The Sonjorombe Project

Miguel learned to play guitar in Uruguay taking lessons with the accomplished musician Ney Peraza from age 15 to 19. Music and his guitars, together with sports, have been Miguel’s most beloved passions throughout his life while pursuing engineering as his professional career. A former Assistant Professor in Electrical Engineering at Universidad de la República in Uruguay, Miguel moved to Los Angeles, CA, in 2003, and obtained his PhD in Telecommunications from UCLA in 2008. He now lives in San Diego working in Wireless Reasearch & Development @ Qualcomm. His initial musical influences come mostly from uruguayan musicians (Eduardo Mateo, Fernando Cabrera, Jaime Roos, Ruben Olivera, Mauricio Ubal, Edú Lombardo, Jorge Drexler, etc), the “Musica Popular Brasileira” and argentinian rock. Since moving to USA, he’s been on a journey of musical discovery of all latin genres and rhythms.

David is originally from Ecuador but has lived in the US for over 20 years. He learned to play the charango at the age of 13 and picked up the guitar at 17. He moved to the US to study guitar performance at the Lionel Hampton school of music in Moscow, Idaho. Although he switched majors to purse a design career, music has always been a passion, and an important part of his life. He is strongly influenced by the “Nueva Canción”, which is an Iberian American movement in the 20th century, characterized by folk-inspired styles and socially committed lyrics. He now lives in San Diego, California with his wife and 2 boys.

Javier started learning music in Colombia when he was 8 years old, in a journey through the Andes playing the zampoña (a traditional Andean panpipe), guided by the sweet sound of the quenas (Andean flutes). He later migrated his attention to the profound sound of the bombo (a bass drum), and in time focused his musical development to various types of drums – in particular congas, bongos and campana – mastering multiple rhythms like salsa, merengue, vallenato, etc.
He received a music scholarship in the “Universidad Central de Colombia”, where he also took a major in Marketing.
Since then Javier has been part of multiple musical groups and projects, and is currently bringing his legacy and expertise of 4 decades to the Sonjorombe Journey.

Like most musically inclined children raised in his native Venezuela, Luis’s first instrument was the Venezuelan Cuatro (Sort of a Caribbean Ukulele) which he found as a present under a Christmas tree at the age of nine and he considers one the greatest gifts he has ever received from “El Niño Jesus “ ( Venezuelan Santa). From this early age, Luis or Luisi (nickname) was heavily influenced by Venezuela’s folk music and learned to play different genres from Joropo, Parranda, Gaitas, Venezuelan Merengues, and other typical styles from his homeland. A few years later, Luisi migrated to the guitar where he was introduced to various Latin American folk styles and other international genres like Rock & Roll, Jazz, Salsa, and Bossa Nova. In parallel and around the same time, Luisi developed a passion for Rock & Roll music and later became heavily inspired by musician-songwriters especially those with a combined unique ability as great performers and songwriters. Caetano Veloso, Ruben Blades, Pablo Milanes, Yordano, Tracy Chapman, and James Taylor are some of his all-time favorite songwriter-singers. On the personal side, Luisi enjoys living in beautiful San Diego with his wife and two children and considers himself a self-help junkie, passionate about outdoor activities with hiking, swimming, running, and cycling among his preferred activities. Additionally, Luisi loves traveling internationally with his wife Jacky and considers himself a global citizen having visited more than 45 countries thus far. Luisi is also the founder and managing director of Search4Fit International which is a boutique search firm in the Tech sector but most importantly he is now fully enjoying his lifetime passion for music and songwriting with the Sonjorombe project.

Amely specializes mostly in traditional Latin American and Classical music. Her musical career began when she was 9 years old. She studied music at the Elias David Curiel Music School and made her name as a member of multiple choruses & orchestras in her home state of Falcón, where she played the cuatro, the mandolin, and the viola. She was a founder of Venezuelan Global System of Orchestras and Choirs at the Falcón Youth Symphony and the Falcón Orchestra, in addition to being one of the Founders of the Falcón Symphony. Amely is an expert cuatro and mandolin player and arranger. She has performed and toured in different cities throughout Venezuela and throughout the world. Later, she was a chorister at Summer Pop concerts organized by the San Diego Symphony in San Diego, California. She also performed with the San Diego Academy as Venezuelan Music Ambassador at the San Diego Youth Symphony. Amely has studied with world renowned professional musicians such as, Raul Penso of Venezuela, Yolanda Correa, Manuel Pachano of Venezuela, Constantine Lacatucho (Romania), Julien Martineau (France), Dorina Frati (Italy). Amely holds a MBA from National University, CA, USA. Amely is a product of the Venezuelan Music Program also known as “El Sistema”. Currently, Amely plays mandolin with the San Diego Mandolin Orchestra and Classical Mandolin Society of America, while also privately teaching violin, mandolin, Venezuelan cuatro, guitar and ukulele. She sings as a soprano for the UC San Diego Catholic Choir (Newman Center), teaches Mando For Kids, and lives with her French American husband in Coronado, CA.

Amely’s goal is to present Venezuela’s traditional music to the world. She embraces the responsibility of broadcasting her music inside and outside Venezuela. The reason is clear: her music encompasses a unique spectrum of rich sounds and varied rhythms that cannot be duplicated.

Luis Cely is originally from Quito, Ecuador. He began beating the drums when he was sixteen. At a young age he was mesmerized by the sounds and rhythms of nature (especially song birds from the Andes). He became a naturalist guide and perfected his musical sense primarily while he was working at the Galápagos Islands listening and identifying many animals’ communication patterns and bird calls. While he was at the Galápagos islands, he obtained his dive master license and became addicted to the underwater world. There he discovered one of the consistently noisiest environments and while listening to whales and other mammals underwater he began to imagine music accompanying their underwater songs. He met his wife at the islands (conveniently a native of San Diego) in one of his trips and the rest is history. Twenty one years later he still lives in San Diego with his wife and two teen children.  

Alejandro was born in San Diego and raised in Mazatlán, Sinaloa. He bought his first bass guitar in his Junior year of high school and form a band with his younger brother who played guitar and two other friends. The short lived No Name band was heavily influenced by the late 80’s and early 90’s Latin Alternative bands, such as Soda Stereo and Caifanes, combining with Anglo alternative bands they discovered while listening to 91x in San Diego.
After a long pause from playing while focusing on a Graphic Design major at RISD and working in NYC, he came back to Mexico and purchased his second bass guitar to play in a Mazatlan street festival. Since then he’s been working on his bass playing technique while looking for the opportunity to join a band.
He joined Sonjorombe when his friend Miguel invited him to a “Bohemian Night”, an informal Latin music jamming session,  and has been learning and enjoying so many new Latin Music genres ever since.