The tight-knit music community in Charleston has banded together to support local percussionist Gino Castillo, who was recently diagnosed with leukemia.
Castillo’s friends, family and fans have banded together to start GoFundMe campaigns and throw fundraisers to help with his medical bills. In the latest effort to support Castillo, a group of local musicians released a song called “Holy City Bossa” to encourage people to donate to Castillo’s cause.
Retired public school music educator Mike Kaufman originally wrote the Brazilian-style tune last summer, and when he heard about Castillo’s diagnosis, his first thought was to use the song as a fundraising opportunity.
“I had the song, and when I heard about Gino’s leukemia, it hit us all like a ton of bricks,” Kaufman told the Charleston City Paper. “So, I put up a notice on Facebook and asked if anyone wanted to play [on the song], and we’ll get the proceeds to Gino.
“I heard immediately from [bassist] Kevin Gossett and [guitarist] Justin Hodge. Then, I approached Alva Anderson, a local jazz singing treasure, and multi-instrumentalist John Holenko.”
Anderson provided her deep, rich vocals to the track, singing lyrics that Kaufmann wrote to mimic the structure of the Portuguese language. Anderson, a New York City native and current president of Charleston Jazz, said, “I didn’t even need to hear the song before I said, ‘Let’s do it.’”
Bossa nova is a laid-back style of Brazilian music layered with gentle guitar and rhythmic percussion. Charles Miller, a Charleston native who said he was introduced to Charleston’s Latin music scene by Castillo, produced the song. The contributing artists, which include Ramiro Allende, Kaufman, Anderson, Gossett, Holenko and Hodge, were unable to meet all together, so Miller compiled each recording into one song.
“My job as the producer is to guide the direction of the song from its initial vision and bring it to another level,” Miller said.
The resulting project is a culmination of love and admiration for Castillo, who has been a trailblazer in fostering Latin music in Charleston.
“Holy City Bossa” is available to download for $1 on Castillo’s bandcamp page at ginocastillo1.bandcamp.com/track/holy-city-bossa. All proceeds from the song will go directly to Castillo.
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