Salsa music, with its large bands and close dancing, has a devoted following in L.A., but its very nature makes it especially susceptible to the ravages of the coronavirus.
Until recently, Colombian percussionist and bandleader Clodomiro Montes made a decent living doing what he loves best: playing a soulful repertoire of Afro-Caribbean hits at restaurants and nightclubs in the Los Angeles area. A timbales player with dazzling technical chops and a keen understanding of salsa swing, Montes performs with his wife, Karina Zurita, a singer who also plays hand percussion and guitar.
Montes moved to L.A. in 2005 after gaining experience in the tropical music scene of his native Cartagena, then as a touring musician in Asia. Now at 42, he finds himself out of work for the first time in his life — quarantining in his rental apartment in Glendora with his wife and their two children.“It’s a waiting game,” he says in Spanish laced by a melodious Colombian accent. “I consider myself lucky because I’ve always been disciplined about money, but our savings are dwindling.
Historically, L.A. has always boasted a rich and varied circuit devoted to tropical music genres like salsa, bachata, merengue and cumbia. At venues throughout the city — from the Hollywood hangout El Floridita to downtown’s flashy Conga Room at L.A. Live to the retro charm of the Granada in Alhambra — dancing in close intimacy with a variety of partners is an integral part of the experience.
“It’s such an unsafe environment. You can’t play a saxophone while wearing a mask, can you?,” says Dena Burroughs, whose websitehas chronicled the local salsa scene since 2005. “In the context of a pandemic, a salsa club is like a messy mondongo soup — your sweat, hands, hair and other body parts are in constant contact with other people’s.
As an epicenter of the film and music industries, Los Angeles attracted a growing number of Afro-Caribbean musicians. By the ’90s, the city boasted one of the richest salsa scenes in the world, with players from all over Latin America and a variety of offerings — from traditional Cuban
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