Ghandaia uno, Grupo Fantasma dos
After months of meaning to check them out I finally caught Ghandaia Saturday night at the Flamingo Cantina. They're a nine-piece latin ensemble with a very tight sound and a solid horn section. Besides the salsa-influenced style of most of their material they make excursions into reggae and MPB (one of their dual lead singers, Frederico Geib, is from Brazil). The standout Saturday was a cover of Caetano Veloso's "Odara", which is pretty funky in his original but in their version positively funks out. You can hear theirs at CD Baby, excerpted from their CD Uno, which does a creditable job of capturing their live sound.
Do I sound like I'm damning Ghandaia with faint praise? Maybe so. It's because my heart belongs to the other hot latin ensemble in town, Grupo Fantasma, whose musical roots in cumbia have the power to move even my creaky gringo hips in a way that salsa does not. And the longer I listen to them the more musical and lyrical depth I think they're bringing to cumbia. My latest revelation was the lyrics of the song Utility Rock on their new CD Movimiento Popular. It's about the frustration of being talented but broke, being treated like a rock god at night (No le hace si no sabes moverte güerita, baila conmigo y pareces latina) and then waking up again in the morning without even money for the bus (No tengo agua, no tengo luz, no tengo cambio para el autobús...). Catch 'em while you can, before they marry their groupies and settle for day jobs.
(Of course it's not a horse race and both bands can keep me on my feet and grinning way past my bedtime. I just have to remember to never, ever show up before midnight to see a headliner, no matter what the ad in the Chronicle says. I'm getting too old to waste my precious lung cells and remaining cartilage on opening acts.)