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Radio Free Honduras live at Castoro Cellars

Char­lie Baran has lived a life of music. Before mov­ing the the Unit­ed States he was a found­ing mem­ber of the leg­endary Hon­duran musi­cal group Ban­da Blan­ca, who’s song ​“Sopa de Cara­col” became the #1 Bill­board Top Latin Songs hit in 1992. Now a main­te­nance man at a Catholic grade school by day, Char­lie has kept his musi­cal flame glow­ing large­ly through acoustic solo per­for­mances around Chica­go for the past ten years.
Char­lie Baran is a true vir­tu­oso. No one sees him per­form with­out rec­og­niz­ing the pres­ence of a true mas­ter – an heir to a rich tra­di­tion of Hon­duran music, as well as a gui­tar sling­ing show­man and a gift­ed song­writer whose skill tran­scends all gen­res. But through­out most of his career he has exist­ed in the shad­ows – until the for­ma­tion of Radio Free Hon­duras.
Radio Free Hon­duras is a diverse col­lec­tive of Chica­go musi­cians, all unit­ed under one goal – sup­port­ing the artistry of Char­lie Baran and bring­ing this tremen­dous tal­ent into the spot­light where it belongs. Found­ed by Dan Abu-Absi, long­time gui­tarist for JT and the Clouds and Birds of Chica­go, Radio Free Hon­duras plays most­ly Baran orig­i­nals, but their live shows often fea­ture a wide vari­ety of reimag­ined cov­er songs. This band pro­vides Char­lie with the wide musi­cal pal­let his tal­ent (and songs) deserve. Abu-Absi has gath­ered a large, revolv­ing col­lec­tive of some of Chicago’s most tal­ent­ed musi­cians; live­ly per­cus­sion, eclec­tic instru­men­ta­tion, and rich har­monies all pro­vide the back­drop, allow­ing Char­lie to do what he does best – stun­ning gui­tar work, tap­ping into what seems a lim­it­less sup­ply of ener­gy and enthu­si­asm for music.
Char­lie Baran has lived a long and sto­ried musi­cal life – but very few are famil­iar with his side of the sto­ry. Radio Free Hon­duras has made it their mis­sion to change that.

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