Trad-salsa fusion at Monroe’s from unique 10-piece group
Mixing trad with salsa sounds like a peculiar fusion, but 10-piece band Baile An Salsa who pull it off with aplomb will play Monroe’s Live on Saturday, August 29.
Baile An Salsa are lead singer Andres Martorell, Alan Preims (congas), Antonio Aguilar (bass), Michael Chang (fiddle), Frailan Moran (Bata/percussion), Peter Brazier (mandolin/guitar), Ger Chambers (accordion), Brid Dunne (piano) Rags Ferguson (timbales/bodhrán) and Gabriel G. Diges (flute and bouzouki).
Baile An Salsa is the brainchild of Uruguayan native Andres. The singer recalls how the notion came about.
“I had the idea five or six years ago,” he says “We used to play salsa in Massimo’s, and we used to go to The Crane for a pint on our break.
“I told Alan and he said it was a good idea, and the two of us started to pick up people from different places. He contacted Mike, and then we called Antonio and different people and we put it together like that.”
The band have since gone to play The Late Late Show, where they went down a storm. They’ve also gone to number two in the Colombian charts while continuing to entertain fans closer to home!
■ Doors for their Monroe’s show are at 9pm, admission €8.