INTERVIEW: Grupo Niche are ready to salsa in NJ
Photo: Grupo Niche will play the State Theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Photo courtesy of Grupo Niche / Provided by the State Theatre with permission.
Grupo Niche, one of the most successful salsa groups of all time, will bring their high-spirited music Friday, April 13 to the State Theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey. First formed in 1980 in Cali, Colombia, today’s group carries on the traditions of those early years but also adds in new musical flavors and elements.
Jairo Varela and Alexis Lonzano founded the band, and their initial releases, Al Pasito and Querer es Poder, still live on as seminal recordings. Most salsa enthusiasts will be able to sing along to “Buenaventura y Caney,” while other hits that will surely be on the set list at the State Theatre include “Una Aventura” and “Cali Pachanguerno.”
At the center of the band is Yuri Toro, a singer who first experienced Grupo Niche’s influence when he was still a young boy. Now he’s in the band of his dreams, helping them take salsa around the world.
“Grupo Niche is going to perform a show in which we’re going to do songs from before and now,” Toro said in a recent phone interview. “A show where the people can find the hits from the old times and the new hits we just released in the recent years. It’s going to be interesting. It’s going to be 38 years of music on stage.”
Toro has been with the group for five years. He first met the band members in 1997-1998 when he was 18 years old. He auditioned for the group back then and tried to put on his best show for the guys.
“I was too young for joining the group,” Toro said. “[The band said,] ‘I like what you do. I like how you think, but you cannot be in Grupo Niche yet because you’re too young.’ That was very exciting to me because you have in front of you a person who is an icon in the music of Colombia and in worldwide music. He is telling you that you have done a very nice and good audition, but the reason you cannot join the group is different than not having the quality or the capacity to join the group. That was good because I felt very confident.”
Over the years, Toro met with the band a few times and was mentored by them. Eventually, without an offer to join them on the road, he advanced his career in the legal realm and became a lawyer. “I decided to give some priority to my studies,” he said.
After Varela died and the band went through a transformation, Toro received a phone call to join the group. This led him to this “beautiful adventure,” one that sees Toro honoring Varela’s legacy on a nightly basis. “It’s definitely a dream come true,” he said.
The original members of Grupo Niche were from Colombia, but over the years they have welcomed singers and musicians from many different countries. Still, the salsa band has roots in Cali, Colombia, roots that run deep.
“Most of the people in the group are from Colombia,” Toro said. “Historically speaking, most of the people have been Colombian people, but if you see the history of Grupo Niche, you can find different people that come from, for example, Venezuela. But now I can tell you that one of the most famous percussionists that was part of Grupo Niche was from Venezuela. … You can find other countries being part of Grupo Niche like Puerto Rico. You can find Tito Gómez. He was a very famous singer of Grupo Niche, and he was Puerto Rican. So there is several cases of people from different countries being part of Grupo Niche. They gave their best to the group, and we are very thankful for that. But right now, the group is all Colombians, totally Colombians.”
Toro’s personal journey into music began when he was a teenager. He remembers those influential years like they were yesterday.
“That was a long time ago,” he said. “That was a very, very curious experience because I was walking by the streets of my hometown, and I just followed something. I just heard something. I saw something that was like an epiphany. It was someone playing the guitar. From that moment on, I must say I fell in love with music. I was first a guitarist. I played guitar, and then almost by accident I discovered that I was a singer.”
That singing — and Grupo Niche’s nearly 40 years of excellence — will be on display at the State Theatre in New Jersey.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Grupo Niche will play Friday, April 13 at the State Theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Click here for more information and tickets.
