[photo credit: City of Pasadena]
“Get ready to move your feet and feel the rhythm! Join us for an unforgettable afternoon of high-energy Afro-Cuban Latin salsa with Changüí Majadero one of the most exciting bands on the scene. ¡Ven a gozar!” announces the City of Pasadena event description.
The five-piece ensemble specializes in changüí, one of the foundational styles that gave birth to son, salsa and timba. The genre emerged in the 19th century in Cuba’s rural Guantánamo Province, combining Spanish and African rhythms.
“As the Mississippi Delta and the blues are to North American popular music, changüí and Oriente are to salsa,” explains ethnomusicologist Benjamin Lapidus.
Band founder Gabriel García discovered changüí during a pilgrimage to Cuba, where he learned from living masters. García holds degrees in jazz and Afro-Latin music.
“Changüí to me now represents resistance, right, resistance to the forgetting. If we start forgetting traditions then we start forgetting the roots of what we do,” García said.
The band has performed at Lincoln Center, JPL and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. They released “Vamos Pal Monte (feat. José Andres)” in February.
Saturday’s event is part of Pasadena’s Latino Heritage Month programming, which runs from September 15 to October 15. Linda Vista Branch Library, 1281 Bryant Street, in Pasadena. For more call (626) 744-7278 or visit https://www.cityofpasadena.net/library/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D188114376. Tickets: Free
