Barbès Agency
 

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MIRAMAR

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- New album, Entre los Flores, will be available from Ansonia Records in Jan. 2025
- Don't miss Miramar live with the Richmond symphony  on Oct 5 2024

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In most of Latin America, if you’re by the sea, there is bound to be a place called Miramar very close by. It will typically have a postcard view of the sea – and if music is playing, chances are that it will be boleros: the romantic ballads that originated in Cuba at the turn of the 20th century. .

 

When Puerto Rican singer Reinaldo Alvarez was looking to name a new Bolero project he searched for something simple that would be familiar to Spanish speakers; a name that would reflect the humble poetry of everyday life. Miramar seemed perfect: a romantic snapshot of a place both close and far away from home.

 

Miramar, the group, aims to capture that poetry through their music. Using an instrumentation that includes organ, piano, guitar, bass, percussion and an occasional string quartet  (or symphonic orchestra...) the group’s arrangements distill the essence of the golden age of boleros while adding touches that reveal the band’s scope and diversity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While most of the members of Miramar have Puerto Rican roots, Marlysse Simmons-Argandoña is a first generation Chilean American who brings a distinct South American flavor to her writing and arranging and singer Laura Ann Singh, although born in Tennessee, contributes a Brazilian flavor she owes to her years spent in Brazil singing mostly bossa nova.

 

For now a century, whether in the Caribbean or South America, Boleros have been the ultimate expression of love and suffering. While its origin is to be found in Cuba, the genre quickly crossed borders and became particularly popular in Mexico. From the 1930’s through the 1960’s, Mexican composer Agustin Lara wrote some of the most recognizable and most covered boleros. Classic Mexican trios of the 1950’s such as Los Tres Ases and Los Panchos, expanded the popularity of the genre all throughout Latin America, making the bolero a pan-Latin common denominator. Puerto Rico was no exception where boleros have been popular since the 1930’s.

 

 

 

 

 

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Singer Reinaldo Alvarez and composer and arranger Marlysse Simmons- Argandoña have been leading cult salsa band Bio Ritmo for well over a decade. Both have also long shared an obsession with boleros, especially with the Puerto Rican boleros sung by the classic duos of the 40’s and 50’s. “We decided to start a bolero group because there were only so many boleros we could do with a salsa band“ says Marlysse.

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Their debut album was a tribute to the great Puerto Rican composer Sylvia Rexach - mixing classics and original compositions - balancing a strong sense of roots and a constant feeling of cultural uprootedness - between the Latin heritage and the American upbringing.

 

Their follow-up album, Entre los Flores, will be released in January 2025 by Ansonia Records, The new album, which was a few years in the making, includes mostly original songs which rely on a rhythm section often reminiscent of  70's Latin soul, with psychedelic and symphonic touches and an overall lush cinematic vie ​

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The band is mostly based in Richmond, VA and available for one-offs.