Las bandas niños: A Latino church empowers young musicians
It’s a little before eight on a Tuesday night, and José Guillermo Salamea thinks his band of musicians, known as La Banda Revelation, might need a little pick-me-up. He stops the group in the middle of “Haz Llover” (“Make It Rain”), a confessional chorus written by Brazilian pastor and songwriter Fernandinho (who is so well known that, like a soccer star, he goes by his first name only). It’s a sparse tune, and Salamea wants to make sure it doesn’t drag.
“Niños, necesitan café?” he asks with a bemused smile, clapping out the rhythm. “Toca mas rápido!” (“Kids, do you need coffee? Play faster!”)
Salamea is music minister at Iglesia Hispana Emanuel in Durham, North Carolina, and he has been mentoring three of these band members for years. He taught Rosa Ramirez, 16, to sing, Andrea Hernandez, 16, to play guitar, and Jorge Duerte, 15, to play the drums. Salamea is teaching some 40 members of this congregation to play an instrument—everything from classical guitar to trumpet.
