{"id":699,"date":"2016-12-09T20:20:14","date_gmt":"2016-12-09T20:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/salsalust.com\/blogs\/cuban_music_che\/?p=699"},"modified":"2016-12-10T16:09:55","modified_gmt":"2016-12-10T16:09:55","slug":"09-12-16-happy-birthday-los-van-van-a-historical-view-of-almost-5-decades-of-defining-cuban-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salsayo.com\/blogs\/cuban_music_che\/?p=699","title":{"rendered":"09.12.16 : Happy birthday Los Van Van! a historical view of almost 5 decades of defining Cuban music!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good day dear readers, listeners and blog followers!<\/p>\n

Today we have a special post, dedicated to yet another, the 47th, anniversary of the founding of the legendary Los Van Van (December 4th 1969) !<\/p>\n

But before we get into the history of the band and its tremendous impact on contemporary Cuban music, I would like to dedicate today’s post to gran maestro Juan Formell<\/a>, who passed away on May day 2014… this is the 3rd time that the band’s anniversary is celebrated without its founding father, which is indeed quite sad… so let’s take a minute of silence in his memory…<\/p>\n

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Today’s post will be\u00a0by far an incomplete analysis of Van Van’s discography, history or style, and thus doesn’t even attempt to be any of that; on the contrary, it is a humble attempt to look at the\u00a0band’s development over the years, taking notes of compositions that I find influential from a historical point of view… or just personal favorites of mine for Van Van’s long long discography \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

So now, let’s get to it!<\/p>\n

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Los Van Van was founded on December 4th, 1969, by Juan Formell, Cesar “pupy” Pedroso<\/a>, Miguel Angel Rasalps “lele” (yes, his son is one of Van Vans’ lead singers in recent years) and others.
\nBefore starting his own band, Formell worked for several years as the musical director, arranger and bassist for Orquesta Reve<\/a>, where he first\u00a0concocted what was initially called “Changui 68”, then “Changui Shake” and later “Songo”, a unique highly innovative, sophisticated and revolutionary\u00a0personal musical style, which will change contemporary Cuban music forever in the years to come…<\/p>\n

A good example of this early Formell style is Reve’s “el Martes”, that would later also appear on some of Van Van’s collections and compilations<\/p>\n