Yalana Febus

Born on 2005 on Juncos, Puerto Rico, Yalana has always been involved in music as if it was her own mother tongue. At just 4 years old, and as a way for speech therapy due to a past hearing impairment, she started her music career as a trovadora; a singer of trova, a folkloric rural singing genre in Puerto Rico. When she was 5, she started experimenting with being an instrumental musician, with the Puerto rican cuatro being her first instrument. At 7 years old, she started taking piano lessons on the former Sol Taíno Music Academy on Las Piedras, Puerto Rico, with Sara Laureano as her teacher. When she was 11, and on her way to start as a new student at the Colegio Bautista de Caguas private school, she wanted to integrate the school's band as a pianist. Due to no availability for a pianist position and her strong desire to be a part of the school's band, she took the challenge of learning a new instrument: the saxophone, instrument that has led her to new opportunities in the present Puerto rican music scene. Due to her learning how to play the instrument in less than a year, she received a letter of recommendation to the Escuela Libre de Música de Caguas, school that has been renowned for it's rich music program and musicians around the world. Being accepted there, she was part of the school's Intermediate and Advanced Band and was given the opportunity to represent Puerto Rico in the Summa Cum Laude Festival in Vienna, Austria as a singer alongside the school's Symphonic Orchestra (2023). With that same group, she also collaborated as a clarinetist with the Puerto rican artist Arcángel on his 14 Just In Time concerts in the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot, principal concert hall of Puerto Rico (2022). That same year, she was accepted to the Berklee in Puerto Rico program for the first time. She has been part of the program for the 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 editions, all as an alto and baritone saxophone player. Since 2023, she has been part of the Encuentro de Tambores, backed by el Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, on different parts of the island as a cuá and puerto rican barril player with the Delegación del Este. Also on 2023, she collaborated with Puerto Rican and Dominican artist Jonathan Suazo as part of the Revive la Música concert on the Bellas Artes de Santurce Symphonic hall. On 2024, she represented her hometown Juncos on the Florida Puerto rican Parade as a saxophonist alongside the mayor and officials from the municipality of Juncos. Since 2023, she is currently pursuing a Bachelor's Degree in Music Education with a Major in Classical Saxophone and a Minor in Classical Voice (B.M/A.E 2028). Other musical experiences that she has had through her career include the Caguas Children's Choir, Decimanía, Caguas Bells and Chimes Choir, The Preparatory School Band of the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rican folklore group “De Palo Santo y Guaraguao”, The Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico's Salsa Ensembleand many more. She has also had experiencies as a composer such as presenting her bomba piece “Inestable”, commissioned for Amalgama Borinkén as a contemporary dance project on the Sagrado Corazón University (2025) and “Encanto”, a classical baritone saxophone and piano piece, mixing trova and Puerto rican danza elements (2026).