I was really going to try to write this preview of Cuban “timba” group Bamboleo without using the words “Buena Vista Social Club”, but I just can’t hold back. Buena Vista Social Club! Buena Vista Social Club! Buena Vista Social Club! There, that feels better. I’ll compromise and not use the words “Ry Cooder”, ok? So as I was about to say, thanks to the unexpected phenomenal success of all things Buena Vista (the CD, the movie, T-shirts, coozies, all the spin-off CD’s, ad infinitum), Cuban music is very much in the American public eye now.

And how much real Cuban music has Houston seen in the last few years? Not a lot. There was Cubanismo at the Houston International Festival in 1997. Great show - torrential rain, bomb threats, Cuban music royalty on stage - it was exhilarating! Then later that same year, Roy Hargrove brought a band which included Cuban heavyweights Changuito, Chucho Valdes, “Anga”, and Julio Barretto. The group went on to win a Grammy that year. Great stuff. But since then, it’s been dry.

Cuban music is experiencing unprecedented popularity and there’s been none in town for three years. So the time should be ripe for Bamboleo, making a rare Houston appearance on Tuesday the 18th, the only Texas stop on their current tour.

If the Buena Vista Social Club musicians represent the grandfathers of Cuban music, and Cubanismo and Chucho Valdes’ group Irakere represent the second generation, then Bamboleo is part of the next wave of Cuban music. They’re the kids who got hold of a little of granddad’s clave, maracas and bongo, some of dad’s jazzy horn riffs, electric bass and piano, took it into their secret Cuban laboratory, tinkered with the formula for a while, then emerged with this new explosive brand of musical fire. Granddad called it “son”. Dad called it “salsa”. Bamboleo calls it “timba”. Whatever you call it, Bamboleo, riding the shoulders of their predecessors Irakere, NG La Banda, and Los Van Van, is helping define the current state of progressive Cuban music as it exists at the beginning of the 21st century.

Bamboleo takes you on a wild carnival ride of sound. Pianist / arranger Lazaro Valdes plays riffs which have the groove of familiar tumbaos, but have never sounded quite like this. Two saxes and two trumpets zip in and out of the mix with improbable-sounding funk and jazz influenced lines. The bassist hangs out on the lowest notes on the low B string, spewing moans and accents with the four (count ‘em) bad-ass percussionists (drums, congas, bongos, and timbales). Bamboleo is on the cutting edge of the newest Latin rhythms and especially breaks. In fact, Bamboleo’s strongest asset is their creative implementation of some of the hippest bass and drum breaks ever heard. And to top it off, four vocalists complete the ensemble (when writing about Bamboleo, federal law requires that I mention the fact that the two female singers have shaved heads).

But no matter how complex the music gets, Bamboleo never lets you forget that it’s still about dancing. The band grooves, the dancers groove. When the band kicks into one of it’s extended complex breaks, the dancers respond with “tembleque” free-style breaks of their own.

Listening to Bamboleo is like getting hit in the head with a big Cuban rhythm stick. Once you experience Bamboleo, you may be standing there wondering what hit you when it’s over. They’re that kind of band.

What: Bamboleo
When: Tuesday January 18, 2000 9:00 p.m.
Where: Tropicana, 3222 Fondren @ Richmond
Phone: 713.977.4188
Tickets : $15 advance (available at Tropicana), $20 at the door