RAMON TARANCO is a Maple Ontario-based, Cuban-Mexican composer & guitarist whose world beat fusion music runs the gamut from Afro-Cuban Jazz & Blues to Southern Rock & New Orleans Funk. 

Ramon's 2 new singles are now getting airplay. "Devil Can Blues" had it's radio premier Wed. June 21st in the UK on PURE FM's brilliant "Roots & Fusion" with Rick Stuart.
"Desperate Love" will be premiering on "World Beat Canada" 10-midnight, Sat. June 24th on Vancouver's Roundhouse Radio. These shows can be enjoyed anytime at
https://www.mixcloud.com/
RootsAndFusion
AND
http://worldbeatinternation
al.com/pod/podcasts.html

Both singles and Ramon's CDs are available to purchase on iTunes and CD Baby.

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Airplay
Blues, indie jazz and eclectic free form radio shows on public and commercial stations often play Ramon's Spirit of Muddy Waters and Ghost Dance tracks but all 16 tracks from his 2 CDs have had international airplay. To date, Ramon's music has received airplay on at least 350 stations in 50 countries around the globe. In the USA alone, we know of 131 stations across 41 states that play Ramon's music.

​MUSIC CHARTS
 
In February 2010, The Adventures of Bo Segovia CD was #3 on the Roots Music Report international top 100 jazz charts and #10 on the New York State top 100 roots artists (all genres) chart; where rating are tallied based on airplay on 500 affiliated stations worldwide.

​Music From the Bermuda Triangle was on the European Broadcasting Union's World Music Charts in 2008 and 2009. In March 2012, The Adventures of Bo Segovia was featured album-of-the-week on Paris-based Midnight Special Blues Radio's website and Cal Koat of World Beat Canada place it on his Top 3 Albums list​.
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BIO

After experiencing seventeen and a half years of playing guitar professionally and teaching in New York City (from December 1994 to June 2012), Ramon moved back to Canada and now operates a music teaching studio in the heart of Maple Ontario.  He continues to compose music and  prepare for future performances.

NEW YORK

Solo, duo & band performances in New York City include 8 concerts in the Guggenheim Museum's World Beat Jazz Series, "Celebrating the Diaspora: Strummin’ the Americas" for African-American Heritage Month @ Bronx Museum of Fine Arts, Liz Swados' opera "Missionaries" @ Brooklyn Academy of Music's Majestic Theater, Queens Museum of Art, Harborside Jazz Festival, Stephen D. Hassenfeld Children's Center (Manhattan), Visions Institute for the Blind (Manhattan), Connie Lekas School (Brooklyn), Hellenic Cultural Center (Astoria, Queens), Stony Brook U, Manhattanville C, Monroe C (Bronx), Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims (Brooklyn), Latino Heritage Month concert @ Javits Convention Center (Manhattan), Martin Luther King Jr birthday concert @ Newark Public Library, reBar Gastropub (Brooklyn), in NYC jazz & blues clubs ie The Groove, The Mozart Cafe, Izzy Bar, Finally Fred's, La Belle Epoque (Cabaret Nights, Jazz Brunches) and Cornelia Street Cafe (NYC Soul of the Blues Festival).

Soul of the Blues Festival poster designed by Rega - Ramon Taranco + His Havana Blues Revue @ The Cornelia Street Cafe in Greenwich Village, July 31st 2009

"Ramon Taranco + His Sugar Kings" playing at Finally Fred's in NYC, June 1st 2001

NYC Blues Harmonica & Guitar Duo: L-R Jasper McGruder & Ramon Taranco

RAMON TARANCO + HIS HAVANA BLUES REVUE (core band) L/R: Yahoteh Kokayi, Ramon Taranco, Judd Nielsen - August 16 2011, photo by Jimmy Wade (NYC)

Young Ramon Taranco in classical recital attire

Toronto

Ramon played blues, jazz and classical guitar in many of Toronto's premier venues including the Harbourfront Centre's Brigantine Room & Water's Edge Cafe, C'est What, The Riverboat, U of Toronto's Hart House Theatre, the Windsor Arms Hotel's Courtyard Cafe, Art Gallery of Ontario, St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, and in the Top O' the Senator Guitar Bar concert series at the Senator Hotel.

KUBA world beat trio: L-R Basi Mahlasela, Ramon Taranco, Memo Acevedo

Touring

Ramon toured in Western Canada & several times across Ontario (including Sudbury's Laurentian U.) giving concerts, lecture-recitals & guitar clinics. 

performing in duo with violinist Igor Romanyk

Grants

Taranco received several arts grants: an Ontario Arts Council multicultural music recording grant, a composition grant from the Toronto Arts Council, another composition grant from the Ontario Arts Council, and a new talent recording grant from The Foundation to Assist Canadian Talent on Record (FACTOR). These grants made it possible for Ramon to continue recording songs for his first CD of original compositions, “Music From the Bermuda Triangle.” clinics.   

"Motor" L-R: Ramon Taranco, Bruce Durling, Peter Mercer, Stephen Keen

teenage Ramon performing with "Motor"

Jimi Hendrix - Ramon's hero

Ramon riding down the main street of Maximo Gomez, Cuba

street band - Maximo Gomez, Cuba

concert poster designed by Rega

concert poster designed by Rega

Ramon Taranco + His Havana Blues Revue @ The Groove in Greenwich Village, Feb 4 2012; L-R: Ramon Taranco (guitar), Cinque Ubangi Kemp (drums), Judd Nielsen (keyboard), Dave Cutler (bass); photo by Andrew Jack

L-R Jackie Richardson, Betty Richardson, Yohanna van der Kley & Liz Tilden - the vocal chorus in the studio recording "Sugar Cane Rider" & "Hard Work" for Ramon's Music From the Bermuda Triangle CD

Recordings

Ramon's 2 CDs, Music From the Bermuda Triangle and The Adventures of Bo Segovia, present 16 of his organic and very natural eclectic compositions. Encompassing a wide variety of styles, they range from solo guitar (electric and acoustic) to full band.

Music From the Bermuda Triangle is primarily a world beat jazz album with some blues accents. The Adventures of Bo Segovia is mostly blues and funk.

oil painting - portrait of Ramon Taranco by Mendelson Joe

"Two Cubans Named Moe" blues duo: Ramon Taranco (guitar) & Carlos del Junco (harmonica)

Film: Composer &
Musical Advisor

Music From the Bermuda Triangle has two tracks that have been featured in films.

“Tango Solito” (written and produced by Taranco) was commissioned by the Canadian Film Centre (founded by Norman Jewison) for the film "L'Hombre" (Catherine Martin, director) that premiered at the Montreal Film Festival.

The CD's final track, “Mantiki II,” was featured on the soundtrack of documentary Academy Award winners Peter Kinoy and Pamela Yates’ documentary, “Poverty Outlaw” that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

Ramon also served as a music consultant and guitar teacher for the 20th Century Fox feature film “PCU.”  

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tiny guitarman, Ramon Taranco wearing traditional Mexican garb - Los Angeles

Live Radio Performances & Interviews

Live radio performances and interviews include The Gutbucket Blues Show on NYC's WBAI, the CBC's Morningside & Musical Friends and on CKLN (Toronto.) Ramon also gave live interviews on WBAI's New World Gallery & Radio Libre & on KPFT's Son Pacifica (Houston.) 

Ramon's father, Raul Taranco riding on family plantation - Maximo Gomez, Cuba

concert poster designed by Rega