LIVE: Taina Asili y La Banda Rebelde @ the Sanctuary for Independent Media, 3/27/10
Nippertown’s premier world music warriors Taina Asili Y La Banda Rebelde charged into the Sanctuary For Independent Media last Saturday to celebrate the release of their debut album, “War Cry,” and it was a full-blown, packed-to-the-max party, to be sure. Actually, it was a double-barreled party – not only a CD release party, but also Asili’s birthday bash.
The explosive six-piece outfit fronted by dynamic vocalist Asili brilliantly fused together a plethora of international musical styles – ranging from Afro-Caribbean beats, Jamaican reggae, American rock, Brazilian samba, Spanish flamenco and urban hip-hop – into a performance that simply defied categorization.
Wrapped around the stage and spilling out into the street, the full-house audience danced wildly, rocking with every beat the band conjured up. Highlights of the evening included an aerial trapeze artist and samba band – complete with two additional drummers and a drop-dead gorgeous South American dancer gyrating to the break-neck rhythms.
Off to the side throughout the evening, artist Marcus Anderson was busy painting a huge canvas that he started during DJ Trumastr’s opening set and completed at the end of La Banda Rebelde’s performance.
If you missed this exquisite spectacle, well, fortunately the super-fine folks at the Sanctuary for Independent Media recorded the audio and video of the performance for a future DVD release.
Review and photographs by Andrzej Pilarczyk. See more of Andrzej’s photos from this show at the Nippertown photo archive.
This was an amazing show, full of energy and fun! It was hard to keep still, and I didn’t. Thanks for the great review.
This party was a gem of the year! The energy and passion of the band was profound and it was evident everyone had a blast! Great music, energy, dancing and guest musians and dancers.
Top event of 2010!!!By far!
The second to last photo here (the dancing girl) made me think of the lyrics to a song (“Into The Night” by Santana/Kroeger):
“There were drums in the air as she started to dance
Every soul in the room keeping time with their hands and we sang
A-yo-a-yo-a-yo-a
And the voices rang like the angels sang, singing
A-yo-a-yo-a-yo-a
And we danced on into the night”
Big ups to la banda rebelde and Taina from The Ameros!