Hispanic Heritage

King Changó

Latin ska
Formed 1995, in New York, NY, USA
Based in New York, NY, USA

Members: Mike Wagner, trombone, guitars; Glenda Lee, bass; Luís Jésus Ruíz, drums, percussion; Miguel Oldenburg, guitars, backing vocals; Blanquito Man (born Andrew Blanco), vocals, percussion, moves; Fernando Vélez, percussion; Martín Adrian Cunningham, tenor saxophone; Luís Eduardo Blanco, keyboards, accordion, cuatro, percussion, backing vocals. (Members are from Venezuela and USA.)

Like Haiti's Boukman Eksperyans and the U.S.'s Spearhead, the Venezuelan/American King Changó's style is an exhilarating cultural whirlwind that sweeps from Argentina to the Arctic, recognizing no national or musical borders along the way. The path it carved in the English-only wasteland of U.S. rock was wide enough to let Ozomatli, Los Amigos Invisibles, Bloque, and a gathering host of others charge through, prying open the cracks made by Santana and Los Lobos on previous attempts. Changó's music switches from Latin ska to African funk to bluesy rock and beyond like a stuck satellite channel-changer, on a wavelength scrambled to none: If you don't understand the often-Spanish lyrics, you will, as Boukman's Lôlô Beaubrun once remarked to this writer, "understand the music with your body." Changó has a sophisticated but spontaneous sense of what makes people jump the world over, and unlike the Anglo-dance flavor of the minute, their arsenal includes something other than inebriation and volume. After mightily bringing forth much of the mid-'90s AlterLatino revolution, even they needed a day of rest, studio-wise — but at presstime the three years they gave everyone else to catch up was about to end with the summer-'99 Return of El Santo. Consider yourself warned—and be there early.

The neon-anime/carnival/wrestling-ring graphics and genre-fissioning music of King Changó (Luaka Bop, 1996, prod. José Andrés Blanco, King Changó) marks one of those historic pop moments when you don't know what hit you and are too dazzled to care. And listening back, the effect of "God Damn Killers" and "Don't Drop Your Pants"' political punch, "Melting Pot" and "Revolution/Cumbia Reggae"'s lilting multicultural overtures, and "Latin Ska" and "Melting Pot Intro"'s poly-jazz workouts doesn't wear off. The band runs such an idea surplus that even the end-of-disc "secret" tracks — some kickin' low-tech basic chants — have a rare reason for existing, with only the stalker-y "So Sweet" to threaten their Best New Band of '96 status. An album that put "AlterLatino" not just on the map, but all over it.

The Latin-ska masters honor some Anglo-reggae precursors with "Venezuelan in New York" on Outlandos D'Americas: A Rock en Español Tribute to the Police (EMD/Ark 21, 1998).

Source: MusicHound World: The Essential Album Guide, Visible Ink Press, 2000.