Six Months To Go

October 3, 2008

Weird night. It seemed like only the hard-core regulars and newcomers were present. Perhaps a lot of people went away on a vacation before school starts next week. No Ivan. No Rajiv. None from that circle in fact. Maybe a sizeable contingent made their way to the rumored El Gran Combo concert in London.

Joe as usual started off. Among songs he played and I found striking were Rumbera (Willie Chirino) and Perdios (Monchy & Alexandra). Other songs included Swing La Moderna (Mandingo Y Su Son) and Merecumbe (Johnny Colon).

Other than a small birthday crowd (with birthday song well after 1 AM) and a brief appearance by Cristian to put up some posters for another attempt at starting Sunday gigs, hardly anyone seemed to come in after lessons finished. Steve was there, but he was there taking lessons too. Oh I almost forgot – Johnny showed up like he did last week. Another contingent might have been from that language school.

Playlist

Tiembla – El Gran Combo*
Ken Moussoul Guis Li – Africando
Cosas Nativas – Frankie Ruiz*
La-La-La – Direct Latin Influence
Tu Musica Popular – Don Perignon
Cuando Te Vea – German Villarreal
Don Lengua – Santiago Ceron
Rebelion – Joe Arroyo*
No Es Una Novela – Monchy & Alexandra
Pastorita – Conjunto Yumuri
A El – Oscar D’Leon
Isla Del Encanto – Orquesta Broadway
Che Che – New Swing Sextet
Dime Que Quieres – El Gran Combo
El Cayuco – Tito Puente (short version)
Tu Nuevo Amor – Ismael Miranda & Junior Gonzalez

Total = 16 songs. 1 Bachata. 1 Cha Cha. 14 Salsa including 3 new.

Vish finished the evening keeping things typical – Lo Bonito Y Lo Feo (Grupo Niche), Sey (Africando) before turning to somewhat more irregular tunes like Asia Mood (Tito Puente), Besitos De Coco (Azabache) and Descarga La Moderna (Ray Barretto).

A lot more repeat dances than usual – I was somewhat in the mood and it wasn’t like there were a whole lot of people to choose from. Should I be looking forward to kids coming back for school? Not sure. Who’s coming back? Haihan, Mark, Stephanie. Anyone else?