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The new season for Sunday in the Garden begins with Grupo Riken playing music of Latin America! Grupo Riken plays folk music from the Caribbean and Latin America, including Bossa Nova, Cuban Bolero, Jibaro Music, Salsa, and other genres.This popular, al fresco concert series is free with park admission.
Grupo Riken has been performing in the Tucson area since 2009. The group's unique sounds comes from folk instruments like the Puerto Rican cuatro, guitar, Peruvian Cajon, Afro-Caribbean percussion bongos and congas, accompanied by the guitar. The name Riken is a derivation from the name given by the indigenous Tainos in Puerto Rico, which called the island Boriken. Grupo Riken has participated in local music festivals such as the Tucson Meet Yourself, and has participated in Tohono Chul’s Sunday in the Garden concert series since 2015. They released their first CD title De aqui pa’ allá in 2016.
José Luis Puerta (guitar) Native from Puerto Rico, he has been an active Board Member of the Tucson Guitar Society since 2009. He is the Director of Education and the conductor for the Tucson Guitar Society Orchestra since 2013. As a soloist and ensemble artist he has performed in Canada, Spain, United States, Mexico and Puerto Rico. He completed his Doctor in Musical Arts degree at the University of Arizona where he now teaches.
Alexis Rivera (cuatro) Native from Puerto Rico, has been performing with different instruments, such as the bass, drums, guitar and cuatro, with different groups throughout the Tucson are. Most recently with the LFP Project, Tradiciones and Grupo Riken. He also records, composes and edits some of the music for the group.
David Pérez (percussion) Originally from Mexico City, he studied congas with a cuban teacher which gave him a deep understanding of Caribbean music such as the salsa, boleros, guaguancó. He has performed with multiple groups, and is an active member with Vox Urbana. Vox Urbana is a seven -piece band that combines Latin-based sounds with stories and experiences that occur in the Arizona/Sonora border region. The bi-national band is based in Tucson, Arizona and has been creatively narrating stories of the border community since 2010.