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Pellejo Seco is sometimes described as a world fusion band, because you can hear a hint of flamenco there, a smidge of hip-hop there. “I’ve tried to stay outside of jazz,” composer and tresero Ivan Camblor says, “to conserve the son tradition. As a composer I want to concentrate on that. I do use some jazz and some other elements, but I use them in the service of traditional cuban son. We’re really a traditional son septet. I play mostly my own compositions, I don’t have to play standards. When people hear my songs they recognize the sound, they feel the accent of the son septet. On Facebook they say things like “Cuidado, ¡esa gente tiene un gran sonido cubano!” The name Pellejo Seco is partly a tribute to the hard lives of farmworkers and their sun-scorched skin, and it’s also Havana street slang with multiple sexual allusions. “I wanted to leave behind traditional Cuban band names and have something happier – I don’t want everything to be serious, I want people to laugh,” says Camblor.

Band integrants

ivanIvan Camblor — Tres/Vocals
Born in Havana Cuba, he graduated from the Felix Varela School of Music in composition. Camblor has composed original music for the film Hacerse el Sueco, directed by Edesio Alejandro and Gerardo Garcia, and recorded an album called Seguro me da, me da with the septet TEMBACHE under ABDALA Records, directed by Juan Manuel Seruto and Eduardo Ramos. Currently living in the Bay Area, Camblor is bandleader of Pellejo Seco.

sulkary Sulkary Valverde — Main Vocal A talented interpreter of Latin music in the San Francisco Bay Area, was born in Guantanamo Cuba. She studied music and voice from an early age at the regional provincial school “Regino E Voto” and later graduated from the national school of art “Lili Martinez” in Camaguey, Cuba, specializing in saxophone and voice. In Cuba, she sang with the bands Traje Nuevo, La Ritma y Sabor, and others. Residing now in the Bay Area, Sulkary joins Pellejo Seco, enriching the band with the rich texture of her incredible voice and launching her career as one of the leading female Latin singers of the Bay Area.

mario Mario Silva — Trumpet/Vocals
Trumpeter Mario Silva was born in San Francisco where he currently resides. Showing musical talent, his parents started him out with piano lessons. He soon took interest in the clarinet and quickly began doubling on saxophones while studying privately. At age 17 he took interest in the trumpet and within two years had already begun playing gigs in San Francisco’s latin and jazz scene. Throughout his college career he has recieved scholarships to Chico and San Francisco state. Silva has played with Orquesta Borinquen, the Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, Realistic Orchestra, Cubanacan, The People, Los Elegantes, Los Otros,The Unanimous Decision Quintet, The Fred Zimmerman Quartet, The Bay Area Afro-Cuban All Stars and many more. MySpace page.

Antonio Antonio Cortada — Bass/Vocals Antonio Cortada was born in Havana, Cuba. In 1995 started his musical carreer as a percussionist and recorded at Radio Progreso, ICAIC and ICRT studios with talented masters of traditional Cuban music Alexis Querol and Roman Alvarez. Later picked up the bass and began to play daily in old Havana. Here in the U.S. he has played and recorded from Salsa to Jazz to Reggae and Son.