That was quite a smorgasbord at the House of Blues Tuesday night: a ’70s style rock band as headliners, an electrified protest singer in the middle, and hip-hoppers to open.
And though the crowd was there for the top of the bill, Argentina’s Enanitos Verdes, singing along and pumping the air, they were easily the least interesting of the three. Rush revisited isn’t any less tedious just because it’s in Spanish.
The most absorbing act in the line-up was the Cuban-bred and now Madrid-based Orishas, working with three singers, a deejay and a live percussionist.
Playing exclusively from their new CD, “A Lo Cubano,” the trio presented a lively, percolating sound based on hip-hop’s standard beats but layered them with Cuban son — flutes, strings, the works.
Formerly known as a five-member ensemble called Amenaza, Orishas have been getting attention since their first performance at XXL Rap Festival in Paris in 1997. Their work is more melodic than most hip-hop, with at least one singer, Roldan, using the higher pitched sonero style more akin to traditional Cuban vocalists such as Benny More and modern timba.
French-born deejay Nasser Touati, an addition since the album’s recording, brings a deft touch to the turntables, adding swashes of trancelike sounds and jagged beats.
“In Cuba, we’re always attracted to what’s prohibited,” said Ruzzo, one of Orishas’ founders, after the show. “That’s the idiosyncrasy — if it’s banned, if it’s prohibited, we want to do it.
And, you know, hip-hop and rap, they called it the enemy’s music, American music, said it wasn’t Cuban. So, of course, we had to do it. But while we use a rap beat, a deejay, sampling, everything else we do is pretty much Cuban, every element we use has a basis in Cuban music.”
At House of Blues, Orishas worked hard to enliven a rock crowd that seemed mystified by a hip-hop opening act. And though certainly entertaining, Orishas ended up relying a bit too much on outrageous hip-swiveling to get the kind of audience response that would later come a little easier to Juanes, the second act, and Enanitos Verdes.
The evening’s revelation could have been Juanes, a rocker from Colombia. Hard-driving, deadly serious, he’s being pegged as a South American Bob Dylan, but the comparison appears to be overblown. Though a solid songwriter, Juanes needs a bit of energy, and perhaps humor, when playing live. In addition, at House of Blues, sound problems made deciphering the lyrics almost impossible, leaving the best part of his writing talents a muddy aural mess.
Immediately afterward, Enanitos Verdes, together since 1979, came on and put all their veteran smarts to good use. They played the hits, they barely talked, and they confidently swaggered on stage. If not for the Spanish words, nobody would have guessed they are Latin rockers, since not one little Latin musical element came through. That they were completely interchangeable with a zillion American or British bands seemed not to matter one whit to the mostly Mexican crowd, who stage dove and surfed and moshed to their heart’s content.
