AFRICAN CUBAN MUSIC. YOU HAVEN’T LIVED UNTIL YOU DANCE TO RICARDO LEMVO and MAKINA LOCA

MUSIC AND DANCING – EVERYTHING ELSE IS WAITING UNTIL YOU CAN

First, I love the conga.

I love strong bass rhythms.

I love music that you just have to get up and move to.

I first heard Ricardo Lemvo’s band, Makina Loca, two years ago outside in downtown Providence, Rhode Island at a free Friday night concert at Waterplace Park. I adore this kind of music. It has the African and Cuban rhythms brought to life with conga, bongos, drums, bass guitar, keyboard and the wonderful horns, trumpet and trombone and the occasional maracas played by Ricardo himself. And then there is Ricardo’s rich voice. The fun starts in the spirit of the rhythm of the music and in the melodies. As much as I love the upbeat stuff, the slow, mellow, swaying far-too-few songs really get in my body. One I heard two summers ago is on none of their CD’s. I asked them. But a couple are: Sao Salvador and Elbette.

Ricardo and his band, Makina Loca played July 6, last Friday night. Fantastic. Ricardo sings in multiple languages, including Portuguese, Swahili and now Turkish, too. And in his CD Mambo YoYo’s jacket the notes say it well: “If you want the ultimate cure for depression, see Ricardo Lemvo & Makina Loca perform live.”

Check his website for their dates. Do not miss your opportunity to experience this band in person. I love the four CDs that I own, but they are better because I can summon up the feelings dancing to their music under the summer sky alongside the water.

I’d like to take them home and have them play in my backyard. Though there is nothing like them in person, I wouldn’t post without a taste of them right here. So below is the best of what was posted on Youtube. And Ricardo’s website is: www.makinaloca.com

A very short clip of the band I have had the pleasure of seeing and meeting in action:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=r20SkHzb13U

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Mama Kiyelele – Good quality sound Youtube, but the entire band is not on this clip:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=92vdHP4LYSA

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"This last video was shot in Havana, Cuba. A real priest of the 'Santeria' religion was used during the shooting performing the ancient African rituals. From the Kongo basin to the hills of Havana via Los Angeles. Ricardo and Makina Loca's Salsa perform the song." This is really worth you taking a look and a listen.(more)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=lbqNaCc506Y

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Dancing is the best when done to African/Cuban music.

From the inside cover of his CD Sao Salvador, it reads: “When Ricardo Lemvo was a child living near a beer garden in Kinshasa, Congo, he was bombarded day and night by Congolese rumbas and Cuban music. In Kinshasa music is everywhere…it feels like you are walking on music….What is even more exciting (on the Sao Salvador CD) than the mix is the happiness and joy this record exudes…By presenting a colorful palette of his musical imagination he takes us back to the African roots of Latin music.” I agree.

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Get a voice or be willing to be voiceless.

We need to act like free people.

Freedom needs to be exercised

or you don’t have any.

When people hear that I am an activist about Darfur, they thank me

Like I’m Enough.

But I’m Not Enough.

Without you,

we have one less voice for justice.

We have one less voice for equal opportunity.

We have one less voice for the voiceless.

It is time to stand up and claim our rights.

Call President Bush and tell him

to live by his words regarding GENOCIDE:

“Not on My Watch”

His telephone number:

202-456-1111

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What good is a democracy that loses its moral compass?

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STOP AND PREVENT GENOCIDE

Darfur Families Need Our Attention and Action NOW

IT’S THE HUMANE THING TO DO

“Never Again” means what exactly?

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