Tag: salsa

¡Viva La Devizes Salsa; Eso!

Looking back over the years of Devizine, I’ve engaged myself with more ‘loco’ undertakings than I care to count, things I wouldn’t have otherwise considered attempting; all part of the fun. More often than not I come away thinking it was alright, but seldom follow it up with a burning desire to continue, it’s sadly onto the next story. Today though was incendio; I’m enthralled by a trip to the Muck & Dundar to meet the Devizes Salsa Group, only kidding myself to assume I’ll be sitting there taking notes…..

Fantasy Radio DJ Michael Linford twisted my arm to give it a try, still naturally I was apprehensive, sauntering in. Though I love to dance, it’s best defined freestyle dad-dancing, and I’ve never taken so much as a single instructed step. Not forgoing, whenever I see those salsa dancing champs at any Latino styled Devizes Arts Festival events my two left feet plod feels upstaged; I just nod in awe; wowzers, they look so cool, as I shamefully retreat from the dancefloor! Though when I left today I can hardly profess to being Jim Carrey’s The Mask, I certainly had a lot of fun!

Upon expressing my initial anxiety to Karen, who runs the group, she reassured me, “we want everyone to come and have fun, we don’t want it to be strictly for people who can do all the moves, it’s not about that, we do a bit of freestyle, but it’s mostly about new people to come and give it a go.”

Now, if you know me you’ll hazard a fair guess I tried to hinge myself to the rum bar, but was hoisted front and centre from the off, next to instructor Phil, who makes it look childsplay, and me like Mr Blobby on a bender, yet took us all through the basic steps timed perfectly, and more importantly, gradually! Up here for thinking, down there for dancing, pal; lo and behold I was side-to-side, backstepping, occasionally doing it to the rhythm too!

Am I here to promote the group, are they desperate for new members? While there was no indication of flailing appeal, the group could do with a few more masculine dancers; can I say men, without getting in trouble with the PC brigade?! Sometimes the ‘masculine dancers’ need to take two partners to compensate, (if that’s not an incentive enough, guys.) I should stress having a partner is something, but you’ll be equally welcome not having one.

As a whole, an ensemble gathered to chat, but they’re bustling, and eager to break out some moves on the floor. Unlike a more formal dance workshop, salsa is not ballet, only subtly ballroom related, the structure is paced to suit all ages and experience, and the ethos is to enjoy yourself… which I did, thank you, thoroughly!

Karen tells me it’s been running for seven years, “but it was a different group, I wasn’t running it then. We started up again, after lockdown, in Market Lavington.” The group meets on Wednesdays at the Old School on Church Street in Market Lavington, today at the Muck & Dundar was a drop-in session for newcomers to get a taster. On a previous taster session such as this they broke out of the Muck and swamped the Brittox with an improv Fame moment of dancing in the street, a video of which captured the attention of Devizes Facebook users.

While there’s no membership fees, it usually costs a fiver to cover hall hire costs. Karen was keen for me to note her involvement was purely for the love of it, “I just want the world to throw off their cares and dance,” she expressed; yeah, me too but you do with it style, Karen, I usually just bob up and down like a buoy in a stormy sea!

Men versus multitasking argument away, getting to grips with the basics wasn’t so simple, and when I thought I clinched it, it was but a warm-up! Encouragement was plentiful, though, with no pretence, the members made me feel so very welcome; I didn’t step on any of their feet! Karen underlined the importance of it being a social group, and it certainly was this.

Salsa is this though, cool fun. An American coined blanket term for all Latino style dances, so we danced mambo, pachanga, and rumba, at least I think we did! “We cover all basic salsa,” Karen explained, “LA salsa, and there will be Bachata, which we all love because it slows it right down, so, you know, we can’t keep it going all night, and then, towards the end we go into full flight and all hell lets loose, going into merengue, and even reggaetón.”

Bachata is typified by a slow, sensual beat, similar to Cuban bolero, which meant my two left feet could keep up while concentrating on the choreography, just; it was the changes which threw my sieve-for-a-brain, but something about old dogs and new tricks, I enjoyed learning something new today, and it’s Sunday! Yet as described, the pace picked up a bit as the session progressed; while freestyling, to a degree, least it wasn’t so regimental to keep to the steps, and never did I fear I’d be told off Lydia Grant style (Google her, whippersnappers!) the exuberance gave flavour to the overall enjoyment of it all. Reggaetón I can improvise!

And dammit, it was fun, and addictively engaging, on watching Phil, Karen and other senior members go for it, all of whom were so helpful and non-judgemental, I felt if I could perfect this enough, you know, to get over those initial first steps, the enjoyment would be multiplied, friendships here will be made, even if I never make it to Patrick Swayze level, least I’ve had the time of my life-ish!

If you fancy being the next salsero or salsera of Devizes, here’s a link to the Facebook Group with all the info on it. Might even see you there, though, not wishing to put you off the idea, you don’t have to dance with me! Oh, those poor Devizes Salsa Group dancers, they’ll be wearing steel toe-caps if they know I’m coming back!!

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Malavita! Maravillosa en Devizes Arts Festival; Ardiendo Afro-Funk Latina!

Images by Gail Foster

I was looking forward to the grand finale of The Devizes Arts Festival with cherries on. Starter for ten; I’m yet to discover a subgenre of Caribbean or South American music I don’t instantly fall in love with, and it’s as rare a-find locally as diamond mines. Ergo, Malavita! marched up to my front door and banged loudly on it. And they didn’t hang around to ask me if I was coming out to play. No problemo when opportunity knocks, I had my dancing shoes on ready!

Upbeat from the off they blessed the Devizes Corn Exchange with their irresistible funky Latino blend, which soothed like reggae, swung like son cubano, bounced like bomba, and perhaps added smidgens of Brazilian samba, even Balkan into this melting pot of wonderful afro-funk.

To assume these guys flew in from Cuba or Puerto Rico would be justified, but on reflection there is definitely something western about the salsa which allows the throwing in of all these ingredients and stirring the pot to come out with a unique take effectively satisfying our western expectations. As in our pop, the vocals were soulful and delightfully expressed, and the subject matter of Malavita’s gorgeous and original repertoire seemed to be a glorified reflection on life’s guidance, thoughts and observations, yet subtle as the demanding danceable rhythms take priority. Story checks out, they’re from Devon, and their sound, their whole persona, is as beautiful as cream teas along the Jurassic Coastline…with added palm trees for an apt exotic effect!

Malavita at Devizes Arts Festival 2023

Funk at the forefront, I was also reminded somewhat on the livelier bands on the Acid Jazz circuit of the mid-nineties; if the Brand New Heavies added some Latino spice you’d imagine it coming off something like this, for this eight-piece with blazing barefoot brass section, congos, and conventional drums, bass and lead guitar presented itself equally as professional and proficiently. 

So proficient in fact, they can encore with their only recognisable cover, Britney Spears’ Toxic, under such an insatiable house-style, such a rework would push-pin me to the dancefloor! And therein is my summary, you see, for Malavita! ruined my original plan to scoot off to the Three Crowns for a momentary glimpse at Pewsey’s rock covers band Humdinger who after nineteen years on the local circuit finally made their Devizes debut, because the sound of Malavita! is the musical equivalent of that tractor beam which pulls the Millennium Falcon into the Death Star, I was stuck on the dancefloor for the duration.

Malavita at Devizes Arts Festival 2023

For want of a less fanboy analogy, Jedi powers could not have prevented me from shaking my tailfeather, resistance was futile, Malavita are irresistibly danceable. That’s not opinion, that’s fact!

Leading me onto the trickier part, for saying how much I loved this, wracking my brain unable to think of something equally as cool as Malavita, was simple, but to suggest reasoning why the Corn Exchange wasn’t at full capacity as it has been with previous Devizes Arts Festival events this year, are manyfold. Possibly due to exhausted funds by the end, as there was so much choice this year, possibly a reflection on the natives personal taste, particularly those Arts Festival stalwarts, but for whatever the reason, they missed a thrilling evening of the single most sublime funky afro-fusion to bless Devizes, and to The Arts Festival organisers I thank you.

For those who were there, seats were empty anyway after quarter of an hour of this gorgeous, soulful sound, and we danced the evening away far too quickly!

Malavita at Devizes Arts Festival 2023

As things stood, it reached its climax at ten, so I was able to sardine myself into the Crowns for a blast of rock covers after all, though with the taste of Lilly’s mango cider retained, I couldn’t shake off how totally awesome Malavita! were, and akin to Harry Belafonte’s Jump In the Line, I don’t imagine I ever will.

Being I don’t recall what I had for breakfast from one day to the next, I might need to correct myself if I searched our archives, but going out on a limb, I’d proclaim this to have been my gig of the year to-date; scorchio! 

For more information about Malavita!

A massive well done and thank you to Devizes Arts Festival, as this year’s comes to a close but has shown diversity and quality throughout; we hold tight for next year! I would also like to thank our writers, Andy, Helen, Ben, and Ian, for their outstanding coverage of this year’s Arts Festival here in good ol’ Devizes, and to Gail Foster for allowing us to pinch her superb photos too!

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Patiently waiting for a good reason to feature ZambaLando, Wiltshire’s premier funksters of Afro-Latino beats, so upon the release of the follow-up album to 2020’s Carry On, off we virtually trot to Swindon for a worthy tropical musical expedition!

If there’s ever a criticism over Ry Cooper’s nineties Son adventures with the Buena Vista Social Club, it’s usually the style projected was rather outdated, and not in line with the popular sounds of Cuba at the time. Naturally the counter-argument here is advances in music technology arriving in developing worlds often creates much sparser, avant-garde, and radical subgenres within their pop, which to the western world’s untrained ear can be difficult to differentiate and adopt. So, makes sense for world music bands in Europe and USA to implement a melting pot, fusing styles under blanket terms such as Afro-beat and Afro-Funk.

While I could throw this debate on ZambaLando’s table, given Carry On is an unconditionally unique and beautiful album, its melting pot is spiced with salsa, merengue, lando, festejo, samba and bossa nova, yet all conveyed in a rather traditional and jazzy fashion, the world is smaller place than it was when Cooper popularised the Buena Vista Social Club, thanks to the internet, and through websites like Bandcamp one can easily backpack the planet virtually and be more aware of current global trends. I’m pleased to report back, that ZambaLando have stepped it up a colossal “modernised” notch with this month’s newly released Explosive Mind.

As the title suggests, it is such; explosive, with more contemporary offerings than the styles incorporated within Carry On, which if akin to Antônio Carlos Jobim, Latino-wise, and Fela Kuti and Tony Allen’s archaic afrobeat originations, Explosive Mind really pushes the boundaries of experimentation, often with the serenest ambient soundscapes, like the track Hay Mi Lando, or exotically dubbed, like Siku Funk, but what is more, from the off, the title track, it comes across with a greater and more wholesome funk tenet; irresistibly danceable and strikingly modern.

It doesn’t lose sight of their roots, though, and pre-subgenres of salsa, merengue, lando, festejo, samba and bossa nova are clearly still present. At times it embraces them fully, as Carry On did, yet at others it plays with them; this makes it the “journey” I suggested it is. So, if I expressed how Hay Mi Landos loses you in electronic ambience, it also ingeniously encompasses bossa nova too. Again, the following songs Little Baby and Sorry, are soulfully blessed, yet wouldn’t look out of place of NYP’s Mukambo Global Beats anthologies, which offers only the most contemporary of world music.

There’s mellower moments of romantically-themed jazzy blues-fashioned bliss as the album progresses, with masterpieces like Walking Along the River but the finale of this ten-track marvel, Quédate No Te Vayas is precisely the definition of what I’m trying to convey here; it rocks steady, samba fashion, incorporating up-to-date techniques to present this traditional, magical blend of Latino afro-funk subgenres as something worthy for your modern ears, and it doesn’t try to trick you with complexities of the ever-changing global pop either, just smooths all the way through.

I’m so pleased ZambaLando have provided this option locally, for their musical multiplicity is a blessing in a somewhat narrowly sundry circuit, and this album presents it in such a sublime way, while they gig prolifically in their hometown, I can imagine this will bring them to wider appeal. If I let you into a secret I might get in trouble for leaking, you won’t tell, will you?! But on my recommendation, Devizes Arts Festival are in talks with ZambaLando, entreating my passion to get them in playing our humble town, of which I’m thoroughly grateful for, and this album, Explosive Mind, illustrates exactly why I’ve such enthusiasm to do this!

Give it a listen this winter, it’ll warm you up cheaper than British Gas will!

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