/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/US: Congo Plus Cuba Equals Future of Salsa

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Cody Ellerd

NEW YORK, Apr 18 2000 (IPS) - Funky sounds from three different continents converge on a new album by the influential Afro-Cuban musician Ricardo Lemvo, who is currently touring the United States with his band Makina Loca.

Hailed by critics as “the future of salsa,” the band is on a nine- month Boom Boom World Tour 2000 that celebrates the release of Sao Salvador, their second album.

Sao Salvador delivers the lively, seamless blend of salsa, Cuban “son,” rumba, and Congolese soukouss that has characterised Ricardo Lemvo’s music for the last 10 years.

The songs on SMo Salvador are sung in an impressive array of languages, including Spanish, English, French, Portuguese, Kikongo, Lingala, and Lucumi, a language spoken by followers of the Afro-Cuban religion santeria.

Lemvo, a native of Congo, came to Los Angeles in 1990, where he formed the multicultural band, Makina Loca. The name not only embodies the band’s marriage of cultures and musical styles, but also perfectly describes the feeling that its music produces.

In the Congolese language Kikongo, the word “makina” means “dance,” and “loka” means roughly “in a trance.” In Spanish, “maquina” means “machine” and “loca” means “crazy.” So the name means “crazy machine” in Spanish and “dancing in a trance” in Kikongo.

“It turned out to be the perfect name for our group,” says Lemvo, “capturing the cross-cultural nature of what we were trying to do.”

Today, Cuban son and Congolese soukouss are worlds apart geographically, but both styles are strongly rooted in Africa, and Makina Loca, writes one reviewer, “reunites them like long- lost relatives.”

Son, like many other types of Cuban music, was developed by the descendants of African slaves from the colonial era. Soukouss comes from the French word “secousse,” or “movement” – “So when you listen to soukouss,” Lemvo says, “you have no choice but to move!”

“My cousin in New York,” sings Lemvo (in Spanish) on the track Boom Boom Tarar , “Tells me that there is bomba in Manhattan / I say that’s a lie / Because the bomba is from Puerto Rico / They say that in Miami / You can find the rumba on eighth street / I don’t doubt that / But the timba is from Havana / (chorus) Hey little brother! / Get the drums ready / Here comes bomba boom boom / And this bomba ain’t from Boston.”

Lemvo’s lyrics reveal the many sides of an artist, from fragile romantic to fervent patriot. “Ave Maria” laments an elusive woman. “Dans La Foret” ridicules colonialists who lay claim to things that are not theirs, and hints at Lemvo’s former studies in international law. “SMo Salvador,” the title track and Lemvo’s favorite, pays homage to a heroine of the great kingdom of 15th century Congo.

It would seem that with all of Ricardo Lemvo and Makina Loca’s cross-cultural blending, their music would be a textbook example of the “world music” genre.

This is a term that has come to represent a wide range of musical styles originating outside of the United States. Many artists branded and marketed in the category of world music, however, take issue with the term.

Ricardo Lemvo does, too. “It’s a broad term that doesn’t really describe what these different artists’ type of music really is. It’s the equivalent of putting Willie Nelson, Michael Jackson, and Frank Sinatra in the same category and calling it American music.”

Nonetheless, Lemvo and his band have signed with the Putumayo record label, which specialises in bringing “world music” to audiences in the United States. And he has nothing but good things to say about their relationship.

“I feel very fortunate to sign with a label that has a social conscience. They are treating me and my product well,” he says.

With fusion blurring the boundaries of musical styles from hip- hop to country/western, Lemvo and his rhythmic cocktails have been called “the future of salsa.”

When asked what he thinks that future is, Lemvo replies, “It’s like a mother seed, and her many seedlings go to North America, to Africa and Asia. As these seeds grow, they adapt to their environment. The roots may be Africa, but the branches have the characteristics of many different places.”

The band’s invigorating live performances have been received with overwhelming enthusiasm all over the world on the Boom Boom tour, instantly turning any venue into floor-shaking dance party. At a recent performance in New York City, Makina Loca packed the room with hard-core salsa fans who hit the floor with a fury.

Even the “purists” devoted to either Cuban or Congolese music in its unaltered form can’t keep from dancing.