Family Time

Raising our Voices for Puerto Rico – Voiceover & Music

March 21, 2018 by Rosi Amador

After Hurricane María hit, my family and I decided to use our voices for Puerto Rico, to help in any way possible, as soon as possible. I believe, as do many of my closest friends who’ve chosen to remain on the island, that as devastating as this experience has been, what’s next for Puerto Rico represents a huge opportunity.

Through creativity, open-heartedness, and hard work, my fellow Puerto Ricans can create a just recovery, one that doesn’t enrich the privileged and ignore the rest. And we on the mainland have a historic opportunity to help our brothers and sisters in ways that our government has failed to do. Here are some of the things we chose to do to support Puerto Rico’s recovery:

Voces Pa’ La Isla: Singing For Puerto Rico

While I no longer have relatives on the island since my parents and abuelita passed away, I still have many dear friends that I consider my extended family in Puerto Rico. My friends are all doing okay considering the devastation on the island. Their work as creatives allows them to work globally. Many others are not so lucky, and hundreds of thousands of people have left the island for economic reasons. I felt so incredibly sad and angry for all my Puerto Rican compatriots who are still struggling, many of them sick and without resources during this crisis.

Hoping to help my island, my husband, fellow voice actor and musician, Brian and I produced two fundraising concerts with our Latin music ensemble Sol y Canto, along with special guests including our daughter Alisa. The first concert was on October 20th of last year, and the second happened just recently on February 18th. Between the two fundraisers, we raised over $12,000 thanks to the remarkable generosity of those who attended and others who sent a donation anyway. We sang our hearts out and people gave in kind! Photos and videos of the concerts (if you’re curious) are on our Sol y Canto Facebook page. (Incidentally, here’s the story of how we transitioned from music to full-time voiceover.)

PSA’s Promoting Vetted Recovery Funds for Puerto Rico

While planning our first fundraising concert, I also wanted to put my voiceover talents to work for Puerto Rico. I approached my friends and longtime clients, the award-winning Boston-based agency MORE ADVERTISING, an expert cause-oriented business whose mission aligned with ours. I asked them if they would partner with me in producing a bilingual public service announcement to raise awareness and funds for my Puerto Rico. MORE came through with flying colors, writing copy, setting up the media buy, and working with me through several iterations until we nailed the PSA’s – all pro-bono! On our end, our fabulous engineer Steven Hopkins then produced the spots, I voiced in English and Spanish, and Brian added beautiful music (yes, he’s also a talented composer).

The PSAs we created highlight the Massachusetts United for Puerto Rico Fund (MA United for PR) and aired throughout Massachusetts over many months. The fund was created under the umbrella of the Boston Foundation, and it has raised over three million dollars and counting for grassroots community organizations in Puerto Rico. While Puerto Rico has slowly been rebuilding since the hurricane first hit, funds are still desperately needed. If you’re interested in donating to help Puerto Rico, you can give to MA United for PR easily by clicking on this link. More donation options are listed below.

Sí Se Puede: How To Continue Supporting Puerto Rico

In addition to raising money at our Sol y Canto concerts (join us – concert schedule here!), we encourage everyone to donate online to continue helping the people of Puerto Rico. Sadly, thousands remain without access to electricity, food or proper medical care.
You can help by supporting NGOs such as Grassroots International’s “Just Recovery” Fund, which supports the “Comedores Sociales” (soup kitchens) and other community-based projects in Puerto Rico. You can also send a check to Grassroots International, 179 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02130 with “Just Recovery Puerto Rico” in the subject line. Your donations make a difference, we promise!

A third option is our good friend cultural promoter Benjamín Muñiz’s Saravá Foundation, which brings live and recorded music to Puerto Rico’s children as a badly needed source of healing and joy. Go Fund Me: Música Para Niños Campaign

Yet a fourth option was brought to us by our close friend in San Juan, Emmy Award-winning public television and documentary producer Caridad Sorondo, who is helping the non-profit, Puertorriqueños con Morovis, (Puerto Ricans with Morovis (town), to help with the town’s reconstruction. Caridad is producing a documentary honoring the town’s bicentennial (1818-2018). Still, only 49% have electricity and potable water is intermittently available. A check can be mailed to: Puertorriqueños con Morovis at Condominio El Centro I, 500 Ave. Muñoz Rivera, Suite 216, San Juan, PR 00918.

Through Grassroots International, the Massachusetts for Puerto Rico Fund at the Boston Foundation, the Saravá Foundation and Puertorriqueños con Morovis, donations bypass the bureaucracy and get to the people who need them.

Favor de regar la voz. Please feel free to share widely. ¡Y gracias, de todo corazón! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

The Perfect Voiceover Dog

March 1, 2016 by Brian Amador

The Perfect Voiceover Dog Like many small businesses, Amador Bilingual Voiceovers is a family-based enterprise. Our entire family participates in the business to some extent. Rosi and I both work as bilingual voice actors, as do our twins when they’re not busy with school or other work. And then there’s Azure, the 9-year-old Chihuahua-Long Haired Dachshund mutt we inherited a few years ago. (We still haven’t decided if he’s a Chihuachshund or a Dachuahua.) Azure contributes to the business in his own ways. In fact, he’s the Perfect Voiceover Dog!

Quiet is Good…

If you have a voiceover recording studio in your home, one absolute requirement is that noise be kept to a minimum. This requirement can be at odds with owning a dog, as often they like to express themselves vocally. Fortunately for us, Azure is the strong, silent type. Or at least the silent type. He doesn’t scratch at the door. He doesn’t whine. He almost never barks, except when he’s outside and sees a bigger dog. Which in his case is almost any dog. Inside the house, he’s like a little Zen master, meditating in his bed or in a sunny spot on the floor, or occasionally coming downstairs to the studio if he wants company.

But What Does He DO?

Of course, the absence of negative behaviors is not enough to qualify Azure as the Perfect Voiceover Dog. It’s also about the positive things he brings to our business, and to our home.

Many studies have shown that petting, holding and cuddling with a dog lowers stress in humans and makes them feel calmer and happier. People who live with dogs don’t need the studies to tell them that.

Another advantage of having a dog is that he needs to be walked a couple of times a day. Which serves as a reminder that I need to be walked a couple of times a day. Many voice actors spend most of their time cooped up in their little voiceover caves. My dog gets me out of my cave and into the world.

And That’s Not All

Of course just about any dog can make its humans feel calmer and happier and help them get a little fresh air and exercise. But the Perfect Voiceover Dog can also IMPROVE YOUR PERFORMANCE! Say what!!!?? That’s right. If I get a script that calls for a warm, empathetic, reassuring read, all I need to do is pick up my little buddy, or even just imagine holding him, and POOF! I sound more warm, empathetic and reassuring. Imagine holding something as cuddly as a baby and as wise as Yoda, and you get an idea of the feeling he inspires.

To my fellow voice actors I say, if you’re wondering what’s missing in your studio or in your life, maybe you need a Perfect Voiceover Dog. If you’re not sure of what breed to look for, I recommend a Dachuahua.

Merry Navidad! or How We Stopped Worrying And Found Our Own Way To Celebrate The Holidays

December 17, 2014 by Brian Amador

2002: Christmas with 6-year-old daughters. Does it get any better?

It’s that time of year again! Christmas trees. Bells ringing at shopping malls. Children sitting on Santa’s lap. Non-stop Christmas carols, from the classic to the bombastic. And of course, a relatively new annual tradition: the call to arms in the “WAR AGAINST CHRISTMAS!” We’re told that if someone wishes you a “Happy Holiday,” it’s because they’re trying to kill Christmas. I always thought that whether someone wishes me Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, happy holidays or season’s greetings, they’re wishing me well, and I appreciate it. But then again, I don’t have a full-time staff working tirelessly to find things for me to be mad about.

Maybe my laissez-Nöel attitude has to do with the way our family has come to celebrate Christmas; it’s bilingual, bicultural, and so idiosyncratic that we would never expect anyone else to celebrate the same way we do. Rosi is Jewish, and although my parents tried to raise me Christian, it didn’t really take. Still, Rosi’s Jewish-Argentine-Puerto Rican family did have a tree, celebrate Nochebuena (Christmas Eve) and share gifts, and Christmas has always been one of my favorite holidays. One of the things I like most about it is how it has always absorbed elements from different religious and secular traditions and synthesized them into a much more universal celebration of peace, hope, giving, and light in the darkness.

Here’s what we do to celebrate Christmas. Tree? Yes. Lights on, and in, the house? Absolutely, though usually not until all the neighbors have theirs up for a few weeks. (I make up for this by leaving mine up until Valentine’s day.) Gifts? Sure, but not to an extreme, and not to the point of stressing about it. Parties? Yes, we try to have one, complete with lots of food (including pozole, a New Mexican stew made with hominy, pork and chile) and everyone singing Spanish and Latin American carols. Religious observance? Not really, but we do have a ritual that means a lot to us. On Christmas Eve, we sit in a circle around a lit candle. Each family member takes a turn holding the candle and saying what has been important to him/her in the year ending, recognizing any friends or relatives to whom s/he would like to send loving or healing thoughts, and sharing hopes for the coming year. When we’ve all had a turn, each person opens one gift, leaving the rest for Christmas day. Why? Who knows? My family always did it when I was a kid, and coincidentally, Rosi’s family did, too. After all this is done, when we should all be snug in our beds, I always seem to be wrapping presents. Christmas day we finish unwrapping presents, drink coffee, eat, see friends, maybe see a movie – it’s kind of like an extra-special Saturday with no chores!

However you celebrate Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/your holiday of choice, may it bring you warmth, joy and relaxation in the company of loved ones. Merry Everything!

Happy (Hispanic) Thanksgiving! A cross-cultural recipe for you.

November 25, 2014 by Brian Amador

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Before I fell in love with a Puerto Rican girl, I had little idea of what the food from that island was like. Soon after Rosi and I started going out, she told me how much she loved eating yuca. The idea seemed strange to me. I assumed she was using the Spanish word for yucca, the state flower of New Mexico, where I grew up. It’s a plant with sharp, sword-like leaves and a tall stalk topped with white flowers, and the last thing that would have ever occurred to me was to try to eat it. Well, as it turns out, yuca and yucca are two completely unrelated plants: what’s called yuca in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean is known elsewhere as cassava or manioc. It’s a starchy root vegetable that can be boiled or fried, and it is in fact delicious. One Thanksgiving it occurred to me that it might be a good idea to mash boiled yuca along with the potatoes, and the result was so good that it immediately became a Thanksgiving tradition in our house. Like so many things in our lives, it’s a mix of “All-American”and Latino traditions. So here’s my contribution to the growing body of Hispanic Thanksgiving recipes. If you decide to try it, let us know how you liked it. Enjoy!

Mashed Potatoes with Yuca and Roasted Garlic
Serves 12 (with leftovers)

– 2 lbs. Russet potatoes
– 2 lbs. yuca root
– 1 head garlic
– milk or soy milk
– salt and pepper to taste
– 1/2 stick butter (optional)

Peel potatoes, or don’t, as you prefer. I’ve done it either way. To prepare yuca, cut it crosswise into sections about 2 inches long. Soak it in very hot, but not boiling, water for about 10 minutes. This will soften the tough outer skin. When it’s cool enough to handle, take a chunk of yuca and make a shallow incision across the skin. Carefully wedge your knife blade between the skin and the flesh and pry the skin off all around. Peel all the yuca in this manner and cut each of the yuca chunks in half lengthwise. There’s a tough fiber in the center that needs to be removed. I usually do this with a paring knife, making two incisions in a V-shape around the fiber and prying it out.

While yuca is soaking, roast garlic by whatever method you prefer. I like to separate the cloves, cut off the butt end, and wrap them in aluminum foil with a drizzle of olive oil, then roast at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes, or until it smells delicious. Garlic should be soft and lightly browned when you remove it from the skins.

Boil the yuca for about 8 minutes before adding the potatoes, as it takes a bit longer to soften. When yuca and potatoes are done cooking. Mash them together with the garlic, butter (if desired) and enough liquid to get the desired consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste.