#7 Marcos J. Lopez- Percussionist for Lila Downs, Thalia, Max Weinberg and More!

This episode is sponsored by Love Nomadic.

In this episode we talked about this Alejandro Sanz album, "No Es Lo Mismo" that was important to Marcos. The other groups he mentioned were Los Hermanos Ayala and Rafael Cepeda.

Other groups from Puerto Rico that were brought up later in the episode were Cunya, Viento de Agua, Desde Cero, & Plena Libre.

The Childish Gambino album "Awaken my Love" and Santana's "Abraxas" albums are also in rotation for Marcos. 

The track played in the middle is and unreleased track by the Torres Brothers feat. Marcos Lopez. 

The three of the artists mentioned that Marcos has worked with are Lila Downs, Thalia, and Max Weinberg. Marcos will be performing with Gilberto Santa Rosa on the west coast and you can see him here.

The group his grandfather was a part of was called (Rafael) Cortijo y su Combo.

The teacher he credits with helping him the most with his technique is David Marcano

He went to high school at the Escuela Libre de Musica and during that time toured with N'Klabe, then when he attended Berklee College of Music, one of the groups he played with was La Timbistica. Another Berklee musician referred to is Mario Castro

Marcos identified the difference between Son Jarocho and Cumbia. 

The exercise he says he practices the most is one that was inspired by Mark Guiliana and switches between 8th notes, to 8th note triplets, to 16th notes, to 5-lets (and back down) at 30BPM on the metronome.

The two Giovanni Hidalgo videos are In The Tradicion and Conga Virtuoso. The Marc Quinones performance with the Horacio "El Negro" Band is here.

Marcos is endorsed by Latin Percussion, Zildjian Cymbals, and Vic Firth Drumsticks. You can find him at his website, facebook, twitter (sometimes), instagram, and YouTube.

Here are a couple of videos of Marcos (and friend of the Podcast, Paulo Stagnaro).