Biography
Orquesta La Moderna Tradicion focuses its energies on Cuban dance traditions, a heritage tied directly to co-founder Roberto Borrell. At the center of its programs stands the danzon, an elegant ballroom form that draws couples into close embrace. Blending Afro-Cuban percussion with the gentler tones of violins and flute, this style won widespread popularity from the late nineteenth century into the early twentieth, opening paths for both the tango and the cha-cha.
The eleven-piece group operates from San Francisco, where it was established on October 3, 1996. Its first public appearance came the following March, and Tinder/Candela released the debut album, Danzonemos, toward the end of 1997. Leadership rests with Borrell, who handles congas and dance direction, alongside co-founder Tregar Otton, a Texas-born composer and violinist. Michael Spiro supplies the timbales, while the string section comprises one cello and two violins. The players draw on backgrounds spanning flamenco, salsa, blues, classical, and jazz, allowing the ensemble to present both classic danzones and new compositions cast in the same mold, along with selections from the cha-cha, son, and guaracha repertoires.
Borrell spent his formative years in Old Havana amid the vibrant musical climate of the 1950s and 1960s. As dancers gathered at local sociedads, he refined his technique at home, using a broom as a stand-in partner. By the early 1960s those clubs had vanished; Havana, which had counted more than one hundred just a few years earlier, retained none. Borrell relocated to New York and spent a decade working as a percussionist there. Upon settling in San Francisco during the 1990s, he encountered a swing revival that rekindled curiosity about earlier Cuban dance forms.
Otton first encountered Cuban music while still a teenager. In San Francisco he approached Borrell with the idea for Orquesta La Moderna Tradicion, though Borrell initially doubted sufficient public interest existed. Once the musicians were gathered and six months of rehearsal completed, the group introduced refreshed arrangements of Borrell’s native classics to audiences.
The eleven-piece group operates from San Francisco, where it was established on October 3, 1996. Its first public appearance came the following March, and Tinder/Candela released the debut album, Danzonemos, toward the end of 1997. Leadership rests with Borrell, who handles congas and dance direction, alongside co-founder Tregar Otton, a Texas-born composer and violinist. Michael Spiro supplies the timbales, while the string section comprises one cello and two violins. The players draw on backgrounds spanning flamenco, salsa, blues, classical, and jazz, allowing the ensemble to present both classic danzones and new compositions cast in the same mold, along with selections from the cha-cha, son, and guaracha repertoires.
Borrell spent his formative years in Old Havana amid the vibrant musical climate of the 1950s and 1960s. As dancers gathered at local sociedads, he refined his technique at home, using a broom as a stand-in partner. By the early 1960s those clubs had vanished; Havana, which had counted more than one hundred just a few years earlier, retained none. Borrell relocated to New York and spent a decade working as a percussionist there. Upon settling in San Francisco during the 1990s, he encountered a swing revival that rekindled curiosity about earlier Cuban dance forms.
Otton first encountered Cuban music while still a teenager. In San Francisco he approached Borrell with the idea for Orquesta La Moderna Tradicion, though Borrell initially doubted sufficient public interest existed. Once the musicians were gathered and six months of rehearsal completed, the group introduced refreshed arrangements of Borrell’s native classics to audiences.
Albums
