Maite Hontelé

Born in Utrecht in 1980, Maite Hontelé trained in the Netherlands before anchoring a large part of her career in Colombia, where she settled at the end of the 2000s after a notable stint at the Medellín Jazz Festival with the Cubop City Big Band. A trumpeter and bugler, Maite Hontelé developed a repertoire centered on salsa and the Cuban sound, with an approach that crosses Latin brass, dance arrangements and jazz-informed writing. After starting out in various groups in the mid-1990s, she launched her recording career under her own name with Llegó La Mona in 2009, followed by Mujer Sonora in 2010. Maite Hontelé first toured Europe with a Dutch formation, then with a Colombian group that accompanies the evolution of her music toward a salsa more rooted in Latin American scenes. Déjame Así was released in 2013, followed by Te Voy A Querer in 2015 and Cuba Linda in 2018, albums recorded with several musicians and ensembles linked to the Cuban tradition. Parallel to her on-stage work, Hontelé collaborates notably with Rubén Blades and participates in projects outside the strict salsa frame. After ending her active career in 2020, she later returns to the stage occasionally, while continuing to work as an artistic director in the Netherlands, notably with Music Meeting and then the Nationaal Jeugd Jazz Orkest, with which Maite Hontelé’s NJJO goes Mambo appeared in 2024.