Jura Valoy is a Dominican keyboardist, arranger and singer working in salsa. He is the son of Ramón Orlando and the grandson of Cuco Valoy, which makes him the third generation of a family that has been at the centre of Dominican popular music since the sixties.

Born into the house

Growing up in a family where music is part of the furniture can go either way, and he has said as much. In his case it turned into the thing he needed rather than the weight he had to get out from under.

The apprenticeship was built in. His grandfather made the son of the sonero into a genre; his father built one of the most technically demanding orchestras the country has had. A keyboard player raised between those two arrives already knowing what the standard is.

The arranger

He works as an arranger and plays keyboards, which is his father’s trade rather than his grandfather’s. For the Soundclass series he arranged and played En la Oscuridad, the Rafael Solano composition — taking a piece of the Dominican songbook and rebuilding it.

He has been direct about the difficulty of the material: the tumbaos in this music, he has said, are harder than they look. Coming from inside that family it is a technical judgement rather than a complaint.

His own music

Dominican television has introduced him as a new face in the country’s salsa, and he has been clear about what he wants: to make his own music. That is the standard problem of a third generation, and it is a harder problem than starting with nothing.

One story from the family circuit has stayed with people. At a tribute to Cuco Valoy, the old man stopped singing to watch his grandson play.