Mercadonegro Orchestra
Mercadonegro was born at the end of 2000 with the influence of Salsa Dura, gaining experience in collaborations with world-known artists like Celia Cruz, Alfredo de la Fe, Cheo Feliciano, Tito Nieves and many others. They will perform at the 2025 National Salsa Congress as part of the SE ACABO EL CUENTO Tour.
The Mercadonegro project was born when three Latin-American musicians met by chance in Europe. They have kept their musical heart in Latin America, and they decided to spread throughout the world the sounds of their homelands, together with new beats and vibes.
Armando Miranda was born in in La Habana, Cuba, in the Buenavista neighbourhood made famous by the Wim Wenders film. Hes been a professional musician since he was 17 years old. He studied at the Felix Varela Professional Music School in La Habana, where he played – and sung – salsa and Afro-Cuban music with famous artists such as Manguaré, Niurka Espinola, Ire Arche.
Rodrigo Rodríguez was born in Cartagena de Indias, Colombias most Caribbean town. He worked as a singer and percussionist for Colombias National Ballet as well as with Joseito Martinez from the Latin Brothers.
Cesar Correa was born in Trujillo, Peru. Trujillo is well known for its long tradition in arts and music. He studied classical piano at the Carlos Valderrama Conservatory in Trujillo where he worked as a classical concert player. He also played with numerous salsa and Peruvian folk music groups. He also has a wide experience as an arranger and as conductor. In Switzerland, he studied at Fribourgs conservatory and at the Berns Jazz School.
On this basis they created MERCADONEGRO, a band who therein has become the orchestra of choice for the main Salsa Festivals and Congresses world wide, a band who was called in 2009 to make the opening concert of the most important Latin Festival of the world, the Latinoamericando Expo in Milano.
The group was named MERCADONEGRO not to forget the roots and the legacy of Afro-American music, and also to describe the difficult pattern, for a group of young and almost unknown musicians, to become popular and appreciated worldwide, starting from Switzerland, an unexpected location for Latin-American music.
MERCADONEGRO, thanks to its great live performances, has rapidly become the most interesting new act in high quality Latin music, starring at the most important jazz, Latin and world music festivals, like “Umbria Jazz” in Perugia, “Fiesta” in Rome, “Latinoamericando Expo” in Milano, Afro-Pfingsten Winterthur, Montreux Jazz, “Lugano Estival Jazz” in Switzerland, “Vic Fenzensac”, “Paris Jazz Festival”, “Marseilles Féte de la Ville” in France, “Red Sea Jazz Festival” in Israel, “Rotskild” in Denmark, Rotterdam Carnival in Holland, North Sea Jazz Festival etc. often with TV live coverage.
