Espejos de Aztlán; Ray Cruz, Brown Sugar

Que huele muy bienvenidos a su programa Espejos de Aslándio. Soy Cecilio García Camarillo, hoy la noche vamos a estar platicada. Que huele muy bienvenidos a su programa Espejos de Aslándio. Soy Cecilio García Camarillo, hoy la noche vamos a estar platicando con el señor Ray Cruz de la Grupación Musical Brown Sugar. Y también vamos a tener la oportunidad de escuchar un cassette. Todo el cassette entero vamos a estar escuchando este cassette que salió en 1991. La primer proyecto grande de Brown Sugar, la Grupación Local de aquí de Albuquerque, es que un poquito de plática y bastante música con su amigo Ray Cruz. Ray, muy gracias por ringer estaedaya del génial de promiscir thus para los negocios aquí aquí.

aquí. Y el grupo empezó a ir atrás en 1974. Hay un poco de los miembros en la banda ahora que viene a la very beginning. These are the people that actually started Brown Sugar, which is Jerry Harameo. He's our sax player. And Cecil Sanchez, our guitar player. I came in just about at the beginning of the group. Right now, there's three of us, you know, the date way back to almost the beginning. It's been quite an experience. Like you said, it's been almost 20 years. But in those 20 years, we've really had a lot of pleasure out of what we're doing.

Quite a journey, Ray. If musical bands are like theater groups and so on, you probably have seen a lot of faces that have come in and that left Brown Sugar. Could you remember some of those fellows that played with Brown Sugar for a while? Yeah, Brown Sugar has gone through a lot of changes there. We've had a lot of different musicians from time to time. At one time, for a number of years, I was the only one in the group of the original people. We've had girls singers. We've had male singers. We've had different instrumentation in the group. But we've always been a fairly large group, you know, consisting of from seven to nine members. Right now, we're a seven-piece group. That's a pretty nice high orchestra. Yeah, it is. We can make an awful lot of noise with that. But like, again, like I said, it's been quite an experience.

It's something that we've had a lot of fun with. Where did the name Brown Sugar come from? I know that there is some sugar that is actually Brown. It's a very catchy name. Well, actually, I think back in those days, there was quite a few groups that were picking up names from tunes that might be on the radio. The main reason for the name Brown Sugar, though, was because of the type of music that we were doing. We were a variety group, of course, but we did lean kind of heavy to the Chicano side. We owned that side of the music because that is what we had a lot of requests for. We've been a variety group, but we do a lot of things like weddings and parties. We've played nightclub gigs. We've played for all kinds of different things from senior proms to private parties to swimming parties. In fact, we joke about that quite a bit and say, you know, you name it, we'll play for it.

We've been all over. It's easy for you to... I find it incredible that there are so many bands that just do rock and roll and jazz musicians that play jazz, but you guys have to know just about everything. You see, it's easy for you to jump from on the Chicano to country and western to all these bad goodies. It's not easy. We've had something that we constantly work at, and I don't think anybody can really say that they master it. But we've tried very hard to be able to play different styles of music, but it is pretty difficult because every type of music has its own feel, its own style. And to be able to make that transition is pretty rough. But we've managed to work at it. We enjoy what we do. We enjoy playing for all kinds of different people, so that's one thing that we've had to work at.

Obviously, like Raladre, because it's almost 20 years ago. We're going to be here hearing Sidey. What can you tell us about those three selections? Well, again, like I said, one of the types of music that we enjoy very much, and I think this group has always enjoyed, even with the different people that we've seen in the group throughout the years, is the Onda Chicana. When Brown Sugar first started, Onda was pretty popular. Then it kind of faded out a little bit. But it seems to be doing real well now. I think Onda's back. And with the time that has passed, you know, how groups improve. And a lot of the Texas musicians, you know, which have had a big influence on us, have also changed. They've improved.

So the music has also improved and changed quite a bit. And as you know, music keeps getting harder and harder every day. So it's been quite a challenge. But that type of music is something that we really enjoy. It's been a real challenge trying to play that kind of music. And that's where these three songs come from. You should see this guy here, Luis had dance to Onda Chicana, and last time I saw him, he was going. Let's have a taste. Cheers. Luis, how about us hearing the first three selections of Side One of Cassette, the Brown Sugar. It's called Still Around and Still in Town. And he's going to tell us about that title in just a moment. Let's have a taste.

Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste.

Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste.

Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste.

Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste.

Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste.

Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste.

Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste.

Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste.

Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste.

Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste.

Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste.

Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste.

Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste.

Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste.

Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste.

Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste.

Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste.

Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste.

Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste.

Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste.

Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste.

Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste.

Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste.

Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste.

Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste.

Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste.

Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste.

Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste.

Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste.

Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste.

Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste. Let's have a taste.

Let's have a taste.