This Sunday,eleven days after Juan Formell passed away, his band returned to the stage with a special concert to pay homage to its founder and Cuban mothers.
This Sunday, without the usual formalities and political atmosphere sometimes requested for this kind of events, Cuban actor Luis Alberto Garciaasked the crowd gathered in El Sauce Cultural Center to make one minute of silence to pay homage to a great Cuban musician. “Juan Formell is a musical genius and his death took us all by surprise, as well as Benny More’s and Arsenio Rodriguez”, explained Garcia, the host of a cultural space in El Sauce.
The audience, made up of people from different ages and origins, welcomed this idea by Garcia, the main character in films such as Clandestinos and La vidaessilbar, which have left a mark in different generations of Cubans.
The organizers of the event placed to the left side of the stagetwo objects regularly used by the leader of Van Van during their performances: a bass and a microphone. It seemed they were waiting for his owner, the one who came up, on December 4, 1969, with the idea of creating a band that revolutionized popular music given the strength and the Cuban identity conveyed in his lyrics.
Permiso que llegó Van Van was the song chosen for opening the concert dedicated to all Cuban mothers, the first one where Formell was physically absent but everyone was certain that he was present in every strain by the members of the band. Just a few details set the difference in this performance. It was the first one where he was absent; the opening song was not La Maquinaria– very frequent in their latest concerts… There were two main changes: pianist Roberto Carlos Rodríguez (Cucurucho) was not there, instead there was a new player everyone called Pancho; and they made a thorough selection of the songs each singer would interpret, though this is something Formell monitored for sure.
I was surprised by the new melodic rhythm of the so-called Potpurri, the speech given by each vocalist on the founder of the band, the feeling with which Juan Carlos, Formell’s older song, interpreted Sundunguera(Por encima del nivel), and the mastery of his brother Samuel during his first day as the leader of the band, whose work is part of the Cuban identity.
Juan Carlos, filled with emotion, took his father’s microphone and thanked the audience and cultural institutions in the country for the affection expressed to Juan Formell and noted: “his music is addressed for the Cuban people”.
Dramatically, this was a concert where dancers enjoyed classic songs by the band, from them 80’s and 90’s as for instance, Este amorque se muere, Todo se acabó, ¡Ay Dios, ampárame!, andAnda, ven y quiéreme, among others.
The song Ven, ven, ven was perfect evidence that Van Van is still beating. The admiration of the members of the band towards Juan Formell is everlasting and the best demonstration of respect is to continue his legacy.
In the choir of the song, singer Roberton Hernandez invited Elito Reve, the leader of the Charangon, who came up with a catchy and wittychoir: Formell está con nosotros, hay Van Van pa’ rato (Formell is here with us and Van Van is forever).
Because the legend continues, the members of this popular music band have decided to go by the name of Juan Formell y los Van Van.
