We are a creative, inspiring collaboration of Rafa Moreno, singer and song writer and Stephen E. Whitney, a longtime professional percussionist. Rafa was lead singer, songwriter, and producer for Orquesta Sociedad Anόnima from 2011 to 2019. In addition, he was an actor and TV host from 2010 to 2019 in Panama. Rafa has 3 studio albums: Real (2015), 15 Años with Orq. Sociedad Anόnima (2016), and Album 1 (2023). Rafa is a Berklee College of Music graduate, majoring in Contemporary Writing and Production (2023).

Stephen is a band leader who started Vibra Tropical as the house band for La Fabrica Central in Cambridge MA in 2017. Rafa and Stephen started working together in 2021. Vibra Tropical is an engaging 10 to 12 piece, international, intergenerational salsa band whose members are Berklee students and graduates plus professional musicians from all over New England. We perform Rafa’s original compositions and his arrangements of classic salsa standards and get audiences dancing!

Vibra Tropical members:

Brad Smith – piano

Eduardo Ramirez - bass

Kristalis Sotomayer - flute

Yibran Aponte - trumpet

Mark Hamilton - trombone

Sam Padua - trombone

Luis Portalatin - baritone

Pedro Sanjur - timbal

Stephen E. Whitney - conga