The Baboons ‘Spanglish’ CD release party
April 12, 2016
The Baboons invite you to the world premiere of their new CD Spanglish, a 15-song opus of Miami stories set to a syncopated only-in-South Florida soundtrack, on April 16, 2016 at the North Beach Bandshell in Miami Beach. The veteran worldbeat group will share the bill with legendary reggae band Third World, Jo Mersa & Yohan Marley, Big Harvest, Uma Galera, DJ Gravy, Tom Laroc and the lovely artist Eva Ruiz painting live as part of Community Arts & Culture’s ‘A Day At The Beach’ festival. RSVP at: Event Page Tickets available at: Brown Paper Tickets
“We’re super excited to finally give birth to our new CD and we are honored to share the stage with Third World, one of our favorite reggae bands for decades,” said lead singer Majica. “It’s a dream come true to debut our new recording on the same bill as such an influential and iconic group that taught us long ago Love Will Always Be There, one of our favorite songs by them!”
The Baboons’ ambitious new bilingual recording Spanglish features all-original songs that pay homage to Miami’s diversity and draw inspiration from the mix of global cultural influences found on the streets and beaches of their hometown. Throughout the years, the band’s music has evolved into a rich global fusion that combines Latin American, Caribbean, African, Middle Eastern and American roots influences.
The seven-piece outfit on “Spanglish” features sultry singer Majica on lead vocals and founder Mano Pila on drums and vocals (the two also host the Global Gumbo with Majica & Mano P. radio show Sundays on WDNA, 4-6 p.m.), Miguel Rega on percussion, Ike Blues on guitar and vocals, Michael Muton bass, and Dominick Cama and Paul Messina on saxophones and flutes.
“Spanglish is a love letter to the Miami that thrives in a cultural community, where diverse people from all over the world live, love and influence each other every day,” said Majica, who along with Pila served as a principal songwriter on the album. “These songs are stories about real Miami characters. They come from different worlds, they struggle, but in the end they all call Miami home.”
The title song ‘Spanglish’ is the story of a young woman that comes here to ‘get away from the cold’ and winds up falling in love and becoming ‘fluent in amor.‘ The fan favorite ‘Soon Come Samba’ is about a samba-loving little sister dreaming of future carnavals and the older sister that warns her not to grow up too fast. ‘Cebolla’ tells the story of an aging mambo master who works construction by day but is a hero to the kids in his working-class neighborhood when he blows his horn at night. ‘Dashiki Blue’ is about a homesick college student overwhelmed by a parcel from home. ‘Pequena Habanera’ is a coming-of-age tale about a domino-hustling Little Havana princess and the love-struck son of the baker who courts her with guava pastries. The band’s audacious mix of seemingly disparate musical elements provides the perfect framework for these South Florida stories.
There are plenty of weird and wonderful mash-ups on Spanglish, from the exotic bombast of ‘Balkan Thang’ to the Fela-meets-Hendrix onslaught of ‘Yuca,’ the instrumentals that bookend the CD. In between there’s the merengue-punk of ‘El Tiki Tiki,’ the gospelly country waltz ‘Crazy Confirmation,’ and the catchy 50’s rocker ‘This Is Me,’ which celebrates and reinforces the message: ‘This is me, I am what I am!'”
Spanglish was recorded at Miami’s Red Door Studios and the finishing touches were added at several studios in South Florida. Special guests include Senegalese griot Morikeba Kouyate on kora, Jose Domenech on piano, AJ Hill on baritone sax, Rich Dixon on trumpet, Jose Elias and Buffalo Brown on guitars, Kenneth Metzker on steel drums, Phil McArthur on bass and JJ Freire on djembe. Cover art by Eva Ruiz.
The Baboons have been South Florida fixtures for more than 22 years. Born at an In-Progress Art Festival at the now-defunct Ft. Lauderdale nightspot Squeeze on July 2, 1993, the amorphous early ensembles featured a rotating line-up of local musicians eager to explore the band’s culturally curious aesthetic. Throughout the years, the band has shared the bill with Jimmy Buffet, George Clinton’s P-Funk All-Stars, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band and The Radiators. Since their inception, the group has received many honors, including a Florida Jammy Award for Best Worldbeat Band. The Baboons have released two full-length recordings until now – the award-winning Evolution, honored by New Times Miami as the “Best Album Of The Past Twelve Months” in 2000, and the critically acclaimed follow-up Global Gumboin 2001. Spanglish is the band’s third full-length release.