Grand Rapids’ Latin-infused Cabildo: The Local Spins Artist Spotlight

Inspiring dance-happy fans wherever it plays, the eight-piece ensemble will fire up its “cumbia machine” this summer, starting with a Festival performance on Saturday. (Video, podcast)

 

As an international affair, Cabildo’s music spans continents, genres and generations.

So not surprisingly, when this eight-piece Grand Rapids ensemble churns outs its delectable mix of Latin American-driven cumbia, ska, rock and folk, audiences are compelled to move, twirl and shimmy, turning their live shows into boisterous dance parties.

“That’s the main motif for us to be playing,” says singer, multi-instrumentalist and band founder Julio Villalobos, who moved to Grand Rapids 15 years ago and formed Cabildo in 2004 after a brief stint as the Electric Latin Love Orchestra.

“Actually, we believe rhythm is what unites us all here, not only the band, but people who like to listen to us. Rhythm … is our universal language to unite everyone under our music.”

For that reason, the in-demand band has become a summer festival favorite, with a growing audience of fans attracted to its lively, jam-friendly approach: Among other outdoor appearances, Cabildo plays Festival of the Arts’ Calder Stage in downtown Grand Rapids at 8:30 p.m. Friday, Founders Fest on June 22, and Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park’s Tuesday Evening Music Club on July 9.

Not exactly a full-bore Festival preview – squeezing an octet into a small studio would have been a risky proposition – half the band nevertheless offered up a taste of its world fusion music by performing a zippy original tune, “Morena,” on Local Spins Live this week on News Talk 1340 AM (WJRW). (Check out a video of the song – which showed off the band’s multi-instrumental prowess – at the bottom of this post, with a full podcast of the show here.)

The original song is based on a poem by Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, with Villalobos writing the music for the tune that he performed on a Venezuelan cuatro and melodica, with other band members pitching in on congas, cajon and saxophone.

Cabildo’s eclectic flair speaks to its diverse origins: Members hail from Mexico, South America and regions across the United States. Villalobos, for example, is a native of Chile, percussionist Josh Dunigan moved here from Oklahoma, saxophonist Jonathan Barrera Mikulich hails from Saginaw.

All of them have found common ground in the rhythm-driven approach of Cabildo, with roots in American rock music.
“We were all influenced by American music, so we can say that everybody in the band grew up listening to American music. That’s one element that unites us all here, too,” says Villalobos, who embraced U.S. rock bands as a young Chilean and later rediscovered “the music of our parents” such as boleros and cumbias. “It takes a different turn. You know this music by heart, so there’s a point in time you start embracing it.”

In many ways, Cabildo – Villalobos, Dunigan, Mikulich, drummer Dustin Miller, trumpeter Billy Chirco, bassist Andrew Teggelaar, guitarist Julio Viveros and percussionist Jonathan Sgromo – builds on the “Rock en Espanol” movement of the 1990s which saw South American and Mexican ska and punk bands fuse their music with traditional rhythms and textures. (Hugo Claudin, a founder and former member of the band, came up with the name: In Spanish, cabildo means “town hall” and also refers to ethnic African associations in Cuba which were vehicles for carnival-style entertainment during Spanish colonization.)

Those festive underpinnings often lead band members to just “fire up the cumbia machine” and jam to the delight of audiences.

“As accessible as our music is … people just want to get out to it,” says Dunigan. “They want to hear something that’s a little bit different, but they still want to dance to it.”

Translation: Summertime is Cabildo-time.

“It’s a good time to be playing when the weather gets warm, the sun comes out and people want to get out and dance and have a good time,” concedes Mikulich. “I think we have our best performances when there’s a live audience and people are able to feel it in the moment.”

Cabildo currently is working with Grand Rapids engineer/producer Matt Ten Clay at Amber Lit Audio to wrap up a studio demo recording, with hopes for a full-length album down the road. Get more information about the band and its upcoming performances at its official website.

CABILDO: THE LOCAL SPINS PHOTO GALLERY (JUNE 5)

 

Email John Sinkevics at jsinkevics@gmail.com.
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