Pictures by: London Salsa Scene’s Miguel del Foto
Review by:
MundoLatino’s Carlos Paz
Los Van Van’s opener for La Linea - London’s Latin music festival - has been by far the most talked about event this year and.... they didn't let us down.                                                  Hammersmith Palais was
the perfect setting for the 20 piece band with the Gallery around the entire room for you to see and hear the band from every corner!
     Despite 2,000 excited Latinos waving Cuban flags,  dancing and drinking there was still enough room to enjoy your own dance. Los Van Van gave
a fantastic performance, professional and passionate, with an electric atmosphere. Playing a  collection of their Cuban Classics mixed with
some new Cuban flavours!!

Carlos Paz - for more visit: www.mundolatinouk.com

Los Van Van, photographed by Miguel de Foto, copyright www.londonsalsascene.info

           Being Colombian it felt great to be surrounded by so many of my fellow Latinos, creating a real home from home! For more on live salsa music at La Linea see: www.comono.co.uk Tickets from www.seetickets.com   See www.londonsalsascene. info Events Section. London Salsa in Hammersmith, update 31 March 07

     The atmosphere was electric, catching you the minute you walked through the door at the Hammersmith Palais. The huge dance floor, stage and balconies – this was the right venue for everyone to dance, have fun and catch up with old friends.
   LVV were due on stage at 9.30pm but in typical Cuban fashion, were late. This made very little difference to the audience who enjoyed the Cuban rhythms on offer from DJ Javier.
   All that changed once the opening bars of Chapeando filtered through to the audience. As the light levels raised on stage, revealing LVV's full orchestra and soneros, the rousing welcome from the audience was staggering.
   Moving from Chapeando to Tim Pop con Birdland (otherwise known as the “Yes” song), the waving of arms completely took over the dance floor along with the shouts of “Yes”.  You felt the energy being released by the band as each singer took their turn. Yenny, the first female vocalist forLos Van Van, gave a stirring performance of Después de Todo. 
   Performing several songs from Chapeando and previous albums, LVV stayed on stage for over 2 hours with no hint of a drop in their energy levels. The highlight  for me was Lazaro getting up on stage with the band dressed all in white breaking into an impromptu rumba. Unusually, Los Van Van returned for an encore singing old time favourite Te pone la Cabeza Mala.
   It’s a shame that the Palais is due to close and be demolished later this year – it would have made a great venue for the next LVV concert. Angela Johnson, Key2Cuba www.key2cuba.com London Salsa Hammersmith Post Wed 7 March 2007

Men: Salsa with Virile Vim to Los Van Van

See and hear pure Latin sabor!! Los Van Van’s Chapeando WITH the ultimate macho man’s styling. Click HERE to see and hear pure Latin sabor!!

Amparanoia live. Pic: Mike Payne.

   Right now guys, we - I mean everybody in London who loves salsa - have an amazing musical feast on a plate in front of us. All we have to do is open our ears and eat. We can sample any and all the 57 varieties of Latin music that are pumping out from all over the world right down, creating musical anarchy, disrespecting the boundaries between genres, creating fresh new sounds, spicy new fusions of musical cuisine.
  Crews like Ska Cubano and Salsa Celtica are hooligans. They don't like serve up musical cucumber sandwiches in neat little triangles with the crusts cut off. They leave the top of the toothpaste off just for the fun of it and don't even say sorry. That's where the fun, the energy, the spice comes from, not just from the fusion but the re-fusion. They refuse to tow the line musically speaking, they dare to speak their musical truth and express their passion, flavour, sabor.
  This is why we as dancers need to support live music events. Music is the source/sauce of our passion, without it the dance don’t exist. Forget about relying on 1-2-3-5-6-7 to find out where your feet go, get the clave beat smacking hard into into your soul, the slap of the congas drilling into your brain, let yourself go, live through the music and dance. (More on La Linea at www.comono.co.uk)                                                      The Oracle  

FUSION BAND

Pogoing alongside a packed crowd to Salsa Celtica’s rip-roaring rhythms at the Islington Academy last night (Friday, 7 April 06) , you find yourself transported to an alternate universe where Cuba is this island just off the coast of Scotland and everybody wanders around the streets barefoot doing Highland reels and templeque to a clave beat.
     It sounds weird but the fact is Salsa Celtica have authentic, firey, hot chilli peppers running through their veins. Their urgent, vital groove is the best noise to come out of Scotland - ever.
   If you missed the gig - and you did because salsa dancers don’t like or support live music and

Photo: Mike Payne      Words:  Lee Knights

typically view music (live or recorded)as an optional extra when it comes to dancing - you can buy the band’s latest album and acquire a taste for reel, home grown, Scottish/Cuban (Scottino?) sabor. We spotted Salsa UK’s Paul Young in the audience sussing out the band so we may just get Salsa Celtica at the UK Salsa Congress this September.
   Salsa Celtica released their third album, El Camino last month, shaking up more rum-bustious cocktails of son, rumba, cumbia and ceilidh tunes, flava-ed with haunting bagpipes, jazzy horns, folk fiddle and charanga violin.
   The raw power is there, but the groove is more refined, sophisticated, grown up, the voices of Scottish folk and salsa more distinct. Unmissable, essential listening. More: www.salsaceltica.com

Whisky
con
Rock at La Linea
London
Latin Music Festival

Salsa Celtica are the best noise to come out of Scotland - ever. Mixing up Scottish folk music with Latin rhythms, they’ve created their own musical genre, an electrifying, tingling, hair standing on end, frenzied musical experience that just doesn’t let up.
   On a rare visit down south, Salsa Celtica are the barn-stormingest highlight of the La Linea Latin Music Festival at the Islington Academy, 16 Parkfield Street, London, N1 on Thursday 6th April, 7.00pm-11.00pm (see events under that date).

 If the thought of tartan crossed with hot chilli peppers makes you screw up your nose, think again. Salsa Celtica play honking Salsa with raw energy y mucho sabor so that you’ll never look at a bagpipe in the same way again.
   Catch this unique cocktail of whisky and rum at the Islington Academy,(click HERE for review). More: www.comono.co.uk Tel: 0870 771 2000 www.islington-academy.com     The band has just released a new album, El Camino - more: www.salsaceltica.com                                 Lee Knights, Editor, LSS

La Linea bursts into life with a spectacular double bill of Ska Cubano & Amparanoia at the Coronet, 8.30pm-3am on Saturday, 1 April. The line up includes Buena Vista Social Club, Louie Vega and more.
  La Linea is an explosive cocktail of firey Latin flava and pure fun and reminds you why you got into this crazy thing called salsa in the first place. This year, La Linea features a mega line up, including the best noise to come out of Scotland ever - Salsa Celtica (see below).
   “This is the UK's single most important Latin Music Event and it's unmissable. Featuring some of the best international musicial talent around, you ain't heard nuffin til you've heard some of these crews live; they are the vibe. Forget aboutrelying on 1-2-3-5-6-7 to find out where your feet go. Get the slap of the

Ska Cubano by Miguel de Foto. To hire Miguel: 07734 72 1983.

congas drilling into your brain, let yourself go, live through the music and dance,” says London Salsa Scene’s Oracle.  
   The Coronet is at 28 New Kent Road Elephant & Castle SE1 6TJ.  www.coronet-london.co.uk or 020 7708 0066 for more. www.comono.co.uk for full programme details. See below and our Events Section under that date for details on other gigs.