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Jazz With an Accent

Monthly Archives: April 2019

Betsayda Machado and La Parranda El Clavo: Storytelling, And Food For The Soul

30 Tuesday Apr 2019

Posted by Fernando González in Home

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20190425_Vivalaparranda_1188XavierLujan

Singer Betsayda Machado, second from the left, and the drums-and-voices ensemble La Parranda El Clavo Photo courtesy Xavier Lujan

Presenting music from a foreign tradition poses particular challenges. Yes, music transcends much, but much is lost in the translation. How to make an audience experience the culture, live the stories and meet the people who created it? How to transport an audience — fresh from a parking lot, now properly seated in a theater — to the natural setting of the music?

“Viva La Parranda!,” the new show from Miami New Drama now playing at the Colony Theatre in Miami Beach, is billed as a musical, but it plays like a richly layered, live documentary on a slice of Afro-Venezuelan music and culture. Featuring singer Betsayda Machado and the drums-and-voices ensemble La Parranda El Clavo, “Viva La Parranda!” was created by Machado and the group in collaboration with director Juan Souki

Set on El Clavo, a small town in the Barlovento region of Venezuela that, Machado notes, “is not in Wikipedia,” “Viva La Parranda!” has no plot per se. Instead, it slowly builds on stirring musical numbers, storytelling, dancing, live onstage cooking and video projections. The result feels as close as a traditional-music performance can get to an immersive experience.

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The Rodriguez Brothers, Back in Miami, Now On The Big Stage

05 Friday Apr 2019

Posted by Fernando González in Home, Jazz, Latin Jazz, On Music

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Robert Rodriguez, left, and Michael Rodriguez

For the New York-born, South Florida-raised Robert and Michael Rodriguez, their life in music started in a house with a drum kit and musical instruments lying around the living room. Their father was a working musician, and music was as much a part of life as breathing. Fast forward to Friday, April 12, when the Rodriguez Brothers will open for iconic Brazilian composer and producer Sergio Mendes at the Arsht Center as part of the Jazz Roots series.

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Cuban Music, Then and Now, Live in Miami Beach

01 Monday Apr 2019

Posted by Fernando González in Home, Jazz, Latin Jazz, On Music

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Daymé Arocena at the North Beach Bandshell, Miami Beach Saturday.  Photo by Elvis Suárez ©

Daymé Arocena and Cimafunk, two of the most promising young singers and songwriters from Cuba, performed before a sold-out North Beach Bandshell, in Miami Beach, Saturday.

Both are updating traditional styles and rhythms in Cuban music, but each one approaches it in a distinctly personal way.
Arocena has the stage charm, voice, and expressiveness that can turn blender repair instructions into poetry. She opened with several pieces from the Santeria ritual before offering a set that included songs in English and Spanish, a couple of boleros, a Brazilian-style singalong, jazz scatting and even some R&B turns. Remarkably, all sounded organic, lived-in. She has an impeccable sense of time and intonation and proved to be a fearless improviser.

Next time it would be great to hear Arocena in a setting that would allow her to work with dynamics, and before an audience interested in listening. Saturday, most appeared to have come to dance to Cimafunk, aka Erik Alejandro Iglesias, arguably the hottest artist these days in Cuba. (Cimafunk alludes to Cimarrón, as the African slaves who escaped his masters were called; and funk)

Cimafunk, aka Erik Alejandro Iglesias, at the North Beach Bandshell, Miami Beach Saturday.  Photo by Elvis Suárez ©

He has developed a style built mainly on James Brown’s brand of funk with elements of Fela Kuti’s AfroPop and the sound of old Cuban big bands, but also reggaeton, a pinch of rock, jazz, and generous servings of various traditional Cuban styles. With Cimafunk, all is in play. Add to the mix street-wise lyrics delivered with charisma and you got a dance music phenomenon.

He also opened with an invocation-style piece, in his case an impressive acapella song, before unleashing his band on some of his greatest hits such as “Paciente” (Patient), “Me Voy” (I’m Leaving) and “Ponte Pa’ Lo Tuyo” (Do your thing) with the curious refrain “con mi dinero yo hago lo que quiero” (With my money I do what I want).
Saturday the presenters had removed most of the benches and left plenty of space for dancing. Wise move.

 

A version of this piece was published by Artburst Miami, Apil, 1st, 2019.

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