AFRO-CUBAN ALL STARS!

The Broward Center for the Performing Arts
April 12, 2001
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Review by

To be quite honest, I went to this concert just to enjoy it, not to review it.  I didn't even take a notebook, but it was so phenomenal that I feel compelled to tell you about it anyway!  I may have missed some of the names of the musicians, so if any of you readers out there catch any mistakes, please drop me a note (address below.) This concert was so unusual that I literally had to scramble for something to write on, and my notes are on my deposit slips from my checkbook (not that I have any money to deposit anyway, so it doesn't matter)!

The show started with a short introduction by Juan de Marcos González, dressed in a bright red loose fitting suit.  He told us how his band has been playing in the US since 1996, but that this was their first concert in Florida and therefore very special for them.  They opened with a subdued, jazzy number.  There is a strong horn section, 7 members who kept it toned down at the beginning, a later guitar solo by Juan de Marcos and then a return to jazz, whereupon he introduced the famous Félix Baloy, dressed all in white, and Pedrito Calvo, formerly of Los Van Van, dressed all in blue, with his trademark hat with the tails hanging down (I never have figured out what those are!) On piano was David Alfaro, the great-grandson of Bola de Nieve. I didn't catch the name of the conga player, but he was very impressive.

The next number was one of my old traditional favorites, "Te traigo un son". Juan de Marcos sure knows how to animate a crowd and Pedrito Calvo does too.  Both of them, along with Félix Baloy, came down off the stage into the audience and got people out of their seats. Some began to dance in the narrow aisle in front of the stage, and the two aisles leading down the theatre.  Wasn't that Diane Honer-Padró of SalsaPower fame I saw hugging Juan de Marcos González? I could have sworn it was!

The next song was "Cuando llegaré al Bohío", a son with a very inspired trumpet solo by a guy whose name I think is "Achi Lang" (correct me, please!)

Raúl Gutiérrez, a Chilean, played sax, and if I'm not mistaken, this is the same Raúl Gutierrez who played with Irazú, and whose wife is a Cuban woman named Daisy, who I met when I was still living in Chile... Raúl, ¿eres tu?

On trumpet was Luís Alemañy who is nearly 60 years old and can still menear his hips with the best of them! There was also Juan Carlos Maní, Molote Martínez and Antonio Leal on trombone, Félix Baloy, Jr. on Violin and Yaure Muñíz on trumpet.

At one point Juan de Marcos talked about being Cuban.  Not just being Cuban, but the fact that no matter where you are, no matter where you find yourself, the bottom line is this cultural tie, this identity of being Cuban.  Politics aside, he said he was very impressed with his first concert here in South Florida, and commented, "...y no me formaron un 'meeting'!" Referring to the protesters that had greeted Los Van Van in October of 1999, and other Cuban groups before and since. Actually, I haven't seen any protesters in the last six months or more... not even in Miami Beach, which is closer to Little Havana.  I don't want to speculate as to why, but I hope that what we are seeing is a more accepting, tolerant attitude on the part of the exile community.  That would be a very positive change...I just hope it isn't wishful thinking on my part.

The group then played the song, "Reconciliación".  At one point José Miguel Trevo came out with a very unusual sounding brass horn.  I turned to the man next to me and whispered, "What the heck is that?" and he said, "It's a sensitized horn".  I think he meant a SYNTHESIZED horn! But José Miguel pulled off a solo that had everyone mesmerized. (Thankyou, JAQO, for this correction:  it was a flugelhorn, [fliscornio], with synthesized effects.)

The evening's repertoire included "Qué le den candela" which Pedro Calvo made famous with Los Van Van, and "El negro está cocinando", off of the grammy-winning album entitled "Llegó Van Van". Both numbers had people dancing in the aisles!

A short while later, this amazing group did something I've never seen done at a performing arts center before... they had the house lights turned on and literally got EVERYONE in the entire place up on their feet and dancing. Even the ushers were dancing in a corner by the door! At one point they invited half of the theatre up on the stage and while they played they were also dancing with the audience!  Who was that I saw up there doing a "sandwich menea" move between Juan de Marcos and Pedrito Calvo?  She looked familiar, ... ;-) (you know who you are - and so do I! Name withheld at the request of the persona involucrada!)

I didn't catch the name of the bass player, or the percussionists, or the woman who danced in the back (she didn't sing, or play an instrument, but Juan de Marcos introduced her at the end as the former manager of the Buena Vista Social Club and someone he'd been with for more than 20 years).  Please, folks, I am counting on you, the readers, to help me with some of these names!  Send corrections to: !  And if the Afro-Cuban All Stars are playing in your neighborhood, do NOT miss the opportunity to catch their show!

--Jacira Castro

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This page was last updated on 07-Apr-2007