Cambalache, this year’s San Juan County Fair headliner, brings its smoking-hot salsa to the fairgrounds Main Stage tonight from 7-9.
The band last rocked the fair stage in 2007 and since then has been energizing audiences at events like the Alaska Folk Fest, Bumbershoot, Bite of Seattle, Northwest Folklife, Portland’s Rose Festival, and at venues like Lewis & Clark College, Planet Hollywood, Portland’s Crystal Ballroom, Reed College, Seattle University, The Showbox in Seattle, University of Washington, and University of Puget Sound.
This is the 10th year for the nine-piece salsa band from Seattle, which has emerged as the top salsa band in the Northwest. Cambalache has broken attendance records of virtually every salsa club in the Northwest U.S., Southwest Canada and Alaska. Their show is considered to be one of the most entertaining and fun in the Northwest for salsa dancers, as well as for those who just love the music.
“Cambalache put on a smoking, high-energy show that easily ranked among the best salsa shows ever,” www.eugenesalsa.com reported after a performance.
Paul Dudley, writer for the online site The Salsa Informant, wrote, “The burning hot salsa band Cambalache … played directly out of their hearts and souls, and they were on fire, and they caught us on fire too.”
Dennis Harris of Juneau, Alaska, wrote in response to a performance, “The sneak hit of the Alaska Folk Festival was the hot, hot, hot! guest dance band Cambalache from Seattle, playing salsa that was impossible to hear without having your hips starting to wiggle.”
Fernando Vasquez, promoter of Seattle’s Beso del Sol, simply called Cambalache “The Northwest’s best salsa band.”
The band members’ youth, energy and intense passion for music are the defining element that complements the quality of their sound. Their eclectic style is an embodiment of the richness and diversity of Latin America. Deeply rooted in the latest music movements developing in Cuba and Puerto Rico, Cambalache’s performances are a blend of great salsa classics and contemporary tunes. At each performance, audiences are seduced by the energetic atmosphere of rumba and salsa nueva.
“Clasiqueando,” Cambalache’s first CD, was released in April 2004 and was described by reviewers as “killer dance club salsa … highly combustible, get-on-the-dance floor tracks with zero filler material.” The CD has been reviewed all over the world and is being sold in England, Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Japan, Peru and Switzerland.
Performance: Tonight, 7-9 p.m., fairgrounds main stage.
