David Chala
Born in Matanzas, Cuba, where the roots of Latin music sprouted, David Chala, a versatile Cuban musician, has over 25 years of experiences in composing, arranging and producing music, conducting professional music performance worldwide.
Currently, David is touring with the “God of Songs”, Jacky Cheung 张学友, one of the “Four Heavenly Kings” Canto-pop star, as a percussionist on “ A Classic Tour of Jacky Cheung”, yet another Guinness world record setting world tour concert. As one of Hong Kong most sought after percussionist, he played on countless concerts for famous canto-pop Alex To杜德偉, Justin Lo 側田, Kelly Chen 陳慧琳, Maria Cordero, Teresa Carpio, Ellsa Chan, Kenny Bee, Liza Wang, Danny Summer, and Gigi Gu. With excellent level of versatility and ability to interpret and improvise musical parts in different musical styles and blend genres as a soloist, David was discovered and invited to join the world's renowned Cirque du Soleil as a starring percussionist at the "Alegria" show on a worldwide tour.
His professionalism and passion in Afro Cuban music lead him to create his debut Afro-Cuban music show, “An Afro-Cuban music Journey with David Chala”, a first of its kind in Hong Kong in 2013. Lead and train his band, Café Mezcaldo, and students in Hong Kong, featuring an Afro-Cuban Jazz quartet, showcasing Afro-Cuban drumming and rhythms. Being an advocator and ambassador of Afro –Cuban music, he has been collaborating with famous Latin band and musicians; including Jonny Polanco en Su Conjunto Amistad, one of the America’s popular salsa band; Mitch Frohman, Saxophonist who played for Tito Puente Orchestra & Latin Jazz Ensemble with famous soundtrack and TV program " Sex & the City", others like Chino Pons and Angel Yos, introducing different style of Latin music in Hong Kong.
Being an innovative artist as a record producer, arranger and composer, David collaborated with one of the famous band in Cuba, Manolito Simonet y su Trabuco” and a Singaporean Canto pop singer Gigi Gu’s 2014 album, re-arranging and recoding Canto pop songs with a Latin twist in Cuba. Dated back to 2005, David infused his Latin flavor in Canto pop songs dated back to 2005 when he composed, arranged, produced and record for one of the famous Canto pop Singer, Joyce Lee’s album “Fantasy” which became immensely popular, revitalizing the Canto-pop music scene in Hong Kong and further afield.
With his exceptional passion in Latin music, David has gotten beyond his career as a performer. Establishing his own Music School, MusicToss in 2008, he is the pioneer in bringing the education of Latin Musicality to Hong Kong, by emphasizing his distinctive insight on “music before dance” benefiting dancers and music lovers to understand and appreciate Latin music which enhance their experience on dancing and learning Afro- Cuban percussion. His inspirations and contributions in Afro Cuban musicality education is well received and was invited by the University of Philippines, College of Music to teach on Afro Cuban music history, its evolution and conducted percussion clinics. To provide education even further, David started to host the world first and ever Latin Music program at "Our Radio" in HK explaining the root of Cuban music and different Latin music style, its history to its influence in the transformation of different music style and dance. Being innovative, David creates an unique percussion jamming circle to train people to be rhythmic and allow engagement which are widely received by students and corporate events.
Horned his skills from Provincial School of Art in Matanzas in his young age, his passion in music had earned him an important position as musical instructor for Afro-Cuban percussion for the Casa de Cultura, the Cultural Centre of Art. Discovered his talent for Cuban Keyboard was the famous agency of Artistas de Cuba – Benny Moré in Havana, David began his professional career in arranging, composing and performing Afro-Cuban music since early 1990s. ecame musical director of "Grupo Ritmo Joven"; an arranger, composer and performer for "Alfonso Llorens y su Dinamica", an international touring cuban band based in Varadero Cuba. In 2000, David formed "Sonido Cubano”, a Latin band that performed on various TV shows and Latin American festivals in Canada. His talent provides him with the opportunity to work with Latin bands across Asia including Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Shanghai, Macau and Hong Kong during 2003-2005.
As an artist, a performer and an educator, David’s musical talents and his pleasant personally has given him great ovation from audiences, students, producers and event organizers who have seen and worked with him over the years.
