Customer Reviews

Quantanamera

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The video is truly spellbinding...a jewel, possibly the best salsa on video ever. A must for any salsa fan and a great find for anyone who is interested in the genre.

As part of the wacky festival organized in Kinshasa, Zaire for the "Rumble in the Jungle" fight between George Foreman and Mohammed Ali, Zaire's dictator organized a massive celebration of african sports and entertainment. In addition to B.B. King and James Brown, this included the 'Fania All Stars' which was the cream of the crop of the salsa world circa 1974. So thanks to a blatant misuse of public funds in a poor country, we now have some of the most amazing footage of Fania All Stars live in front of 80,000 people. This video was directed by Leon Gast who recently won an Academy Award for "When We Were Kings," a documentary of the Ali and the fight. The dolby soundtrack is pretty darn good too.

If calling this a Celia Cruz video is deceitful advertising, the good news is that it includes several other stars of her stature. Celia did perform a few songs, including the Cuban classic song Guantanamera--which is spelled with a 'G' not a 'Q'!--and a terrific rendition of her classic Kymbala. But there is much more to this video. Fania at that time amassed an impressive array of top musical talent. Ray Barreto playing a gripping solo on the conga. Johnny Pachecho spinning around the stage like a maniac, playing the flute. Ismael Miranda soneando. An awesome rendition of the salsa anthem 'Ponte Duro'. Larry Harlow on the piano.

But the highlight, in my opinion, is Héctor Lavoy's awesome performance of "Mi Gente." That, by itself, is well worth the cost of this video. Sí mi pana, el mismito rey de la puntualidad, la voz, el incomparable, en vivo y a todo color. Bestial. This is a truly historic performance.

Its one of the best, this Celia Cruz performance in Africa with the fania all stars its what salsa lovers want, not too many people know about salsa and their best singers , but to let everyone know this group of musicians were the top guys in the business and the chorus include the best salsa singer ever ... HECTOR LAVOE, all of them enter to the fania by Willie Colon and the great musician and composer (the producer of the fania) Johnny Pacheco. For those who doesnt know about Celia Cruz , one of this two guys found her performing in a bar and they need her to work a duo and there she is , the Queen of salsa and the Kings , all these guys are puertorricans except for Johnny and Celia , buy it so you can learn more about the best times in salsa in Africa ...

So, you see this DVD title, and the title says, "CELIA CRUZ - Quantanamera". What do you expect to see? A DVD of Celia performing, right? HA! There are 7 tracks on this DVD, and of those 7, Celia Cruz is only on 2. TWO! Very Misleading! Whomever marketed this title should not have been so deceptive, but rather call it what it is: A salsa musical concert that features the talents of some of the Fania All Stars (with Johnny Pacheco). Not only are Celia fans being deceived, but Johnny Pacheco fans are missing out; looking at the title or front cover of this title, you would never guess Johnny was on over three-fourths of this DVD. Celia AS ALWAYS is flawless & gives a TERRIFIC performance with the 2 songs she does sing. I should've known something was astray when Celia's signature song, "Guantanamera" is misspelled in the title as "Quantanamera".

Es un video de 56 minutos que muestra 7 interpretaciones de la Fania en Zaire, (Cheo Feliciano con el ratón, Héctor Lavoe con Mi Gente, los cantantes de la Fania improvisando) en dos de ellas canta Celia Cruz, lástima que dure tan poquito pero en general es un video para tener en la colección... qeu viva La Fania y Héctor Lavoe!!

All of the above comments get to the point but they forgot one thing Master choreographer and percussion player Roberto Roena's dance solo on "PONTE DURO" is the true highlight of this performance.

Every second of this film is crackling with energy. These people are having fun!! The film is shot with several hand-held cameras and much attention is payed to the rhythm section. With little to no screen time for the horn players or audience.

My DVD has no extras and no choice of audio (I think it's 5.1?)

Celia is only on the first two songs:

With Celia Cruz:
Kimbala
Guantanamera

Without Celia:
En Orbita
El Raton
Me Gente
Guantanamera
Ponte Duro
Fania Theme/Closing credits

The Line up (to the extent it is listed in the film. Notice there are no horn players listed, and there is at least one percussionist and one violin player not on this list.:

Johnny Pacheco - Director and Flute
Celia Cruz - voice
Santos Colon - voice
Cheo Feliciano - voice
Larry Harlow - piano
Felix 'Pupi' Legarreta - violin
Hector Lavoe - voice
Nicky Marrero - timbales
Ismael Miranda - voice
Ismael Quintana -voice
Roberto Roena - bongo
Jorge Santana - electric guitar on "El Raton"
Yomo Toro - cuatro
Bobby Valentin - bass