PLAIN FOLK

by David Gue
Stranded

Stranded at 2 AM on a November night. Five intrepid concert-goers, returning from Calgary and a mid-week music break last month. Wonky transmission, no gas, no cell phone
.
Glum and disgusted? Just the opposite. Our wintery plight seemed quite irrelevant.

Like all great folk music, the concert had swept us into a new cultural context.

The tight, brash, high-energy sounds of the Afro-Cuban All Stars band echoed in our memories. Toes kept tapping to complex, infectious Latin rhythms. Eyes danced with remembered images from a sold-out Jack Singer concert hall.

Two young people in front of us wildly waving a huge Cuban flag whenever the music peaked.

Towers of carefully-folded white towels on either side of the band, slowly shrinking under the attack of 17 perspiring musicians.

The woman beside us, singing along non-stop in Spanish, outlasting the band’s three vocalists.

Legendary leader and arranger Juan de Marcos Gonzales, inquiring if the music was too loud. “It’s hard to keep 17 big-band musicians down. We are excited to play for you!” 2000 voices reassuring him that the volume was just fine.

The sonores – vocalists – summoning bashful audience members to dance, first in the aisles, then on stage. The rest of us dancing in our seats until “Stand up and move!” from de Marcos. We did, in a number that pulsed on for almost 15 minutes.

Looking at my watch, thinking it was about time for intermission, and realizing that the All-Stars had been playing for two unbroken hours.

A remarkable musical evening, led by an amazing man. Juan de Marcos Gonzales, trained in hydraulic engineering and Russian, has spent his life bringing Cuban musical traditions to upcoming generations.

de Marcos’ first band, Sierra Maestra, recorded14 albums and toured Africa and Europe. In 1994, with producer Nick Gold, he assembled an expanded, multi-generational ensemble – the Afro-Cuban All Stars. The famed Buena Vista Social Club recordings, film and tours followed.

With shifting personnel and evolving sound, the Afro-Cuban All Stars have been making joyous music ever since. Too bad their current concert tour has been fragmented by tightened US immigration restrictions. If anything can bring people together, it is music like this. The world needs to experience it.

The Afro-Cuban All Stars recordings are A Tode Cuba Le Gusta (1997), and Distinto diferente (current).

Apologies to Steve Srubowich who was not credited as the author of last week’s PLAIN FOLK column. Les Pearson returns next week