-
Sinfully-Seductive Ass-shaking!
[+ Show ]
There will be sinfully-seductive ass-shaking when the veteran Latin-funk-salsa collective SANTA MAMB...There will be sinfully-seductive ass-shaking when the veteran Latin-funk-salsa collective SANTA MAMBA take the stage.
-Christopher Conti (July 2010)
-
"Rivals any national recording and touring artists"
[+ Show ]
It has been many years since first booking Santa Mamba… known to all at that time as Planet Groove, ...It has been many years since first booking Santa Mamba… known to all at that time as Planet Groove, the evolution of this ensemble has never missed a beat.
Professionalism, great artistry in music and a work ethic that rivals any national recording and touring artists are what set this band apart from all others.
Whether opening for acts like Los Lobos or headlining their own shows, Santa Mamba is and always will be a pleasure to work with in any capacity.
Al Salzillo, Nightside Entertainment, Inc.
-
"Like a festival of life that you can't sit down for"
[+ Show ]
Santa Mamba is by far one of the best bands to have ever graced the stage of the Newport Blues Café....Santa Mamba is by far one of the best bands to have ever graced the stage of the Newport Blues Café. The bands high energy performance is infectious spilling over to its audience leaving you completely drained. A Santa Mamba show is like a festival of life that you can’t sit down for. The need to be on your feet is overwhelming and the bands engagement with its audience is like none other. If you were ever a skeptic of Santa Mamba you’ll be a believer by the end of a performance and like so many others asking the question, “when are they coming back”?
It’s because of bands such as Santa Mamba that The Newport Blues Café was recently awarded Rhode Island ’s Best Dance Venue for 2009 by the readers of the Providence Phoenix, and Best Music Venue in Newport County by the readers of Rhode Island Monthly.
Thank You Santa Mamba,
Jim Quinn
Owner, Newport Blues Café
-
One of the Best in Town...
[+ Show ]
...one of the best in town, Santa Mamba... just released their second disc, Senseo, and the Latin-sp......one of the best in town, Santa Mamba... just released their second disc, Senseo, and the Latin-spiced funk company continues to comandeer sweaty dance floors.
October, 2008
-
Santa Mamba Brings Big Sound, Rhythm with Senseo
[+ Show ]
If conservative pundits were right in likening Sarah Palin's V.P. acceptance speech to winning the S...If conservative pundits were right in likening Sarah Palin's V.P. acceptance speech to winning the Super Bowl, then Santa Mamba earned themselves a World Cup Championship for releasing their second album, “Senseo.”
On the 11-song disc, Santa Mamba utilize a variety of Latin dance beats, jazz, and American grown Rock 'n' Roll in an outstanding, thematically consistent work that makes you shrug “of course they've won the Motif Music Award for Best Latin Band four years running now.”
Formerly Planet Groove, Santa Mamba brought in Venezuelan-born Gio Murillo to front the band in 2005 and with him came stronger Latin influences to an outfit once referred to as “fusion.” Since Gio’s arrival, a significant, positive, evolution has occurred that raised the bar, even higher than their critically acclaimed “Saints & Sinners” album in 2006.
“Senseo” opens with the fast-paced Latin rock ‘Tierra, Viento y Fuego’ (Earth, Wind and Fire) and John Medeiros’ guitar work gives a flair that reminds of Carlos Santana. Although my translation from Spanish may not be exacto, ‘Tierra’ takes the listener on a spiritual journey, calling on the elements – Earth, Wind, and Fire – in the context of a freeing catharsis of human liberty.
Now some artists hide away in their music, some go big, but Santa Mamba goes Broadway big, anthem big, big like they're playing half time at the World Cup. That is, if World Cup's have half times.
Track two, ‘Aroma,’ reminds, somewhat, of the group Haciendo Punto en Otro Son but, of course, Santa Mamba goes much bigger with their sound. At once ‘Aroma’ is traditionally Puerto Rican roots music and also in the lineage of Caribbean and Afro-Cuban songs of passion. When done well, Latino songs of the heart oft go beyond mere “love” songs into a passion captured by only poets and playwrights such as Shakespeare. Unabashed, Gio sings, as if to the Heavens:
"For your skin, your kisses and your aroma. I breathed colors of your scent. Aroma of Earth, coffee and clear water. And it was the aroma of a love." (Rough translation).
Spiritually passionate and anthemic, ‘Aroma’ could be the theme song to Lion King II. It's a big, roots number.
Track 3. Grab hold of something or someone, ‘Mi Reyna’ will rock you to the dance floor, Latino style. Nick Wade goes vertical on bass. Gio calls upon all the forces, “women, children, warriors of life, saints and sinners” with rolling Spanish "Rs." Santa Mamba infuses a resonating chorus, and Medeiros goes all Carlos S. on guitar.
The biggest of the big songs, this Spanish-English lyrical mix will have you dancing with two broke legs.After ‘Mi Reyna’ you need to catch a breath or two, and Santa Mamba strategically inserts the mellow opening of ‘Lineas de Amor’ (Love Lines) next.
A gentle Bolero, Gio croons:
"I will tell you what I feel.
With the ink of time in song. Between pauses and letters. Between encounters of moon and of the sun. I got lost in your distance and I don't find in the days reason. With my fever and delirium. The desire has no forgiveness."
In Puerto Rico, ‘Lineas de Amor’ would be a perfect song to “bailar en una loceta,” (dance on one tile). This is when the old timers dance close, intimate, making all the moves perfecto, never leaving one square on the floor. The passion and subtlety of this type of dance takes the breath away from young women and girls.
Hopefully, you've caught your wind because Santa Mamba come back with a huge Flamenco number in ‘La Mentira.’ Forget about understanding the lyrics, just surrender to the percussion of Gary and Candido Mendoza and dance like the world’s on fire and Nero has run out of fiddle bows.
Throughout “Senseo,” Aaron Wade brings enough Latin Jazz to make you lose complete control on this infectious album. The great sounds and rhythms of Latin music run deep and strong in this album – rumba, merengue, salsa, etc.
Succinctly put, the fire and fervor of Santa Mamba's “Senseo” demands dancing!
Visit www.santamamba.com and order this album now!
By Jim Vickers
-
One of the best bands on our roster...
[+ Show ]
Santa Mamba is consistently one of the best bands on our roster. Their energetic live show and top ...Santa Mamba is consistently one of the best bands on our roster. Their energetic live show and top notch musicianship have made our 4th of July weekends the talk of Block Island. I've never seen a band able to stradle the line between artistic integrity and commercial appeal as well as Santa Mamba. Our venue is located in a summer resort destination and we book mainly cover and tribute bands. Santa Mamba is one of the few acts that not only keeps the bar/dancefloor packed but also brings a cultural element to the party. They're a gold star on our summer schedule in that we know we're not just going to get, "Mustang Sally" again.
Marc Scortino
General Manager
Captain Nick's Rock N' Roll Bar
Block Island, RI
-
Hot Fire!: Santa Mamba Spices Up the South Coast
[+ Show ]
Hot Fire!: Santa Mamba Spices Up the South Coast
by Paul Sanguinetti, southcoast247.com correspon...Hot Fire!: Santa Mamba Spices Up the South Coast
by Paul Sanguinetti, southcoast247.com correspondent
The seductive, thumping grooves of Santa Mamba set the Fall River crowd ablaze within moments. The setting: Water Street Café. The occasion: to simply dance the night away with Latin infused rhythms and searing, sensual vocals.
Formerly named Planet Groove, a band featuring an assortment of players for over ten years now, Santa Mamba is truly a band at the top of their game and one more than worthy of mention. As a music writer and fan whose been on the scene sometime now, I thought I had been familiar with the local talent, but every once in a while a band slips under the radar. Santa Mamba is one such band.
The Water Street Café set the perfect ambience for this Providence based band's eclectic world beat style. A restaurant and bar, the café included couples casually enjoying wine at their tables and a dance floor packed to the brim with enthusiastic dancers; the South Coast's diverse cultural heritage setting a perfect primer for the world rhythms of this well-oiled machine.
From the moment the band started it was a non-stop party and everyone loved it. Santa Mamba's high-energy performance created an infectious energy that was hard to resist. They left me no choice but to pack up the pen and pad and soak in the velvet vibe.
Along with well-written and executed original compositions, the band played some highly entertaining covers. Early in the night they played a rendition of Led Zeppelin's "Dyer Maker" which somehow worked its way into The Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Give it Away", and then back into the original jam. While on paper this may look like a travesty, the technically proficient band makes it all come together somehow into a opus that combines feel good dance hopping goodness with pure bass and drum driven funk. And if anyone knows me well enough, they know I have a soft spot for the funk. Their rendition of Santana's "Oye Como Va" was perhaps their most impressive cover of the night, their highly percussive style rivaling the original, but to hear it live made it all the much better.
The night continued on with two total sets that showcased the bands Latin influenced sound. They played salsa, merengue, funk... the list of styles goes on but it is ultimately just a culmination of all these elements that fuses together into the one Santa Mamba sound.
Before I knew it, the night was coming to a close. Somewhere between the start of the first set and the end of the second, three hours had diminished. Our photographer bounced around trying to capture the evening's energy and at one point was caught off guard when he was invited to the microphone by lead singer Gio Murillo to say something to the crowd. In the meantime I had strayed from my reporting duties and had been caught up in dancing the night away. The music has that effect. You can't help what happens when it hits you, 'cause like Bob Marley said, "when it hits you, you feel no pain." The band has that sort of charisma that will make you drop whatever your inhibitions are and enjoy the fullness of the present moment. It was a good time, and the band showed what it is to be a class act. We came to report, but in the end we became participants. Such is the way with true music. Such is the way of Santa Mamba.
February, 2007
-
'Saints & Sinners' Alike Will Dance to Santa Mamba CD
[+ Show ]
‘Saints & Sinners’ alike will dance to Santa Mamba CD, live performances
By: Don DiMuccio
As I w...‘Saints & Sinners’ alike will dance to Santa Mamba CD, live performances
By: Don DiMuccio
As I write this article sitting at my woefully outdated computer, my compact disc machine is playing host to the new CD by Santa Mamba, Saints and Sinners. This might be the first time that a band's album has filled me with the urge to tear out of my house, (with) lights on and coffee boiling on the stove, just to go immediately experience their live show for myself. These songs are crafted from incomprehensibly infectious rhythms, saturated with throbbing Latin beats. If you don't find yourself moving to their unique synthesis of salsa with a driving rock flair, call for an ambulance at once - you've passed away.
Formerly Planet Groove, Santa Mamba has been treating New England audiences to high-energy dance music for the better part of a decade. Having long since left behind their initial R&B style for a complex yet accessible concoction of funk-rock pulse with Latin sensibility, the supergroup has attained an envious stockpile of acclaim from fans and the music community at large. The band's personnel proves as unique a combination as their material. An efficient fusion of potent youth and adept age, the six-man lineup consists of founding members and band patriarchs Ajay Coletta (drums) & John Mederios (guitar, vocals), as well as Venezuelan-born frontman Gio Murillo, brothers Aaron & Nick Wade (keys and bass, respectively), and Candido Mendoza (percussion). Though their genre defies a convenient target category, Medeiros accurately defines Santa Mamba's sound as “a National Geographic Soundtrack.” The band proficiently demonstrates said-soundtrack on their latest release Saints and Sinners.
The eight-song disc is equally divided into studio and live cuts, the former being recorded by Seekonk's perennial favorite Bob Sloane. The live tracks come courtesy of a Berlin, CT, performance from Santa Mamba, and include a creative take on Led Zeppelin's 1973 single “D'yer Mak'er.” With an almost Ska feel reminiscent of The Specials, their rendition of this now-clichéd Zep classic is far enough removed from the original to deem its inclusion on the disc a worthy highlight. Cleverly interwoven within their version is a medley including The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Give It Away,” and a stream-of-consciousness litany of Police songs including “Every Breath You Take” & “So Lonely.”
However it's within the original compositions of Saints and Sinners that Santa Mamba flex their creative muscles and demonstrate the musical vitality and virtuosity of their outfit. Songs with titles such as “Yo No Se Na,” “Sube Sube,” and “Senseo” make me sorry I waived three years of high school Spanish in favor of that remedial Ebonics class. That aside, all language barriers crumble when Santa Mamba delves into a song.
The listener finds themselves helplessly reverted to the most primal of instincts, with limbs akimbo and body moving in convulsive yet obedient tempo to this masterfully crafted art.
The bottom line? This is quintessential dance music.
To experience Santa Mamba live is to experience a sweat-soaked evening of hot rockin' Latin rhythms, put forth with an imposing skill that only the unique union of these six musicians could pull off. Saints and Sinners is an unrivaled sampler of such an evening. With all hyperbole aside, both the recorded and live experiences are not to be missed.
-
Out of this World - Planet Groove's a Gem
[+ Show ]
[NOTE: Older press for Planet Groove, before changing the band name to Santa Mamba]
Not a whole l...[NOTE: Older press for Planet Groove, before changing the band name to Santa Mamba]
Not a whole lot of local bands stick together for 10 years, particularly when they play original music. Even fewer sound better than ever after all that time. But that's where Planet Groove is at.
Drummer Ajay Coletta and guitarist John Medeiros are the last two original members of Planet Groove, and Coletta says that the most important thing has been figuring out what kind of band they wanted to be. Planet Groove started as "a worldbeat instrumental band, kind of like a National Geographic Explorer soundtrack," Coletta says, but as the years went by, the rotating cast of players began to take on a Latin accent. Turning points came in picking up keyboardist Aaron Wade and since-departed percussionist Larry Barron, Coletta and Medeiros say.
"From the start, we said we wanted to be strongly rhythm-based," Coletta says. "So when we said, 'OK, we're going to explore a lot of rhythms and grooves,' Latin obviously came up. And then when our keyboard player joined, he had a real proficiency for playing that style. And I said . . . 'I'm going to learn to play a samba, or a mambo groove, to complement you.' " Singer Gio Murillo is originally from Venezuela, and current percussionist Jaime Hernandez is from El Salvador. "John and I, not being Hispanic," Coletta says, "we wanted key members -- the lead vocalist and percussionist -- to be Hispanic, so we had some way of integrating that for the Hispanic community."
AFTER 10 YEARS, Coletta says, name recognition can help a band get gigs, but it can be a problem too. "The problem is, you get a little older, and people say 'Oh, Planet
Groove, they've been around a while, but -- they've been around a while. Are they doing anything new and fresh?' " As a matter of fact, they are. Four tracks from Sube, the group's forthcoming record, are available at their Web site, www.santamamba.com. And it's their strongest stuff yet. They mix a Latin basis with a silky rock groove on "Ritmo," with '70s funk on "Chica Del Bar" (highlighted by bassist Nick Wade's alternation of strong staccato and dramatic swoops) and '80s rock on "De Donde Yo Vengo," and the title track is straight-up salsa. But the mix is what's important, Coletta, Medeiros and Murillo say.
Comparing this record with last year's Rojo Vivo, Coletta says "Rojo Vivo . . . was probably the best representation of merging Latin styles. At the time, we had a vocalist from the Dominican Republic, and he really helped us understand playing in styles -- adding authenticity, but using different styles. And yet, Gio, who's our most recent addition... helped us understand how we could fuse styles a little more successfully than we did on our previous records, and be a little more contemporary." Coletta singles out the Latin-rock band Ozomatli as an influence. "We've listened to their new disc, and we see how they fuse hip-hop and funk grooves with some traditional styles."
Coletta and Medeiros credit Murillo with a lot of that integration. "When Santa Mamba took Gio in, it wasn't like Gio joined Planet Groove; it was like we merged with Gio... We didn't go to him and say, 'You have to do this the way we do it.' We said, 'What's your feeling on this? How do you think it should be played?' " They also mention Murillo's stage presence. Medeiros cites their first big show with Murillo, on New Year's Eve in Pennsylvania before 2,000 people. "[Murillo] had thousands of people waving their hands and dancing, and at the end of the night, he had half the women yelling his name. That's an important element -- he connected."
Murillo, a native of Venezuela, credits the band for that stage presence: "I couldn't make that connection before. If I'm not connected with [the band], I cannot make that projection out." The Band has always done predominantly original material, and that makes for a harder sell. "I never got into the cover thing," Murillo says. "That's why I was always behind -- I never played covers. It's hard to get people to bite the hook if you don't play some covers." But the payoff is sweeter, Medeiros says. "Playing original music is always a challenge. But for me there's nothing like putting an original song out to an audience and seeing what comes back. There's no bigger charge than someone latching onto something that we created." Planet Groove plays anywhere from a couple of times a month to a couple of times a week in summer. "This style of music becomes even more popular in New England when the weather turns," Coletta says.
The plan for Planet Groove is to continue expanding its Latino fan base -- "you see a fair mix in the audience," Medeiros says. Radio promotion and airplay with stations such as WKKB 100.3 FM and 1110 AM (known as Poder) are helping. "They've been very supportive of us," Coletta says, "because they know the new generation of Hispanic people are open to more styles, rather than just growing up in a household with traditional styles. They're getting into pop music . . . this is what you hear on the more progressive stations." It's not just good business -- it makes for good music. "I want to fuse more kinds of music," Murillo says. ". . . We target different cultures. And my approach is to open that up. . . . It doesn't have to be one thing; it has to be for everyone."
Rick Massimo - Providence Journal
supersonic
