Dudamel Sr. is a salsa trombonist: this is his story

Let's be clear that Óscar Dudamel is from Barquisimeto, the musical capital of Venezuela, the birthplace of Alirio Díaz, Pablo Canela... and, of course, Gustavo Dudamel, his son and the extremely popular conductor. When Óscar was a child, Maestro Abreu hadn't yet founded the Children's and Youth Orchestra System, but he certainly enjoyed classical training in a country that, at the time, relied heavily on European teachers.

“Venezuela was the musical springboard: when I met Raphael and Julio Iglesias, they told me that making a name for yourself in Venezuela meant making a name for yourself in the world,” says this vocational musician, the first in a very musical family to dare to make it their profession. As a child, he began learning the cuatro and the Spanish guitar; he later became interested in percussion and sang beautifully in a gaita group with his childhood voice. But it was while watching a Saturday program , “Feria de la alegría,” that he was impressed by the trombone. His parents bought him one on credit from Yamaha. And he began studying classical music.

Gustavo dreamed of being a trombonist like his father, but they didn't make them for children and his arm wasn't long enough.

"But an old man gave me lessons, playing the trumpet. He'd say, 'Close the door,' and I'd start playing salsa. That's when my passion began."

By the time Óscar Dudamel joined the Sistema in 1977, the seed was already germinating. His career as a salsa and classical musician ran parallel until he left Abreu. He was going to be the one to form salsa orchestras.

Now, at 64, he's released his first album, Sueño Attained , written for Gustavo, as the title suggests. And he should have been playing on the song. “Don't think his participation was easy. It took years for him to record with me. He told me, 'Dad, I don't want to take the spotlight away from him,' because, of course, they would name him first and I'd be left behind the ambulance, which is when the last rider in the race falls. But one day we convinced him, because it was composed for him by several composers and has two symphonic themes. Estando junto a ti is a bolero with violins, violas, cellos... and there's a violin solo by Gustavo in one of the verses that is spectacular. There I looked for the sound of Héctor Lavoe's album Comedia (1978). And I incorporated a more tropical sound in El fuego de tu amor .”

Why did it take you a lifetime to record your first album?

“I was presented with many projects,” he says, “but they were all similar, and I was looking for something that stuck to the classic and the old-fashioned. The best years of salsa were in the late sixties and seventies with the Fania Stars: Willie Colón, Héctor Lavoe, Palmieri... Whoever says that's not true is completely wrong. And obviously, salsa is Cuban music, it's just called salsa because there was a journalist-host in Venezuela who had the program La hora de la salsa, but it was for ketchup: it was the time of propaganda! Before, they called it tropical music. And to identify it, they would say, 'Now Óscar Dudamel with a son montuno,' 'Now Óscar Dudamel with a guaguancó'... All Latin rhythms were defined as salsa, and that's when an explosion occurred.”

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Óscar Dudamel wanted an album with his streetwise feel, traditional salsa, that rustic sound of ugly trombones—“but ugly because it's a way for them to express themselves”—while at the same time not losing sight of what today's youth are experiencing. Rolling Stone magazine has already dubbed it “progressive salsa,” because it has the intelligence to not damage the old by adding the current, he asserts. A contemporary salsa that has even caught the attention of Willie Colón. “Imagine, I heard he talked about the album!”

The song "La rumba me llama" (The Rumba Calls Me) opened at number 23 on the Billboard charts , and the one about Gustavo has skyrocketed. "The album carries spiritual power." The symphonic parts were recorded in Venezuela, with Simón Bolívar; the salsa parts in Madrid: the world upside down. Having the Dudamel duo, father and son, has been a hit and a way of seeing that all music leads to the same path. "From the structures of classical orchestras, you get the structure for merengue, salsa, bachata, or tropical boleros," says the trombonist, who calls himself a musical communicator. "Of course, the record producer sees dollars, but for Gustavo or me, it's about people listening and getting a message across."

Was Óscar Dudamel an absent father? He claims not, as he had a very local activity back then and would take his son out for gigs. One day, he recalls, the boy didn't stay by his side while he played at a Spanish club in Barquisimeto. At five years old, they found him participating in a dance competition. "He was wearing number 7 and dancing merengue with a chubby girl. I nearly had a heart attack." However, "I don't know why my hair fell out, because Gustavo didn't give me much commitment. He was a very studious boy, involved in activities; my mother and my ex took him to a brown belt in karate, to winning swimming competitions... I was more into playing in the streets, but Gustavo has been working since he was 11: the System takes you away even on vacations on intensive courses."

Madrid has given them another life together. Óscar got into the jazz and salsa scene by joining a Frank Sinatra tribute big band. Now he plays a couple of times a month at the Berlín, on La Latina, where he once sneaked Gustavo's instrument and asked him out. It was a real bummer!

“Sometimes he comes to visit me and lies down on that couch, and you look at him all wrapped up in his thoughts, 'God, that's the guy who moves almost half the world.'”

Why didn't he follow in their footsteps with the trombone? They didn't make them for children, and his arm wasn't long enough. He decided on the violin, but he always says he's a frustrated salsa fan: "I dreamed of being a trombonist and playing in a salsa band."