It was a lazy Sunday afternoon and we were watching the Buena Vista Social Club DVD. I told P how bummed I was missing out their first world tour and how I won’t miss it again should they ever go on the road again. With that, I typed in “buena vista social club” in Google and lo and behold, they had dates for the 24th and the 25th of April in London.
And last night, I was there.
Cachaito Lopez, Guajiro Mirabal, Jesus ‘Aguaje’ Ramos and Manual Galban — they are but the few remaining “originals” of the group of Cuban musical legends re-discovered by Ry Cooder. They continued to keep the spirit of the Buena Vista Social Club, even paying homage to their departed compadres Ruben Gonzales and Ibrahim Ferrer.
It was a bit strange though because it was the first even Latin concert I’ve been where I was sitting down. Usually, there are no seating arrangements so you could feel the music and let it move your body. But last night, I had to restrain myself completely from not jumping up and dancing on my seat or in the walkways. But during the encore performance, people gave in and danced.
I felt really privileged to have experienced this and I will continue to keep the rhythm running so that more people could enjoy this by passing on the knowledge and maybe the appreciation for these legendary musicians and artists.
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