The bands involved in the Musica Fresca Tour portrayed a strong passion for music and performing last Wednesday night at the Shubert Theater, but most of all, the artists showed they had a true passion for their culture.
The tour stopped by the Shubert to delight their fans and create new ones, while also helping to prove that New Haven is a lot more than bars and clubs on the weekends. The city is buzzing with culture, and the elegant, vintage theater was brought to life with Latin, hip-hop, Reggaeton and a number of other musical styles.
The artists featured are the leading performers in modern Latin music fusion. Performers included Akwid, hip-hop and urban edginess; Voltio, Reggaeton lyricist; and Yerba Buena, collective Latin-funk. Also, Radio Mundial, a New York-based Latin rock band who has written and performed for Carlos Santana, was introduced to the American audience by the Musica Fresca Tour.
Most of the songs were sung in Spanish, but enjoyed by most of the audience whether they understood the words or not. The show’s highlights included the lengthy performance by Radio Mundial, as well as Akwid’s set.
The five members of Radio Mundial were extremely happy and danced almost the entire set, but for an up-and-coming band, they seemed to think that they were more famous than they actually are. One of the front stage members wore rock star-style sunglasses, and eventually bore a tight undershirt, dancing and singing like he thought he belonged in a Latin version of Aerosmith. Another member at the front of the stage constantly attempted to dance to their songs, but he looked more like he was doing his own rendition of the “running man.” However, the crowd did not seem to mind as a group of eight or more people got up to dance and sing along with their songs.
Akwid, on the other hand, seemed to already be popular. Fans ran to the stage when they came out to take pictures, and the brothers received a great deal of audience recognition.The crowd almost began to get rowdy, with people yelling and dancing in the balconies. Akwid was accompanied by an MC, and their hip-hop melodies were fused with Mexican tempos. Most of their lyrics were in Spanish, and their high energy and enthusiasm made for an amazing performance.
The Musica Fresca Tour offered a night of diversity, energy and culture. The language and fusion of so many different musical styles created an obvious bond within the audience, and made American Top 40 music look like something a toddler could compose.
