Monday Oscar D'León

So many things to love about this vintage mid-1970s video of Oscar de León performing Beny More's "Mata Siguaraya."

This performance falls well within my argument that U.S. critics completely misread salsa as retro, a return to tradition, when it was more a move in two directions at once -- into the past for some repertoire, for individual musical skills (the drums, the drums), and into the future with the stagecraft, the arrangements, absorbing the funk lessons of everyone's choreographer James Brown and the rock excess of Jimi or The Who.

Watch the hypnotic swinging fringe, which recalls vintage Tina, the "modern" (electric) but "traditional" (stand-up) bass, the early "cadenú"/bling aesthetic (the better to see the shine in the back of the arena), the "voz de vieja" chorus, the drawn-out scatting verses, trombone- and trumpet-driven montuno superimposed with those crazy moves (again, for the benefit of the back of the room).

Thanks to Xuxi for the link.