Booty Manipulation, Cuban-Style
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Artist:
Mrs. Ivylander is Cuban on her father's side and a daughter of the Bronx. Which means that, unlike me - an Irish guy from a college town - she is versed in the mysteries of Latin dance. It is as effortless for her as throwing a baseball is for me. From time to time of a Friday night, when we are so moved after the single martini we each consume to mark the successful conclusion of another week (that's my family's contribution to the ritual), we occasionally crank up the Latin music. She dances. I move in a way that, after years of practice, has become only moderately embarrassing.
This is one of the perennial Club Ivylander favorites. Los Van Van (translated from the Spanish, pretty much The Go-Gos) are currently in their fourth decade as a band. And by all accounts, they still bring it. I saw 'em six or seven years ago in New York, in one of those rare periods when Cuban acts were kindasorta able to visit the U.S. under the banner of cultural exchange. (The administration ultimately got the memo and put that to a halt.) Even on an off-night, which this was, they were non-stop.
Their basis is the charanga, a distinctively Cuban orchestral setup consisting, according to Wikipedia, of "an enlarged rhythm section, piano, bass, timbales, and other percussion, two violins, and a flute." To this, Los Van Van (and many groups influenced by them) add a horn section. I confess to being helpless in the face of music that combines elegance and fierce rhythm - Europe and Africa in perfect balance. That, plus the way they seem able to ride a groove eternally, set them apart in my estimation.
So try this out on Friday night after your first cocktail. Your mileage may vary, but not by much....
Locating MOG account...
Comments (17)
i love this song. and i love your story. brilliant way of drawing the reader in. I can see you and your wife celebrating in my head so clear!
whoops, I hit play before I read to wait for Friday. guess now I just gotta keep moving 'till then. only "moderately embarassing", loved that! beautiful music, and I see a RED DOT! you got your probs sorted??
Gotta manipulate tha booty baby. Glad to see your, er, back on track. Cool post. Los Van Van kicked off the Afro-cuban thing for me musically. Absolute legends. I could probably find something more akin from Hanny or Irakere or somebody like that, but it is HHT. So, here's some Free Hole Negro - Caballeros Par Monte. It's purrrdy funky with a hopping breakdown 1/2 way thru.
One more tim...
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She dances. I move in a way that, after years of practice, has become only moderately embarrassing.
That comment made my night, it made me see there are more people like me out there!Oh, and the song was great to boot!
I wish I suffered from an enlarged rhythm section as well.
fabulous track, i LOVE it! i could easily dance to this until Friday.
The 2 or 3 times I have been in a club where the native cultures to this type of music have been gliding around the dance floor, it's taken about 3 seconds to know that I will be firmly stuck to a barstool for the night, so as to not harm myself, or others. It has the benefit, of course, of watching some very sinuous dancing. My mileage will therefore vary, but my enjoyment will be about the same.
Ah, I have arrived at Club Ivylander! Pass the 'tini.
IPX - Don't you find, as a one-time outsider thrown into NYC, that Latin music really is the soundtrack to daily life? Maybe not in Midtown or the UES, but who ever goes there except under duress?
Scot - You can play this any damn time you please!
CX - Can't get either of these to play, dang it. You might have to give it its own post.
Rawk - Gracias.
Oatmeal - Some people have an enlarged rhythm section, while others suffer from percussive dysfunction. I am, sadly, in the latter category....
mollifire - Glad to be of service.
Jonh - Guaranteed true story: Eight years ago, Mrs. I and I had the chance to travel, legally, to Havana with what was in essence a junket. While there we saw the Cuban National Ballet - amazing lead dancers, but a little thin after the top six or eight. The next night we were in the largest dive bar I've ever seen listening to another of the great Cuban bands, NG La Banda, when I noticed the male lead from the ballet on the dancefloor, giving it his utmost. She and I concurred: He was damned good, but not the best out there.
brittany - Indeed you have - an olive or a twist?
ivyl: i've heard they make 'em diamond-studded these days! wow, if not i'll settle for an olive.
"Moderately embarassing" is a goal for me shoot for. And never reach.
Like the tune, Billy-bwah!
Your brief portraits of domestic life are memorable.
If any tune had the ability to get me to overrate my dancing skill as better than ludicrous, this is it. Cuban music-wise, violins and flute get me every time. This track has so much going on that when the singer repeats his phrase over and over, I don't want it to end. Do you have any Cuban tracks stripped down enough so that a pianist this good is in the foreground?
I am of some Mediterranean extraction (we were thrown out of Spain), and from the Bronx. My mate is of English/Swedish heritage. I love to dance. He finds dancing agonizing. Hats off to you for stepping up.
brittany, I couldn't put a diamond in a martini - the gin I use would disintegrate it....
dermahrk, it has taken a lot of work to reach this point.
Spike, I especially agree with your comment about the purposeful repetition - something else that ties it to its African heritage. Now that you mention it, though, I'm finding it hard to think of really elemental Cuban tracks. One of the features of the aesthetic seems to be a more-is-more philosophy.
deedee, I confess that I have yet screwed up the courage (or gotten sufficiently squiffy at a family event) to dance in front of her folks. Something tells me they would not be nearly as understanding as she is...
When music it moves you, you are able to interpret it your way. Your wife can thrive with the beats for it is part of her culture that she witnessed growing up and living and thriving from nostalgia.
For you as you said you can effortlessly throw a baseball, approach the music as how you would interpret it.
If her folks are not understanding in your challenge to interpret the music their way, then that is shallow to not accept your interpretation.
All music to me ls universal. You either love it or hate it.
This is a salsa beat I adore and I am dreaming of the rotations and rhythms that comes to my mind and the visuals of gliding on a dancer floor doing my thing my way.
I cannot salsa but I sure would put my spin to it! 8)
No big deal, Jennifer. It's all good-natured teasing with her family. They'll never let me forget the time I got squiffy at a family party with a karaoke setup, dedicated a somg to Mrs. Ivylander, and then broke into a version of "My Girl" that had only a nominal acknowledgment to the concept of pitch.....