There is little more American to a story about the American dream than saying your start began with musical theatre in the Dominican Republic.
That is Omar Perez-Then’s opening line when asked how he became a musician — and his story flourishes after that. After begging his parents to provide him a class in guitar, his teacher took notice when during a midterm, Omar began singing and simultaneously playing the instrument (despite the requirement being only to play).
The professional constraint in his home country caused him to move here in 2007, when his Dominican friend who was attending LBCC informed he should look into their music program. In fact, he had looked in many places for a commercial music program — Miami, Chicago, amongst others — but only Long Beach could give him what he was searching for.
After living in Wrigley for a few years, he moved to 3rd Street in the Belmont Heights area and from there on used Long Beach as an inspiration for his music. “It is more vibrant down here [compared to Wrigley]. I loved Wrigley but along Ocean Boulevard… It reminds me of the streets and buildings that line the streets in Santo Domingo. It made it feel like home away from home.”
And his home-away-from-home has produced and materialized his first EP, entitled O Mayúscula. Bobby Duong, his fellow friend, acted as executive producer in the project, introducing Omar to Thomas Christopher, a producer mainly known for his work in film scores. After hearing Omar strum and sing along on his guitar, Chirstopher felt he had a grasp of the overall concept and requested to produce Omar’s dream of his first EP.
After recording the guitars in Omar’s bedroom and the vocals in a studio in Highland Park, the outcome is a Spanish-tongued EP paired with pop acoustic arrangements. You can preview the track “Respirar” below. The album is available from iTunes and Amazon.