Back in late april I went to a percussion show with a few friends. beforehand I was imagining it to be either a glorified hippie drum circle or a glam-schlock-fest like stomp has become, but what i found was an amazing, unique percussion group that mixes improvisation with the guidance of a director. Using hand signals, the person in charge of the other percussionists shapes and molds, bends and reshapes the rhythms and sounds of the rest of the players…the result is always surprising and often nothing short of amazing (at least while watching it live). These guys get together every monday and play for 2-6 thousand spectators who run the gambit from timid head-bobbers to rampaging mosh-pitters (along with the grateful dead-esque dancers, the modern dancers, the interpretive dancers, the arhythmic dancers, the stoned dancers, the drunk dancers, the quite-possibly-psycho dancers, and the graceful dancers.)

Here’s a short video of one night with la bomba de tiempo…and this is one of those events that video just doesn’t do justice to.

later