FREDERICTON – To roaring cheers and a standing ovation, Cesar Morales and Sabor Latino won the Galaxie Rising Stars New Artist Showcase Saturday at the 2004 Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival. The Fredericton-based sextet with a tight, infectious Latin beat performed to a Hoodoo House tent packed with enthusiastic audience voters Saturday afternoon. The group beat out five other New Brunswick finalists in the showcase. The band included Morales on lead vocals and guitar; Amaya Arcelus, lead and backup vocals and guiro; Juan Morales, congas and timbales; Shea Thompkins, congas and timbales; Helen Kahlke, saxophones; and Eddie Oldfield on keyboards.

The winner of the showcase won $1000, a new set of Sabian cymbals and an opening slot in the Saturday night show at the Festival’s largest venue, the Bud Light Blues Tent.

Band leader Cesar Morales, a native of El Salvador, said the emotional win was not only important for his band, but also for the entire Fredericton Latino community.

"It’s a big deal for our community. It shows acceptance of Latin music and it shows the sounds and rhythms in our city are diversifying," said Morales, who formed the band in 1998.

"Ten years ago, I was helping load gear onto these stages and I said someday I want to perform on this platform. Today we did it," he said.

The Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival introduced the Rising Stars Showcase in 2002 to provide New Brunswick bands a way of gaining exposure to new audiences and important music industry leaders attending the Festival.

Morales said his band used the Harvest showcase to make a developmental leap. "It was a great opportunity to prepare ourselves. We worked towards this and it paid off," he said.

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For more information, contact: David Seabrook, marketing director, 460-2089 (o) or 474-3079 ©.

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