View seven day for previous Winnipeg Free Press stories.
The lyrics in one of the first songs on the Spanish Harlem Orchestra's new album invites the listener to dance, but the music behind the words double-dare you not to move. In "United We Swing," the Grammy-winning group brings back "salsa dura" - that exciting fusion of Caribbean rhythms and big-band sound that blared out of Big Apple barrios in the'70s.
The album is a throwback to that intoxicating time of Willie Colon, Hector Lavoe, Celia Cruz, Ruben Blades and others: blasting brass, outbursts of "wepa!" and, above all, music that moved the audience. Although the feel is old-school, most of the tracks on the album are, in fact, originals played by veteran musicians who worked with the great salseros of the 70s.
The songs are arranged wonderfully by bandleader and keyboardist Oscar Hernandez. There's also one ("Late In the Evening/Tarde En La Noche") written by Paul Simon, but salsa usually sounds weird in English and that is true here. "I don't know what it is about the rumba, I don't know what it is about the drum.
.." goes "Salsa Pa'l Bailador" ("Salsa for the Dancer").
"United We Swing," the third album by the Spanish Harlem Orchestra, is instant joy, a delirious good time. It doesn't sound new but, man, does it sound good. View seven day for previous Winnipeg Free Press stories.
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