Gabriel Wilder is a great friend of ours who writes the definitive blog on where to go, who to see and what to do in Havana, called Yemayas Verse. She is also one of Australia's top media and entertainment journalists
Here's her preview of Los Van Van's appearance in Australia this past August
Los Van Van Still Pushing the Boundaries
09-august-2010- One of Cuba's most celebrated bands is bringing its eclectic mix of styles - and penchant for innovation - to Sydney, writes Gabriel Wilder. - The train, that's what they call Los Van Van in Cuba. It's an apt nickname: for 40 years, the band have been at the forefront of popular music on the island and they show no sign of slowing down.
Since their inception in 1969, they have regularly taken top honours in the country's national music awards, but the band's appeal is not confined to the Caribbean. In 1999 they won a Grammy award for their album Llego . . . Van Van and they spend about half of every year touring Europe and the Americas. Now “El tren” is bringing their winning formula to Australia for the second time.
It's one that band leader Juan Formell has refined over decades. In 1968, he was musical director of one of the island's most popular groups, the innovative Orquesta Reve, which married changui – a very old form of "son" that predates even the venerable form purveyed by the Buena Vista Social Club – with strings to create a new sound. But at the time Formell was being heavily influenced by music from outside the island, especially the Beatles, and a year later he left to form his own group, Los Van Van.
“The Cuban dancers of that time weren't dancing to Cuban music,” Formell told me in 2006. “They were dancing to groups from Europe and it occurred to me to make a kind of music that was Cuban – like Cuban son but with guitars and synthesisers.”
The result was a fusion of strawberry pop, swinging grooves and innovative Cuban rhythms that Formell called “songo”. Over the years the group's sound continued to change as he added other elements that took his fancy to the mix: R&B, Brazilian music, Latin jazz and flamenco, to name a few. His son Samuell, the band's drummer and co-director, says the secret to the band's success lies in this eclectic approach.
You can read the rest of the preview here
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