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Sunset,
Sea, Sand, Salsa and Soukous in Santa Monica as Global Rhythms Rock
the Pier
By Tomm Carroll
Music Critic
There’s bad news and good
news regarding Thursday’s Twilight Dance Series concert on the Santa
Monica Pier.
First,
the bad news: Acclaimed Afro-pop superstar Salif Keita will not be
performing as originally announced. Now the good news: Three African-related
acts
have been tapped to replace him!
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Congolese
born Ricardo Lemvo and his band Makina Loca (pseudo-Spanish for
“crazy machine”) fuse Cuban and African dance music into a contagious
mixture that has audiences dancing and critics proclaiming them
as “the future of salsa.”
The popular Los Angeles-based
group seamlessly blends together rhumba, son, soukous and, yes,
salsa, to create a musical melting pot. Their fourth CD, Ay Valeria,
is scheduled for release July 29, just two days before the show. |
Sitting in with Lemvo and his band is the legendary African musician
Blay Ambolley.
The singer-songwriter-saxophonist, who hails from Ghana, steps out from
his Hi-Life Afrikan Jazz Band (with whom he performed at Santa Monica’s
Temple bar last month), to add his distinctive style of highlife music
called “simigwa-do” into the mix. Ambolley’s latest CD is AfriKan JaaZZ.
The Afro-Carib side of this
night’s musical equation is provided by Caribbean Pulse, a quintet
of roots, rock, reggae and R&B musicians known for their masterful
harmonies and inspirational lyrics.
The band’s new CD,
Unity, produced by noted reggae producer Fabian Goode, is on
its way to becoming an international hit. Caribbean Pulse’s infectious
island rhythms have taken the U.S. by storm, from California's
Reggae Old School Jam and the Sea Breeze Festival to the 7th
Annual Reggae Soca Award show in Florida.
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