40th
Anniversary of the Fania All Stars
with Special Guests
James L. Knight Center, Miami, Florida
August 8, 2004, 8 p.m.
By:
Photos by: Pablo
Castro-Harper exclusively for SalsaPower
The Fania
All Stars and Guests play to a sold-out crowd
On a rainy
evening in Miami, a sold-out crowd of Fania All Star
fans came to see the all time greats play in celebration of their 40th
Anniversary. Izzy Sanabria, Mr. Salsa himself, introduced
each of the artists, and like a well-oiled machine, they launched into
their traditional Descarga de la Fania. These band members
have known each other for four decades so the synchronization just flows
and they can anticipate each other's next move.
Just
close your eyes
It is thrilling
to see that they can still draw the crowds and that many of the attendees
are far too young to remember the hey-day of the Fania All Stars.
Perhaps they listened to this music from their cradles, but there they
were, all these many years later, just itching to get out of their seats
and dance to this great gathering of talent. Not only that, but when
Ismael Miranda held the microphone out to the audience, they
actually sang the words to the song as if it was a tune from the top
ten list of today's charts. And the most amazing thing is, that if you
just close your eyes, they sound as young as they did more than 30 years
ago. The rumors that salsa is on the wane are just that: rumors.
There were
stellar solos from each of the major artists. Ismael Miranda
with his crystal clear voice, Alfredito De La Fé with
his magic violin, Papo Lucca on Piano... and the transition
from one song to the next flowed smoothly.
Albita
Rodríguez made a guest appearance to do a tribute to
Celia Cruz. Her powerful, smooth, deep voice caressed
the tunes we all know and the crowd went wild when someone passed her
a picture of Celia and she held it high while she sang a medly that
included Yerbero, La Rumba me está llamando, Químbara,
and Bemba Color'á.
Missing
Stars
But Celia
wasn't the only Fania All Star that wasn't present. There were several
notable absences. We heard what
happened to Larry Harlow, but what about Willie
Colón, Ruben Blades and Junior González?
Where was Ray Barreto? Inquiring minds would like to
know why these key figures were not included in this monumental gathering
of talent.
When some
of the fans heard about El Judío Maravilloso
not coming, they requested refunds for their tickets. According to one
individual who spoke with Zuleyka at RMM Records and also John Sepúlveda
at Spanish Broadcasting Service, both were adamant about not granting
any refunds. The fans we heard from both by e-mail and in person at
the concert told us they were very disappointed because they really
had wanted to see Larry Harlow.
But missing
characters aside, the show was powerful and showed that the Fania
All Stars are still capable of drawing a sell-out crowd and
continue to build a young fan base.
They closed
the concert with their traditional number, Quítate tú
and a huge, long descarga with all the major soneros singing together
on stage. Yomo Toro jumped in at the end and took the
traditional salsa into a Rock and Roll solo on his cuatro
and then slid right back into a Son rhythm. The Fania
All Stars can really boogie!
Let's
hope they can all make peace with each other so that the next reunion
is more complete.
This site
last updated on
20-Feb-2005
Photo Album script code courtesy of Kity-Kity
