Prom 23: Havana Meets Kingston 31.07.18

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

22:15
ON TV
Royal Albert Hall


Mista Savona keyboard/samples
Randy Valentine vocals
Solis vocals
Julito Padrón trumpet/vocals
Stepper saxophone
Bopee guitar
Rolando Luna piano
Mafia and Fluxy drums/electric bass
Yaroldy Abreu Robles percussion
Brenda Navarrete percussion/vocals

Australia's leading reggae and dancehall producer Mista Savona (aka Jake Savona) has gathered together some of Cuba's and Jamaica's most influential musicians to create a fresh, unifying take on the music of both cultures.
Drawing from the styles of roots reggae, dub and dancehall on the one hand and son, salsa, rumba and Afro-Cuban on the other, Havana Meets Kingston sees a top-flight group of musicians come together in an effortless meeting of genres.
Energetic and passionate vocals in Spanish, English and Jamaican patois twist and turn over distinctly Cuban rhythms and melodies, while the typically deep bass lines of Jamaica pulse beneath.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Tonight

[Serial_Apologist]

AFAIK none of those names are crossovers from any jazz sphere, to my knowledge - so this should be OK for any interested purists!

[Old Grumpy]

AFAIK none of those names are crossovers from any jazz sphere, to my knowledge - so this should be OK for any interested purists!

Judging from trails heard on R3 this afternoon neither Cuban nor Jamaican music purists will be happy - Cubo-Jamaican or Jamaico-Cuban purists will be a very niche breed! I suspect jazz purists may not be offended (but you never know ).

I intend to listen on catch up.

OG

[bluestateprommer]

"El cumbanchero" just finished, a 'pure Cuban' number. Maybe the stylistic mash-up comes later :) . This concert potentially sounds like a lot of fun, especially if one is Promming in the Arena with a dance partner. We'll see.

[Old Grumpy]

Actually, pretty good, not too contrived, although there is some fusion.

This concert is broadcast on BBC 4 TV at 11p.m. this Friday (3rd August). I shall be setting my recorder.

OG

[bluestateprommer]

Actually, pretty good, not too contrived, although there is some fusion.

This was indeed a nice concert, good clean fun, with several re-toolings from the old Buena Vista Social Club songbook for a younger generation. There didn't seem like a lot of fusing of styles, but the meet-up was more the musicians themselves rather than the genres. Like with the Folk Prom, the lack of comment on this Prom is perhaps telling. I suspect that this Prom is one where the TV visuals add greatly to the enjoyment.

[bluestateprommer]

Perhaps a bit of a surprise among the Proms repeats this winter is this one:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0001w5h

The lesson, of course, is that numbers of Forum views aren't the only metric out there :) .