Часть заметки Оскара Эрнандеса, пианиста и директора Spanish Harlem Orchestra, о концерте и сальсе в России. (Сори, но пока без перевода):
..."The Spanish Harlem Orchestra is travelling to St. Petersburg, Russia, for the first time, as the featured band in a Salsa Festival on a Saturday night. “Salsa in Russia?” seemed to be the question in the mind of our musicians. Excited to be in Russia, we had no idea of what the music scene would be like in St. Petersburg.
We arrived the day before our performance, and after having been taken to dinner by the promoters, we were shown the venue where the festival had already taken place. The club held approximately one thousand people and was about half- full. Prior to a scheduled performance by a local salsa band that night, a young woman DJ was playing music for the crowd. It was obvious that the she had a very good knowledge of the genre and its history. We were pleased to hear her play an excellent mix of old and new; at a comfortable volume that actually allowed us to carry on a normal conversation.
This was a diverse audience comprised of couples, singles, young, and old – all dressed to impress. We were amazed at the level of skill and sophistication of the dancers. It was clear that they understood and respected the music as demonstrated by their connection to it through dance – as well as their attentiveness to the music itself. Our overall impression was so pleasant that we decided to stick around in order to hear the local band. We were surprised to hear a group of Russian musicians who sounded remarkably sophisticated – and authentic.
The following evening, the Spanish Harlem Orchestra performed for close to one thousand people – many appeared to be in an almost trance-like state of euphoria – from beginning to end. The band, felt the surge of energy from the audience. It was like the heyday of Salsa in New York City in the 70’s.
Later I spoke with several people. They conveyed how exciting it was to experience our performance; until this evening they could only imagine how we sounded live.
Did they understand something about our music that we have forgotten? If so, then what could that be? Or, better yet, why could this be?
I wondered…perhaps might we have started to take our own music for granted? Why the contrast between performing in NYC and in Russia? Maybe the Russians felt that they were experiencing a bit of history, since all of us in SHO had performed with many of the great musicians and bands of years past? Did they understand something about our music that we have forgotten?"...
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