If you try to enjoy Salsa, Mambo, Cha Cha you should first consider that your original idea was inspired by the musical legacy of Chano Pozo, Damaso Perez Prado, Enrique Jorrín, Benny Moré, Celia Cruz, La Lupe and Juan Formell.
Those attending next Friday and Saturday the Havana’s coliseum located in the central Linea street can enjoy a show that links the rich Cuban dance rhythms created by these world renowned artists.
At its premiere on Wednesday, the show that is artistically directed by the singer Isaac Delgado and produced by Armenian-American Debbie Ohaian, specialized in this type of shows in New York, does not come to show us what is commonly presented about the Caribbean island. There is in it a strong intention to present the mambo, son, cha cha and rumba as expressions of a mixed and diverse idiosyncrasy, which has been enriched over time with the creative ingenuity of many children of this land.
Two events make up a dramaturgical body that begins precisely with that African heritage so present in our sound. Then there is nothing better than La comparsa, by Ernesto Lecuona, to mystically delve into the twentieth century, essential period where several musical genres germinated that will be recreated in the nearly two-hour evening.
Bobby Carcassés, ceremonious when playing piano, reveres with his hit Blue con montuno para Benny, dedicated to the King of Rhythm, who without academic knowledge was able to revolutionize from singing and composition the national music. Carcassés himself will also play, along with the spectacular band that accompanies him, Que bueno baila usted, by More, and ends the track with that magic and paradigmatic step of the musician born in Santa Isabel de las Lajas.
Rumba does not need metaphors to describe it. The piece is a gem that the Salsa Mambo Chachachá Orchestra, led by saxophonist Germán Velazco, plays by heart. It is in these musical passages flavored with guaguancó where the dancing corps of the show stands out the most, and Barbarito Ramos, heir to that tradition grown in Muñequitos de Matanzas, shows his best step s, closely followed by the dancer Maykel Font.
One of the most dramatic moments of the night was the Percussion Suite, a segment in which four young and promising musicians show off their most virtuous executions. The performance of Keisel Jimenez, Eduardo Ramos, Edgar Martinez and Jose Morejon leaves many breathless. In a perfect combination of musical tempo, lighting design and concept of the show, these four boys show, as in the past they have done at the Fiesta del Tambor, that they can make a genuine art with the congas, timbales and sticks.
While, in a duo, Hayla Maria Mompié and Geidi Chapman invite us to travel through Cha Cha Cha in Blue, by Jose Curbelo. Both artists then return with two medleys that evoke hits by two great Cuban singers: La Lupe and Celia Cruz.
Isaac Delgado then performs Havana City, by Juan Formell, while instrumentals of indisputable weight within the continental music are also part of the repertoire: Manteca, by Chano Pozo; Ran kan kan, by Tito Puente; and Oye como va, by Carlos Santana.
To perform Chancletas, the dance corps used this iconic choreography that also identifies us and on a large screen images of the Carnival in Santiago de Cuba are evoked.
After an intermission of ten minutes, Isaac takes over the stage with hits popularized in NG La Banda and his own band in the 1990s, main stage of the timba in Cuba. And thus it closes a show that also takes the imprint of choreographers Santiago Alfonso, Rayma Perez, Wendy Ferrer and Yusleivis Rodriguez; Germán Velasco is in charge of orchestrations; and the essential collaboration Egrem record label.
Eager for proposals mixing dance with our sound, Havana people can attend for two more nights, that of Friday and Saturday, Salsa, Mambo, Cha Cha.
