WOMAD

Los Charangueros

From Cuba, United Kingdom

Cuba, with its blend of Spanish and African cultures, is the home of the hottest Latin sounds. Recent WOMAD festivals have seen the explosive horn-driven group NG La Banda, the guitar and tres band Sierra Maestra and, further back, the infectious rhythms of Orquesta Revé. All these groups share a common heritage in the music called son, the rhythm at the core of most modern Latin styles, from rumba and mambo to salsa. It originated in Cuba in the nineteenth century as a blend of Spanish melodies and African rhythms, and evolved over the years with the use of more hard-hitting percussion (timbales, congas and bongoes). Los Charangueros is a 10-piece band that plays charanga, a style based on the rhythms of son that also includes strings and flutes to produce a lighter, breezier sound. Charanga came into its own as an offshoot of son in the fifties and its best-known exponents are Los Van Van, who take the music deeper into jazz territory.Los Charangueros includes six Cuban musicians and four based in the UK. The Cuban contingent, including musical director, main composer and bassist Rey Crespo, come from a union of the band Saoco Son and string players from the Havana Sinfonica Orchestra. Watch out for the young singer Adonis Puentes, already a veteran at the age of 23. From this side of the Atlantic comes flautist Nina Jaffa (who played sax for the UK's top Cuban dance band, Salsa Y Aché. Some of you may have seen them at WOMAD's Morecambe Bay event last year), singer Sandra Forero (also from Salsa Y Aché) and pianist Kim Burton (who also plays accordion, but that's quite another story). This experienced, talented line-up is both well-versed in the roots of charanga and open to new ideas that will allow the music to develop. In such hands, charanga remains a hot dance style, but the notes and rhythms still have room to breathe, to stretch out and enjoy themselves. Which makes this band a necessary addition to any warm July day.