~by Dena Burroughs

THE CUBAN COWBOYS - Feb 2nd, 2008

I finally got to see The Cuban Cowboys last night!  Had been trying ever since they were supposed to be at El Cid, in Silverlake, and something happened so that I was there but they weren't.  I'm not sure how I heard of them first, but I liked what I heard since song one and I really enjoyed them last night.

The Cuban Cowboys play the music written mostly by Jorge Alberto Navarro [wearing hat in pictures below] and Luca Benedetti.  Both of them play the guitar and do the vocals, along with Andy Sanesi in the drums and Angeline Saris in the bass.  Last night they had a conga player with them whose name I'm investigating. 

Their music is definitely not dancing music for the Salsa heads, but it is a very innovative, exciting music that mixes traditional Cuban sounds with Indie rock, ska, and other genres.  The result is a rumba-ed rock-ied sound that is refreshingly new.

They have a CD called "Cuban Candles," which cover's picture I absolutely adore. You can check them out at http://www.cubancowboys.com and http://www.myspace.com/cubancowboys .  The myspace page has an interesting piece done about them by NPR that you may enjoy, or you can hear it here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15280503

They will be in San Diego on March 29th for the San Diego Indie Music Festival and on April 4th at the Safari Sam's here in L.A. 

What does a Cuban have to do with a cowboy?  I copy Ned Sublette's answer from the Cuban Candles CD cover:  "Start with the guitar, then know this:  There are a lot of ways of being Cuban.  You can be black or white or anything in between.  You can be very right wing, or very left wing.  You can be a rumbero or a symphonist or a militar or a cyber-hippie.  You can live in Santiago de Cuba or Havana or Coral Gables or Union City or, as in Jorge's case, San Francisco.  We all have our stories to tell.  These are Jorge's."

SHORT CLIP OF THE CUBAN COWBOYS - Yes! I am "la chica de la Salsa"  :D