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Interview with Toby 'El Leon' Shippey - Salsa Celtica |
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Written by JoJo
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Wednesday, 04 July 2007 |
 How, why and when did you get into salsa?
I first heard salsa music about 12-15 years ago at a local club in Edinburgh, called Club Latino. There was also a great venue in Edinburgh we used to go to called La Belle Angel and every night there were different clubs like drum and bass, hip hop etc. Once a month there was a Latin club called Club Latino and they were playing great stuff like Ray Barreto and Tito etc. and it had great live bands like Totó La Momposina, Sierra Maestra and La Clave playing there. I heard the music and it blew me away, and have been hooked ever since.
Who first taught you to dance salsa?
I have never taken salsa lessons but having been to Cuba and hung out at salsa clubs, so I have learnt a few moves.
Tell me a little about Salsa Celtica. When, why and how was it set up?
After discovering salsa music, myself and some other musician friends decided to set up our own band about 12 years ago. I started an open Latin session every Sunday night at the Basement Bar in Edinburgh, where if you played you got free tequila. We started with five people, and pretty soon we had a big band.
All the local Latinos used to come down and correct our Spanish and help with our dance moves. We were pretty bad to start with playing Oye Como Va and a few Cuban Son tunes. Then, one Sunday, someone brought local Chilean guitar maestro Galo down who, encouraged by the free tequila, joined us and out of that band of reprobates, we formed Salsa Celtica.
Over the years there have been a few changes and we have now got a great band with really fantastic celtic traditional musicians and a great singer Lino Rocha.
The rest is history as they say.
Where do you get your inspiration from?
I have listened to a lot of 70's New York salsa by people like Eddie Palmieri, Allegre All-stars, Ray Barretto and other Fania stars like Tito, and I also listen to a lot of old Cuban Son. I also find inspiration in loads of other Latin music from all over Latin America e.g. Colombian Cumbia etc.
On the traditional side I don't know so much but love Michael McGoldrick and Shooglenifty.
For Salsa Celtica tunes the band has so many great musicians involved that it brings a whole lot of influences from celtic and salsa music into the melting pot.
Who do you admire?
In Salsa basically all of the greats but off the top of my head Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri, Ray Barreto and other pioneers from the 70’s Fania era, and more recently Totó La Momposina, Jimmy Bosch. I also saw a great gig recently by Yuri Buenaventura.....
What’s your favourite track at the moment?
Lets Make Love and Listen to Death From Above by CSS from Brazil. In salsa I’m hooked to Eddie Palmieri’s version of Pa´huele.
What are your all time favourite tracks?
Almost impossible to pick out but here’s a few I love:-
Vamonos Pa´l Monte - Eddie Palmieri
Prince - Sign of The Times
La Cumbia Está Herida - Totó La Momposina
Marieta - Sierra Maestra
Kitate De La Mascara - Ray Barreto
Ghost Town – Specials
Pale Blue Eyes- Velvet Underground
Pa´huele - Eddie Palmieri
Rip It Up and Start Again - Orange Juice
Eye Know - De La Soul
Póngase Para Las Cosas - Estrellas De Areito
Sound and Vision - David Bowie
Peaches – Stranglers
Flashlight - Parliament
Mama Roux - Dr John
Da Eye Wifey/Woods No.1 – Shooglenifty
Poor Man's Shangri-La - Ry Cooder
Dip It - Cecilia Noël & The Wild Clams................
What are your favourite albums?
In A Silent Way - Miles Davis
¡Muy Divertido! (Very Entertaining!)
Cumbia Cumbia 1 and 2
Marc Ribot y Los Cubanos Postizos
Fania All-stars - best of
Folkvisor - Jan Johansson
Soneando Trombon - Jimmy Bosch
Gris Gris - Dr John
Ziggy Stardust - David Bowie
London Calling - The Clash
Buena Vista Social Club
etc. etc.
What was the last CD you bought?
CSS - cansei ser sexy
What music is in your CD player at the moment?
Soneando Trombon - Jimmy Bosch
Who are your favourite artists?
In salsa Eddie Palmieri, and Tito Puente - I love the brass arrangements Tito has.
If you were not a successful musician, what would you be doing instead? Or if you also have a full-time job, what do you do?
Ideally I’d like to be sitting in a café somewhere drinking coffee! Would also like to be a ski instructor.
I did study art and architecture though, so I would probably have been an artist or architect, but then again maybe a chef.
Tell me something most people wouldn’t know about you?
I'm a registered psychic.
What’s your all time favourite event that you have played at?
There are three, one would have to be Hogmany (New Year’s Eve) in Edinburgh. The second would be Celtic Connections in Glasgow, and finally the Antilliaanse Feesten in Belgium.
The Feesten is such an amazing event with so many people and such a fantastic atmosphere. It’s hard to believe that so few people in the UK have heard about this festival and that even fewer actually go to it. We have played there on a couple of occasions and have thoroughly enjoyed it each time – it’s an amazing event. They have some brilliant bands there each year, including some real top names in the industry. I love the fact that the music there is so diverse too with all forms of Caribbean and Latin music from Soca to Merengue, Reggae to Salsa, and Cumbia to Bachata.
We are proud to say that so far, we have been the only British band to have ever played there.
As this year is the 25th Anniversary of the Feesten, I would like to go over for at least one of the nights if I can, to enjoy the music and the atmosphere.
What has been your most memorable moment?
There have been so many memorable moments for me, too many to name them all, but a few would be playing at the Antilliaanse Feesten in Belgium, playing in New York in front of 6,000 people (very scary), and also playing on New Year’s Eve in Edinburgh to 40,000 people with snow coming down!
Have you had any embarrassing/nightmare-ish moments on stage?
Far too many to mention. Is there anything else you would like to add?
Just how fantastic the whole salsa scene is now – it’s really become huge in the last few years and everyone from the DJ’s, to the dancers and other musicians all play their own equally important part in the whole scene. It really is great to be a part of it – it can be quite scary at times, but it’s still great to be involved.
I am very lucky!
www.salsaceltica.com
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