It has been one of my biggest honors to direct
this historical event along orchestra that big, and
to direct that many masters of merengue," said
Enyi.
ENYI-K THE PIANIST AND ARTIST!!!
2/21/10
by MATTHEW AMATO
Columnist
Feb 21, 2010 | 1263 views | 0 | 19 | |
Union City Board of Education Trustee
Kennedy Ng, a-k-a Enyi-K, the piano musical
artist and his musical trio, was born in Santo
Domingo, in the Dominican Republic. His
father, Manuel who was from Canton, China is
now deceased, and his mother Caridad, from the
Dominican Republic, is now living in Union
City.
Raised in Union City, Mr. Ng achieved his
bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1987, and a
master’s degree in music education, in 1990,
both at New Jersey City University in Jersey
City. For the past 27-years, Mr. Ng has been the
founder of the Kennedy Music School and
Recording Studio in Union City, and became a
member of the Union City Board of Education as
a trustee in 2005.
Mr. Ng is married to his lovely wife Mayerlin,
who was also born in Santo Domingo and raised
in Union City, and who has also achieved a
bachelor’s degree in business administration
from New Jersey City University. Together they
are co-owners of their musical school in Union
City, and she is an employee for the Union City
Board of Education in the Business
Administrator’s Office of Anthony Dragona
since 2004.
Mr. Ng has been a commissioner on the Hudson
County Planning Board since 2006, and is
presently a member of the New Jersey School
Boards Association. Musically speaking, Mr. Ng
has appeared as a pianist on Santo Domingo
Television, and has also promoted his music on
Santo Domingo Radio there! He proudly states
that he will be conducting the Dominican
Republic Symphony Orchestra in Santo
Domingo this coming June, 2010! He also
proudly states that he has been the musical
director of the Union City Orchestra since 2005,
and has also performed at various events
throughout Union City! Mr. Ng as Enyi-K, as a
pianist, conductor, and composer, is highly
known for his great Latin, jazz, and classical
music, and has played and recorded with many
world famous singers and musicians.
Mr. Ng lists some of his main influences as
Michael Camilo and Chick Corea. Mr. Ng also
touts his loving mother in his love of music, as
she registered him in the public elementary
school in Santo Domingo, the capital of the
Dominican Republic, as a child. To the age of
17, he was playing with the National
Philharmonic Orchestra of the Dominican
Republic. He studied for nine years at the
National Conservatory where such artists like
Michael Camilo and Juan Luis Guerra also
studied. Thus, his loving mother had a huge
impact on his love of music. From there he got to
enjoy the Big Band Era music of Glen Miller
and George Taveras, who is a well know Latin
and Jazz Dominican pianist! Mr. Ng also has
performed at Radio City Music Hall in
Manhattan and at The White House in 1981 for
the Cuban Independence Day ceremony! Mr. Ng
has also performed with such famous Latin
singers and Musicians like Tito Puente, Celia
Cruz, Johnny Pacheco, Johnny Ventura, and
Iris Chacon, to name but a few! Locally, he was
asked to be the “first” to perform at the Union
City High School Performing Arts Center, which
was an honor for him as a school board trustee!
However, after all of this wonderful music
activity, Mr. Ng tells us that for leisure time, that
he is a New York Yankees and New York
Knicks fan! Mr. Kennedy Ng; All the best!!! …
Read more: Hudson Reporter - ENYI K THE
PIANIST AND ARTIST 2 21 10
Please don’t stop the music
Local activist honored during Hispanic
Heritage Month
by Gennarose Pope
Reporter staff writer
Kennedy Ng, known on the music circuit as
Enyi-K, sat at his piano in the performance
room of his recording studio at Kennedy’s
Music World on Bergenline Avenue in
Union City recently. There, he and his
partner give a variety of instrumental and
vocal lessons to between 50 and 55 students
each week and record a plethora of artists.
He had just come from his 9-to-4 job as
executive director of the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD)
Community Development Block Grant
Program to begin the four-to-two part of his
work day.
_____________
“When I make music, I am born again.” –
Kennedy Ng____________
On Oct. 12 of this year, Ng received a
Certificate of Appreciation for Outstanding
Support and performed a medley of
international songs at the ceremony held by
HUD during Hispanic Heritage Month.
How does he do it?
“I love coffee,” he said. “If you want to do
something good for the community, you
have to spend a lot of hours.”
The path of a prodigy
Ng was born in the Dominican Republic to
his English mother and Cantonese father
(hence the last name). When he was 5, his
mother registered him in a music school in
the country’s capital of Santo Domingo.
Three years later, he transferred to the
prestigious National Conservatory of Music
to study piano.
While his education there was mostly
classical, Ng said, he was heavily influenced
by the stylings of Chick Corea, Glen Miller,
and renowned Latin jazz pianist Jorge
Taveras. At 17, Ng played piano with the
Dominican National Philharmonic
Orchestra.
“I was lucky,” he said. “If you have talent
and good teachers, that combination makes
magic.”
Ng’s mother brought him to Union City
when he was 18. He went on to receive his
bachelor’s and master’s degree in music
education from Jersey City State College
(now Jersey City University), and in 1987,
he returned to school for a dual bachelor’s in
music therapy and psychology.
Ng is a music therapist to this day, though
on a volunteer basis. He works with local
adults — one-on-one and in groups — and
uses music to engage “people who are very
lonely” and help ease the symptoms of
various psychological disorders.
After years of community service, it’s
time for music
Enyi-K has performed at such prestigious
venues as the White House, Radio City
Music Hall, B.B. King’s, and Lincoln
Center. He has performed with and
conducted Tito Puente, Johnny Pacheco, and
Fernando Villalona.
In 2000, he wrote the scores for Premios
ACE at Lincoln Center — “it’s like the
Latin Grammys,” he said. In 2009, he played
with Tito Puente Jr. at Union City High
School to christen the brand new
auditorium. He records world-famous bands
in his recording studio at Kennedy Music
World and has composed and recorded the
music for various commercials for NBC,
Telemundo, and Univision.
Gennarose Pope may be reached at
[email protected]
3/6/12
Piano Virtuoso Kennedy Ng and Tito Puente Jr. in Union City | NJ.com
Site Search
Sign in | Register for free
Brought to you by:
Search Local Business Listings
Search for keywords, people, locations, obituaries, Web ID and more...
Home
News
Weather
Sports
Entertainment
Living
Interact
Jobs
Autos
Real Estate
New Jersey Photo Gallery
Rentals
Classifieds
Sponsored By:
View New Jersey News, Community, Sports, Weather Images & Pictures
Piano Virtuoso Kennedy Ng and Tito Puente Jr. in Union City
Search for Photos
Subject, keyword, photographer, tag...
All Categories
All Dates
Return to Home Page
Popular Photo Tags
Tuesday, September 29, 2009 4:47 PM
baseball boysbasketball
Inappropriate photo? Alert us.
boysicehockey boyssoccer
Recommend
By hiller1971
Follow
0
The Union City High School Grand Opening Gala featured performances by both Kennedy Ng and
Tito Puente Jr. The Kenndy Ng Trio, ENYI-K opened the show at the inaugural concert, with many
davidohlerking.com Faces of
Jersey fall colors fishing football
giants-super-bowl-xlii girlsbasketb
girlssoccer halloween
jersey-city New Jersey
HS Spor
New Jers
Jr. provided a memorial tribute to many of his fathers songs. Tito brought the crowd to thier feet
Artists New Jersey Pets NJ
NJ.com Shore shore snow
when he was joined by the Union City High School Marching Band.
wrestling
familiar tunes and his own composition of "The Sad Piano", before a standing ovation. Tito Puente
Share this photo
Story tools
Email
Print
Related galleries
Related topics
union-city-hudson-county
photos.nj.com/photogallery/2009/09/piano_virtuoso_kennedy_ng_and.html
1/2
New Jersey Photo Gallery
View New Jersey News, Community, Sports, Weather Images &
Pictures
Kennedy Ng and the ENYI-K Trio
Tuesday, September 29, 2009 4:22 PM
Inappropriate photo? Alert us.
0
By hiller1971
Follow
Kennedy Ng and the ENYI-K Trio are the first musicians to perform on stage at the
Union City High School Grand Opening Gala, Saturday, September 26th, 2009 The
piano virtuoso, Kennedy Ng was accompanied on drums by Edward LaFontant, a
recent Union Hill High School Graduate
*
Asociación de Cronistas de Espectáculos de Nueva York
Association of Latin Entertainment Critics of New York *
PREMIOS EXTRAORDINARIOS (fuera de
concurso)
ACE 2012
GANADORES
Introducción
Historia de la
ACE
EXTRAORDINARIO
---------------------------------------------------------1. Premio Extraordinario ACE 2012
por Distinción y Mérito:
ACE History
Directorio
Comisionados
2012 /
Ganadores
Miembros
activos
Entidad con Historia
Imágenes
Recientes
ERIK ESTRADA
---------------------------------------------------------PREMIOS INSTITUCIONALES
---------------------------------------------------------2. Premio ACE-Silvia Brito 2012:
ALFREDO MUNAR
---------------------------------------------------------3. Premio ACE-René Buch 2012:
CARLOS RODRÍGUEZ
---------------------------------------------------------4. Premio ACE-Miriam Colón 2012:
FERNANDO TRUEBA
----------------------------------------------------------
--------------69. Personalidad Masculina del
Año:
RAFAEL BRITO
Canal 35 / Time-Warner
---------------------------------------------------------70. Personalidad Femenina del Año:
MAYRA LA PAZ
Canal 35 / Time-Warner
---------------------------------------------------------DISTINCIONES ESPECIALES
---------------------------------------------------------71. Distinción Empresarial del Año:
HECTOR DELGADO
--------------------------------------------
--------------72. Personalidad Musical del Año:
ENYI-K
---------------------------------------------------------© 2012 Premios ACE All rights reserved.!
DE TODO UN POCO
“Libertad para construir una sociedad digna”
EDICION 10 DE MAYO, 2012-AÑO III-ETAPA III
13
Hermanas Márquez a ritmo de guaracha en Union City
E
l martes 29 de mayo el Union
City Performing Arts Center
dará un homenaje espectacular a las legendarias Hermanas
Márquez. Será un recorrido por la
vida musical de estas chispeantes
hermanitas que pasearon
sus
guarachas, desde el Palladium y el
Apolo de New York y los principales
teatro de México y el mundo. Un
homenaje a las despampanantes
mulatas del cine mexicano en su
época de oro, que hicieron exclamar
a Cantinflas, ¡Ay, mamacitas! Un
homenaje a las venerables Hermanas Márquez de hoy, que recibieron el Grammy a toda su vida
artística en el 2011, y que nos dan la
fórmula de la eterna juventud: ¡vivir
la vida a ritmo de guaracha!
Los ritmos cubanos han hecho
bailar al mundo, pero la guaracha es
el más contagioso, pícaro, irreverente. Las letras de las guarachas
son una trompetilla musical que no
respeta jerarquías. Para entender a
Cuba, donde todos opinan de todo,
al mismo tiempo y, en voz alta, hay
que parar la oreja a cada guaracha
bullanguera, como las que cantaba
Celia Cruz Bemba Colorá, y las Hermanas Márquez: Por medio peso, La
Mazucamba, La Firulítica, Negro de
sociedad… y tantísimas con las que
animarán su homenaje en compañía
de muchos artistas.
En la escena del bellísimo UC
Performing Art Center, estarán Meme
Solís, el mago de las teclas, creador
del afamado cuarteto, a la chispeante
charanga Yerason, con sus violines
de fuego, a la cancionera Lourdes
López, los cubanísimos bailarines
Pedro Domec y Rita Marcía, y muchos artistas mas (no los anunciamos porque nos han pedido
mantener la sorpresa). Se proyectarán a las Hermanitas Márquez,
cantando en películas mexicanas y
cubanas, a Cantinflas guaracheando,
a Pototo y Filomeno haciendo de las
suyas. Y a las Hermanas Márquez de
hoy, cantando con arrolladora juventud.
La dirección y animación del espectáculo estará a cargo de Armando
López y el auspicio del alcalde de
Union City y su junta de comisionados. El Union City Performing Art
Center esta localizado en el 2600
Kennedy Blvd., Union City. La hora:
7 PM. del martes 29 de mayo. Entrada gratis.
Enyi-K “Mejor Arreglista
Musical 2012” ACE
EL ARTISTA dominicano posee y continúa
cosechando éxitos a nivel nacional e
internacional, como "virtuoso del piano y
arreglista musical" habiendo producido verdaderos éxitos que se escuchan en salas
importantes alrededor del mundo.
E
l reconocido pianista dominicano radicado en el Estado de Nueva Jersey,
Enyi-K, fue reconocido como "El Mejor
Arreglista Musical del Año" por la Asociación
de Cronistas de Espectáculos de la Ciudad de
Nueva York (ACE). La premiación tomó lugar
durante la celebración de la Cuadragésima
Cuarta edición de esta entidad, que reconoce
a los mejores en el Arte Latinoamericano radicados en los Estados Unidos y en diversas
partes del mundo.
Enyi-K agradeció a los cronistas de espectáculos y organizadores del evento, y a su
público que lo acompaña en cada una de sus
presentaciones. El artista dominicano posee
y continúa cosechando éxitos a nivel nacional
e internacional, como "virtuoso del piano y arreglista musical" habiendo producido verdaderos éxitos que se escuchan en salas
importantes alrededor del mundo, como en El
Teatro Nacional en la República Dominicana,
donde fue productor del espectáculo más
valioso en la isla caribeña de los últimos tiempos, "Cuando se nace ídolo" homenaje a El
Mayimbe Fernando Villalona, los Premios
ACE 2000 en Lincoln Center, Manhattan Center, entre otros.
Enyi-K tuvo el honor de producir el arreglo musical de la apertura de los Premios
ACE que se realizó recientemente en el
Kauffman Center de la ciudad de Nueva York.
El público lo aplaudió al concluir dicha pieza
musical, que se convirtió en el himno de los
Premios ACE. En el año 2000, Enyi-K fue el
director musical de los Premios ACE donde
dirigió la presentación de Rocío Jurado, José
José, entre otras estrellas del arte latinoamericano.
La Ceremonia de los Premios ACE, fue inaugurada por el presidente de la entidad,
Fernando Campo, quien ofreció el discurso
central del magno evento que se realizó en el
Merkin Concert Hall de la Avenida Broadway.
Otras estrellas hispanas también fueron reconocidas como Ismael Cala de la cadena
CNN, Lumi Lizardo, Tongolele y la cantante
dominicana Mayury Reyna galardona como
"Artista Visitante".
Lissette lanza disco de retorno
¡
Vuelve Lissette! Tras
una brillante trayectoria
musical, innumerables
premios internacionales,
doce discos de Oro, once
premios Emmy y cientos
de "sold-outs", la cantante
y compositora Lissette
presenta "Soles" su álbum
número 50 que sale a la
venta el15 de mayo.
Heredera de un gran
talento para los escenarios gracias la extraordinaria carrera de sus
padres, el legendario dúo
Olga y Tony, LISSETTE
comenzó a cantar de niña
en su natal Cuba. Su carrera llegó a la cima apenas
siendo
una
adolescente en Puerto Rico. En muy poco
tiempo se convirtió en una de las artistas
más famosos e influyentes en el mundo del
pop Latino.
Su larga lista de grandes éxitos incluye:
"Lo voy a dividir", "Copacabana", "Si un día
te sientes solo", "Eva", "Palabras", "Poema
20", "Martes", "2 de la tarde", "Quiéreme",
"Descártame", "A veces", "Mal sueño" y
"Eclipse total del amor", entre muchos otros.
Sus álbumes más vendidos han marcado a
más de una generación.
Asimismo, ha actuado en las principales
salas de conciertos, prestigiosos clubes nocturnos y ha recibido una gran cantidad de
premios por su labor profesional y humanitaria.
"Soles" es una pieza muy especial para
Lissette ya que la producción reúne canciones de algunos de sus compositores favoritos. El álbum, distribuido bajo el sello
Latinum Music - Selecto Hits, está dedicado
a sus leales admiradores imprimiendo así la
genialidad musical de esta gran artista.
"Soles" contiene una docena de temas, entre
ellos "Soles", "¿Dónde empezar?", "Tú, la
noche y yo", "Dos, "Habáname", "Me faltarás", "Y pienso en ti", "Si supieras", "Como
una campana", "Si hay amor", "Volverá",
"Where Do You Start?" y "Tarde gris" corte
con el que estrena esta pieza de colección.