Photography by Elías Carmona
Click on this section for a sample of the work by a young Puerto Rican photographer living in Chicago who has documented the stories and people who put the soul in Latin music...

Agúzate TV
Agúzate TV will visit places that promote live music and will interview local and touring artists in a series of biweekly episodes. Agúzate TV's mini-episodes are small files and take almost no time to download. Visit the Agúzate TV Section on the navegation bar for the youtube versions.

Annual Tribute to the Improvisational Singer
Click on the title above to enjoy a retrospective of the best moments from the Annual Tribute to the Improvisational Singer 2004-2007. The event will celebrate its 5th Anniversary in October, 2008. Photos courtesy of Raymond Barrera. Click here for an exclusive video of the 4th Annual Tribute to the Improvisational Singer.

Barrio Boogalu
Click on this section to view pictures of Barrio Boogalu, the only night dedicated to Latin Soul and Classic Salsa y Chicago.

Sonotheque proudly presents BARROI BOOGALU, a showcase of funky soulful Latin sounds. Latin Soul germinated and circulated from roots that connected elements of New Orleans, Latin jazz and Cuban son montuno rhythms including the popular sounds of the cha-cha, merengue and descarga with Afro-American inner-city Doo Wap, soul and funk. This burst exploded on the scene in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s emerging from the barrio of working class musicians and listeners. Latin soul with its funky rhythms, engaging choral chants captured the endless party atmosphere of raucous black-based R&B.

Sonotheque DJs’ Supreme Court (Courtland Green) and Joe Bryl aka The Super Barrio Brothers go head to head against The Agúzate DJ Crew (Abner Bardeguez and Omar Torres- Kortright), each unearthing their collection of rare Latin Soul records and dusties against the other. In addition to the music, they will also be showcasing films and album artwork from artists ranging from Ray Barretto, Fania All-Stars, Joe Cuba, Eddie Palmieri, Willie Colon, Mongo Santamaria, Machito, Joe Bataan and many more. Each DJ specializes in Classic Salsa, Latin Jazz, Latin Soul, and Latin Funk, so Barrio Boogalu should be one big Nuyorrican Latin Soul throw-down!

Gilberto Santa Rosa in Chicago
The Agúzate team went to the Gilberto Santa Rosa concert at the Metro last year. Enjoy some short clips from that night.

Chicago Bomba Conference 2007
In this bombazo at La Casita de Don Pedro, Nuno Calderón challenges primo player Jorge Emmanuelli to keep up with him. More videos and pics to come.