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Chris Parkins - Piano. Chris starting learning piano from the age of 7 but it wasn't until his twenties he discovered salsa and a desire to provide those tuneful, rhythmic latin piano riffs. Cambiando gave him the chance..
Derek Scurll - Timbales. Derek has been playing music for as long as he can remember. He took up drums & percussion at the age of 12 in order to force his parents to move house. Derek took the Cambiando timbalero chair in 2002* and has been trying to sneak more drums to each gig since.
Abel Baerga-Ortiz - Lead Vocals, Bongos and Percussion. Gilberto Santa Rosa and Poncho Sanchez combined into one human being - who would believe it possible!
Katie Eagleton - Flute, Sax, Vocals and Percussion. Katie gets bored easily, which is why she insists on playing flute and baritone sax in Cambiando, as well as learning Spanish by singing coros. If she went to Cuba she wouldn’t know how to order a beer, but would be able to tell someone what a great dancer they are.
Pete Cooper - Bass and Lead Vocals. Pete started learning guitar at 8, but it wasn't until he was 21, during a year spent in Mexico, he discovered salsa. Some years later, back in the UK, he learnt to dance which, in turn sparked a desire to get together a group of musicians to play salsa and he switched to Bass guitar as a result.
Ana Cerdeño-Tárraga - Vocals and Percussion. Ana has appreciated music from an early age, she started playing the spanish guitar when she was 8 years old. Since she moved to the UK she re-discovered salsa though dancing and realised her desire to perform!
Mike Goodson - Trumpet. Mike started playing trumpet at the age of 8 on the basis that it was the loudest instrument going. When not single-handedly breaking local decibel limits at gigs, he likes to believe he is learning to play timbales. Derek need not get particularly worried just yet though.
Oli Campbell - Congas. A banker by day and percussionist by night, Oli started
playing congas five years ago and studied with well-known teachers in London,
New York and Havana. As well as salsa, he enjoys folkloric Afro-Cuban rhythms
and Jazz piano. Oli's main salsa influences are very much in the old school of
Fania and Puerto Rican legends such as La Sonora Poncena and Willie Rosario.
ALUMNI
Nikol Simecek - Trombone. Nikol started learning trombone at 13, but
her real interest in the instrument began after hearing the awe-inspiring Jimmy
Bosch over a decade later. She met Pete through a friend and by chance they
discovered a mutual interest in salsa music.
Thomas O'Grady - Trombone. From an early age, Tom was fascinated with
making silly noises. A near-fatal accident suffered whilst trying to operate a
standard recorder as a nose flute convinced him to search for a safer way to
retain his status as chief prankster of the school orchestra, so he decided to
take up the trombone. Two years later he was able to start learning, once his
arms were long enough.
Stuart Jefford - Congas. Stu started playing congas in 2002, and has played in several other Cambridge bands including CUJO, Capricorn and Palo Viejo. In 2004, he spent 5 weeks in Havana studying percussion with Cuban master José Eladio Amat, who has influenced his playing greatly. Stu joined Cambiando in 2004 and has since rapidly built up a repertoire of ‘ironic’ jokes, some of which are funny.
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