Jose Maria Bustos

At this year’s Adelaide Salsa Festival, I was given an on-the-spot assignment to interview international guest DJ, Bosco. Totally unprepared, I launched in to what was to become an inspiring conversation primarily about the golden age of Latin music in New York.

DJ Bosco — looking cool in black and wearing rosary beads and tinted glasses — is a man of many talents. Before becoming a DJ in Singapore some ten years ago, and a highly influential DJ on the Asian Latin scene, he was an accomplished Latin dancer, painter, and interior designer. He has achieved so much in his 60-odd years and I asked him for his secret to success.

“If you can keep your dream at the forefront of your thinking you will manifest it into reality.” Great advice!

Bosco (also known as Jose Maria Bustos) started dancing at the age of ten. With Puerto Rican parents he had salsa dancing in his blood. He also had the good fortune to grow up in New York City at the heart of the 50s and 60s salsa scene with many famous musicians, among them Eddy Palmieri and Jerry and Andy González from Conjunto Libre, whom he met at the High School of Music and Art (the school that inspired the Fame TV series). Bosco also pointed out that his sister was dating the famous musician Johnny Colon back then.

“The late 50s was an extremely inspirational time, dancing at the Tropicana at 163rd Street the Bronx, from 3am till sunrise,” recalled Bosco. “The Tropicana was the after-hours place where all the Latin musicians of that time jammed after gigs, particularly when the Palladium closed in the late 50s. During this time musicians morphed into numerous bands. This was also truly the golden time of Latin music and dancing in New York.”

The venue attracted musicians such as Charlie Palmieri, Kako, Chocolate Armanteros and  Chavo Silver who would all jam together and later form the Alegre All Stars then the Fania All Stars.

Asked to nominate his top three favourite musicians, Bosco replied “Tito Puente, Tito Rodrigez and Machito”. Tito Rodrigez is his all-time favourite because “he has the most beautiful voice” and Bosco loves Bolero commenting that “Bolero is what is missing in the international Latin dance scene”.

This conversation led to discussion about music trends, especially the current experimental music scene in New York. Bosco visits New York every year and slips right into the “old timer’s scene”. Although there are less clubs there now, you’ll still find that the Bronx, Brooklyn and Connecticut are where it’s all at (“Manhattan is for tourists”) with the locals experimenting in mixing Salsa, Reggaeton, Mambo and House. One of his favourite groups at the moment is Bronx River Parkway who play Electro Samba and have released an amazing Bollywood Cha Cha Cha track.

Beyond New York, Venezuela is “smoking hot with music” according to Bosco with some cool American and Venezuelan artists performing together playing traditional salsa groove music.  He recommended listening to César Monges and Rodrigo Mendoza, both from Venezuela.

I could have talked more about music but with limited time I also wanted to know who influenced his dance style. Bosco said Tony Peña and Louie La Máquina were great influences and that La Máquina was also a major influence on Eddie Torres.

Eddie Torres invented on1 dancing in the late 80s which grew salsa internationally.  According to Bosco, “Before Eddie Torres everything was New York style” — also known as on2 dancing or Afro-Caribbean-New York based Salsa, which is arguably more spontaneous and in tune with the music. Bosco said he preferred on2 style as “people feel the music rather than count their steps when they are dancing”.

Bosco doesn’t dance as much as he used to, preferring to be behind the decks. His rare record collection from the 50s and 60s is what inspired him to become a DJ when he arrived in Singapore for an interior design project. He noticed that although there was a Latin scene with clubs like Union Square and Cuba Libre, no one was playing the old classics. Since then, he has built a solid reputation in Asia and has DJ-ed in Malaysia, The Philippines, India and Hong Kong and performed alongside Spanish Harlem Orchestra, New Swing Sextet and Jo Polanco.  

Although Singapore is Bosco’s home now, I get the feeling that he’ll soon be a regular visitor to Australia. And with his New York connections and his massive roots and modern Latin music collection, Bosco will no doubt make our Australian Latin scene a whole lot richer, especially on the dance floor. 

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Interview by Melinda Kalac
Interview Date Upload. 01.03.11