Can I blog about this?

So it's November 9, 2009, the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the beginning of democracy sweeping through Central and Eastern Europe.

As the first original salsa band to come out of the former Soviet Union, we're proud to remember this day, even though quite a few band members (myself not included) were under 5 years old at the time.

At the same time, we're dealing with some frustration. And, unfortunately, I'm even scared to blog about this, which is a shame that I'm scared to exercise some free speech while we say we've come so far. So, before I go on, let me just say that I, Karolina Patocki, am taking this on myself, and am not expressing the views of any other band member in particular.

Presidential elections are coming up in Ukraine, and right when the campaign opened, a mass hysteria started about swine flu in the country. It is true that there are many people sick, but first of all, it is from all flus and respiratory illnesses, and as far as I understand, the statistics this year are not dissimilar to any other year.

Dislocados is organizing the biggest event of our lifetime as a band, and one of the biggest multicultural concerts to this date in Ukraine, intending to open the country up to embrace other cultures and people of different backgrounds working together to enjoy their common passion, regardless of their background.

And yet now there's a talk about a state of emergency in the country, possibly cancelling the upcoming elections for the foreseeable future.

And we are frustrated. We're working for a better Ukraine, for a better unity of international culture in these 20 years of freedom...

Well, we refuse to give in. The show must go on. We're going on with the concert on the planned date of January 23rd. We believe that it will happen and it will be a success, and we ask all Ukrainians to join us.

And as we close with the words of our Plena Pa' Tontos, now you understand why we sing:

A mi me cansa la politica

La economia, la religion

Quiero cantar en armonia

Porque la plena (y nuestra salsa dura) celebra mi pasion.

I'm tired of politics

Of economics, of religion

I want to sing in harmony

Because the plena (and our salsa dura) celebrates my passion.

Dislocados with JIMMY BOSCH!!! Jan 23, 2010

Well, we've been quiet for a while because we've been organizing our launch in Kiev (set for Jan 23, 2010), but we haven't been able to talk about it yet, but... we're super excited.

First, Andy Harlow writes the liner notes for our CD. And now, Jimmy Bosch is agreeing to come play with us at our CD release party in Kiev!!!

We're going bananas with excitement. I think JB is one of the only musicians that actually every single member in the band likes. (For other artists, we have varying opinions, which of course keeps things interesting.) He's the real symbol of salsa dura these days, and we're so happy to partner with him to promote international hard salsa!

Everyone is going mad. For me and Ilya this is the best of the best at this point for us. Now our task is to make a KILLER event.

But even I saw Sergey (2nd trumpet & flugelhorn) in our Lvov concert about a week ago, and he couldn't stop giggling like a schoolgirl. I hope Jimmy gives him a big wet kiss when he sees him, haha, that'll be it for him, he'll be set for life.

It's really important for me and Ilya that we use this event to broaden our audience in Ukraine. This is so that Ukrainians can really start respecting what they have in their country as much as outsiders do. We are

really trying to open up Ukraine culturally, and so we don't want only the regular dancers to come, although we LOVE it when they do. We of course want to take advantage of the exhibition of real live salsa dura to show the Ukrainian dancers that it's the best music to dance to (their repertoire is still a bit limited, although growing every day).

We also want to take the opportunity to show Ukrainian musicians that salsa offers a lot of satisfaction technically, artistically, musically... and to encourage opening cultural horizons in music.

As well, we really want international representatives to show up to support us, because we know the Americans, French, Germans, Canadians, et al, have all at some point expressed interest in investing in Ukraine not only financially but culturally. But, this is their chance to participate in a historic cultural event.

This is a huge deal. There has never been an event like this in Kiev. That's why we have to make it good now.

In other news, our beloved bandleader, Ilya Yeresko, just recently went to Yalta where he arranged the music for a certain portion of a new huge film that's being recorded there. I think they're doing it in Russian, it's called "Алые Паруса" ("Scarlet Sails"), but we're super proud that people are starting to recognize his talents. He recorded the track with our old friend Susana, who has recently gained fame as Jamala, the new Ukrainian pop sensation.

Let's hope "film composer" will add itself more and more to his resume. Congrats, Ilya!

I also mentioned we went to Lvov together. I can't believe I forgot to post news about that. It was super fun - our first time in Western Ukraine, a

nd the audience was great! We had a few technical issues (ahem) but in the end, the crowd kept their energy, and we're super happy they did. We had a great time, and I'm especially lucky because I

was able to come down for that (as I'm now living in Poland for a while).

Ok, I think that's all the news for now. Like I said, this is just when it starts for me an

d Ilya in terms of organization, and the whole band in terms of preparation, but we're really hoping we can create a valuable event to enrich Ukraine's musical landscape even further.

... We're back!

Yes, it's been a little while, but now we're back from the dead. We've had a lot of things that took us in a lot of directions this summer, but now the blog resumes. :)

Just writing a message to kick start this thing. Soon we'll talk about the things that went on this summer and, more im

portantly, the challenges that lie ahead.

First, let's take a look at the picture of the horns at sound check in Yalta. Ridiculous and hilarious. Love it.

Secondly, we're in the process of planning a couple of concerts and trips. The trick is going to be to see which ones we can swing the fastest and with the highest quality.

Third, Ilya (our bandleader, just to remind you...) has been caught on video and it's posted on YouTube in a jazz thing he did (Piano Kolo in Kiev). This is his composition, Running Away from the Small Apple. It's quite cool to see what our salsa master does in his jazz time.

Fourth is a combination of

2 new things (in one picture). "La Palapa" is now playing on New York City airwaves on Hard Salsa Radio, which is awesome, because it's Lesya's first solo song to debut in New York. Before we had Resaca and Miedo that featured me on lead vocals, and Descarga de 44 which is a great instrumental track that showcases the talents of the whole band. Now, "La Palapa" makes its debut in New York, which introduces Lesya to the US salsa scene. She's got an awesome salsa feeling to her, so much so that nobody can believe she's Ukrainian.

The second awesome piece of news is that Andrei (the other one in the pic) has now become even more valuable to our band. Since we've had a long line of coro singers in the band, we've found the hidden gem of Dislocados! Andrei, after a long time of being Ukraine's best timbalero and one of the hardest working members of the band, has decided to try singing coro. As it turns out, he's got an amazing old school salsa timbre to his voice, and it's also very high. Amazingly, his Spanish pronounciation is great, and what I love the best is that he's very well tuned all the time. :) Welcome, Andrei, to salsa coro, haha. He's gonna soon become our little Sabater.

The last piece of news is that I've moved from France to Poland, which is cool because it's much closer to the band and makes it easier to get in a couple of salsa concerts on the weekend and organize our future salsa bonanzas. But, I'm having a hard time finding the salsa scene here. Out of 3 places that are supposed to be "the" salsa spots according to salsapower.com, only one of them still exists, and it's still not a very hard core salsa place. Hopefully we can discover the hidden salsa scene in Poland to bring the band here, and maybe do a few other concerts in Europe again, because I think Europe suits us nicely. ;)

Ok, that's it for me. Welcome back.