Last Tuesday, the Karl Marx Theater in Havana opened its box office to start selling tickets for the concert that Formell and Los Van Van will offer there this Sunday. In just six hours, the available tickets were sold out, enough to fill the 5,000 seats of the largest theater in Cuba, where the group had not performed for more than 15 years.
This fact alone confirms that the orchestra continues to be the train of Cuban music and that, more than 55 years after its foundation, it maintains a loyal and growing audience. Its strength and impact transcend generations: its music does not respond to fads or passing trends, it is one that does not know expiration.
“Very happy and very pleased to be able to perform a concert in this theater again, something that had been pending since Van Van’s 50th anniversary, due to the pandemic. That audience was waiting for it. This concert is for the new generations, for those who follow us, to capture the good music that my father started in the 70s and that today we have the opportunity – not for me, but for all the musicians and collaborators who accompany me – to keep alive,” says Samuel Formell, director of Los Van Van and son of Juan Formell, creator of the orchestra.
The drummer also announced that the presentation will be as comprehensive a tour as possible through the history of the group. For this it will have the participation of two of its emblematic singers, Pedrito Calvo and Mayito Rivera. At the same time, the concert will focus on the most recent of its musical proposal, with the presence of the urban artist Wampiwith whom the orchestra collaborated on the album The king of Havana.
This Sunday’s concert concentrates multiple reasons for celebration. It will serve as the closing of the Bis Music Fest, an event that the Cuban record label Bis Music premieres this year, and will also coincide with several significant anniversaries: the 56th anniversary of Los Van Van, celebrated on December 4; the 32nd anniversary of the label itself, which is celebrated on December 22; and the 50th anniversary of the Karl Marx Theater, which celebrates the same day as the concert. However, the central theme of the night will be the presentation of the group’s new album.
A new “virus” in Cuba
Faithful to their status as great chroniclers of Cuban music, Los Van Van have titled Virus to his most recent album. The name inevitably dialogues with the complex epidemiological context that Cuba is going through, although it refers directly to the song “Eso que anda”, where “that fever to dance with Los Van Van” is diagnosed and the orchestra defines itself as “carrier of the virus of joy.”
“I think that just from the name there will be attention, but when they hear it they will be – as I say – hooked,” says Samuel Formell. “We needed to make a record like that, and I think we did it.”
This album has Cuba as its initial release location, under the Bis Music label. It was presented this Tuesday at a press conference, although its international promotion will begin in February, with the help of Ambos Media.
The album does not include unreleased songs: it brings together eight anthological songs from the group’s more than five decades of history that, however, had not been performed until now by the group’s current singers. They all arrive, of course, with new arrangements.
“We are going to try to please the older ones, so that they are satisfied with those versions, but what interests us most is today’s generation: giving them those songs that were Van Van hits and that now can be again, even with greater reach. We must remember that at that time digital platforms or social networks did not exist, there was no possibility of buying music like today; now those songs have a new opportunity,” explains Samuel Formell about the decision not to bet this time on a completely unreleased repertoire.
“My father always defended that our music should have dancers as its driving force, but, above all, that it should be revolutionized. For him, the evolution and incorporation of what was happening in each era were fundamental, and that worked for him. He left a legacy that today you hear – from the harmonic to the texts and the rhythmic proposal – and you realize that he was ahead of his time. That vision is what has allowed us to rediscover themes that we understood were made for today,” adds the second Formell to the in front of the orchestra, without taking his eyes or his heart away from the work created by his father.
Virus It does not include guests: it is a full meeting with the current formation of the orchestra. Samuel Formell boasts of it, because, although today Los Van Van no longer have any of their founders on stage, they retain musicians who lived alongside Juan Formell’s era and add new figures who have contributed to the Vanvan sound. Several of these members participate for the first time in a phonographic recording of the group.
Among them are the trombonist Rondy Mustelier and two instrumentalists who support the musical base of the group: the pianist Maykel “Cuchilla” García and the bassist Roberto Vázquez, “El Chino”.
“When we started to conceive the album, everyone began to contribute. El Chino has an impressive experience, both in recording and in Cuban music; for me, he is one of the best bassists in the history of Van Van. And Maykel, in addition to being a great arranger, is the only one who was at Pupy’s side as a pianist, who knew his intention when playing: the setbacks, the tumbaos, the harmonizations. Pupy was for him—and also for me—a teacher in life; he is the only one who had that opportunity. I am very happy,” says Formell about the experience of adding new perspectives and talents to a train that has been running for more than half a century.
What does Van Van have that’s still there?
With his two most recent productions —Van Van Mode (2023) and now Virus—, the group demonstrates that, 56 years after its founding, it moves between the responsibility of sustaining a recognized legacy and the need to reaffirm its creative vitality. None of this happens by chance.
“The strategy is in how Los Van Van perform live. You can play one song, two, three, but when the public comes to see you and you lack repertoire, it shows. Therefore, the more we can expand our repertoire, the more opportunities we will have to connect with different audiences over time. Rehearsal is essential for me, especially the base one: bass, piano, conga, percussion, keyboard. If that does not work live, the orchestra becomes unstable, it feels empty for the dancer.
“We live a lot from live music; it is what practically gives us work to live on. That is why we have worked hard to make the live orchestra sound one hundred percent, with quality and with repertoire proposals that leave everyone pleased,” confesses Samuel Formell to OnCuba.
There is no way not to recognize Los Van Van when they play. That constant work and respect for the essence are not only heard: they are felt. If there is a Cuban orchestra that can be said, with certainty, that it has never betrayed itself artistically, it is Van Van. And perhaps that is why, even today, it continues to demonstrate that what is popular does not have to be synonymous with what is temporary.
The five thousand people who will fill the Karl Marx this Sunday—for a concert that has not yet begun and is already history—attest that being vanguard was, is, and promises to continue to be a national feeling.
“Sentimiento Van Van is the songo, it is the formellmania of receiving all that beautiful musical energy that my father created, that he gave us and that today we can maintain,” summarizes Samuel Formell from his drums, driving the train.
