Los Van Van
+ Dr. Jim, Javier La Rosa, DJ Rich
The Big Cuban Salsa Saturday Night
Saturday 26 October Doors 9pm – 2am
The Forum
9-17 Highgate Road
London
NW5 1JY
0870 534 4444
mamacolive.com/theforum
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Advance tickets £24 + booking fee where charged. More on the door.
Cuba’s biggest, funkiest dance band returns to London for the first time in almost two years with support from London’s finest Cuban DJs Javier La Rosa, Dr. Jim and DJ Rich.
Formed in 1969 by bass player and composer Juan Formell, Los Van Van has remained Cuba’s most important and popular dance orchestra for over four decades. Currently they are at one of the peaks of their funky powers, lead by four of Cuba’s best salsa vocalists and this year they are set to pick up lifetime achievement awards at both Womex in Cardiff and the Latin Grammys in Las Vegas.
Formell’s visionary approach to instrumentation brought new sounds and concepts into Cuban dance music, blending charanga-style violins and flute with a trombone section, adding drums and introducing electric guitar, bass and keyboards. Fusing influences from contemporary rock and jazz with Afro-Cuban roots, Formell and timbales-player Changuito created a new rhythm they named ‘songo’, which gave birth to a whole genre.
Featuring a fearsome collection of virtuoso musicians, their live shows are all about the relationship between the band and the dancefloor, with call-and-response Afro-Cuban conga, sharp horns and violin riffs, vocal improvisations drifting in and out between their solid groove. Cuba is a powerhouse in the development of popular music, and Los Van Van, the world’s premier Latin dance band, continues to rock the Cuban soul and ram dancefloors worldwide.
“If you are in Jamaica and the Wailers were playing you got to see them, if you are in Havana you’ve got to see Los Van Van performing, it doesn’t get any better than that.” Gilles Peterson
Strictly over 18s.
No booking fee when purchasing tickets with cash from The Jazz Cafe (Mon –Sat 10:30pm – 5:30pm) or from the venue box office (show days only between 5:30pm – 9pm)
For more information please contact Gerry Lyseight:
gerry / 020 7095 8146 / www.gerrylyseight.co.uk
