Last night Quimbomba, a Cuban dance band, performed in the auditorium of Stuyvesant High School as part of the River to River festival. A rainy day had turned into a miserable night as the weather vacillated between dreary rain and hurricane conditions outside the building. The unfortunate weather provided ample reason to stay home, leaving an abundance of empty seats in the midsized auditorium as Quimbombo (the word is from Congolese and means okra stew or gumbo). took the stage. Quimbombo plays Cuban Son a music that developed in Eastern Cuba (Oriente Province) in the 1800's and gained popularity in the 1930's. Cuban Son combines Spanish guitar (later replaced by the Cuban Tres) with African rhythms and percussion. When Cuban immigrants brought Cuban Son to New York City, Salsa was born.
Quimbombo is an experienced band with a majority of its members having been born in or having roots to Cuba. The band includes Nick Herman (director, arranger, composer, percussion), David Oquendo (lead vocals, guitar, percussion),Arum Luthra (tenor and soprano sax, flutes), Steve Gluzband (trumpet, flugelhorn), Alex Fernandez Fox (tres, vocals, percussion), Ricky Salas (congas, vocals), Jorge Bringas (bass, vocals) and Igor Arias Baro (lead and background vocals, percussion). Quimbombo consists primarily of older musicians, men devoted to preserving a great traditional musical style in a foreign land. Though steeped in nostalgic Afro-Cubanism, the band does not cling to set arrangements, it maintains the improvisational elements central to music’s vibrancy.
Last night, Quimbombo took the stage dressed in white linen shirts and white dress slacks as the performance began. Quimbombo kicked off the set with a song that featured three percussionists on a smooth Afro-Cuban groove and vocals by lead singer/guitarist David Oquendo. The song climaxed with Oquendo(on guitar), and Alex Fernandez Fox (on tres) dueling back and forth with short solos. The solos were thin in timbre and might have been better suited to lush layering than pyrotechnic individualism.
Three more percussionists joined the group as the band pumped out syncopated grooves; at one point eleven people were on stage with eight of them playing percussion instruments either drums, marimbas or gourds as bassist Jorge Bringas provided deep lines behind Oquendo’s singing. “Please feel free to dance. They are not giving out fines or tickets for dancing,” implored director/composer Nick Herman between songs. The bashful crowd initially abstained, but the infectious rhythms lured a gradually increasing number of people onto the dance floor in an aisle section as the show continued. Quimbombo's excellent sound and passion for their music was evident, but without an eager, enthusiastic (dancing!) audience the group wasn't as dynamic as they could have been,making last night's show good but not great.
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sounds amazing. good write up. i'm not familiar with this brand of latin music, so the more i liked hearing about the history.
Last night's show at Stuyvesant High School was a little bit makeshift, but only because the venue was changed on the day of the show. Quimbombó was meant to play at Wagner Park but was moved indoors because of inclement weather in the forecast for the day.
Because I'm me, the indoors did nothing to ensure that I would remain dry. I left my umbrella uptown by accident and hoped for the best -- but didn't get it. Stepping out of the subway station at Chambers and West Broadway, I thought maybe I was in the clear because it wasn't raining. Half a block later, I was drenched through; the skies had almost literally just opened up and let out all of the water they had. In the measly four-block walk from the station to the high school, I got so wet that I had to wring out my dress before I went inside for fear of 1) never drying off and 2) ruining anything I touched. Once inside, it was nice to be able to sit inside an auditorium with comfortable chairs for the show. Little did I realise that it probably would have been better in a venue with no seating at all, because Quimbombó put on a show fit for dancing.
Quimbombó is a Cuban dance group who plays all sorts of music but is focused around the beat and music of Cuban són, a salsa dance. The audience quickly learned that this was meant to be an interactive show, from the playing of instruments to dancing in the aisles. From the very first song that the band played, there was a man in the row behind us playing maracas that he'd brought with him -- later in the show, I noticed a man a row in front of us playing more percussion that he'd brought with him as well. The music itself was contagious and full of rhythm, and much of the audience was moving in their seats, grooving along with the beat. At one point, a man in the band stood up and told us, "Please, feel free to dance. They're not giving out fines or tickets for dancing." The effect was almost immediate -- groups of people started to form in the aisles and the space behind the rows of chairs, dancing their way through the concert.
The members of Quimbombó were obviously very proud of each other and what they were playing. After every song, someone would inevitably be praised, their name called out in recognition of what talent they had leant to the song they'd just played. Given that there were 11 or 12 people on stage, it was a lot to recognise -- but everyone got mentioned, from the young Brooklyn guy on guitar to the guy from Rio de Janeiro on percussion in the back of the ensemble.
It was a truly joyous concert experience -- everyone around us was happy to be there, despite the weather outside. I wish it had been nice out; the music would have been perfect for a sunny day by the water. As it was, it just reinforced my desire to take salsa lessons.
