“Son, Cuero y Boogaloo y’all!” It was a night to pay tribute to Fania’s Joe Cuba, “The Father of Boogaloo”.  I couldn’t control clapping, swaying, moving and grooving to the sensational trumpets, timbales, and congas of this musical force that is Boogaloo Assassins who entertained us with many musical hits of Joe Cuba such as El Pito (I Never Go Back to Georgia) amongst other well-known Boogaloo pioneers like Ray Barretto. The sold-out event was hosted by Wax Poetics and Fania,  allowing for no room to do much more than dance in the spot where we stood, but that didn’t stop us.

We had the honor of welcoming Chico Mann to the stage who visited us straight up from Jersey City. Made up from a trio of Casio drums, Chico Mann performed an interesting combination of electronic afro-funk musical patterns that kept us going for the rest of the night.

I’m still humming, singing and cha-cha-ing my way throughout the day with the songs I heard that night. Although I was one of the lucky few to get my hands on the Joe Cuba CD distributed that night entitled: El Alcalde del Barrio, I can’t bring myself to open it. Perhaps it partially due to an attempt to savor the moment of last Friday, in lieu of that, I’ve delved into the endless display of New York Boogaloo musical selections at Amoeba Records, wanting to soak them all in.

There’s moments in life that will always be remembered, and this one will most certainly be one of them…porque “asi se goza!” For more information on Wax Poetics and Joe Cuba’s musical trajectory check out our blog.

Boogaloo Assassins  www.myspace.com/theboogalooassassins
Chico Mann www.myspace.com/chicomann
Wax Poetics  www.waxpoetics.com
Fania Records www.fania.com