Tumbaka

songs with echoes of latin-jazz, percussion solos, batá, son, güarachas and opera/salsa, which has resulted in a wealth of sounds and musical colors. Thanks to the experience and long musical career of its founder and director, the internationally renowned percussionist Jorge ‘CroCro’ Orta, whose musical journey includes among others eight years as the percussionist of the renowned “Grupo Niche” of Colombia where he acquired a vast knowledge of how directing a band of high musical caliber and then the idea to relocate CroCro Tumbaká to Houston in late 2007, and from there the name of his first production ‘Capitan de mi Barco’. The inclination of CroCro has always been to interpret music and salsa with solo percussion, but also guaracha, son and charanga to please the audiences of different nationalities which led him to define Tumbaká as a Salsa and tropical music band. The name Tumbaká comes from the African word ‘tumba’ which in some of the West Indies islands was synonymous with percussion to the extent that tumba evolved to name traditional instruments like congas, conga rhythms and traditional French tumba of Haiti. While Tumbaká is a relatively new group, its members are all musicians of various nationalities with a vast experience in the different and very intricate Salsa and tropical music genre. Tumbaká’s members are its Conguero and Founder/Director, Jorge ‘CroCro’ Orta (Venezuela), bongo player Orlando Andrade (Colombia), in timbales Rhumer Mora (Venezuela), keyboard player Rafael Miliano (Dominican Republic), pianist Luigi Lazareno (Mexico ), bass player Anthony McKenny (USA), trombone players Yankar González (Cuba), Bryan Logan (USA), and Juan Carlos Delgado (Puerto Rico), vocalists Kevin Castillo (Puerto Rico), Julio Rodriguez (Cuba) and Valeria Denis (Uruguay). Tumbaká is projected as one of the best Latin bands in Houston with a successful future.