Get into the groove
Salsa Celtica aims to get you moving this St Andrew's Day with its catchy fusion of Latin funk and Scottish folk grooves. We get in the mood over a pre-gig chat with founder Toby Shippey and lead singer Lino Rochas.
Salsa beats and Latin rhythms conjure up balmy images of fiestas or Buena Vista-style journeys in exotic, warm locales. It's all a few bongo beats away from sitting in Salsa Celtica's chilly studio space in Edinburgh on a finger-biting cold November day. It's also symbolic of the Salsa Celtica anomaly – here's a band made in Scotland, fusing timbales and trumpets with pipes and fiddles, and achieving serious success in Latin America where salsa originated.
"We're on compilation albums in Colombia and Puerto Rica with many of the greats such as Ray Barretto and Tito Puente," says the band's founder and trumpet player Toby Shippey. "As a Scottish person who started a salsa band, being in the same charts and on the same albums as these people is a real compliment."
Barretto and Puente and are just two significant names in the history of salsa, which is a simple word used to dictate a genre of music that's rich in history and encompasses a huge range of styles and beats – much like rock n' roll. It began as a potent combo of Afro Spanish sounds in the Caribbean, becoming significantly Cuban and then blending with elements of R&B, pop and funk among the Latin American communities of New York in the 1960s and 70s before exporting itself back to countries such as Venezuela and Colombia.
"The salsa scene is huge and it's really serious music," says Toby. "People dismiss it as party music but it's so much more than that. I love it because it's not just music to dance to; it's also folk music from Panama, Puerto Rico and places like that."
A native to Edinburgh, Toby started out playing salsa and Latin jazz when a salsa wave rolled over Europe in the mid-90s. A scene was born as he was joined for open sessions in the Basement on Sunday nights by notable musicians such as the late Martyn Bennett, Jim Sutherland (up for Composer of the Year at this year's Scots Trad Music Awards ), Chilean guitar player Gallo, and a sizeable Spanish immigrant community.
Although the Salsa Celtica membership has changed over the years, it has now settled on a fairly steady 11-piece line-up that includes Venezuelan lead singer Lino Rochas and Cuban Eric Alphonso on timbales (drums).
"We have a good mix of people rooted in dance, hip-hop, funk and Latin jazz. We also have one of the best pipers around, Ross Ainsley, who's playing real cutting-edge stuff," says Toby.
There was no guarantee that bringing in elements of Scottish folk to work beside a dominant Latin sound would work, but from small village halls in Iona to the Lincoln Centre in New York and playing for soldiers in Tblisi, there's been a demonstrative love for Salsa Celtica around the world. They're still the only non-Latin American band to have played the Antilliaanse Feesten in Belgium – the biggest Latin music festival in the world.
"At the Hebridean Celtic festival , people go wild. There's an unbelievable energetic appreciation of music up there," says Toby. "When we play at world music festivals, Latin American people go crazy over the traditional tunes."
After 12 years of playing five nights a week, it's perhaps no surprise that the band should have honed their craft to perfection and found such success – it is, after all, the sum of deeply talented individuals. But perhaps the fusion of Scottish folk with Latin American shouldn't be too surprising either.
"I am constantly reminded of a familiar kind of passion when it comes to Scotland's musical tradition – lively, story telling, historically embedded and uniquely haunting," says the band's singer Lino Rochas. "The two cultures might seem like two worlds apart but I assure you the soul is as one."
It's all about the passion, which makes Salsa Celtica a great choice to head up the St Andrew's Day stage in Princes Street Gardens. The audience can choose to salsa dance, jump up and down, ceilidh or just cheer. Having fun, and celebrating life and Scotland, is what it's all about.
"I love it because the Scottish festivals are a big deal. I like the idea of everyone coming together and having a party," says Toby. "I hope St Andrew's Day becomes a bigger thing. The Scottish culture tends to get swamped by other traditions. It would be nice if it really became something for the Scottish people. Other countries do it, why shouldn't we?"
Salsa Celtica are
Toby Shippey – trumpet
Lino Rochas – vocals
Dougie 'El Pulpo' Hudson – congas
Kenny Fraser – fiddle
Phil Alexander – piano
Javiar Fioramonti – bass
Steve Kettley – saxophone
Eamonn Coyne – banjo, tenor guitar
Ross Ainsley– pipes/whistle
Ryan Quigley – trumpet
Eric Alphonso – timbales