We were saddened in march 2004 to have learned
of the death of our friend Ivan Caceres. Earth has lost
a fine musician and a compassionate human being.
When we first posted the
Bongo Page here at Rhythmweb, way back in 1997,
we left a request for folks to send us the names of deserving
bongoceros. The response was excellent. One man, though,
kept sending more and more names, many of which we didn't
recognize until we asked Jorge
Ginorio, a Texas based percussionist of Puerto Rican
descent. He wrote us back, saying, "These guys are
currently players on the club scene in P.R."
I
did some more checking, and realized that the one who'd
sent us so many current names from the island of Puerto
Rico, was indeed a bongocero himself: Ivan Caceres. We struck
up a friendship by e-mail, and he sent images of the scene
in Puerto Rico for me to post at Rhythmweb. I'm proud to
have been amongst his friends on the Internet, and always
hoped to meet him in person someday...
Some time later, Ivan developed his own very
serious website, devoted to bongos:
BONGOLANDIA. (It is still ably
run by his family, and an excellent resource, the best place
on the Web to get a mule skin for the macho head of your
bongos..)
He was a frequent contributor to the Yahoo
Bongo Drumming Group , and was a true drum brother,
always open and helpful to me personally...We miss you,
ivan..(That's him above with the bongos.)
Ivan
Caceres