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Alejandro Del Valle is a self-taught master pianist, arranger and composer for bands, orchestras, dance music and music for film. Born in Cuba, he recently moved to the Bay Area after spending 25 years working inFrance. He has toured over 20 countries, including Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Russia, Greece, Algeria, Morocco, Senegal, Brazil, Canada and Cuba. Alejandro is also an educator and conducted master classes at the Salon de Provence and the Poitiers Conservatory. In 2004, he was the Music Director of “Les Orientales”, arranging and directing a 2-hour performance of Arabo-Andalusian Music by an orchestra at the National Theater of Algiers, the Francofolies de la Rochelle, at the Theatre Mogador in Paris and the “Fiesta du Sud” in Marcelle.

His latest project “Picking Up the Pieces” is a retrospective on his work, a musical conversation between his past and present as he navigates the uncertainty of a new life in the US. “Throughout my life as an artist, I have had numerous sources of inspiration. I usually start from the rhythms of Cuban and Afro-Cuban music but use them in a fusion environment rather than traditional music. Living in South of France, I had musical contact with the gypsy music that reigns in Spain, from which I have borrowed many traditional chords to compose pieces like“Vicente’s Song”. There, I also had contact with North African music from Algeria, which inspired me to start working with the 6/8 rhythm as captured in my piece “On the roof.” In particular, I mix all my past and present work to make up the different compositions. A series of compositions called “Elements” were inspired by the way percussionists feel music. In recent years I have incorporated elements of Rag Time to interpret the contemporary Cuban music, written at the beginning of the 20th century. This work in turn inspired me to compose “Contradanzas” with a perfume from the past. In general, I weave cinematic images and scenes throughout my music. I have always felt that my music pieces are like films without images, something like Mendelssohn’s “Songs Without Words”.

Originally aired: June 5 2024

Alejandro Del Valle Trio

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Racketeer Radio KFQX