El Sol Warsaw Rollcall 2018
- Thread starter Al Israel
- Start date
ctcmichael
Changui
I am going back! Yay!
Sabrosura
Son Montuno
For any ladies reading this, make sure you memorize hiken's photo and don't miss him at the congress, he's lots of fun to dance with
Most definitely... Maybe!
Not in Warsaw, but I'm getting completely inundated with FB posts about it, more than any other festival. Geez. Have fun all!
Sabrosura
Son Montuno
The new album isn't that inspiring to me, I only like two songs from it (Amiga Mia and the opening song), not enough rhythm intensity in the others for my taste -- but as a melody lover I thought you'd love it
Still, I saw them live twice in the past two weeks and they were definitely not meh. Maybe the difference was that I saw them at Cuban congresses where the atmosphere was awesome, lots of energy and interaction between the band and the audience, whereas at a predominantly linear dancer congress like El Sol I assume the audience energy, participation and interaction was much less intense.
One of the best moments during their concert at the Festival Internacional Cubano in France was when the band asked (as they usually do) the audience if they were tired. Of course everyone said "noooo". But they didn't stop there, a few seconds later someone from the audience started a French choir of someone asking/chanting, "Ou sont les fatigues?" (Where are the tired ones?) and the audience chanting in response, "On n'est pas fatigue!" (We are not tired!) This went on for a full 2-3 minutes, and the band immediately made up a spontaneous instrumental background to go with the audience chanting
The whole thing was pretty awesome ( @timberamayor I forgot to mention this cool tidbit when I told you about the concert )The chanting was kind of like in this song
Here is a clip from that concert, where they were singing Amiga Mia, one of my favorites from the new album:
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Yes, they didn't create energy and people were leaving for downstairs dancing, me too. I checked the concert several times. This is my beef with many top Cuban bands. They expect audience to cheer, before they deserve it. European audience will cheer and everything if you put your soul and energy into it on stage. But Cuban bands somehow expect it the other way around? They just beg for applause and such. Professional musicians, but boring performance. No sabor!
Sabrosura
Son Montuno
Lmao Cuban bands don’t have sabor?!
Are you trying to make me break a rib laughing..?! I don’t know what went on at Warsaw, maybe they were tired since they've been on tour for a while, playing in a different city every day -- but I COMPLETELY disagree with you about Cuban bands in general not having sabor. (And I'm not sure how you can draw such a conclusion after...exactly how many Cuban concerts have you seen?) I think this is the most hilariously ridiculous thing I have read on SF
Not just from you, but possibly in the entire history of SF. As much as I dislike certain aspects of Cuba (and I don't like the "Aplauso, aplauso!" either), one thing has become abundantly clear from the first trip I ever took to Cuba (now looking forward to my 11th): Cuban musicians are by far the best in the world at bringing the music to life. Seeing my first timba concert in Cuba and how they brought the music to life was what made me go from a timba hater, to a timba lover. Within 2 hours. So hearing you say Cuban bands have no sabor is going to have me laughing for a looong time!
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nowhiteshoes
Son
I dont know why mambo congresses invite Cuban bands.
Berlin has 2 last year - not sure about this year.
Berlin has 2 last year - not sure about this year.
Sabrosura
Son Montuno
Could be just a matter of convenience -- this time of year is when many big Cuban bands are on tour, and they're probably cheaper to book them since they're already in Europe than flying over American bands for a one-time gig, and there aren't that many good European bands.
Orquestra Broadway. The first half and hour in and close to end of concert.
Groovy charanga, very good.
It's like you feel ants crawling up your spine then half a second later hear people erupting in cheers, and at end of song singer says - thank you. They used music to connect and it worked. Some people complained about 10+ minute songs. I just danced near exit where is some air and changed partners midsong.
Basically same era than LVV, so age was there, but singing was very good, groove was solid, solos inspiring.
Sabrosura
Son Montuno
Sorry, but this is a New York band that plays for mambo dancers so if you think the only reason the crowd reacted so well is because they played better than LVV... then that’s a very biased opinion.
By the way, I saw orquesta broadway many times in New York and I never liked them much, I’d take LVV (or pretty much any other big Cuban band) over them any day. I’m not into the long, boring charangas at all... I can take a few seconds but not a whole song of that (especially when there are flutes involved...); what you call “groovy charanga” is to me extremely boring and not dance inspiring music; again that pesky rhythm vs. melody preference emerging
That said, I’m glad people still appreciate this old New York band so much...these old musicians deserve to get all the recognition they can get as there are fewer and fewer of them left.
By the way, I saw orquesta broadway many times in New York and I never liked them much, I’d take LVV (or pretty much any other big Cuban band) over them any day. I’m not into the long, boring charangas at all... I can take a few seconds but not a whole song of that (especially when there are flutes involved...); what you call “groovy charanga” is to me extremely boring and not dance inspiring music; again that pesky rhythm vs. melody preference emerging
That said, I’m glad people still appreciate this old New York band so much...these old musicians deserve to get all the recognition they can get as there are fewer and fewer of them left.
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Interesting. How preferences differ among dancers. I would venture a guess that, many will take Charanga over Timba. And as for Flutes, I LUV my Flutes ..
Sabrosura
Son Montuno
Rhythm over melody
I need some sort of rhythm intensity, and those flutes ain't got it And yes, here on SF, where we only have very few timba lovers, of course people will probably prefer charangas. If you were to ask this on a timba forum...very different preferences.
As for people who like both, I think those of us on SF who love both salsa and timba are extremely few.