Pupy, Galiano, May 2

Well, they definitely don’t use a hose to clean the place out (see previous post) - the floor was still tacky. But the piles of beer cans and chicken bones had gone - as had the crowds. I had heard that Pupy hadn’t been getting big crowds down there at night but although it wasn’t jampacked there was a good turnout, thanks partly to a big crowd of Italians, who went completely mental when El Calvo, the MC, said “La gente de Italia!” It also meant that there were lots of very good casino dancers on the floor - most of them foreign.
There is a new choreographer in town, and not a very good one - the same lame routine I saw at Salon Rojo was more of less reproduced for the opener of the floor show here - what’s with those damn high kicks? It’s so adolescent! Actually it’s a bit cheerleader. The first two routines were performed to house tracks. So much for Cuban music. Then came a couple who did a kind of gymnastic/contortion thing - the fire dude has gone. Then the dancing girls and boys came out to a flamenco thing which morphed into rumba. This was the best and got quite a big applause - those Italians get quite enough house in Europe thank you very much - they want the musica cubana!
I was introduced to Lily, Pupy’s new cantante, just before they went on. She is a busty thing with a wild mane of blonde hair.
Again, the sound wasn’t great but I still loved it. I love Pupy. He wins me over every time. Such a great sello - its roots are so obviously in la musica tradicional, and yet it is so fierce and modern.
It was a brutally short set - I mean I was bit a tired after my foray into the wilderness of the Charanga matinee, but still, when Timba a pogolotti started I thought, no! This can’t be the end! It was. The set was a little different to last year (that’s a good thing!). The stalwarts were there, like Pogolotti and Dicen que dicen - which Pepito introduced as being about his mother-in-law, apparently - thanks to timba geek Lionel for that translation (I don’t know if I will ever pick up “suegra” at a gig!). As well there was La machucadera; La fiera; and the new song sung by Pepito, Un poquitico al revés, which sounded lovely. A la italiana (of course) and Calla calla. And blimey, I think that was it. They started after 1 and it was all over before 2:30. Pepito was in a striped top and blue Chuck All Stars - he looked like a little boy (no blonde tips at the moment).
Alexander Abreu was there with cantante Jannier, and his tecladista who is the brother of the tecladista in Klimax. (I can’t remember either of their names.) Anyway, Alexander got up, of course, and sang a bit. Everyone had a lot of fun on stage at that point. I missed getting a shot of his bowling ball head in a clinch with Mandy I just realised that Alexander’s matinee at Galiano clashes with Trabuco’s matinee at Cafe Cantante - damn. I think Trabuco will be better there than at Galiano on Monday (this is also apparently a residency, might be why there weren’t many people there - I think two residencies in one week is probably too much). I have a hard decision to make.
Tonight the decision is: try to get out to Santa Cruz to see Revé (I will if I can - but it’s an hour away); go to Cotorro to see Pupy (another outdoor gig), or Adalberto at Galiano (only if the other two fall through). Life’s tough, eh? Tomorrow I am going to something daggy: Ritmo Oriental are playing a matinee at La Tropical. I know they are far from the brilliant band that had Lazaga and Tony Calá in the ’70s (or was it ’80s?). But fuck it, I’m going anyway.