Melina Almodóvar

Dear world, please meet Melina Almodavar, the artist who’s shaking up the world of modern salsa! This fiery, yet humble, singer-songwriter blends classic tropical beats with a fresh, modern sass and style that stands out fiercely! She’s not just making music; she’s taking over the dance floor and world at large! Hit play and enjoy this very personal interview with this unparalleled and unstoppable force in Latin music!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:04

This is How We Love, I am Rob Melena and welcome back. Today's guest is the Solcer singer, songwriter, dancer, and music festival producer the dynamic Melena Alba Devars. From her song La Vida Estella, here's a glimpse of her sound. Hi, Melina, because this is an audio-only podcast. Our listeners cannot see how drop dead gorgeous you are. But take it from me, folks. She is all fat. Melina. For our audience, tell them how they can hear the full song on the live album.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

Hi, Robin. I'm super excited to be here with you today. And they can go to YouTube and look for Melina Salsa. You can go there and find all my music there. You can find my last concert, which is fully live from Hollywood, Florida. And you can listen to it there. All of it is there on my YouTube page.

SPEAKER_02 1:24

Great. You've made life easy. So what are you up to currently?

SPEAKER_00 1:28

Wow, Robin, I'm doing a million things all at the same time. And uh yeah, I'm getting ready for a lot of shows coming up here. Um so I'm super Where is here?

SPEAKER_02 1:40

Where is here?

SPEAKER_00 1:41

Um I live in Miami, in Miami, Florida, actually in Pembroke Pines, right outside of Miami. Uh, and I do uh a lot of events here in uh Miami Beach, in Hollywood, and all the surrounding areas. Um, I also do a lot of shows uh outside of the country, but right now I'm really focused on a lot of events that I'm gonna be producing in the next few months. So uh and also performing. So I'm getting ready for all that. Um actually, I just spent the whole day sitting here waiting for uh this wonderful podcast to be with you, but also producing, producing, organizing myself.

SPEAKER_02 2:22

I know you're a very hard worker, but let's go back back a bit, okay? To your early years. So you grew up in Puerto Rico, right?

SPEAKER_00 2:32

Yes, Puerto Rico.

SPEAKER_02 2:33

What town? What town?

SPEAKER_00 2:35

Well, I grew up, I was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico.

SPEAKER_02 2:39

Yes, but I've actually been there.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

Yes, I was born there, and then my family uh moved to across the bay from San Juan to a place called Toa Baja, Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, and I grew up there in a neighborhood cut called Levitown. So I grew up there until uh about 14 years old. Um, and then I moved to the States when I was 14. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:08

You had you had there was your dad died when you were how old?

SPEAKER_00 3:12

Yes, I was 10 years old when my father died.

SPEAKER_02 3:16

Um was that like what that's a catastrophe?

SPEAKER_00 3:19

Yeah, it was uh you know, it was intense, it was some intense years uh there because also my grandma, his mother died uh, you know, a a year before. So it was very, very difficult. Uh, you know, when you're a child, you really don't know what that means, I think. So for me, uh, you know, I think as as we get older, we realize what that really means. Um, and so for me, when I was a kid, you know, yeah, it was I really didn't know what death was, honestly. Um, and so yeah, it was a shock because my dad was very active in my life. He was always up and down music all the time. I that my father was a singer, and so that's why I enjoy music so much.

SPEAKER_02 4:07

One of the reasons, because so you come from a musical family?

SPEAKER_00 4:11

Yes, I come from a very, very artistic family. Tell us I come from um so my grandmother, Elia Sanchez, she's 93, and she, you know, uh in her earlier years was a sculptress and a painter, and she loved poetry and loved to read and loved to write poetry and was very, very artistic. And my mother, when her younger years as well, used to dance flamenco in old San Juan. Flamenco, yes, she was a flamenco dancer.

SPEAKER_02 4:47

My daughter, oh wow, she must have a gorgeous, she must have had a gorgeous body. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 4:52

She did. She was little, little but powerful. That's what we that's what we she was little.

SPEAKER_02 4:58

How how big was she?

SPEAKER_00 5:00

My mom is 4'11.

SPEAKER_02 5:02

She's a flamenco dancer at and she was 4'11. That's incredible. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 5:08

Super tiny. My mom is tiny and cute now. She used to be tiny and powerful. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So so yeah, I have a lot of family that are, you know, very, very artistic. We love art. Um, you know, also my dad.

SPEAKER_02 5:25

I would imagine that you probably had a large extended family because when your dad died, your mother must have been surrounded by family, right?

SPEAKER_00 5:34

Yes. Well, actually, my mother and my father were not married at the time.

SPEAKER_02 5:38

Um I was two years old. Oh, okay. Okay, okay, that explains something. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:46

Yes, he was married to a wonderful lady who is like my second mom uh when he passed away, and he had two other girls with you know, before he passed away. And they were actually a year and the other one was 10 months old. So they were babies' babies when he passed away. So um, you know, it was very difficult.

SPEAKER_02 6:07

That also kind of explains why you said to me, you know, you didn't really realize that your dad was dead because he wasn't living with you.

SPEAKER_00 6:14

No, he wasn't. I would see him on the weekends and I would see him on vacations and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_02 6:20

That's a big difference from a dad that comes home every night.

SPEAKER_00 6:23

Oh, yeah, for sure. My dad, but he, I mean, my dad was very present in my life. It it wasn't like he wasn't around. He was I get it.

SPEAKER_02 6:30

I get it. I get it.

SPEAKER_00 6:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:31

I get it. So how so how did he influence you musically?

SPEAKER_00 6:35

Oh, many ways. He was um actually the first thing would be that he named me after a song. So there you go. So there was a there was a very what's the song?

SPEAKER_02 6:48

What's the song?

SPEAKER_00 6:50

There's a uh very famous Spanish artist that was very famous in the 80s and the and the 70s and 80s. Actually, 70s, it must have been 70s. His name was Camilo Sesto, and he used to write this, he wrote this song called Asvuelto Melina, which means you're back, Melina, and it's about this. Uh it goes something like As vuelto Melina, and he loved that song. He used to sing that song to me all the time, and it was about a Greek warrior, you know, and she was coming back to her homeland, and you know, it's a very intense song, it's very has a very Greek kind of thing, so you know.

SPEAKER_02 7:28

You know, I get that because my mother, my my name, like I use the name Robin Lane, but I was born with the name Roberta, and my and I was an actress, and my mother named me after a Broadway show.

SPEAKER_00 7:41

Well, there you go.

SPEAKER_02 7:42

That's I get it.

SPEAKER_00 7:44

Destined for greatness if that happens.

SPEAKER_02 7:50

Yeah, so go on, go on, go on, go on.

SPEAKER_00 7:53

So my dad used to have a bunch of friends that were musicians, and he would um invite them to his apartment, you know, on the weekends, and he would have what we called bohemias, which are like bohemian nights. Okay, so I remember going to sleep because I was pushed to go to sleep by my stepmother. She would be like, No, no, it's time for you to go to sleep. And I was like, No, no, I want to be there, I want to be with them. You know, like they would sit there and play the songs and sing the songs and the you know, until four o'clock in the morning and drink a bunch of wine and whatever else they were doing, I don't know. And it was very bohemian. So I loved it. I loved listening to my dad play guitar.

SPEAKER_02 8:38

And what kind of music did he play? Did he play salsa? Did he play mumbo? What did he play?

SPEAKER_00 8:44

Not any salsa, which is great, is crazy. There, he did not actually. My dad was a very romantic, like uh he liked romantic, so like boleros, uh ballads like Jose Jose, uh, you know, stuff like that. That was very romantic. Like he liked Frank Sinatra in English, he loved Elvis Presley, like all the romantic stuff. Oh so yeah, he was very romantic. My dad used you and my dad was known to give ladies serenatas, you know, like coming like on the window. He would give my mom uh a serenata, you know. Like what do you call that in English? Like when they sit in the bottom and they sing until the lady comes out, and uh, I don't know what you call that in English, but uh serenating? Serenating, yes, serenata, una serenata in Puerto Rico. That was a big deal in the 70s.

SPEAKER_02 9:39

Was he was he very handsome?

SPEAKER_00 9:41

Oh, yeah, my dad.

SPEAKER_02 9:42

Yes, he had lots of he must have been because you're gorgeous.

SPEAKER_00 9:46

Thank you, thank you. No, he was gorgeous, he was very charismatic. My grandma loved him, my grandpa hated him.

SPEAKER_02 9:56

Why why did his unpa hate him?

SPEAKER_00 9:58

Because because he was actually my mom was 16 when she met him, and he was 22, 22, 21, or 22, and so he was considered like you know, an older person for a 16-year-old by my grandpa.

SPEAKER_01 10:16

They were both babies, they were both babies, yeah. But at that time, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But in reality, they were babies.

SPEAKER_00 10:25

My grandpa was not having it, but you know, it ended up being that they had an the God and the universe had a different uh plan.

SPEAKER_02 10:37

Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:39

I came along and that was that.

SPEAKER_02 10:41

Yeah, and wasn't your grandfather happy about that?

SPEAKER_00 10:45

I think so, yeah, yeah. He was, I'm sure, yes, he was.

SPEAKER_02 10:49

He just well well what were you like as a child? Were you musical when you were very young, when you were a kid?

SPEAKER_00 10:55

Um, I was. I was very hyper, I was extremely hyper. I always my my grandma and my mom wanted to for me to be busy all the time because I was so hypey, hyper, and I loved music, and I was always in front of the mirror, like singing to myself. And I remember having you sound like me. Yeah, yeah. Well, we have a lot in common. And I had uh I had brushes, like those round brushes that I would sing with, and I would make believe they were like, you know, mics. And so yeah, I remember in my room in Puerto Rico, I had a full-length mirror, like one of those really long, you know, from the bottom and the top, like that. And I would sit there for hours and hours and sing to myself, and you know, do dance and just put on little shows for my neighborhood and my family. So I guess I'm doing the same thing, but in a bigger scale.

SPEAKER_02 11:54

And what was your first succession? What was your first job? The actual first job that you got?

SPEAKER_00 12:00

Oh wow. The first actual job that I got paid for was working at Supercuts.

SPEAKER_02 12:08

No, no, I don't mean no, I mean singing. Oh, singing jobs.

SPEAKER_00 12:12

No, the actual job that I got paid for for like in my life was supercuts, but the actual job. The first job that I ever got singing I actually was in Memphis, Tennessee when I moved.

SPEAKER_02 12:26

And I tried out let me interrupt again. What were you doing in Memphis, Tennessee?

SPEAKER_00 12:31

Well, okay, so when my father died, my mom was married to another gentleman, another person, and he um actually wanted us to move to Tennessee. So we moved to Tennessee, and my mom got a job there as a doctor. My mom became a doctor.

SPEAKER_02 12:48

And did you speak English then?

SPEAKER_00 12:51

I'm sorry?

SPEAKER_02 12:52

Did you speak English or Spanish?

SPEAKER_00 12:54

Oh, yeah, no, I spoke both because my in Puerto Rico there are there's schools that teach both. And so my mom always wanted me to. I mean, you're they're supposed to teach English in school in Puerto Rico, but one thing is to teach English and then actually is to speak English, you know. And so I went to a school that was an it's was called an American school. So I went to a school that uh taught everything in English. So we had Spanish class instead of having you see, so everything was like in America, so like everything was in English, and then I had Spanish class.

SPEAKER_02 13:32

So then you m you moved to the American South where there were no Latins, right?

SPEAKER_00 13:37

No Latins. I moved to Memphis, Tennessee. I think I was me and three other people, and they were like Mexican, weren't even Caribbean. Yes, that was crazy.

SPEAKER_02 13:50

Yeah, they'll say that's what makes they always say that's what makes a great artist, being an outsider.

SPEAKER_00 13:57

Well, I I was definitely an outsider, and yes, I have felt like an outsider most of my career. So yes.

SPEAKER_02 14:05

I I don't know an artist that hasn't, to be honest with you.

SPEAKER_00 14:09

Yeah, yeah, it's true. I think you have to um, you know, when you have this this feeling that you have to express yourself through music, um, I think that the way it is is that you have to fight for who it is that you are, right? So um as an out.

SPEAKER_02 14:26

You're just not gonna go down a traditional life path.

SPEAKER_00 14:31

Oh no, I have not. I have not. I I've never seen myself as a traditional person.

SPEAKER_02 14:39

No, I think you start out feeling as an outsider because I went to the high school of performing arts. Um at the age of 14. So I I I've been around artists all of my life, and I've never met one that felt that they were part of the mainstream. And usually it starts by some kind of trauma in life that makes you feel like an outsider.

SPEAKER_00 15:02

Yeah, you know, I I now that you mention it, when I was little, my I had lots of friends that had very good uh family life, you know, like families like my mom and dad and the kids and this and that. And I really I never really had that, honestly. Like I had two families, I had, you know, two very different families, um, my dad's family and then my family, you know, and and they were very, they had different ideologies. One was very spiritual and and religious, and the other one was not at all. So, you know, I had a lot of I had a lot of of different things, you know.

SPEAKER_02 15:44

I was I knew you could have either become an artist or a mass murderer.

unknown 15:51

Right.

SPEAKER_00 15:52

I don't think I could do that, so I'm glad I'm an artist. Right, yeah, yeah. No, it's it's interesting though. I've met a lot of really, you know, to be an artist, you have to be a fighter, I believe. So I I I have been a fighter in my life. So I'm grateful for all the opportunities I've gotten though, and and all the the changes that have happened in my life so that I could express myself and and believe in myself that I could do this, you know.

SPEAKER_02 16:22

Tell me again, so how did you start?

SPEAKER_00 16:25

Um, yeah, so my first job, we were talking about that after the supercuts. So um I found a through the grapevine, you know, in that time in Memphis, Tennessee, there were no faith, there was no Facebook, there was no Instagram, there was nothing. So there was this thing called the Memphis Flyer, which was it's a a newspaper, like the times of the new times in Miami or the, you know, I don't know, the village voice or something like that. Um, and so I started looking for singing jobs, like singing, stuff that I could do to sing. And I found um these people that were looking for a rock singer. And I was like, okay, well, I sing, you know, I could try it, I could copy, you know, I could listen and copy and listen and copy, you know, that's what I used to do. I listen, I used to listen to singers and kind of copy what they were what they were doing. And so I don't know if you can hear my dogs. I'm so sorry. Can you hear my dogs? No, I cannot. We're going. Okay, good. I'm so sorry. And so, anyway, they had a band audition for their band. And I said, Okay, I'm just gonna go to rock band, like alternative rock, you know, it was the 90s. So I was like, okay, I'm just gonna go. And they hired me. They said, Yeah, this is your first gig. And I was like, Okay, I was like, awesome. It was the band's name was called Two Faces, and it was a rock band.

SPEAKER_02 17:54

And how and how old were you for you with your first job?

SPEAKER_00 17:57

Well, I kind of lied. I said I was 18, but I was actually 16. And they put me in the they put me in the club, and I went and I sang. I wasn't the best rock singer ever. I was not, I was a very bad rock singer, but we did different different uh games and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_02 18:20

And then, you know, we don't know no tell me, tell me, I'm interested.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

Well, we went to we did um this place called the New Daisy in Memphis, and it was it was okay. I wasn't really I I liked it and I liked the experience of being in a band. So I was like, I like being in a band, but this isn't really the genre I believe I'm I'm you know, I fit in. So I was looking forward to to trying other genres, and so then I went to in high school, I did so that was the first thing I actually got paid for. I think I got I was getting paid like $50 a gig or something like that.

SPEAKER_02 19:00

Which is very exciting.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

Yes, I was like, oh my god, yes, money. I was making money, and then uh so after that, I in high school um I did the show choir. I did show choir, I did all kinds of choirs, I did theater. Uh did not like theater very much. I wasn't I'm not a very good actress, so I wasn't really into the the saying the lines and all that stuff. I would get so nervous saying lines on stage, and I would forget them, and I was just not a good actress. Maybe now if I tried it, it could be better, but back then I was not a good actress, and so I kept going and finding different things, and then uh a jazz band called me, like this band, this jazz band, and I was like, okay, and they would do blues and jazz, and I was like, okay. So I was singing blues and jazz and stuff like that, and that I kind of liked and enjoyed a little bit more. And then one day my mom and I went to this place called Salsa appropriately, which was a Mexican restaurant in Memphis. And my mom and I were there eating, and suddenly I hear this like band in the background, and I heard it was like salsa, like tropical, like you know, they had this little thing going where it was like a piano and the montuno, and I was like, Man, I really like that. That's that's really cool. And and they were playing like Latin stuff, and so I went up to the bass player and I said, Do you guys play here all the time? And he was like, Yes, we play here every every Thursday. And I was like, Okay, well, can I come back and sing next week? Like if you guys let me sit in or if I could sing something, and he was like, Yeah, sure, come back. And so I came back and I learned I had like besame mucho, you know, like that bolero, besame mucho, and then I learned I learned some other things like girl from impanima and stuff like that. And so I went back and I sang with them, and then after that, the bass player comes up to me again and he says, you know, that was actually pretty good. And I was like, Okay, and then he goes, Next week, if you want to come back, I have a friend that is starting a salsa band. And I was like, Okay, I will come back. And so my mom and I went back on the next Thursday and I met this big guy that was a trombone player, and his name was Howard Lamb, and he was this big, big guy from Memphis, big, huge guy. And he says, Well, we're looking for a salsa singer because we want to start a salsa band here in Memphis. Because I love salsa, I'm a trombone player, and the bass player's name was Tim Goodwin, and he was a teacher at the University of Memphis.

SPEAKER_02 21:50

Okay, let me stop you for a second because uh salsa, I want to try to understand what salsa is because when you're talking about songs like Destiny Lucho. I remember those from my era. And they were not salsa songs.

SPEAKER_00 22:04

No.

SPEAKER_02 22:05

So there's the difference between salsa and other Latin music.

SPEAKER_00 22:11

Okay. It's a very long explanation, but the the the shortest thing I can say is ever every salsa song has a clave. Okay. So what the clave means the key.

SPEAKER_02 22:24

Doesn't mambo have a clave too?

SPEAKER_00 22:26

Yes, it does. Okay. So salsa, all right, is the genre, it's the name that was given, okay, to the combination of all those genres like Mambo, cha cha cha-cha, charanga, all those things. So salsa is the mixture of all those things.

SPEAKER_02 22:51

So look, I'm I'm getting confused. Are you telling me that salsa is like that all of that falls under the umbrella of salsa or salsa is something else?

SPEAKER_00 23:00

Okay, so there's let's just go back to the beginning. Okay, so it's there's son, cha-cha-cha, mambo, charanga, bugaloo, all of those things, okay? Those are in the 50s, 40s, all those things before salsa became salsa. Okay. So salsa was the term salsa was coined in the 60s and 70s by Johnny Pacheco and Fania, the Fania Records, okay. And what they did, those people like Willie Colomb, Hector Labo, Celia Cruz, uh, all that label in New York City was take all those other genres and mix them together. Okay, so all those genres have a clave, okay? And then salsa is the mixture of all those things together. So in one salsa song, you can have a cha-cha-cha, you can have a you can have song, you can have garacha, you can have guaguan co, you can have all these things. So that's why they mixed all those things together and made it more popular.

SPEAKER_02 24:10

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 24:10

From the 70s, I can't remember the the exact um year, but it was in the 60s when the beginning, 60s, 70s, when the term salsa came out.

SPEAKER_02 24:24

Okay, and that's before you were born.

SPEAKER_00 24:27

Yes, oh yeah, well, well before I was born. So, yeah, so now salsa has uh evolutioned, you know, it's had a very big evolution. So it then in the 90s it became, you know, Mark Anthony and La India, and then you have El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico, which were all the way back into the 50s that they started in Puerto Rico. But they were doing like one of those things, you know, like cha-cha-cha, or they were doing song, or they were doing mambo, or they were doing one thing. Okay, so whenever when salsa comes along, it brings all those things together. Wow, and that's why when you hear when you hear a salsa song, it it can have so many different uh you know connotations and butt and sounds kind of clave and draw, yeah. It must have a clave, it must have a clave. So it must if if there's no clave which is three, two or two, three, it's not salsa, yeah, not salsa, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:31

So that's why it's that that is really, really interesting.

SPEAKER_00 25:35

Yes, and then the way you dance it is also very important. And in order to how do you dance it?

SPEAKER_02 25:40

What do you mean?

SPEAKER_00 25:41

Well, in order to dance salsa, you have to have the clave. So if you don't have a clave, you can't dance salsa, see, right?

SPEAKER_02 25:48

So you have to dance on a certain beat, right?

SPEAKER_00 25:51

Some people dance on the one, some people dance on the two, so you know, New York style, and then LA style, and then you have the Cuban style, you have Puerto Rican style.

SPEAKER_02 26:03

Really?

SPEAKER_00 26:04

Yes, it's a very fast universe, so very, very Colombian salsa is super different. Colombian is very fast, like very energetic, and with your feet go really fast. And uh, you know, Puerto Ricans tend to be more slow, you know, like a slower pace, and the Puerto Rican people like slower salsa. Uh Cubans tend to like it a little a little bit faster, and Colombians super fast. And you know, I I get to the point now where I listen to the first 12 bars of a song and I pretty much can tell you where it's from.

SPEAKER_01 26:42

Really?

SPEAKER_00 26:42

Yes, but I've been I mean I've dedicated my whole life to to salsa. So for me, it's you know, I listen to it every day.

SPEAKER_02 26:50

So let me let me move you on just a little bit from there. Let me ask you something. What is the largest audience that you've ever played in front of?

SPEAKER_00 26:59

Um, I think the largest audience I ever played in front of was a long time ago, but then I did it again. So I would say like about 20,000 people? 20,000? 20,000 to 30, maybe I can't really, but it's bit it was a really large crowd. I played change.

SPEAKER_02 27:23

What was that like? Because I I was a performer, so I acted in front of maybe maybe 800 people, something like that. What is that like to perform in front of 20 or 30,000 people? Well, Robin, it feels like when you first of all, what does it feel like when you come on stage?

SPEAKER_00 27:42

You know, I try to focus, like I try to connect. Like the first thing that I do when I come on stage is, you know, I say to myself, well, here we go. You know, like you gotta bring it, like in my mind, that that's the first thing that I say to myself. And when I walk out on stage, the first thing I do is wave at the people and I smile really big, like saying hello to them, you know. Like I I don't really uh, you know, just kind of walk on stage and and and just be there. I don't do that. So for me, that's really important to create a relationship with the audience from the beginning, from the moment they see you. Um, and and I can't hold on, hold on.

SPEAKER_02 28:27

So they're also seeing you up on big screens, right?

SPEAKER_00 28:30

Oh yeah, they're seeing you everywhere. So you you can't you can't say describe it to me, describe it to me. So, like when you when you walk in, for me at least, I can't speak for anybody else, but when I I think about what the people are seeing, like on the outside. So I of course I try to look my best, you know, like depending on on what it is. I try to, you know, have my beautiful dress or my outfit or whatever, but I also move come out and I smile and I wave at the audience, like I'm like, hey, like I'm trying to for them to see me and and connect, connect with them, you know, like that's really important.

SPEAKER_02 29:11

But I want to know how many screens are up there.

SPEAKER_00 29:14

Well, it's it depends on where you are.

SPEAKER_02 29:16

There's talking about when you tell me you're performing for 20,000 people.

SPEAKER_00 29:21

Oh, well, there were huge screens on the sides and in the back of the stage, and then so that other people could see it, there were other screens like to the back. So there's screens everywhere, like when you go to a huge concert.

SPEAKER_02 29:38

Uh you are a hotshot, girl. You are a hotshot.

SPEAKER_00 29:42

Well, thank you. I appreciate it. It's taken me a long time to to be able to say that, you know, that I am a hotshot. Uh you know, I I enjoy it very much. To me, it's very, it's like a fish to water. So I don't really think of it that way. I don't think of it, I don't think of it the way you're saying it. Do you see what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_02 30:06

Like, no, no, no, no. What do you mean?

SPEAKER_00 30:08

I don't think of it as like a huge deal. I really don't, because I've always been in front, I've all I've always wanted to be there. So for me, it's normal.

SPEAKER_02 30:18

It's like it's natural, it's natural, it's natural, not normal.

SPEAKER_00 30:21

It's natural. It's like I see a stage and I'm like, oh, that's where I belong. So for me, you know, I and I love to create that relationship during a show with the audience. Like I love to create the, you know, the the beginning of the show, then the middle of the show, and then the ending of the show, and then everybody's like so excited, and uh, you know, it's a back and forth between the audience and and me and the musicians, and just I love all of it, all of it.

SPEAKER_02 30:52

And how and how long will a performance go on?

SPEAKER_00 30:55

It depends. Sometimes it's 45 minutes, sometimes I do you know, two songs in a show, like I'm invited to do a you know, a show with somebody else, or sometimes I do two hours, sometimes I get excited for more than two hours.

SPEAKER_02 31:11

You've done two hours?

SPEAKER_00 31:12

Oh, yeah, I do two hours, yeah. You know what? I used to sing here in Miami at in in this place for years and years. I used to sing in Calle 8 at these places that were wine bars, like places where people would go after work and drink wine. And I used to sing four hours.

SPEAKER_02 31:35

Four no, not straight. Come on.

SPEAKER_00 31:38

I used to take breaks, but I still used to sing four hours.

SPEAKER_02 31:41

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 31:42

So I would do you know, an hour and take a 15-minute break, and then another hour, and then we'd take a 15-minute break, and then another hour like that, and that taught me a lot of discipline.

SPEAKER_02 31:56

What do you mean? What do you mean?

SPEAKER_00 31:58

Well, because I had to keep singing, I had to keep dancing, I had to keep entertaining, I had to, you know, keep keep it going, keep the party going. And I did it at at Mangles Tropical Cafe here for a very long time, and that's an extremely hard job. Uh, because you have to sing on a bar. Like you sing on a bar, literally, here in South Because what do you mean sing on a bar?

SPEAKER_02 32:23

You're standing on a bar?

SPEAKER_00 32:24

South Beach, you know, have you ever been to South Beach?

SPEAKER_02 32:28

No, not really.

SPEAKER_00 32:29

Okay, so Ocean Drive in Miami is a big long, long street that has a bunch of bars, you know, a lot of hotels and bars and restaurants. And my first job when I moved here to Miami in 2005, I got hired at Mango's Tropical Cafe. It's sort of like a cabaret, okay? So, like if you can envision that, but it's tropical, it's all salsa, it's like all reggaetong, merengue, you know, Latin, it's very Latin. And they have a huge bar in the middle of the of the club. It's like a boat. The club is like a boat, it's it's shaped sort of like a boat. And when you walk in, the first thing you see is the bar, which is a stage, and then they have the bartenders behind the bar, and you can sit around that bar. And so for five years, I used to sing there for five, four nights. Uh, you know, it was and the and the sets were like that. The sets were four hours, four, you know, six to ten or ten to two in the morning, or like that, that kind of thing. And we would sing for, you know, like not me singing by myself, there were other singers, but you still had to like they you know, take turns. You would sing one song, and then the other one would sing another one, and so like that. And then you would have to get up out off the stage and jump on the bar, and you would sing on the bar, and there were people everywhere.

SPEAKER_02 34:02

No, no, this is what I'm trying to understand. When you say you would jump on the bar, are you telling me that you would be on the top of a bar?

SPEAKER_00 34:09

Yes, yes, on top of the bar, yes. There was yeah, there was a there was a uh bodyguard that would stand in front of the bar, and he would help you to get up on the bar, or actually lift you on the bar. So yeah, my life has been very colorful and it's what were you what we what would you be wearing?

SPEAKER_02 34:31

What would you be wearing?

SPEAKER_00 34:32

Um, so I had very short skirts and sometimes pants, very tight pants, and then boots, like uh, you know, white boots. You they would they would make us wear white a lot, like white pants and shirts, and it was all color color coordinated, so we would have a schedule of like what pants with what shirt, you know, and everybody had to look the same.

SPEAKER_02 34:58

But let me tell you, it's running through my mind. Did any guys ever try to, you know, follow you out of the bar?

SPEAKER_00 35:04

No, there were a lot of bar um uh bodyguards, lots of bodyguards all over the place. I never had that problem, honestly.

SPEAKER_02 35:12

You never had you never had that problem.

SPEAKER_00 35:14

Well, coming out of my uh of the bar, I mean coming out of my job, no, no, I never had that problem. People just that's amazing. I mean, there were there were guys that would want to touch you and stuff like that, yes, but that was shut down very quickly at the club. Yes, but I wasn't let me just make it clear on this podcast. What a life you've had, girl. But wait, let me make it clear on this podcast. I was singing, I was not doing anything else than singing and dancing.

SPEAKER_02 35:46

I got it, I got it. And you were you were dancing, you were dancing also, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:51

Because we, you know, they they had salsa dancers on that bar. Uh, you know, it's a very famous bar, it's not like a strip club or anything like that. It's a really, really, really famous club. It's called Mango's Tropical Cafe.

SPEAKER_02 36:04

And it's time to understand the breath control that you have to have to be able to sing and dance at the same time. I mean, that's oh yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:13

Yeah, I I mean I still like uh work out a lot. I try to stay fit because as you get older, things you know get harder. And so for me, when I was 25, that was super easy when I was 25. I don't know if I could do it now, but maybe I could.

SPEAKER_02 36:32

You're still a baby, you're still just a baby, right?

SPEAKER_00 36:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:36

Well, so did you otherwise did you ever study voice?

SPEAKER_00 36:41

I did. I actually studied voice in Memphis, Tennessee. I had a wonderful teacher that taught me uh, I had two amazing teachers. I had a a show teacher, which was a performance teacher. Her name was Cindy Cover, and she was amazing. She taught me stage presence, she taught me uh, you know, how to be do uh great on stage, and then when I went into college, I studied under a wonderful teacher. She passed away. Her name was her name was Lisa Fuller, and she was uh she was a classical voice teacher, and so for me at the time I hated it. I hated classical music. Oh my god, I was like so bored, and I didn't understand why why I was taking this. But now I'm so grateful that I took it because she taught me how to breathe correctly, she taught me the technique that I was supposed to learn in order to sing five hours, four hours. No way to take care to breathe correctly so you could sing for a really long time. That's very difficult uh without being hoarse. Uh, you know, as a sing as a performer, you have to talk a lot, like you know, go on interviews, talk, uh, you know, do podcasts with beautiful ladies like you, Robin. And so, you know, like it's it's you know, it's it's complicated. It's a it's not easy.

SPEAKER_02 38:14

Yes, people have no idea how hard performing is. It's very, very hard. They only see the glamour part.

SPEAKER_00 38:19

Yeah, we make it look easy so that people are engaged. If they saw all the other parts, uh, you know, the the background parts and all the other things that you have to do, like my life is super boring, otherwise, like I go to bed, you know, I go to bed very early. I try to go to bed very early.

SPEAKER_02 38:39

No, no, no, no. Wait a minute. You also have a man in your life, do you not?

SPEAKER_00 38:44

Yes, yes, I do. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 38:47

Can you talk a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_00 38:49

Yes, yes, yes. He's wonderful, he's also a very understanding, wonderful, calm human.

SPEAKER_02 38:57

How did how did you meet how long ago?

SPEAKER_00 39:00

Um, I actually met him in 2007.

SPEAKER_02 39:03

I met him in Oh, you've been together a long time.

SPEAKER_00 39:06

Yes. Oh, next year will be 20 years.

SPEAKER_02 39:09

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 39:10

So he's very patient and very kind.

SPEAKER_02 39:14

How did you meet? How did you meet?

SPEAKER_00 39:16

We met in the building where I lived when I moved to to Florida, to South Beach. Because when I moved to Florida, it was 2005, and uh I wanted to live in South Beach. You know, I said to myself, if I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do it the right way. Like I always wanted to move to Miami. And so I was looking around for an apartment and I found one in this wonderful building in West Avenue in South Beach. And I loved it. It was this tiny, tiny studio apartment. At that time, it was $800 a month. Um, and I got the job where I was telling you at Mango's Tropical Cafe, and I had a scooter and I drove to work every day in my scooter, and then in 2007, he I just started seeing him around the building, you know, like and I had dogs. I I love dogs, I'm an animal lover, and so I would walk my dogs in the morning and he would say hi to me. And I was like, okay, but I never really thought anything about it, you know.

SPEAKER_02 40:22

Let me ask you something. Objectively, is he as handsome as you are pretty?

SPEAKER_00 40:27

I think so. Yes. To me, I think he's he's much more prettier than I am.

SPEAKER_02 40:34

So honey, nobody's prettier than you.

SPEAKER_00 40:37

Oh, that's so nice.

SPEAKER_02 40:38

No, no, no, no, no. Stop, stop, stop.

SPEAKER_00 40:40

Much more handsome than than uh, yeah, I think he is.

SPEAKER_02 40:43

And so so how did you start to get involved?

SPEAKER_00 40:48

Um, well, at the time when I met him, he had a girlfriend that lived in the building as well. So I kind of, you know, I wasn't really looking for a relationship. I had just gotten to Miami, you know, I was not interested in having a serious relationship in any way, shape, or form. I had just gotten there. I was sowing my wild oats, I was learning, meeting people from all over the world, you know, South Beach had, I was So what was it, what was it about him? Well, I mean, we kind of saw each other in the building for a while, and then one day I said to him, Hey, I'm performing because I also had other jobs, and I I had a job for a while singing at a cigar bar in Lincoln Road, which is another big road in Miami, and in my sorry, Miami Beach. And so I invited him, which was I mean, I just I invited him many times to many things, and he never went with his girlfriend. I just would see them and I would be like, Hey, you guys want to come out? And then they they would never show up. And then that day I saw him by himself and I was like, hey, if you guys want to come, I'm gonna be at Lincoln Road, you know, singing tonight. And and he goes, Okay, yeah, okay, whatever, da-da-da. And then that was it. And I went to my job and then I was singing there. It started like at 10 o'clock at night, and here I see him walking in with his friend, and I was like, Where's his girlfriend? And I was like, Okay. And then after the after the set, I went and I talked to them both. He went, he came with his friend that also lived in the building, and we just started talking, and then uh I was like, Well, where's your girlfriend? And he was like, Well, we broke up, and I was like, Okay, great. I was like, All right, and then after that, um, so for a while, you know, we just kind of saw each other in the building, and then one day I said, Hey, you guys want to come over for dinner at my house? I'm having some friends over, and then that was it.

SPEAKER_02 42:46

After that, everybody left what what was it about him?

SPEAKER_00 42:51

Um, I don't know. I think he was just so first of all, I think he's super kind, like he was super kind and very that's that's really important, and super calm, very calm, and super funny, very funny.

SPEAKER_02 43:07

Oh my god, you you have just you have just named the three most important things kind, funny, okay.

SPEAKER_00 43:15

Yeah, and he loved and and also really important for me is that I love animals, so he also liked dogs, and at the time I had cats, and he was nice to my cats. He doesn't not particularly fond of cats, but he but you know he was into the you know the animal thing because I had had people that I were had been going out with that hated dogs.

SPEAKER_02 43:40

I'm not gonna buy the animal thing, okay? But I am gonna buy the kind, yeah, the kind and the funny, because I don't know if our to our listener, if you're a young person out there listening, there's nothing more important than kind and funny, right?

SPEAKER_00 43:57

And cute.

SPEAKER_02 43:58

Yeah, well, of course, let's say chemistry, without chemistry, it all goes down to two. Yes, listen, my darling, gorgeous, fabulous girl. We've come to the end of the show. Already? Oh my god! Yes, yes, no way! Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Wow, so I cannot thank you enough.

SPEAKER_00 44:21

Oh no, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 44:22

Tell the audience one more time where they can listen to you, okay? Just tell it one more time.

SPEAKER_00 44:28

Yes, you can go to my YouTube page, is Melina M-E-L-I-N-A salsa s-a l s a and anywhere you look, you can put Melina Salsa and all my music will come up. And I want to thank you, Robin, for giving me this opportunity to talk about all everything with you and to get to know you. For me, it's a true honor. Thank you so much. I'm grateful for for this hour.

SPEAKER_02 44:53

Thank you, darling. Thank you so much.