La Ritmica – New Releases!

Although Faluma is specialized on Soca, Calypso and Pan, we are open for all the other beautiful musical styles the Caribbean islands offer to the world. When we met Gerald Clarinda earlier in 2010 it was obvious in an instant that we share a vision with him and his band La Ritmica.
The islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao, the last two still forming part of The Netherlands Antilles, is where the majority of La Ritmica’s band members originate, were for centuries and still to this day is a meeting point for different cultures such as Indigenous, African, Dutch, Spanish, English, Portuguese and many others. This cultural melting pot clearly reflects in the music of La Ritmica, which is a fresh blend of Latin, French and British West Indian music performed on a solid base of Afro Antillean folk music, with a touch of Jazz and R&B. This unique concept is known as Caribbean fusion and this is also the name of the band’s latest release. The idea of incorporating all the great influences, traditions and musical styles of the Caribbean to one beautiful sound – just the way La Ritmica is doing it – is wholeheartedly supported by Faluma.
While keeping a special love for the smaller islands, we’ve featured artists from all over the Caribbean and beyond. Our goal is to popularize and push these sounds around the globe. We think Caribbean music speaks a universal language. It is easily understood around the world, no matter what language the lyrics are in. It is the feel good, body groovin’, waist rollin’, sound that just makes you want to move!
La Ritmica definitely speaks this language, and stands for a wonderful unity of Caribbean and other beloved sounds. The bandleader Gerald Clarinda is an extremely versatile musician. He is not only proficient in the musical folklore of his birthplace, the Netherlands Antilles, but he also studied Jazz in the US and is an expert when it comes to the fusion of all kinds of Latin-American, Afro-Cuban and various other Caribbean styles.
Some of the songs on La Ritmica presents Caribbean Fusion are performed in Spanish and some in Papiamentu, the national language spoken on the Netherlands Antilles. It is La Ritmica’s latest release that is now made digitally available throughout the net in cooperation with Faluma.

This release was recorded live in 2008 during the celebration of “Dia di Boneiru” or Bonaireday, a yearly event held on every first Sunday of September, celebrating the national day of the island of Bonaire. In this production, La Ritmica introduces their new concept Caribbean Fusion, a mixture of all the Caribbean rhythms with Afro Dutch Antillean folk music and contemporary music which results in a crispy, tasty and innovative sound with heavy rhythmical grooves!

The second release of La Ritmica that is being made available for download by Faluma is Subie!, the latest hit single by La Ritmica that features the Antillian rappers K-Liber4Life. Subie! introduces a fresh blend of New York-salsa, merengue , Arubian and Antillian folklore music, soca, hip-hop and modern Brazilian music.

These two 2009 releases are just the start – we have many more albums by Gerald and La Ritmica in the pipeline. We’ll keep you posted about that!

We hope you’re as excited as we are! Caribbean Fusion and Subie! can be found at the Faluma Download Store and Caribbean Fusion is also available as DVD & CD here. And will be hitting all download stores April 9! Let’s get this party started off right!