This was the 15th Latin American Festival in Birmingham, which now has its home in Victoria Square.
The Festival is an annual, free event, and is organised by ABS Latin Promotions.This event is held on a Sunday and this year was on the 15th July 2007.
As we all know, the weather this summer has been horrid, and this particular Sunday was no exception, which was a real shame, as in past years the weather has been glorious.On the morning of the Festival it was raining, as usual, but this didn’t dampen our Latin spirit!When we got there, a few other hardcore festival goers had already arrived.
The Festival starts with a procession through Birmingham at 11am and continues right through the day until 6pm.We arrived in Victoria Square at about 1.30pm to find the Samba Band in full swing, but despite the rain the sound of the samba was pulling in curious spectators.
Next up was a Cuban band, and although they were almost an hour late coming on, they were worth the wait.It was still raining a little at this point, but even so, the dancing started.Good news though, a couple of numbers in and the rain stopped – hallelujah – so the umbrellas and hoods came down and as the dancing really got underway, the coats started to come off too.
Throughout the afternoon there was a full programme of shows, dancing and live music to look forward to, which included a crowd Merengue class, Tango shows, various dance displays by Funki Feathers and Oi Brazil, and top notch salsa shows by Swing Latino and Ricardo Murillo and Viviana Vargas, that had some real jaw dropping, wow moments in them.
We also had live music from a Samba band, a Cuban band, a Colombian band called Son Real, and not forgetting Palenke of course.
All this was hosted by Annie, Edlin and Rohan, and after the initial wet start, it actually stayed dry all afternoon.The heavens did begin to open about half an hour from the end whilst Palenke were playing, but by this time no-one seemed to care, the dancing in the Square was in full swing, and we weren’t about to stop because of a little rain – well ok, quite a lot of rain actually!
Around the edges of the Square were various stalls selling all things Latin, including music, food, crafts, clothes and gifts etc.The Square was completely transformed into a tiny piece of Latin America :o)
By late afternoon there was a big crowd and everyone was in party mood.
For me the highlights of the day were most definitely the shows by Ricardo and Viviana, and the Swing Latino troupe – you really had to see them to believe them.The Colombian band, Son Real, was the musical highlight for me – they were fronted by 3 female singers which is quite unusual, and they did a fine job.
The most amazing thing about this Festival is that it’s completely free of charge and has been every year.I am looking forward to next year’s Festival already – let’s just pray for better weather next time around.
The daytime Festival was topped off with an After Party at Ipanema on Broad Street, from 7pm until 1am, which cost £5 to get in.There was a salsa class and show by Swing Latino and the DJs for the night were Edlin Josephs (Simply Salsa) and Rohan Brown (Salsa Fever).Between them they played some great tracks, and Rohan even played some fab disco tracks at the end too that we all had great fun ‘getting down’ to.
Unfortunately, all good things come to an end, and the end came all too soon – a good time was had by all, and the festival was over again for another year. www.abslatin.co.uk
