- The Primera brothers made an “escape route” as a preview of what will be their album Se busca vivos o inmortales | Main photo: José Daniel Ramos @danielj2511
To the sound of conga and timbales, Venezuelan singers Servando and Florentino reminded Caracas that salsa “is not dead.” The Primera brothers paid tribute to this musical genre on a tour of several popular spots in the capital.
Servando and Florentino made the journey called “escape route” with the motto Wanted: Living or Immortal (the name of his new album). A satire in which salsa and sonero singers are persecuted for keeping this musical genre alive.
This “escape route” began at 12:00 pm at the Plaza Sucre Metro station, Libertador municipality, and visited three other points in Caracas.
An “escape route” with four destinations
The second stop on the journey was the Plaza Venezuela station, where the Primera brothers boarded one of the cars bound for El Valle. During the journey they talked and took photos with several of the users.
The bustle began with the arrival of the train at El Valle station, the third stop, where the musicians were greeted by dozens of fans with banners and gifts.
“Your eternal fan in love, may God bless you” read one of the banners carried by a 60-year-old woman.
The Primeras performed a short presentation, in which they sang their new single “Lunares”, a salsa song. From there they set off on the run towards their fourth destination: Plaza Brión in Chacaíto.
“The fact that you are here and that you sing our songs and those of so many salsa masters shows us that salsa is not dead. This is a tribute to all the people who taught us the love for this genre. We do not forget where we come from,” said Servando Primera on July 15 from the stage in Chacaíto.
Minutes before 6:00 pm, the time the performance was scheduled for, there was no empty space left on the boulevard. The Primera brothers gathered an audience of different ages, and even got several elderly women dancing who were leaning out from one of the balconies near the plaza.
Concert by Servando and Florentino
During the concert, Servando and Florentino sang songs from their time as members of the band Salserín, they also included songs from their duo and performed iconic lyrics from the world of salsa.
The performance included live musicians, who gave the Primera brothers their cue to enter the stage with the song “Hermanos Primera.” Then, they performed two other classic songs from the 1990s in Venezuela: “Una fan enamorada” and “Bella ladrona.”
“How wonderful this is and how wonderful this huge audience that responded to this call in less than 24 hours. Thank you all for accompanying us on this journey that has been crazy, a feat. We know that they want to silence those of us who make salsa,” were Florentino’s first words to the public at Plaza Brión.
Halfway through the concert, Servando and Florentino left their wireless microphones and positioned themselves behind the instruments. There, they began a repertoire of salsa songs by those who, they said, were their teachers and the most outstanding exponents of the genre.
Tribute from Servando and Florentino
Some of the songs that the Primera brothers performed as part of their tribute to salsa:
– “My lucky day”, by Hector Lavoe, Willie Colon
– “The Tombs”, Ismael Rivera
-“Follow your path”, by Oscar D’León
-”In the 1600s” by Joe Arroyo
– “My world is hers”, by Maelo Ruíz
– “Forgive me”, by Gilberto Santa Rosa
The list of songs by other artists concluded with the song “Tin Marín,” by the composer and father of Servando and Florentino, Alí Primera.
While playing the conga, Servando Primera said that the first time he heard one of his songs on the radio he was regarding 10 years old and was traveling on public transport with his brother Florentino.
The first time we heard a song of ours we were in a van in El Valle and excitedly we told the driver. Obviously he didn’t believe us and told us to get off the bus,” said the composer.
Servando and Florentino put down their instruments and returned to the microphones to sing “De Sol a Sol” with the iconic choreography of the group Salserín; then they performed the song “Yo sin ti”.
To close the presentation, Servando and Florentino sang “Lunares”, the promotional single from their new album Wanted: Alive or Immortal A second following the song ended, the police siren sounded (as part of the “escape route” theme), which was the signal for them to leave the stage.
The audience applauded the singers for regarding five minutes, hoping they would return to the stage to sing another song. However, the Primeras promised to return to Venezuela soon.
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2024-07-18 11:35:53
