Text and Photos By: Adriana Carlson
This past Sunday, Kim and I headed down to City Park Jazz. Several thousand people gathered around the stage to dance to, listen, and enjoy the talents of the band La Candela. The light, happy, contagious atmosphere affected us and we paid $15 to rent a peddle boat on the lake. We peddled around for an hour enjoying the sounds of the band and the enormous crowd of people.
Our view from the lake
After we came ashore I got my land legs back, and we headed to the dance floor in front of the stage. The crowd moved, shaked, shimmied, leaped, sauntered, and twirled all at the same time, a mass pulsation that Kim and I stood on the edge of. La Candela played primarily salsa music, but I did catch wind of a merengue song I liked very much.
Ariana Gutierrez looks on as Madeleine Joyce bends and dances to the music of La Candela.
Merengue is a relatively new musical style from the Dominican Republic. Dominican musician Nico Lora created it in the 1920s and the dictator Rafael Trujillo popularized it for 30+ years. He ordered merengue songs be written in his honor, many extolling his handsome looks, intelligence and popularity with the women. I’ve seen his picture; he may be intelligent but I wouldn’t believe one word about his good looks or luck with the ladies. Trujillo was such a nut case that he ordered churches to put up signs that said, “”Dios en cielo, Trujillo en tierra.” (God in heaven, Trujillo on earth.)
The crowd at City Park certainly liked merengue too. I couldn’t help shaking my hips a bit, but I hadn’t had anything to drink and my camera weighed me down so I stood on the edge of the dance floor snapping photos.
Kim Lunacek and John Wyatt dance to the music of La Candela at City Park Sunday night.
Kim and I are returning to City Park Jazz this Sunday. Tuxedo Junction will wrap up the series with 1940s big band songs and tributes to the Andrew Sisters, Frank Sinatra, Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, and more. I hope there’s dancing!
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