Carnaval Miami - 2002 -  Calle Ocho Festival

por Jacira Castro

Calle Ocho 2001 || Calle Ocho 2003 || Calle Ocho 2004
Read other SalsaPower concert reviews HERE!

¡Qué rico, mi gente! ¿Do you have any idea what it is like to spend a beautiful day, dancing salsa in the streets, listening to Manolín, Celia, Los Niche, Puerto Rican Power, Luis Enrique, El Gran Combo and others while sipping on a cold beer and eating pinchos, arepas, cachapas, arroz con gandules or moros y cristianos and what's more, the music is FREE? That is almost like being in heaven!

The only problem is that the festival is 23 blocks long and it is impossible to be at all the stages simultaneously. I walked for a couple of hours and then bumped into my friend Eli, a boricua who I met in Chile more than 6 years ago at the Maestra Vida. We hung out with him and his friends in front of the Budweiser stage at 24th Avenue and 8th Street...and Manolín, Celia, Los Niche and El Gran Combo were there, among others.

The official Festival Guide announced that Rolando y su Dengue were going to be on the Miller Lite Stage. Say WHAT? Well, yes, that is what it said! I think they were talking about Rolando y su Dan Den... or perhaps the Dengue Fever got them.... But typographical errors aside, Willie Chirino, El Caballero de la Salsa: Gilberto Santa Rosa, Huey Dunbar, Frankie Negrón, Victor Manuelle, Fruko y sus Tesos, Miles Peña, Carolina Lao, Hansel y Raúl, Eddie Santiago, Orquesta Havana Soul, Roberto Torres, Carlos Oliva, Rey Ruíz and other groups who played Merengue, bachata, cumbias, rock latino, ska, reggae and more were there!

Shortly after 3 in the afternoon, the music stopped throughout the entire 23 block long festival for a tribute to those fallen and affected by the acts of terrorism of September 11th. It was a nice gesture, but it was really difficult for the hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans who barely speak any English to sing, "God Bless America"! There were people from everywhere! I was really surprised by the amount of Mexicans that were here! Of course, there were also Cubans, Puertorricans, Colombians.... and people from all over the world!

After such a tiring day, I don't know how I managed to drag myself to the computer to write this report, but the sheer exhaustion was in my feet, not my fingertips, and the music will last in my memory until next year!

 

The official Carnaval Miami site HERE

Esta página fue actualizada el día 07-Mar-2005