It is one of those ideas that when they come up they say, “wow, but how did they not think of it before?” We knew about the 101 Brass Band, that crazy street band. And of course we have been following Arístides Moreno for years and his particularly sensitive humor. One day in La Orotava, the 101 took people from the street to the stage where Arístides performed. The singer-songwriter was fascinated, and because of those things about music, the Brass Band took the stage and together they improvised a Felicity. “Arístides did it singing with a megaphone, it was an incredible moment, and when he told us to work together… we didn’t think about it for a second!”, they report from 101. Arístides contributes his version: “I felt happiness improvising That was what I was missing, happiness, joy, partying and great sound, that beautiful energy. I proposed it to them and they immediately said ‘yes we want’. I, who came from a dark time on a personal level, lit up like a light bulb.
The conjunction is cosmic. Artísides: «I feel that we were predestined, they have given me back the enjoyment, being part of an organization where what unites us is the love of music. For me they are medicine. 101: «Professionally, it has opened up a completely new world for us, getting on stage miked, polishing our way of working to accompany it, it has been a change that we love».
What was intended for a small tour ended up consolidating as one of the most successful proposals in all of Canary Islands (Here everyone has words of thanks for the producer BColina). One of the 101 once confessed to me that there were weekends when he took a plane on Thursday without even knowing where they were going to play, and returned home on Monday after passing through half of the Archipelago. A crazy formula that now has a record. Abrassong, songs that abrassan contains several cool 101 versions of Arístides classics such as Horcón Boys or Canción de autoayuda… One of the great news is that it presents new material by Arístides, in the case of the first clip on the album, the frenetic Mr. Money. El pulpo de acapulco is also new, and several songs from Arístides’ Shinco album are taken up here with new arrangements.
And if they want a record, buy it! The project resorts to a very 1995 idea, whoever wants the CD has to get it in their performances, it’s not on platforms. “Well yes, taking the album with you at the end of a concert as a souvenir is a nostalgia that we like and that is working, later it will be uploaded,” they explain. Take advantage because the tour is coming with the album, premiere choreography and costumes, plus the ball of joy that are Arístides Moreno and the 101 Brass Band, there are twelve but they seem like a hundred.
The Canarian urban sound owes a lot to Soul Sanet. Active since 1995 with their street mix of soul and rap, a few years ago they resumed activity with the recognition they deserve. Since then they shine in new songs, the last one is this Libertad, a piece in a Latin key where its fusion gains more strength. The weight is carried by the author’s rapping, Jefry Morales, around a vigorous chorus where he hits his characteristic polyphony. Everything on a sauce base with a touch of Lavoe and three Cubans. More Canarian than ever, Soul Sanet is the perfect example of how to grow up without getting old.
Dactah Chando is one of the most personal reggae voices on this side of the Atlantic; although the reggae thing with this new Stay close falls a little more to one side. Chando maintains that vocal warmth and melodic ability, especially in a chorus that is pure summer. The difference comes from the musical base, with experiments towards electronic notes and reggae more as an atmosphere and vibration than as a central axis, again Chando looking for other paths without losing affection. This single, which is accompanied by a haunting video, is a preview of Chando’s new full-length, On the Street for November.
DIY yourself
Parliament of the Future
Political movement and DJ, moving futures
Parliament of the Future is a space for debate where the dynamics are set by a DJ. It sounds as interesting as it looks. This project, conceived and developed by Tenerife LAV closed its fourth season last Friday, June 30, in Baladero. The special space of The Gran Canarian palms hosted a workshop on Parliament’s proposals and a subsequent party with a DJ session where the new sound system from Demolition Services looked impressive.
But, what is Parliament of the Future? We extract the explanation from his dossier: «It is a stage mediation project (living mediations) that delves into the capacity of young people to dialogue, design content and propose positions and ideas from the word and the body from the own interests and codes of the youth: opinion and with it the construction of the imaginary of the whole as a collective discourse».
The project has been developed since 2020 in Secondary Schools throughout the Canary Islands, with a special residence in the La Granja theater in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The idea is to develop a Parliament of young people, where the topics of debate are raised, they reflect on the body guided by the music of a DJ: «We use the metaphor of the Parliament as a meeting of representatives of the people where issues are discussed and resolved public and as space and physical device. The participants are invited to a journey towards the future through the body, music and the word, in which to discover the thread of shared experiences, intuitions and non-expert knowledge, which are necessary to consider in order to imagine and question the future and represent it,” they point out.
The issues for debate are raised by and from the dance, always with questions directly linked to the concerns of the participating youth. The DJs who played the musical part of this last season at Parliament of the Future were Dita Konnat, Miriam G aka Red B*cht, Woodhands, Juana La Cubana, Sam AM and Ninfa in a special edition at Aguere Cultural. Parliament of the Future is selected as a model project for the Culture and Citizenship Meeting of the Ministry of Culture. The people in charge of Tenerife Lav will travel next October to Valladolid, this year’s venue for the Meeting, to exhibit their work together with other selected national and international proposals. Also in October of this year a new season of this curious Parliament of the Future will start.
