~by Dena Burroughs

SALSA IN ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO

FRIDAY AT THE COOPERAGE

The Cooperage Restaurant is located at 7220 Lomas NE.  It is a steak house that on Friday and Saturday nights turns into a Salsa club.  The local band, Cafe Mocha, performed on Friday, March 28th, when we were there.  As the cliché goes, the world is very small.  As soon as we walked into the club, Dave and I thought the band leader and conga player looked very familiar.  "I think I've seen her at the Salsa Congress in L.A.," I said.  Sure enough, Ivon Ulibarri, and Rosie, the band's singer, had both been at the Salsa Congress in L.A. two years in a row for the Musician's Seminar.  It was nice getting acquainted with Ivon, as well as saying hi to the friends we recognized from The Tavern the night before.

The Cooperage has a nice wooden floor, and the cover charge for Salsa night is $7.  As far as the dancers, we recognized several faces from The Tavern, but there were several new ones as well. 

Albuquerque is up high, and the altitude will get your heart going crazy with just one song.  It is an interesting feeling for those of us living basically at sea level!

Visit:

http://www.cafemochasalsaband.com

http://www.clubalbuquerque.com/cooperage

Ivon Ulibarri and the Cafe Mocha musicians
Our new friends, Omar Diningrat and Elaine Reyes

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THURSDAY AT THE TAVERN

     Our first taste of salsa in Albuquerque happened at The Tavern, located at 4007 Menaul St, with the music of DJ Pedro, who played a nice cycle of Salsa, Timba, Merengue, Bachata and Reggaeton.  The Tavern has a relaxed atmosphere, no cover charge at the door, free parking, casual dress code, pool tables, nicely priced drinks (2 beers from $8,) and a crowd of dancers of all different levels and backgrounds. 

     Included in the "all different levels" were two intense guys leading their partners into dips and jumps and the sort, until one of them finally left a stamp of his elbow in the back of my head.  I hate it when that happens. 

     Other than that, we had a lovely time.  It was nice to see the happy faces of the New Mexico Salseros and that Salsa is alive in Land of Enchantment.  By the way, the most up to date website for the Albuquerque area (that I know of) is http://www.mimambo.com  We were tonight at The Tavern thanks to the input from its webmaster, and his help was appreciated.