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Cuba's trendy young set—yes, they do exist, and we're talking those with means - say they have a hard time finding places to go at night. They're looking for fun, rock, house (Buena Vista, por favor, is the music of their grandparents), avant-pop or a spot of late-night cool jazz. They're bored, bored, but bored with the same clubs, the same Friday night parties, the same music and the same crowd. So what to do? Well, I can tell them, and you! What has been missing from all our small, empty lives is in Havana, in a small, uptown side street and in a chic little venue called Quinta y 16.
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Back in the day, Havana was mentioned in the same breath as Paris—a jazz hot spot that attracted international stars to its clubs and cabarets for legendary jam sessions. Nostalgia runs thick on party days, when Santa Amalia regulars reminisce about dancing to Nat King Cole, Sarah Vaughn, and others in evocative-sounding joints like Hell, Tokio, the Zombie Club, and Sans Souci. For the punter it's equally fab. You can hear your favourite musicians as if they were in your own front room, even go up and chat to them if you feel like it, and, again, its somewhere hip and hot to go when almost all else in the capitol is closed or closed down. Well, at least for the kind of music that this crowd likes to see. We rolled out at 5am after one of the Friday night sessions and that's no mean feat in Havana. As we go to press, Wednesdays are a gap to be filled as the former hosts - the all-girl a capella group Sexto Sentido - no longer play there. For the most up-to-date information, best to visit Cuba Absolutely's website at www.cubaabsolutely.com and ring the venue itself when you're in town. So let's start with one of the hottest sessions, Thursdays, which features the charismatic and very-funny-indeed singer-songwriter, David Torrens, camping it up with his tremendous blend of rock/pop/trova. He's unmissable for his slot, for the sheer quality of his guest artists and for the energy and enthusiasm he brings to the other nights just by being there. The fine young jazz/fusion pianist Harold López Nussa and his trio head Friday's line up. This is the more jazzy night of the lot—often starting with a few standards but really hotting up as the night goes on and as other musicians arrive from their own gigs and join in. There are always excellent guest artists this night, too so really, you get 3 or 4 concerts in one. Saturdays is hosted by one of Cuba's very finest, young, fusion guitarists, Elmer Ferrer. He's particularly known, and greatly admired, for his harmonic brilliance and his fast and furious finger work and was one of the few artists invited to play with Sting when the British musician visited Havana this year. To give you some idea of the flavour of this night, Elmer is often compared to Jimmi Hendrix. So, full volume, Saturdays is when you rock and blues your socks right off. Finally, one of the best young jazz trumpeters around - in Cuba or outside—plays here on Sundays. Yasek Manzano has won numerous prizes, worked and studied with US trumpeters Roy Hargrove and Wynton Marsalis and been invited to play at festivals the world over. Still only 27, he's a real rising star and you'd be crazy to miss him. He and his young band are outstanding so if you're looking for original compositions and something more laid back and intimate, Sundays are for you. A few tips: You might need to take a catnap during the day because it's a late start—musicians often don't begin playing til after midnight—but do get there for 10.30pm to ensure a table. It's a tobacco house so, of course, people smoke tobacco, but, inexplicably, the place doesn't yet have air conditioning so a pretty Spanish fan is de rigeur. There's also the small upstairs balcony that you can, very coolly, hang over if the crush and heat below gets a bit too much. Despite these little nitpicks, the sheer quality of the performers, the joy at finally having a late-night fusion bolt-hole, a great DJ and the general cool ambience of the place, still earns Quinta y 16 five shiny gold stars from us. And whatever, for the punters and musicians, no one really cares too much about anything as long as the music is good and the joint is jumpin'—and both are. So, listen to the punters. “.what to say?....the best for me is to know I can go out at 12, 1 or 2am and know there's a great place to go, to relax and listen to music until 5 in the morning." “..we really need more places like this—it's a fantastic venue" “.at the beginning, it was too groupie-like, people just hanging around well-known musicians and not listening to the music. But now it's much more stable, and the public are more there to listen and appreciate. It's the only place I know that's open until 5am. But, really, there's something for everyone—you can come at 11 and chat, at 1am be listening to the music, at 4am be dancing and at 5am just be drunk and tired! A great place". And to the musicians. “.I think of it as a den of iniquity! It's a huge, eclectic mix—of people and music, like some kind of refuge, hide-out. I love playing here and the musicians are fantastic." (Robertico Martinez - sax player with the David Torrens band) . “.It feels more free here for me than in other places—more informal. Of course, I want and need to please the public but I like to experiment here - and I feel I can". (Harold Lopez Nussa) “.This place is like una caja de sorpresas- a box of surprises. You never know what's going to happen, who's going to come, who's going to end up playing with who. It's great—the bohemia of Havana!" (David Torrens) With the passing of Torres, the regular parties in Santa Amalia were temporarily interrupted, but club members keep the joint jumping and the jive alive. Jazz is the staff of life they'll tell you, and as long as that heady music plays, those feet will keep moving. |
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