Cesar+Morales

media type="custom" key="579091" Connaught Street School has been awarded an “Artist in Residence” Grant by the NB Culture and Sport Secretariat. Latin drummer Cesar Morales will be at the school every Friday during the months of January, February, March, and April.
 * __ Artist in Residence – Cesar Morales __**

Cesar Morales came to Canada in 1991. Since his arrival, he has performed in many diverse musical venues. He studied music at the National Center of Art in San Salvador (1983-1986), the capital of El Salvador, where he performed Andean music with two lead groups //Xolotl// and //Amayulutl//. During those years he also played the transversal flute with the Latin Jazz Ensemble and the National Youth Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed cumbia, salsa, and meringue as lead singer with popular music groups such as //Yuca, Siembra// and //Salsa 86//. After several years of teaching music at the City Hall’s Cultural Center, he moved to New Brunswick due to the political instability in El Salvador. Here in New Brunswick Cesar has performed on bass and flute with several theatrical companies in plays such as “//You Are A Good Man, Charlie Brown”// and “//Jesus Christ Superstar”. // While living in Woodstock, Cesar, John Thompson and three musicians from Maine created the group “//Border Crossing//”. In 1998, Cesar started his own Latin Band, //Sabor Latino//. After several years of hard work and dedication, they won the //New Rising Galaxy Award// at the Fredericton Jazz and Blues Festival in 2004. Most recently Cesar has been working on a solo CD entitled //Monologue// on which he performs all instruments and vocals for his own compositions. While at Connaught, Cesar will be performing for classes as well as teaching drumming technique. Grades K through 3 will be exposed to Latin rhythms, melodies and indigenous instruments through a series of short performances. In addition to this, grades four and five will be hear and perform Latin rhythms and melodies from South and Central America, the Caribbean and Africa as well as Mexico. Secondly, the upper elementary students will investigate the history of various drums and practice drumming technique. Finally, they will explore rhythms unique to Brazilian and Argentinean samba, mambo, cha-cha, meringue and cumbia. Classes will have an opportunity to prepare a short performance from their studies. We welcome Cesar to the Connaught Street School Community.
 * Check out a [|video] of his first session with us.