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Send us your review:
Describe the atmosphere and live music at a local pub, restaurant, festival, church or temple, club night.... inspire other people to check it out!
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Musician: Michel Cereso
Location: Ipswich
Instruments: Quena / charanga / sikus / percussion / voice
Music: Bolivian / Samba / Cumbia / Cuban / World fusion
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HOW I CAME TO THIS MUSIC听听听听听听听听听听WHERE I PLAY听听听听听听听听听听A FAVOURITE SONG |
  
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 听听Listen (1'09) to 'Kantus', performed on panpipes by Michel Cereso.
听听Listen (1'47) to Michel talk about his music.
Where I Play:
I play with a band called Mambo Combo. We play Salsa and Caribbean rhythms. I play with other bands in the area too - fusion-rock, world music, dub-fusion with South American influence. Sometimes Bolivian friends come over to visit and we play together, and sometimes I just find people busking on the street and get together with them. I'm very open-minded to music!
The people I'm with in the Salsa band are all English - they had to learn the Latin rhythms and they learnt very quickly. They're very good musicians. Two of us - the backing vocalists - are girls of Afro-Caribbean origin, so for them it wasn't very difficult to learn, they already had the rhythms. The most important thing was that they learnt the feeling, the soul behind the music, not just the technique.
We play in different places: clubs and pubs, the University, halls in small villages in the countryside - everywhere. People are always very welcoming. When you hear the music you feel the rhythm and can't keep still - you have to move something, even if it's just tapping your foot. When we play Salsa or Samba or South American music we always offer the audience a little workshop - show them the steps. They love it, and they tell us that it's very happy music.
 When I arrived in Ipswich there was no Latin American music scene at all - so a few years ago I started teaching Salsa and Samba. Now we have a very successful Samba band here and a big Salsa scene as well. Gypsy music is also becoming popular. I think Salsa and Samba are replacing brass band music in England. Perhaps because the brass band movement was starting to fade or perhaps it's because Latin American music is so alive and inclusive. People seem to identify with the music and are happy to express themselves through it. We try to teach them to feel free, to feel relaxed with the way they are and express themselves in any way. I feel very pleased because people are open-minded and willing to learn, and they love it. They're addicts now!
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