Mambo Lives at Copa Night

Orquesta GarDel's three vocalists: Jaime Ramon, Ramon Ortiz (front) and Nelson Delgado

Despite some drawbacks to the venue, the Copa Night 5th Anniversary at Parizade turned out to be one hell of a party. Orquesta GarDel performed two slamming salsa sets following dance performances by Junior & Emily, Yamulee, CoboBrothers, Mambo Dinamico and others.

I'm not an "on 2" dancer and I don't particularly relish stage shows, but the performers flaunted a lot of admirable nerve and skill. I find the women particularly fearless--just like they used to say about Ginger Rogers, who did everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards and in high heels. These mambo ladies were lifted and tossed into aerial moves, slid across the floor, and vaulted over their partners' bodies to land in splits, all with smiles on their faces and outfitted in sequined pumps and intricate, spandex fantasies as revealing as bikinis.

The dance show ran late, and due to the recent change in venue (George's Garage closed earlier this year, forcing Copa Night to relocate to Parizade), not everyone could see the dance stage; host Milton Cobo apologized to guests for the inconveniences, and promised to make it up to them.

Raleigh company Mambo Dinamico dedicated their dance to the local community that supports them year round, while The CoboBrothers scored heavy applause for their athletic airborne moves and high drama styling. Yamulee from The Bronx always scores points in my book for strong, classic taste, and I liked the unusual music selection by Atlanta's Proyecto Barrio of "My Favorite Things" in a Latin jazz version with vibes.

But the top honors of the evening have to go to West Coast dancers Junior and Emily, a pro team from San Francisco with 10 world titles under their belts. Technically superb, relaxed, and totally adorable, they are absolutely popping with individuality and all the qualities that make dancing look fun. Junior's open-chested, bell-bottomed costumes evoked WWF and sailors' uniforms; Emily's neon pink and yellow fringed skirts and glitter eyelashes evoked swing-era kewpie dolls and futuristic anime heroines. Their hairstyles were also too cute for words, completing the character. And that's just the frosting. When this duo hits the stage, it's as kinetic and explosive as water hitting a greasefire. Flawless fun with turning technique was a focus, less so aerial acrobatics. Turns out they are down-to-earth people in real life, too, as I discovered when I congratulated them backstage.



With all the mambo faithful gathered, there was a lot of energy in the room when the time came for social dancing. Into this charged atmosphere, GarDel delivered.

Sometimes you are at the party; other times you are of the party. I didn't do a whole lot of photographing last night; you can guess why.


GarDel tearing it up last night with an Eddie Palmieri tune.


Chart Gawking! GarDel original "Welcome to Shakori Hills"

Looking over first trumpet Alberto Carrasquillo's shoulder, I got this peek at his warm-up chart: an original in timba style by the band's trombonist and co-leader, Andy Kleindienst. Click on either photo to see larger!

Harpsichord Heaven

Photos from Thursday's harpsichord unveiling and concert:


don't touch! that's real 24 carat gold leaf.


Beverly Biggs with her harpsichord.


Opus 333 by harpsichord maker Richard Kingston.






Painted by Lisa Creed.



Below: Kingston, Creed and Funaro.





And finally! Chart Gawking...


"Freely": 4th movement of Sonata for Three Harpsichords (1998) by Chapel Hill composer Edwin McLean.

"My work has a lot of Latin influence because I lived in Miami for 25 years," says McLean.

His "Sonata for Two Harpsichords," which starts with a tango movement, was also performed at Thursday's concert. The entire program, which includes Bach works for harpsichord and baroque string quintet, is being repeated Friday in Chapel Hill and Saturday in Raleigh (see calendar).

Richard Kingston, who made Funaro's Opus 333, is a leading harpsichord maker with his workshop in Mooresboro, NC.

Under Oakwood: Raleigh's ELM Collective

Here's some video of ELM Collective's encore at Burning Coal Music Series (Meymandi Theatre in the Murphey School) last Sunday. I arrived late because of a start-time mixup, but still caught about 3 cool songs. Great venue for music. Hm, how about holding a dance in here?



ELM Collective is a world jazz fusion band I wish I could hear more often. They feel their way into some unique territory, based on the talents of 7 international musicians. Middle Eastern, Eastern European and Latin American styles and meters mingle unpredictably. Oud, accordion and funk bass? You betcha. Plus jazz guitar, flute, drumset and world percussion. They share a common love of Chick Corea, but beyond that, don't try to pigeonhole these guys. Loud, soft, classical, dance-oriented...their wide range of original repertoire can work in a lot of different settings.


New Feature: Chartgawking

Snooping through sheet music, snagging set lists that are left on stage--rarely viewed by non-musicians, these tools and detritus of performance fascinate me. Here's what I scoped out at ELM's show, and interpreted with guitarist Alex Gorodezky's help:


Songs change over time; handwritten notes in ELM Collective's sheet music (on the left side) illustrate the evolution of "Samba 65" from the way it was originally written, right down to the provisional title (right side). Click on the photo to see a larger version.