NEWS UPDATE June 2006
Easter Holidays recording session in Puerto Rico, April 2006
Recording Ora Tambó in Shawn Hunt's Studio 6C in Mayagüez, Western Puerto Rico.
Shawn, Jochy, KC Porter, Leonor and Istvan
The debut of Istvan & Leonor in a duo lineup turned out to be a raving success and rocked the youthful audience of 800 or so at the Nort Eastern Baha'i Youth Conference and Festival in Stamford, Connecticut, at the end of February this year. The tropical heat of Leonor's voice & guitar and Istvan's drums melted into blazing frenzy the hearts of their listeners in the middle of the harsh Northeastern winter.
: 21ST GRAND CANYON BAHÁ'Í CONFERENCE
Phoenix, AZ, December 20-27, 2005
Leonor with the Embrace the World Tour and Eric Dozier at the 21st Grand Canyon Bahá'í Conference in Phoenix, Arizona; December 2005
- Ecuador December 2004 – January 05
Leonor and her producer KC Porter were the artistic highlights of the International Conference held in Otavalo, Ecuador, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the passing of Hand of the Cause Dr. Muhajjir, gathering 275 friends from 13 countries for three days from December 31st through January 2nd. The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Ecuador, organizers of the event, wrote in their message to the Universal House of Justice: "A major contribution to the elevated spirit of the event was the music performed by K.C. Porter and Leonor Dely, who with their talent, coupled with their love for the Faith, stirred the souls of all those present with the music of the Holy Words."
- Release of Leonor Dely & Millero Congo's second album Talisman, Los Angeles, October 2004:
Insignia Records proudly announces it’s newest tribalglobal CD release, the long-awaited Talisman,
from Leonor Dely & Millero Congo.
Leonor Dely and Millero Congo's TALISMAN, includes the masterful production work of JB Eckl, Shangó Dely, Francisco "Pancho" Tomaselli and Grammy winner KC Porter. Amidst the lilting vocals comes the unrelenting rhythm of sacred drumming with a modern tribalglobal edge. This CD entrances as much as it entertains, and gets the heart a well as the solar plexus moving. It's a celebration of life in all its diversity. Not since Bob Marley has music with a transforming rhythm and transcendent message seemed so accessible and insistent on a response. A talisman is something that produces magical or miraculous effect. These 12 uncommon compositions do that in spades!
• Leonor Dely & Millero Congo's fourth US concert tour - Spring 2004
As part of the Embrace the World Spring 2004 Tour, Leonor Dely & Millero Congo performed for audiences in 20 cities of 11 States of the US and Canada (California, Nevada, Oregon, Wahington, British Columbia, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and Arizona) from April 11 through May 13 this year. (view slide show)
A sample review from the Denver newspaper La Voz Nueva describes the show: "A musical program at the Bahá’i Center Saturday was an amazing example of cross-culturalism at its very best. On stage at one time and playing together in honeyed harmony were musicians from six countries and four continents.
The backup band, Millero Congo, comes from Colombia, for which Leonor Dely, a well-known Colombian vocalist, is the featured star. Her husband, Istvan Dely, who is of Hungarian birth, provided Afro-Cuban percussion for the assembly. Their sons, Shangó and David, provided additional percussion and flute. Also on hand were Chinese vocalist and erhu virtuoso Lin Cheng, Iranian master violinist Farzad and American-born, Guatemalan-raised KC Porter on keyboards and vocals. Farzad’s nephew Todd Khozein provided additional keyboards with Kieran Murray on bass and Eric Picotte on guitar. The music this diverse ensemble of musicians played is not easy to describe. Imagine a classical form of music played on modern instrumentation – new age classical with a high quotient of spirituality."
We will keep you updated on the documentary video of the tour as well as the 2005 Tour that promises to further embrace and uplift the diversity of humankind and its powerful rhythms and spirit.
• 2003 Autumn Tour
Leonor Dely & Millero Congo were the highlights of the three day Divine Art of Living Conference in San Diego, California, as well as of the Oneness Foundation’s Human Rights Awards Ceremony in Oxnard, California. They also recorded in KC Porter’s Worldbeat Studio in Calabasas, CA, the last song for her second album Talisman.• 2002 Stars of East and West Tour
Leonor Dely teamed up with Iranian master violinist Farzad Khozein with a backing band of top world musicians from Hungary, Colombia, USA, Canada and Venezuela for a Summer Tour in the US (San Diego, San Francisco, Oxnard, Albuquerque, Minneapolis, St Paul and Eden Prairie)• 2001 Amame debut tour
Leonor Dely & Millero Congo made their first US tour in the summer to promote her recently released album Amame of Latin roots music with Afrocolombian, Afrocuban and Afrocaribbean sacred drums (Los Angeles, Oxnard, San Jose, and the Building the Kingdom Conference in Milwaukee).• Los Angeles, January 2001: Leonor’s first album released
The release of Amame by producer KC Porter on his label Insignia Records and with the musical production of Shangó Dely, marked Leonor’s entrance as singer/songwriter into the international music scene after almost two decades of work with her husband Istvan’s Millero Congo experimental acoustic fusion group and drumming school on the Caribbean Coast of Colombia.
