Salsa seems to me like a shining chrome express train – flashing past, glistening in the sun, wheels and gears whirring in extreme dynamic perfection – an extraordinary exemplar of musical perfection that I cannot reach or even really comprehend – a moving display of beautiful people dancing to an other-worldly rhythm that if I tried to mimic would be like a dog on its hind legs.
And then Colombia throws me a bone. La Mambanegra, performing what they call break salsa. They can do that stupendously beautiful music, but they can also break it – break it down – make it comprehensible for dullards like me that need a stick crudely drawing shapes in the sand – put one foot here, then the other foot there, etc.
What you have here in this OP YT clip is 6 years old, but ageless in its vivacity. Jacobo Vélez, the bandleader – some kind of anti-Eldritch in his white outfit and straw hat (but with Andy-Pandy’s mirror shades and clearly driven approach to carving a musical path for his band) joyfully drawing out all their musical professionalism in a way that bursts the hermetic seal of salsa.
A riot of joyful sounds. Hope you like!
I come to this new discovery thanks to @kaisfatdad dropping a timebomb of Colombian unplugged videos on Facebook. Favourites from my 2020 thread (Systema Solar and Frente Cumbiero) are present and correct, but it is this extended clip of La Mambanegra’s 3 songs – extemporizing fluidly and harmoniously from street to concert stage – that really drew me in.
https://www.rtvcplay.co/musica/sesiones-rtvc/mambanegra-sesion-completa
Apologies to @Alias for not really recognizing the talent he was sharing, due to my salsa prejudices.
Once again, the Colombian musical tap pours out a fresh stream of wondrous new musical experiences to savour.
Yikes!! Are we off to Colombia again? I am not complaining! I’ll just throw a few things in my suitcase and head for the airport.
Incidentally, I was just looking through the programme for Reflexen, the local cinema where I am a volunteer, and I see we have a Disney film with a Columbian setting coming next week.
It looks fairly promising. Generous dollops of magical realism it seems.
Are we off to Colombia again? You booked the flight, Mister…
I like the trailer, btw. Nothing is as enriching and enticing as a spot of Colombian magic realism.
La Mambanegra are a great live band and I recommend this album. Promo copy here for £1.99.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/114621322913?_trkparms=ispr%3D1&hash=item1aaff696a1:g:LksAAOSwn91f-ZkK&amdata=enc%3AAQAGAAACkPYe5NmHp%252B2JMhMi7yxGiTJkPrKr5t53CooMSQt2orsSR84A%252FGMxXIqJzFmDq6lDLq2QOk%252FgdCN6zkhXr4jRBWrHVWbcLi3JYQbrOoZneB6ic99yJ4r38IY8Q8qtqLi57KK%252BmAQ0ukmFR2hS6QPFBhhPNze9bKbnJ03bPm2ypdkNlyci%252BB08SfuDOTlUt8A1%252Bx9TWHauZ%252FLS8IaIYMwkN4RkC%252Br2ptt9wb9FgN3nuyPdpIueGPj9D4Vwju24uPdHHyGtLSxVncLyJIXkfyuJgxRIZ6sVJa%252BVaSXglMxSe1ZpkNU3xvevq1SK9SyKcOaW%252FlhnBxwg9gwDTfa7VLP1xvz985P88YXdlJvxT7E%252FOQ%252BNGBuanWKYddm8vOKp486cPtrW5KAUOG%252FXQHOGn4WtlmnAKXhiv92RkgohU3NAh5NtxsfTqr4P5WKm5QRTKZ30t1vqA5uUsJotFJRtEeom4mmmZQy9TWsIzFspi2wKX%252F0lwPr0QQPOSPO2RF%252BxoDoD46O3x60t8QJrWlWEEXddcuXd8Yf64zdG7n8SDYTVb4%252FQ8zNYvNKeUcCZNU1%252BOOTB1NG5IbEstY%252BgD%252BBSURQ7hWCaETk8cA84BDepRnY1F6cv9DSvEAK45prpPEqiAeiLbMFLmoobACPslHaq%252BKc9HG%252FTvDUojueZzZsAeBKEhsQbOfI0X0su6DGWMCkjeZPYmQmhPL3qkpQBHHhZ3K7NY7p9zMbQfrhqOxNr9ux7AHJUXJUclPfQIpzjGffusGUeOaQg985vK%252FoYjBGRd0E5iBalFdN%252BSf6Io6cGIj6hxaHF3POso3o4AxLb%252FtpwnclU0ted5n%252BwP0o%252BzjHS8Zc318D5VmlZocxVGq2QKW6fGdaZ%7Cclp%3A2334524%7Ctkp%3ABFBMmIrurahf
I went to their bandcamp account and bought the download of that album. I reckon it’ll be a revelation.
I Googled. Before Jacobo Velez founded Mambanegra, he was in his wonderful combo: The Elecrric Bream.
They’d get any party started.
Thanks, KFD – that’s almost like two different bands – love the first, wonder if the second is prog salsa?
On the first Colombian thread Alias mentioned Elio Boom and Wganda Kenya , both examples of the Afro-Colombian champeta style.
My nocturnal meanderings led me to a few more champeta bands who would get any party started.
Tribu Baharu
The guitar playing is straight out of soukous.
El Sayayin who is not very suitable for works. Lots of buxom lasses shaking their bottoms.
And here are Tribu Bahuru again now with electronic duo Acido Pantera.
One more from them..
Great selection. The first one is definetely one for Junior Wells.
The couple dancing on the second reminded me of when I was in Havana some time in the 90s. At the hotel I was staying at there was a Trades Union delegation from the U.K. also staying there. An older guy from the delegation who knew nothing about Latin music told me that they had been out the night before to a restaurant where a band played. After the band finished, music and dancing continued. The woman who was the singer in the band dragged this guy up to dance and danced like the dancers in the video. He told me about how he, a happily married man, panicked at this because thought it meant that he had to sleep with her!
That is hilarious, Alias. And all too believable. You won’t find many of these lovely latinas who are shy, retiring wallflowers. As the Swedes would say they are very “pang på rödbetan” : literally” bang on the beetroot.” They cut to the chase with a vengeance.
I can see the look of horrified fascination on the poor chap’s face.
Shakira is not the only She Wolf, although she is Akela, Leader of the Pack.
Gosh! I suddenly had a cub scout flashback,”Akela – we’ll do our best!!”
Our Akela was a rather sedate matron who worked at Barclay’s Bank in Pinner High Street.
If we are to believe this story, Elio Boom, who was a founder of the genre and is one of the biggest names in champeta, started life as a shoeshine boy.
https://www.shock.co/musica/elio-boom-pionero-de-la-champeta-y-rey-del-vacile
The article mentions how Shakira really put Colombian music and champeta on the map when she performed at the Superbowl with J Lo.
Now that is a show! Why don’t favourites of mine like James Yorkston and The Divine Comedy ever do shows like that?
Thank you for feeding the embers of this blog KFD and Alias. Your contributions inspired me to dip into Sounds and Colours once more. There’s always something interesting to discover and this track, echoing with gaita flutes and pinned together with Ribot-style guitar is no exception. The claymation video is worth a watch in its own right
Both the song and the video are excellent. The combination of the pipes and that guitar works splendidly.
I had a pleasant morning getting to know Elio Boom, Tribu Bahuru and other artists from Cartagena.
Here’s Elio guesting with Mr Black.
And Tribu with their single Ingrid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjzeWRdvByI7
Two other combos who are shamelessly catchy and poppy.
Kartel Pacifico
and Profetas
Also released since my last Colombian thread in July is another album from Quantic and Nidia Góngora (lead singer of Canalon de Timbiqui who you posted in that thread KFD)
Classy, layered beautiful music as you would expect from Quantic.
Strong harmonious female Colombian voices – La Muchacha and Briela Ojeda. Both worth exploring indivdually.
Animaleja – Enraizada is worth watching as much for the video as for the song, but there is a dreamy effect of both together.
I noticed that the Kiko Villamizar video was done in Austin. Googled to discover that is where he is based. An interesting chap, to put it mildly.
http://voyageaustin.com/interview/meet-kiko-villamizar-of-south-austin/
Poor sound quality but this Berlin gig looks like a lot of fun.
Here he is live in Austin. singing a song in tribute to the midwife who delivered his daughter. Love those shirts the band are wearing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0Ufhemc670
Intersting to see that the pipe, which provides such a distinctive sound, looks like a large recorder.
Palmeras de Urabá! This Bullerengue combo can sing.
Natty togs too!
Now that’ what I call folk music! It is easy to undesratnd why there have been several remixes of the Palmeras.
I googled.
There seems to be some cracking birdwatching in Uraba.
https://www.colombiabirdwatch.com/remote-colombia-uraba-gulf.html
It’s in the far north of Colombia, bordering on Panama and the region has a rather violent history.
https://pbicolombia.org/2018/01/15/uraba-a-contemporary-history-of-violence-and-territory/
It is minus 14 Centigrade here today @Salwarpe, so I am certainly going to continue dippi my toes into some Colombian sunshine.
Here’s a combo of four first- generation New Yorkers with Colombian roots. Ethnic sounds, psychedelic rock, electronica- quite a cocktail.
I’m still digging into your first Colombian thread. Hubert recommended this vintage compilation album.
Some useful background to the Disco Fuentes record label…
https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15182-cartagena-curro-fuentes-the-big-band-cumbia-and-descarga-sound-of-colombia-1962-1972/
Glad Colombian music is bringing you sunshine, @Kaisfatdad. That first track is the one I posted on the first thread – but it’s good to rediscover it – the mix of full voiced ecstatic Colombian vocals, clattering drums, chiming guitar, stick rubbing, spacey keyboards and resonant bass may be a strange cocktail of ingredients, but it is one that works beautifully. The second is quite subdued by contrast – a bit too much of an indistinct jam for my taste. The last has classic ingredients and reminded me of something with the prominent tooting clarinet. I think it’s this sturdy modern classic, which probably has similar roots, from what I know of Quantic.