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< Jazz Hall of Fame: Knights of Our Realm The Ortas >

Maria Rivas: A Venezuelan Bombshell

by Manny Meland on June 20, 2010

Maria Rivas sings Latin Jazz and Tropical Pop. That is how she described her unique and innovative style to us when I heard her sing on Friday, April 23. She sang to a studio audience at at Ed Bell’s South Florida Arts Beat Program on Radio Station WLRN. The show was broadcast internationally. I found her exotic and sensuous voice and her attractive stage presence captivating.

Rivas began singing professionally in the 1980s in her native Venezuela. It was obvious at an early age that she had talent. She stood out when singing patriotic songs in school and hymns in choir. Also the fact that she learned to sing in the languages of the Western Hemisphere; Spanish, Portuguese, French and English, enabled her to draw from these various cultures. For example, her fourth CD, “Muare,” which featured her hit “Swing Con Son” combines American ‘swing’ and Cuban ‘son.’

In 1987, she took a program called “A Sentimental Journey through Jazz” to Aruba. It played for three years in the island’s major hotels. Back in Venezuela in 1990, Maria scored a hit song “First Born” from her first CD “Motorized.” It was played in sixty countries. An even bigger success came next with her 1992 hit “Manduco.” This song occupied a spot in Venezuela’s Hit Parade Top-Ten for three consecutive years. It spread to Panama, Columbia and Brazil. More recordings followed; “Mapale in 1994, “Café Negrito in 1998 and in 2003 --“En Cocierto.”

Europe beckoned. Rivas toured countries that were listening to her music. In Paris, she did a concert in the prestigious Le Club Jour Nouveau to celebrate Caracas Week. Besides France, she was enthusiastically received in Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Austria, Portugal, Germany and Holland. Her tours of the Western Hemisphere took her to Columbia, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Bolivia, Aruba and Puerto Rico. Then Caracas designer Octavio Vazquez presented her in a fashion show “Salon Solera Light de la Moda en Caracas.” Vazquez had her model and sing in this well received presentation.

Maria has shared the stage with many top artists. They include Arturo Sandoval, Ruben Blades, Cheo Feliciano, Joan Manuel Serrat, Pablo Milanes, Juan Lois Guerra, Paquito de Rivera, Zimbo Trio del Brazil, Leila Pinheiro, Leny Andrade, Daniela Mercury, and Albita. Rivas was also invited to sing with several principal orchestras such as Bolivar Symphonic Orchestra, the Symphonic Orchestras of – Venezuela, Carabobo, Maracaibo and National, and La Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho. Rivas is currently the main vocalist for the “Big Band of the Venezuelan Symphony.”

Rivas' compositions also show another side of her. She is concerned with the state of the environment. Her songs attracted the attention of American ornithologist and chief environmentalist William H. Phelps who adopted Venezuela as his home. Maria was awarded the Phelps’ Environmental Prize. (Phelps is also an important coffee grower and he owns a local radio station).

And now, Miss Rivas has come to conquer Miami. She undoubtedly captured the audience at Radio Station WLRN. I then ran into her a few weeks later at the American Legion Hall in Miami. There, she joined a group of musicians who came to jam in celebration of the Hall of Fame induction ceremony. It was a good way to introduce herself to her contemporaries. Then on Tuesday, June 8, she played at the Van Dyke Cafe. Half of the audience was Venezuelan. I heard someone cry arriba -Venezuela. I thought arriba - Maria Rivas. Hopefully, her next prize will be a Grammy.

See video below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhxkVaik-bk

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