Charanga Forever -  Into the New Year
Nassau, Bahamas, December 31, 2002

By Kaysee 

Charanga Forever brought its international timba sound to Club 601 in downtown Nassau, Bahamas on New Years Eve. Born of the 1998 split in the renowned Cuban group Charanga Habanera, the group, which still contains three members of the original Charanga Habanera, kept the dance floor hot for fans with a combination of Cuban standards, English R&B tunes, and hip-swiveling, foot-blistering timba pieces.

The show got off to an impressive start with Charanga Forever's version of the wild choreography that the Charanga of earlier days had become famous for. Dressed in silver and gold jackets of faintly military design, the band took the stage, conquering and making it theirs during a fantastic marching introduction. Highly stylized in the Earth, Wind and Fire mode, the intro led easily into the band's rendition of that group's Dancing in September. During the two 45-minute sets La Forever performed two additional songs in English, Kool and the Gang's Joanna, into which they inserted a rather interesting reggae section, and Let's Go Dancing.

Throughout the performance, Charanga Forever also gave props to the Cuban tradition in music. They referenced their charanga roots by performing both Chan Chan and Son de la loma. These both had a very timba-influenced sound that added even further danceability to these already popular tunes. In the second set the crowd was treated to a medley of cha-cha-chá tunes, the only cha-cha-chá they played in the concert.

The most powerful aspect to the show, however, was the modern Cuban music. For the second set opener, Charanga Forever began, "Somos la Charanga, la mismísima Charana, la Charanga que tú conoces, la que siempre te sofocó!" And while the band is not literally the same Charanga of yesteryear (who is, these days?) they certainly have a sweet swing and a great groove. Along with "Dice Formell", which is by now a sort of theme song, I suppose, they also performed a very interesting version of "No me compliques', and several originals including a song about el Mikimbín and one with the coro "eres una máquina". The lead singers in particular provided a spectacular show for the ladies, with sensual and sometimes gymnastic moves during the mambo sections.

One or two songs were strongly reminiscent of the 1987-98 Charanga Habanera sound, but La Forever has a lighter sound with less emphasis on the bass and the darker lines of keyboard. This may be partially due to the absence of a second keyboard and the fact that bassist Pedro Pablo Gutiérrez is no longer performing with the band. In any case, the timba numbers were full of catchy coros, mambos and bloques that provided lots of opportunity for dance and despelote. In particular the final two numbers were very hot; I'm sure the extra smoke in the club at this point came from the dancers' shoes!

La Charanga Forever is a band to watch, to dance to, and to enjoy. They gave Nassau concertgoers, especially the dancers, a New Year fiesta to remember and a fantastically musical beginning to 2003.

 

Read other SalsaPower concert reviews HERE!
Lea otras reseñas de conciertos en SalsaPower AQUI!

 

This page last updated on 07-Mar-2005