The presentation this Friday in New York of the Cuban group Los Van Van had to be interrupted when the bassist and composer Juan Carlos Formell Alonso, 59, collapsed on stage, some 45 minutes after the start of the show and was later declared died at a nearby hospital.
The musician, son of the famous founder of the group, Juan Formell, died as a result of a heart attack.
The first signs that something was happening were noticed when the musicians left the stage of the Lehman Center for the Performing Arts in The Bronx, where the group was performing, but after about ten minutes the curtain came down, creating expectations in the public about whether the show would be cancelled.
Until that moment the public, mostly Puerto Ricans and Cubans, had given themselves over to the dance and sang with the group despite the fact that the sound was not the best in the room.
The Cuban group started this Friday in New York their tour of the United States that will take them tomorrow to the carnival in San Francisco and on Sunday to San Diego (California), to then continue the tour in Europe.
After half an hour the musicians returned to the stage to continue the show without the bass player
After half an hour, the musicians returned to the stage to continue the show without the bass player who was taken to the nearest hospital, according to EFE.
Four ambulances and two fire trucks arrived at the theater.
Without comment, they immediately began with sandunguera one of the favorite songs of the public, who, standing up, returned to dance and sing with the band, which later performed “Me mantengo”, songs composed by the founder of the group, Juan Formell (1942-2014).
It was then that Robertón, one of the singers, introduced Sebastián, who he said is a Uruguayan bassist living in New York. Lele, another of the singers, indicated that the musician “came to dance with Van Van and ended up playing with us.”
Born in Havana in 1964 and living in New York since 1993, Juan Carlos Formell studied at the Alejandro García Caturla and Amadeo Roldán conservatories in the Cuban capital. He subsequently graduated from the National Art School of Cuba.
He accompanied numerous musicians and groups and in 1999 he recorded his first album Songs from a Little Blue House, for the American record label Wicklow Records, an album that was nominated for the Grammy Awards. To that would be added four record productions of his authorship.
Last week, one of the Miami Beach government councilors, Alex Fernandez, thanked the managers of the Miami Beach Bandshell for canceling the concert that the Los Van Van orchestra was going to give in that outdoor space in South Florida.
“For decades, Los Van Van have used their musical talents to promote Cuban tyranny and its violation of basic human rights”
The musicians themselves were the ones who informed, previously, of suspension of actionarguing that “logistically, it is impossible” that they would arrive in time to perform in Miami “due to commitments and combination of flights elsewhere.”
However, Councilman Fernandez vindicated the decision. “For decades, Los Van Van have used their musical talent to promote Cuban tyranny and its violation of basic human rights,” said the politician on his Twitter account.
“Unfortunately, the sale of your tickets would redirect dollars out of our economy to help sustain the violation of human rights and individual liberties within Cuba,” he asserted.
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