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[5/1] Preview: Cilantro Boombox Day Celebration at The Sahara Lounge

April 30, 2015 By Ian Morales

Cilantro BoomboxFriday, May 1, Austin-based Cilantro Boombox are celebrating the day the City of Austin proclaimed May 1 (2014) as “Cilantro Boombox Day” with a party at The Sahara Lounge. They’ve invited DJ Mahealani and Macaxeira Funk to join them.

Cilantro Boombox are a perfect electronic marriage of Latin and Afrobeat, which translates into an epic live show. The group formed when producer/bassist Felix Pacheco and Joe Willard of saxophonist Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears fame came together in 2010. They’ve been the opening act for Los Amigos Invisibles on multiple occasions in Texas and have even hosted a series of killer boat party concerts. See Cilantro Boombox perform at midnight.

Brazilian-inspired samba funksters Macaxeira Funk kick off the live music segment of the showcase at 10 p.m. The group features frontman Frederico Geib (Suns of Orpheus, Frederico 7) as well as members from other familiar Austin bands.

DJ Mahealani will be spinning from 8:30 – 10 p.m.

The Sahara Lounge is located at 1413 Webberville Rd. Doors open at 8 p.m. 21+ welcome. $8 cover at the door. Free parking. Visit the Facebook event page here.

Cilantro Boombox

Filed Under: Events, Music Tagged With: cilantro boombox, DJ Mahealani, macaxeira funk, previews, the sahara lounge

[4/10] Preview: La Frenetika + Morena Soul at The Sahara Lounge

April 9, 2015 By Ian Morales

Frenetika Apr 10Friday, Apr. 10, popular East Austin venue The Sahara Lounge will be the best place in town to hear live South American-inspired music provided by Austin-based bands La Frenetika and Morena Soul. While each band’s musical stylings have roots in different countries, both compliment each other well enough to keep attendees dancing and happy all night.

La Frenetika offers an array of covers and original music that fuses elements of Colombian style cumbia, vallenato, gozadera and other traditional Latin rhythms. Expect lots of dancing, great crowd of regulars and big sound.

Brazilian fusionists Morena Soul are the quintessential world music party starters. The group’s name is probably familiar as they are a regular at Central Market and perform at seemingly every Brazilian holiday event in town. Formed in 2010, the band was founded by singer Sarah Altoé, guitarist/songwriter Frank Almendra, and percussionist Mike Longoria to bring their own twist to traditional Brazilian rhythms.

The Sahara Lounge is located at 1413 Webberville Rd. Doors open at 9 p.m. 21+ welcome. $7 cover. Visit the Facebook event page here.

La Frenetika

Morena Soul

Filed Under: Events, Music Tagged With: Austin, la frenetika, morena soul, previews, the sahara lounge

[2/20] Preview: Bombasta + Afrofreque at The Sahara Lounge

February 19, 2015 By Ian Morales

Bombasta Feb 20Friday, Feb. 20, popular East Austin venue The Sahara Lounge is playing host to a great night of live music that is being billed as an “Eastside Soul Rebel Throwdown.” The showcase pairs together Bombasta, the San Antonio-based “barrio big band,” with Austin-based soul/hip-hop hybrid Afrofreque. These two will be “battling” it out with alternating sets all night leaving only one true winner…those in attendance.

Bombasta is San Antonio’s answer to modern day Latin Alternative bands like Ozomatli or B-Side Players. With Bombasta, one and two word descriptions won’t cover the entire scope of what you are going to hear when the music starts playing. Be ready for a bilingual blend of rock, reggae, hip-hop, salsa and of course cumbia backed by a full horn-section.

Afrofreque is a soul/hip-hop band composed of veteran Austin-based musicians you may recognize from countless other local bands. Fronted by MC Tiger Liu, the group’s music is focused on mixing their positive and conscious lyrics with soulful grooves you can dance to.

The Sahara Lounge is located at 1413 Webberville Rd. Doors open at 9 p.m. 21+ welcome. $7 cover. Visit the Facebook event page here for set times.

Bombasta

Afrofreque

Filed Under: Events, Music Tagged With: afrofreque, bombasta, previews, the sahara lounge

[1/16] Preview: Como Las Movies + Bamako Airlines at The Sahara Lounge

January 15, 2015 By Austin Vida Staff

Como Las MoviesFriday, Jan. 16, those who live or choose to party east of the highway will want to turn their attention to The Sahara Lounge. Austin-based electro-cumbia collective Como Las Movies will be sharing the bill with Austin-based Afropop band, Bamako Airlines. Attendees will discover the pairing of African-based music with Latin music is a complimentary combination, especially at a venue that draws crowds for both.

Como Las Movies are Austin’s purveyors of nu-cumbia, fusing electronic synths and jazz elements with traditional cumbia. While mostly instrumental, the group will incorporate a guest vocalist on occasion.The group is composed of musicians from of my old Austin favorites of the past including Maneja Beto, Mitote and La Guerrilla. Como Las Movies perform at 10 p.m.

Bamako Airlines is lead by frontwoman Meera Chandy, a trained vocalist in Indian classical music. Their music is a fusion of traditional Afropo with modern-day funk, reggae and dance music. According to the band’s Facebook event page, attendees will need to be ready for a “fresh supply of soukous, juju, and other Afropop hits.” Bamako Airlines perform at midnight.

Austin-based blues fusion band Manteca Beat opens the show at 8 p.m.

The Sahara Lounge is located at 1413 Webberville Rd. Doors open at 7 p.m. 21+ welcome. $6 cover. Visit the Facebook event page here.

Como Las Movies

Bamako Airlines

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Filed Under: Events, Music Tagged With: bamako airlines, como las movies, previews, the sahara lounge

[12/19] Preview: Los Kurados, La Vida Buena and more at The Sahara Lounge

December 18, 2014 By Austin Vida Staff

Los Federales Dec 19Friday, Dec. 19, those looking for live Latin Alternative in Austin will want to look east of the highway to The Sahara Lounge. A four band showcase billed as a “Winter Dance Party” will feature four of Austin’s best up-and-comers for less than the cost of a movie. Three of the bands offer their own unique fusion of sounds with traditional Latin rhythms you will want to hear.

Austin-based hip-hop/salsa group La Vida Buena are some of our favorite party starters. Lead by member Louie “Luison” Alarcon, the group performs original tracks from their debut EP ¡Checkpoint Alpha! as well as salsa-fied covers of popular hip-hop and R&B tracks. La Vida Buena perform at 10:30.

Los Federales, formerly known as Ex Machina locally, are fronted Mexican national Blas Moreno. The group describes their music as “a dynamic blend of upbeat reggae and Afro-Cuban rhythms with prog-rock and punk sensibilities.” Throw in a little psychedelic touch with bilingual lyrics and that pretty much sums up their sound. See Los Federales perform at 11:30.

On Delay open the show at 9 p.m. and reggae-ska en Español band Los Kurados close the night’s showcase at 12:30 a.m.

The Sahara Lounge is located at 1413 Webberville Rd. Event will take place from 9 p.m. – 2 a.m. 21+ welcome. $6 cover. Visit the Facebook event page here.

Los Federales

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Los Kurados

La Vida Buena

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Filed Under: Events, Music Tagged With: la vida buena, los federales, los kurados, on delay, previews, the sahara lounge

Q&A Interview: Los Rakas Speak On Why Oakland and Panama Are Central To Everything They Do

November 25, 2014 By Ivan Fernandez

Oakland-based "Pana-baynian" hip-hop duo Los Rakas. Courtesy photo.
Oakland-based “Pana-baynian” hip-hop duo Los Rakas. Courtesy photo.

It’s impossible to know Los Rakas and not respect, or at the very least appreciate, their hustle. Behind what many fans see as glitz, glamour, and the rockstar lifestyle lies a work ethic that’s taken them from the youth centers of Oakland to festivals worldwide in just eight years.

Los Rakas signed to Universal Latino earlier this year and marked the occasion with a double-album debut, something a group like Outkast was able to do only after they’d already cemented their careers. They also signed a partnership deal with Hennessy and have toured nearly non-stop this year with appearances in intimate venues as well as large festivals. As if that weren’t enough, the duo has kept up an incredible pace releasing something new every two or three months like clockwork for the past two or three years.

I caught up with Los Rakas last month at the afterparty for NCLR’s ALMA Awards. The duo was scheduled to perform a brief set that night as a warm-up for their set at the inaugural Supersonico Festival the following day. We spoke backstage where they spoke about their work ethic, how they’ve evolved as performers, and how growing up in Panama and Oakland shaped their music.

I noticed you’ve released A LOT of music in different formats regularly over the past couple of years.

Ricardo: We write a lot of music. We stay in the studio all the time. One thing I say to a lot of people, and I don’t mean to sound conceited or anything, but our work is seven years strong and probably 10, 7 years ahead of the game. Plus we stay trying different things, experimenting with other producers and it sets us apart from what everybody else is doing. It’s not like we can’t do what everybody else is doing in the same genres and styles of music but we really love what we do. When we get in the studio, we’re not thinking about what everybody else is doing. We’re just going in and taking it a step at a time. Sometimes these songs don’t happen as fast as people think. Sometimes it takes six months or two years to finish one song.

Dun Dun: We got songs stacked up. Some songs that we put out maybe even tomorrow, they’ve been in the vault like six months ago.

R: Or longer, let’s be honest. We had songs we just released that we’ve had since 2009.

D: With the last album, a lot of them, like, four or five of those songs are like five year’s old. We also wait for perfect timing. Probably, if we had dropped some of the songs that we dropped when we did them, people probably wouldn’t have understood it. We’re letting our fans grow with us. When we feel it’s the right time to drop it, we drop it.

Was signing with Universal Latino part of that philosophy of waiting for the right moment?

D: Yeah, and it wasn’t like that was the first time a label approached us. Many labels approached us before that but it wasn’t the right time or the right label. With Universal, we felt comfortable and they understood our vision. They want to help make that vision bigger. It wasn’t like the other labels that would come like “I like you guys but I think you should start wearing this or start singing this.”

Or “it’s too experimental” or whatever. They wanted something more Top 40-ish like, say, Pitbull.

R: Yeah, not that there’s anything wrong with Pitbull, but why limit yourself to just one genre of music when you have so many others to experience? Really, we do it organically because that’s how we grew up listening to music. We listen to all genres of music and we don’t do it to try to be cool…that’s how we grew up in our household. Even if I didn’t want to listen to that style of music, that’s what I’m going to listen to because that’s what our tia’s playing.

D: In the beginning, we didn’t even think of it. A lot of people would tell us “you guys are different.” On one of my verses, I say we’re “original por accidente (original by accident).” It’s not like when we started writing we were like “ah, we’re going to make something original and we’re going to have our own sound.” It just happened naturally.

R: The people were the ones that brought it to our attention. Like, “you guys are different” and we got to thinking “you know, maybe we are.” Sometimes you do gotta give yourself some props because, sometimes, you need to in order to keep getting better and better.

Yeah, you gotta step back for a second and see your work for what it is. Thankfully, your musical experiments worked out fine in your case.

D: Exactly! Thank God our whole experiment sounded good because it could’ve been bad too! There’s a bunch of experimental out there that is like…uuugghhhhh!

R: Yeah but our stuff might not be for you too and there’s nothing wrong with that. I guarantee you this though: out of all of the songs you might not like, there will be one that you will like even if you don’t listen to this style of music or that style of music.

How long have you been together?

D: Eight years ago. In 2006, we put out our first mixtape out of the youth centers over there in Oakland. That’s really who helped us become Los Rakas.

R: For those who don’t know who we are, we are from Panama originally. Our ethnicity is Panamanian and we started doing music in the Bay Area, in Oakland, in San Francisco. That’s where our music comes from. It wasn’t born in Panama. It was born in the Bay Area and that’s why we stick out from anybody else because there’s never been nothing like that. Usually Caribbeans that come from these places usually go to New York. When we ended up in Oakland, we stuck out because when you think about Panama, nobody knew where Panama was until we were like “yo, we’re from Panama” and everybody’s like “where’s that?” Now when you know or meet somebody from Panama, they go to Los Rakas.

Keeping your home country on a map is a nice side-effect of your music.

R: Putting Panama on the map and the Bay Area to Panama because a lot of people, when they think of California, they think about L.A. Even people in the United States do that! Now, we be wearin’ the Raiders’ stuff, representing the Bay Area and now if you go to Panama, you see people wearing the Raiders’ outfit.

How does it feel to see that with your own eyes?

R: It feels good because it’s something that we never expected and it just shows how much influence we have in what we do and our craft. People like what we do and it’s a good feeling. We were just doing music but now it became a fashion thing too. It becomes so many other things that you never thought of.

D: Even with the word “Raka.” In Panama, it was to describe somebody from the ‘hood in a negative way. Ever since we started using the word and telling people that just because you’re from the ghetto doesn’t mean you’re a negative person. If you’re a raka, be proud of being a raka. Since then, a lot of people in Panama have been saying “I’m a raka” like Raka Felipe or whatever.

Going back to what you said about putting the Bay Area on the map, your work has also put a positive spin on Oakland.

D: There’s a lot of good things that come out of Oakland and we’re the perfect example of that. There were like three youth centers in Oakland that helped us become who we are. There’s a lot of positive things going on in Oakland.

R: We want to inspire the people from Oakland and that come from Oakland. We’re from Panama and we came to Oakland and we saw opportunity and took advantage of it. Look where we’re at now. That’s why we always rep where we’re from.

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Austin: Los Rakas will perform at the Sahara Lounge on Wednesday, Nov. 26 with Orion & Pagame of Peligrosa and Benzo of Dub Academy. RSVP on Facebook here. Hear more music from Los Rakas on bandcamp here.

Filed Under: Events, Features, Slider Tagged With: hip hop, interview, los rakas, rap, the sahara lounge

[11/21] Preview: ¡Híjole Otra Vez! at The Sahara Lounge

November 21, 2014 By Ian Morales

Hijole Otra VezTonight, Nov. 21, popular East Side hotspot The Sahara Lounge is the place to be for those looking for some of the best live Latin Alternative music Austin has to offer. The promotion team that go by the name “Good Good” are presenting their second installment of their ¡Híjole! showcase series featuring Austin-based bands Como Las Movies and La Vida Buena. Los Angeles-based Viento Callejero headlines.

Viento Callejero is a realtively new name in the Latin Alternative scene, forming in 2013. Despite being new, the trio features some familiar names. Guitarist Gloria Estrada was once a member of La Santa Cecilia and also served as the touring guitarist for María Del Pilar when she was performing as Pilar Díaz. Drummer Gabrial Villa is also a member of Chicano Batman. Bassist Federico Zuniga, Has collaborated or played with various bands including Sistema Bomb and Tokeson, rounds out the trio.

Their sound is a fusion of traditional cumbia music with merengue, reggae, dance hall, funk and rock. They released their self-titled debut album in July and features original songs along with classic cumbias interpreted with a modern twist.

Vanessa Burden of La Vida Buena and KOOP FM, aka DJ Vanessa la Bestia, opens the night.

The Sahara Lounge is located at 1413 Webberville Rd. Doors open at 9 p.m. 21+ welcome. $7 cover. Visit the Facebook event page here for more details and set times.

Viento Callejero

Como Las Movies

La Vida Buena

Filed Under: Events Tagged With: como las movies, la vida buena, previews, the sahara lounge, viento callejero

[10/24] Preview: Como Las Movies, La Vida Buena, Chorizo Funk at The Sahara Lounge

October 24, 2014 By Austin Vida Staff

Hijole Tonight popular East Side hotspot The Sahara Lounge is the place to be for those looking for some of the best Latin Alternative Austin has to offer. Austin’s own nu-cumbia collective Como Las Movies and salsa fusion group La Vida Buena perform live before DJ Chorizo Funk and percussionist Rudy Rexx go hard with their signature ¡Clasíco! set.

Como Las Movies is Austin’s answer to new movement happening with electronic based cumbia. The group fuses elements of jazz and rock with traditional Latin Rhythms. While mostly instrumental, the group will incorporate a guest vocalist on occasion. Listen to a sample of their music below. Como Las Movies perform at midnight.

La Vida Buena is an Austin-based salsa group that performs both covers and original songs from their debut EP,¡Checkpoint Alpha!. Fronted by vocalist and KOOP Radio personality Vanessa Burden and Louie “Luison” Alarcon, the group is becoming a staple in the Austin music scene. Attendees will love dancing to salsa-fied covers of popular hip-hop and R&B tracks. La Vida Buena perform at 11 p.m.

DJ Chorizo Funk (Peligrosa, Body Rock) and Rudy Rexx close the night with a live percussion backed DJ set at 12:45 a.m. La Vida Buena members “Vanessa la Bestia” and  DVRTH V€NA take the form of their DJ alter egos for opening DJ sets from 10-11 p.m.

The Sahara Lounge is located at 1413 Webberville Rd. Doors open at 10 p.m. 21+ welcome. $7 cover. Free parking. Visit the Facebook event page here.

Como Las Movies

La Vida Buena

Filed Under: Events Tagged With: chorizo funk, como las movies, la vida buena, previews, the sahara lounge

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