Concert Review: Combo Chimbita Stir A Ceremony At BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn!
I have said that BRIC! Celebrate Brooklyn is having its most diverse lineup EVER, and it is true. There is a show for every taste and mood; allowing New York families and youth to experience new things/ music that, perhaps, they were curious about. Enter Combo Chimbita to spark the curiosity over mysticism, and the music that has long defined Latin Caribbean: Bomba Y Plena.
Okay, Combo Chimbita is not pure bomba y plena. Not once, have I seen someone dance to the Heavens and la Virgin de Caridad while whipping out the electric guitar. They, themselves, even describe their sound as tropical futurism. With heavy drums puncing, a yodeling yelp, and the guiro going mad between her grasp, Dilemastronauta came off like a priestess summoning the crowd’s energy. I’ll admit; I was excited to see Combo Chimibita, since their last concert, because I was curious to see how they could transfer the intimacy of a spiritual experience to a massive crowd.
While religious ceremonies can summon thousands in a room; a spiritual experience can be smaller. It can involve one person or, maybe, a few, but it truly feels like a solo journey taken by someone to discover their self in God. With that mindset, Combo Chimbita managed to hypnotize an entire crowd. Various faces looked at them as if they were drawing the universe to this space, Prospect Park Bandshell, and the following act, Antibalas, felt like a solidification of that. If Combo Chimbita were the “mass”, Antibalas felt like the gathering after church; when everybody discussed the liturgy over some good, brunched beats.
In this episode of BRIC! Celebrate Brooklyn, I learned that music is a spiritual experience. Yes, I called this concert an “episode” because because this concert series’ vivacity and visualization feels cinematic. You watch everything around you, families eating their Farm on Adderley fries, friends grooving to music an conversing their work woes, and all investing in a moment they cannot get anywhere else. Like, I said quality does not have a price, and BRIC! Celebrate Brooklyn shows that through a series that celebrates all this world has to offer in a city that contains a world in itself: New York. For More Information BRIC! Celebrate Brooklyn Click Here.
