Gil Castro is what you call a real professional musician. He was born in Humacao, Puerto Rico in 1949, and at an early age, like many Puerto Ricans looking for better opportunities, his family moved to New York City. This relocation caused a deep influence in his entire life as his bedroom was located right above a bar, where different styles of music were played constantly day and night.
In 1960, his family returns to Humacao, a very small city in comparison to New York. As a coping mechanism, he started guitar lessons that consisted of learning Cuban and Puerto Rican traditional songs. Not even a teenager yet, he found his true passion in life, music! From simple guitar lessons, he went on to master the guitar, the bass, the piano, and the harmonica. As he put it simply, “music made sense of a chaotic world”.
His world was music, but his parents had a different idea; they wanted him to become an attorney. In 1971, after graduating from the University of Puerto Rico, instead of going to law school and to everyone’s surprise, he decided to further his education in the ” Music Conservatory of Puerto Rico”. However, even thought the Conservatory provided excellent music theory, Gil was not interested much in classical music.
After 3 years in the Conservatory, he drops out and moves to Los Angeles, California looking for a more suitable music scene. There he obtained diplomas in music related fields from the Guitar Institute of Technology and from Los Angeles City College. During those years, he started several bands in different styles like Latin, Rock even including a Brass band… barely enough to pay the bills, but fulfilling!
Finally in the mid 1990’s, he returns back home to Humacao. Never satiated with all the musical instruments that he has mastered already, he learns how to play the Steel Drums, an instrument associated with the Caribbean, but not traditional of Puerto Rico. This long journey through life led to recording the CD “Latin Classics on Steel Drums”, a mix of the classic folk songs from Cuba and Puerto Rico that as a boy he learned to play on guitar, but now he interprets in Steel Drums. A unique master piece where all the instruments in the album were played solely by him.
We started recording this CD in 2013, and after many ups and downs in life, accompanied by many beers, IT IS DONE! This CD does not contain any lyrics degrading anyone; as a matter of fact, it does not contain any – it’s an instrumental work of art that reflects our cultural heritage and our changes in life… Enjoy the music!
Manny Maldonado
Recording Engineer/Producer/Web Developer
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