8th Annual New York Salsa Congress
August 27th, 2008 Allan Tabilas Posted in Salsa |
It’s the end of August, and we’re nearing labor day weekend in the U.S. So you know what that means? The 8th Annual New York Congress is on! Officially starting on Thursday is a weekend packed with workshops, performances, live music, social dancing, and much more! Choco (John Knight) and his staff are veterans of the congreso game, continuing the legacy started with the late David Melendez. Choco cannot stop the hustle, it’s that simple. From what we understand, Saturday night at the 2007 event had over 6,000 attendees alone! (The ballroom for the performances was completely full!). And Sunday (2007) was packed with music headliners, performances, and the 1st annual New York Salsa Dance Championships, won by Kelvin Hernandez and Licelott Maldonado. If you want to watch last year’s competition, head over to iMambo.tv. The Hispanic Information and Telecommunications Network, Inc, or HITN, streamed the 2008 Puerto Rico World Championships. They are a sponsor of the 2008 NY Congress as well. (we have not confirmed that they are streaming video this weekend).
Some of the performers scheduled for the 2009 event include Eddie Torres, Dancesport All Stars, Karisma, Yamulee, Hacha y Machete, Juan Matos and Candy Mena, Baila Society, Jayson Molina y su Rompecabezas, and Santo Rico. Sunday’s 2nd annual New York Salsa Championships will send qualifiers to the 2008 World Salsa Championships. Currently the New York Hilton is sold out, and possibly the partner hotels as well.
We should be at the event on Saturday and Sunday night. So please say hi!
Choco interview (talks about his first NY Congress in 2007) with Nick Padin, George Dennis, Yesenia Peralta, and Griselle Ponce
Social dance 2007 - Betto Herrera from North Carolina’s Mambo Dinamico and Melissa Pabon from Enixe / Art in Motion.
Social dance 2007 - Marco Ferrigno from Italy and Nancy from Los Angeles.
Edie the Salsa Freak, Beto Rojas, Chayanne Rojas, Syra, and Nancy - LA Salseros talk about the 2007 NY Salsa Congress
Below is an “old” video from 2004 at the home of the NY Congress, the Hilton Hotel. The Hilton at 1335 Avenue of America has one of the largest ballrooms in Manhattan. So we captured the dance floor on Saturday night in 2004, with infrared night vision. Click on the image to see the video.
September 9th, 2008 at 10:25 am
It ’s Friday night August 29th, 2008 at the New York Salsa Congress in New York City. Dancers and music fans have all gathered under one roof at the Hilton on 6th Avenue near Times Square to witness a Battle of the Bands by two salsa bands, La Excelencia & Ocho y Mas. The main ball room on the 2nd floor is packed with over 8000 salsa music fans and the ticket is 30 dollars. As all of the attendees wait outside the bands are setting up inside the ballroom, it gave time for us to hear the gossip of who they felt was the best and why. People that claimed Ocho y Mas was the best did not notice that Ray Bayona was selling shoes with his girlfriend near by. I asked Mr. Bayona if he was going to perform and he said no that he was no longer a member of Ocho y Mas. This began to worry the Ocho y Mas fans amongst us in the mob of people awaiting the reentrance to the Salsa Congress. One man near me spoke of a trombone player named Willy Alavarez, another of the timbalero Marc Quinones, it was like awaiting the gladiators before battle.
La Excelencia also was being mentioned amongst a group of dancers who had recently seen them in Belgium and were anxiously awaiting a second glimpse. In Europe I had to been hearing of this young salsa Orchestra that was making a name for themselves all over the world. This was the reason I had crossed the Atlantic from Austria just to see this up and coming band take on the giants that backed up so many salsa bands of the 90’s. La Excelencia was definitely the underdog, they did produce though an original music CD “Salsa con Conciencia” which was highly recommended by all the top DJ’s and dance instructors in Europe. Ocho y Mas too had a good CD called “Juega Billar” although the tunes were not original they did cover tunes by the 70’s greats.
The doors finally opened and on the program it said La Excelencia would take the stage, but the gentlemen on the stage seemed much older then the pictured La Excelencia. I asked a photographer in the crowd who is this band, he replied Ocho y Mas. So far the schedule had changed no one understood why, on the stage was Spanish Harlem’s vocalist Wily Torres, and no Marc Quinones. The band did not look like the same guys I had watched on so many youtube videos this was a mixed band I was told of Willy Salsa Band and Ocho y Mas. Bobby Allende came to the front and spoke on the microphone giving an announcement that they did not come to battle they had nothing to prove they came to play music. What I gathered from Mr. Allende speech was that they felt La Excelencia was no competition. Ocho y Mas began to perform with new vocalist Willy Torres and the other new faces in the band it it was very on point! Hearing all the old school music of the salsa greats made me feel like I was in the 70’s during New York’s salsa era. Ocho y Mas was to play two sets but only gave their fans one short set.
Soon after La Excelencia began to take the stage, they seemed like youngsters but I knew better since I heard their CD and too watched them on youtube many time before. The first tune they played was explosive people were yelling next to me La Excelencia had the crowd! The performance was a mix of Afro-Cuban and New York Salsa it was truly a treat to hear these original tunes live and well performed. The vocalist Edwin Perez is a great young sonero and whoa the crowd as did his counter part Gilberto Velazquez. The horns were sensational these guys gave all they had and the crowd was feeding off of it. The rhythm and percussion section was strong they sounded like a well oiled engine ready for take off. They gave the fans about an hour and a half of pure original music and a journey through rhythms that captivated everyone.
We also were treated to two new songs that will be featured on La Excelencia’s new CD “American Sueño” and “Aña Pa’ mi Tambor”. This was such a treat La Excelencia’s new material was amazing they did a cha cha-cha and a descarga truly amazing talent these youngsters have. And the new songs are still original written and performed by La Excelencia. As they ended the night they introduced the band and the leaders are Julian Silva on timbales and Jose Vazquez-Cofresi on congas. Not only does Mr. Silva play timbales he is also the arranger and writer of several songs on “Salsa con Conciencia” and the new album to come. Mr. Vazquez-Cofresi also wrote many songs on the first CD and it was mentioned that he wrote Aña Pa’ mi Tambor”.
After the performance people cheered for La Excelencia who amongst the spectators were seen as champions. Days after the performance everyone kept speaking about how La Exclencia destroyed Ocho y Mas on stage. La Excelencia are true champions and deserve all that that will come to them, I’m awaiting the new CD by La Excelencia more now then ever! I was able to find clips of the bands performance that night click on the links to view this historic performance by La Excelencia Champions of the Battle of the Bands at the New York Salsa Congress 2008. - “El Salsero Europeo”
American Sueño: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=fPH3GgHBeXk
Aña pa’ mi Tambor: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=kUjIhW_yEts&feature=related