Event

Jose Conde y Ola Fresca

Ola Fresca means "fresh wave." Founded in 2000 by singer-composer-lyricist and arranger Jose Conde, Ola Fresca features some of the best musicians in New York City, coming together for a fresh take on rootsy, funky, jazzy, Latin dance music.

Born in Chicago and raised in Miami by his Cuban-immigrant parents, Conde has been living in New York since earning a BA from Berklee College of Music in 1997. After experimenting with jazz, rock, funk, blues and latin music in his first couple of years in New York, Conde realized his musical journey was leading him back to his Cuban roots. He formed Ola Fresca in 2000 with a clear goal to write new, original music based on the foundation of traditional, Cuban rhythms and style, while incorporating non-traditional elements for spice.

Jose Conde's music fits into the powerfully danceable rhythmic system of Afro-Cuban music. A Cuban would say it's got sabor de clave. He writes his own lyrics, too, and they have party flavor and humor, but they also have substance. Conde does his own arrangementssomething few singers doso both the charts and the production grow organically out of the words.