El Conjunto

Caña Son

John Connell-Maribona – vocals and percussion
Cuban-American bandleader, John Connell-Maribona directs Caña Son on the traditions of Cuban song form. A devout academic of Caribbean music, John studied ethnomusicology at the Archivo Historico de Santiago. A contemporary disciple of son cubano, John aims to pay homage to the originators of this music by digging deep into the depths of the son repertoire to resurrect classics by the greatest composers of the genre.

Sherman Floyd– guitar and vocals
Sherman Floyd (guitar and vocals) moonlights during daylight hours as a high school Spanish Teacher where he enjoys using music in his classes to get students excited about language and culture. He has studied and traveled in Mexico, Spain, Central America. He studied Trova cubana at the Universidad de Havana with Vicente Feliu, Cesar Portillo de la Luz, Compay Segundo and sang with Silvio Rodriguez. He performs locally with the Teatro Milagro, Cuban folkloric group Omo Iré and the Mexican Folklórico group Cosecha Mestiza with his wife Rosa, a teacher and dancer from Guadalajara.

Ivan Alamo – tres guitar, guitar and vocals
A native of Havana, Cuba, Ivan brings the signature sound of the Cuban tres guitar to Caña Son. A veteran of the Old Havana bar and café circuit, Ivan played in typical son trios and conjuntos that performed daily for tourists from around the globe.

Keith Brush aka “el cepillo”- bass
Born to play bass, “el Cepillo” was performing with The Billings Symphony Orchestra by the age of 17. For the past several years “el Cepillo” has performed in a number of jazz, rock and theater groups around the NW.

Giovanni Cruz – percussion
A native of El Salvador, Giovanni grew up in Los Angeles, where he discovered Cuban music. He studied percussion with Arturo Puerto also known as Papo Conga (Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Dave Valentin, El Gran Combo). Giovanni was also sound engineer for several Los Angeles area Latin clubs and musicians extracting much knowledge and experience from the thriving L.A. salsa scene. Giovanni moved to Portland in 1991 and over the last 12 years has played with some of Portland’s top Latin bands (La Mayor Salsa, Conjunto Alegre, Barrio Latino and Alfredo Muro).

Milko Vigil-Escalera - vocals and percussion
A native of Havana, Cuba, Milko studied at the Escuela Elemental de Música and at the Conservatorio Ignacio Cervantes de La Habana. Later he studied with grammy winning percussion master Roberto Viscaino at the Conservatorio de las Rosas in Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico. While in Mexico Milko recorded and performed with latin pop act “Itzel” (musical director Elder Ruelas) and the afrocuban folkloric group “Rumbata Del Yoruba” (musical director Roberto Viscaino). In Portland Milko also performs with Cubaneo, Grupo Condor, Cuba Ache, Ramsey y sus Montunos and Jojuba.

Farnell Newton - trumpet
Farnell Newton was born in Miami, FL. He received a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Composition from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in 2001. There, he studied privately with Wendell Logan, Neal Creque, Kenny Davis, and Michael Philip Mossman. After graduation, Newton moved to Portland. Farnell has shared the stage and performed with a number of known artists including, Aretha Franklin, Grupo Heavy, Humberto Ramirez, Marvin Santiago, James Moody, Vanessa Rubin, Muhal Richard Abrams, Bobby Torres and Ramsey Embick. In Portland, Farnell performs with Caña Son, The Mel Brown Septet, Thara Memory Super Band and St. James/Wood Nontet.