In review--Cha Cha, Anyone?

-


World/Latin
Grupo Cha Cha 
This is the Life
Independent

Mixed Latin music bands have caught my attention in recent years, including Seattle’s Picoso (with women horn players) and now, Grupo Cha Cha from Chicago which performs flute-centered Caribbean and Brazilian dance music.  This is the Life opens with Charlie Otwell’s Peruchin which ripples with passion.  Flutist Lise Gilly (band leader) radiates on this track, with tight Afro-Latin percussion, salsa-piano (Darwin Noguera), and the other musicians creating luscious grooves.  Anyone who fancies Latin music will gravitate towards this independent release and why not support independent musicians?

The title track recalls Cal Tjader and Havana Flute Summit which falls in neatly into Latin jazz with Victor Garcia soloing on trumpet and Adrian Ruiz on electric piano (organ).  The musicians shift rhythmically three quarters of the way with the flute taking the lead.  On Que Te Pedi the musicians take a respite and slow way down on this bolero with Diana Mosquera deftly handling vocals. The harmonies on the chorus stun, then at the halfway mark the band introduces a slow salsa groove with a heady flute solo.

On Vamos A La Playa (Go to the Beach) shifts back into an upbeat mood and no doubt the musicians have the dance floor alive with salsa dancers.  As I stare out my window of my northwest Washington apartment I see only gray clouds and I would love to go to the beach and watch colorful salsa dancers dancing on the sand.  Well, at least I have this delightful song to drive my imagination.  After the musicians visit diverse Latin music styles, they end the recording with a Cuban-Yoruba chant, Elegua with Cuban rumba beats, but it doesn’t end there because once again, the band kicks up the intensity.

http://www.grupochacha.com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Introduction to Peyote Songs & The Native American Church

-
Image
Father Peyote: Songs of the Native American Church Introduction to the Peyote Church Ceremony This is an archival article written in 2003.  It's not updated.  For more recent recordings, go to Canyon Records website, http://www.canyonrecords.com When some people speak of Native American ceremonies, the peyote ceremony or the ingestion of the hallucinogen peyote (contains mescaline) usually surfaces. However, there is too much false information being passed around in the non-native community surrounding peyote meetings. The first thing people need to know about the Native American connection to peyote is that the plant is sacred medicine ingested as a sacrament during healing ceremonies of the Native American Church. The second thing, people need to know is that the Native American Church is not a set structure like the Christian Church. The peyote meeting could take place in a Navajo hogan or a teepee. And finally, since the peyote meeting does in part derive from Nat
Read more

21st Century Musical Healer Series--Heather Hannan

-
Image
 Healing with Sound and Reiki Based in Toronto, Canada, Heather Hannan has proven with her own life healing experiences the enormous power of sound frequencies. She acts as a bridge between the mundane world (real estate) to other spiritual dimensions (past life regressions, quantum physics, Reiki, sound frequencies,  and other cutting edge work). I met Heather through my Linked In group Musical Healers and I'm delighted to include her work and insights on this blog. As you know, raising music and sound consciousness takes a world-size village of folks, just like Heather dedicating their lives to working with the healing power of sound.  Whole Music: When did you discover and begin exploring sound healing? Heather Hannan: Ten years ago I was at a crossroads in my life and looking for a group of like-minded people with whom to explore my gifts and talents through meditation. Little did I know that via the meditation group I joined I would be invited to
Read more

Talking about Timbre

-
Image
Wikipedia As I mention in my book Whole Music , when I was a child I fell in love with timbre and the voices of the individual instruments we listened to in music class.  Each instrument conjured a specific emotions or feeling in me.  The French horn caused me to feel majestic and the cello invoked melancholy.  My moods would shift with each instrument that I heard and my moods would shift quickly. Today, I listen to more than timbre, but I have an understanding of how tone, frequencies of the tone and timbre (the color of the tone) affect me on all levels.  And I wonder what listening to an entire symphony does with its many voices, themes, keys, musical passages etc... In the concept of "whole music" I prefer not to separate musical components, but in the case of this post, I will present solo instruments for your listening and feeling pleasure. If you keep a music journal (and I hope that you do by now), write down the emotions that come up with each instrument.  R
Read more