Los Van Van set off their 'frantic fiesta' Audio clip: 1.9Mb WAV Video clip: 4.8Mb QuickTime File format info Please enable JavaScript

Web posted on: Wednesday, August 12, 1998 2:34:06 PM

From Correspondent Paul Vercammen

HOLLYWOOD (CNN) -- They are as Cuban as fine cigars and in a rare U.S. appearance, the 14 members of Los Van Van had the audience at the Playboy Jazz Festival smoking and shaking to their blend of salsa, charanga and other sounds.

Though their name, translated as The Go Gos, is a nod to a Cuban government slogan, politics are definitely not the band's concern.

As the band's founder, Juan Formell, explains, the band represents not its country but the Cuban people and the Cuban musical tradition.

"To make anyone move in that sense, where the feet is going and the body is going and yet they don't understand what you're saying, is a great personal power to have," adds singer Pedrito Calvo.

What happens at a Los Van Van concert is ... the band comes onstage and a frantic fiesta begins that seems to last forever." That enthusiasm has made Los Van Van, formed 28 years ago, Cuba's leading dance band.