Fredy Omar con su Banda
"Fredy Omar was born in Tegucigalpa, Honduras on April 15, 1970. From the age of eight, he worked in his grandfather's bakery before and after school. It was there, as he mixed and shaped the dough while singing along with the radio, that he dreamed of becoming a singer - an ambition that was ridiculed by his hard working family. But Fredy persevered. He became lead vocalist of his school's choir and recorded two 45's that quickly rose to the top of the playlist on the local stations. Victor Donaire, composer and Oti award winner, was enchanted by Fredy's voice and asked him to record a song he had written for a national contest to select the theme song for a popular television program. They won and the song is still used today as the theme for Campionismos. By the age of twenty-two, Fredy had played all the major venues in Honduras and toured El Salvador as a soloist. He began to feel frustrated by the limited music market in Central America. When the opportunity to perform at a festival in New Orleans arose, he jumped on it. Fascinated by the musical diversity he found there and inspired by the freshness he felt in his discovery of un-familiar music styles, he decided to stay in New Orleans. In 1997, he was invited to showcase at a local music conference and this lead to the formation of Fredy Omar con su Banda. Perhaps because of the variety of rhythms (Latin jazz, merengue, salsa, cumbia, mambo, cha cha cha, bolero, and tango) the band enjoyed instant success and within months released their eponymous CD, recorded live at Tipitinas. Since its inception, Fredy Omar con su Banda has won five local music awards for ""Best Latin Band"" (Gambit Weekly's Big Easy Award in 98, 2000, & 2001 and OffBeat Music Magazine in '97 & '98). In December, 2000 they won a national award, Musicians Atlas Regional Poll ""Top Act in New Orleans"". "