Kuwait Times

Published Date: November 09, 2009
By Nawara Fattahova, Staff Writer

Music lovers enjoyed jazz played by the Venezuelan group 'Ruta 9' during a musical concert held last evening at the Abdul Aziz Hussein Cultural Center theatre in Mishref. This concert was supported by the National Council for Culture, Arts, and Letters and organized by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

The show began with a welcome speech by the Ambassador of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Eloy Fernandez. The 'Ruta 9' group consists of four musicians who presented a great performance by mixing different musical instruments. The following is a short review of each of the group members:
Alberto José Requena at the clarinet is a Venezuelan soloist, composer and producer. At the age of 12, he took part in the Orchestra of Margarita and the symphony orchestra of Nueva Esparta. In 2009, he was invited to participate in Wales Festival.

Being an invitee artist, he has participated in recordings and concerts with different groups and national artistes like Serenata Guayanesa, Cecilia Todd, Francisco Pacheco, Diego Alvarez, Andres Briceno, Alexis Cardenas, C4 Trio, and Ensamble Encayapa among others. As a soloist, he has produced two musicals titled 'Claridad' in 2005, and 'Fusiones' in March 2007 which is a mix of Venezuelan music, jazz and tango. He participated as a soloist invitee at different symphony orchestras in the country and has
shown his musical talent in Venezuela, and other countries.

Klever Camero who plays the keyboard is a pianist, composer and music producer. He entered the conservatory at a very young age to study the basic course of music formation, piano, and classical guitar. He participated in national and international tours to Cuba, Colombia, Ecuador, and Spain. He studied at the Institute for Musical Studies with Maestro Federico Ruiz and obtained his Bachelors in music with some major music compositions. He is also the manager of the Venezuelan contemporary music group "Enc
ayapa", with whom he has toured Cuba, Bonaire, Martinique, France, and United Kingdom.

Miguel Siso who plays the Venezuelan Cuatro started studying music at the age of nine in the educational conservatory of integral music, and took classes in percussion, flute, mandolin, piano and Venezuelan Cuatro. At the age of 12, he was interested in playing the Venezuelan Cuatro. In 2005 and 2007, he participated in national festivals and obtained the first place. That led him to be recognized internationally as one of the major exponents of the national Venezuelan instrument. He participated as a solo
ist in Brazil, Cuba, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Venezuela. Miguel Siso is one of the few youngsters who can play the Venezuelan Cuatro.

Jose Gonzalo Teppa is a bass player and composer. He started his musical career at the age of 10 years in the music conservatory, Vicente Emilio Sojo. In 1995, he took classes to learn to play bass in Santander under maestro, Ludwing Streicher. He studied at the University of Colorado under maestro Paul Erhard, and obtained his Bachelors in music, and a Masters degree in jazz and bass pedagogic under maestro Mark Simon. He worked for three years in the University of Colorado as a professor in the area of
improvisation and theory of jazz.

In 2003, he was named the 'Best Instrumentalist' in the University of Colorado and had the honor of performing as a soloist with the university's symphony orchestra. In April 2004 and 2005, he was called 'Best Soloist' of the year by the prestigious magazine, Downbeat. He has three productions under his belt as a composer and bass player. He has presented his music at various concerts in Mexico, Brazil, Spain, United States, Colombia and Bolivia.

He has participated in many jazz concerts with excellent musicians like Nelson Rangel who plays the flute and saxophone, percussionist John Hadfield, drummer John Von Ohlen, pianists Dave and Don Grusin, guitarist bill Kopper, and Ira Sullivan, another flute exponent among many others. At Venezuelan music concerts, he has played with other excellent musicians like Ilan Chester, Simon Dais, Aldemaro Romero, Cecilia Todd, Maria Rivas, to name a few.