Orquesta Aragón

Orquesta Aragón was formed on 30 September 1939, by Orestes Aragón Cantero in Cienfuegos, Cuba. The band originally had the name Ritmica 39, then Ritmica Aragón before settling on its final form. Though they did not create the Cha-cha-cha, they were arguably the best charanga in Cuba during the 1950s and 60s. Their trade-marks included high-class instrumentalists playing in tight ensemble style, and rhythmical innovations which kept their sound up to date. Over the years they progressed from their start as a danzoneria to play a wider variety of styles, danzón, then cha-cha-cha, then onda-cha,pachanga and son fusions. They still perform today, based in Havana.

History

Originally there were eight musicians: Orestes Aragon (double bass); Filiberto Depestre (first violin); Hilario René González (second violin); Rufino Roque (piano); Efraín Loyola (flute); Orestes Varona (timbales); Noelio Morejon (güiro); & Pablo Romay (vocals). With the illness of Aragón in 1949, Rafael Lay Apesteguía became leader, and the band entered its second phase.

Aragon

Aragon (/ˈærəɡɒn/ or /ˈærəɡən/, Spanish and Aragonese: Aragón [aɾaˈɣon], Catalan: Aragó [əɾəˈɣo] or [aɾaˈɣo]) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to south): Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza (also called Saragossa in English). The current Statute of Autonomy declares Aragon a nationality of Spain.

Aragon's northern province of Huesca borders France and is positioned in the middle of the Pyrenees. Within Spain, the community is flanked by Catalonia to the east, Valencia and Castile–La Mancha to the south, and Castile and León, La Rioja, and Navarre to the west.

Covering an area of 47,719 km² (18,424 sq mi), the region's terrain ranges diversely from permanent glaciers to verdant valleys, rich pasture lands and orchards, through to the arid steppe plains of the central lowlands. Aragon is home to many rivers—most notably, the river Ebro, Spain's largest river in volume, which runs west-east across the entire region through the province of Zaragoza. It is also home to the Aneto, the highest mountain in the Pyrenees.

Spanish language

Spanish (ⁱ/ˈspænɪʃ/, español), also called Castilian (ⁱ/kæˈstɪliən/,  castellano ), is a Romance language that originated in the Castile region of Spain and today has hundreds of millions of native-speakers across the world.

Spanish is a part of the Ibero-Romance group of languages, which evolved from several dialects of common Latin in Iberia after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. It was first documented in central-northern Iberia in the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia. Beginning in the early 16th century, Spanish was taken to the colonies of the Spanish Empire, most notably to the Americas, as well as territories in Africa, Oceania and the Philippines.

From its beginnings, Spanish vocabulary was influenced by its contact with Basque, as well as by neighboring Ibero-Romance languages, and later it absorbed many Arabic words during the Al-Andalus era in the Iberian Peninsula. It also adopted words from non-Iberian languages, particularly the Romance languages Occitan, French, Italian and Sardinian, as well as from Nahuatl and other Indigenous languages of the Americas.

Baja Aragón

The Spanish Baja is a Rally raid event held in the region of Aragon in northern Spain.

This event was launched in 1983, based on the popularity of the African Adventure rallies such as the Paris Dakar and the Pharaons Rally. The event's creators, a group of French and Spanish enthusiasts, chose the desert of Monegros because of the scenery and availability of service infrastructure in Zaragoza. The first Baja in Spain was called the Baja Montesblancos.

In 1992 the Spanish Baja was cancelled as it coincided with the Olympic games in Barcelona. After this, the Spanish Automobile Federation took over the organisation and entered it into the FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup.

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Coordinates: 41°04′49″N 0°11′30″W / 41.08028°N 0.19167°W / 41.08028; -0.19167