Not every band can position itself at the pinnacle of the “New Mambo Revival” and get away with it.
This quasi-movement commands its hip-swiveling soldiers to look great and sound better, taking cues from the classic mambo acts of the big-band era. The New Mambo Revivals also call on devotees to envelop their bombastic stage show with a metaphysical humanitarianism.
Therein lies the idea behind “Apocalypso,” the third studio album from Cabaret Diosa, Colorado’s 10-piece mambo rock ensemble. We caught up with vocalist and keyboardist Miguel Ramos to glean some of the wisdom behind the riotous group whose name translates into “Theater of the Goddess.”
Q: We hear you consider your birthplace to be “The Infinite Center.” Is that a place people can visit?
A: Oh, yes. It’s all around us, all the time. It is the eternal now. In other words, we truly are being born into this moment … as of now.
Cabaret Diosa is very much about the experience of being there. Anyone who likes the band will tell you that it’s a live experience, and a participatory experience. It’s about taking the opportunity to invite someone to dance, to feel another person in your arms as you sway to the rhythms, to let the music move you to moments of passion.
Q: “Apocalypso” sounds like a B-horror film set on a Caribbean island. Was that what you were going for?
A: Unfortunately, that’s the state of affairs we find ourselves in today. Listen to the words (on the album). One of the opening lines is about somebody waging war in our name right now as we sing this song, and that’s true.
Whether you endorse what’s going on in Iraq or not, Americans are heavily invested. We’re all for freedom and democracy, but that’s not necessarily happening there. It just seems like the energy and resources and money and power put into bombs and police forces and military training could go toward feeding people and finding cooperation and promoting music and understanding. With this album, we’re partly commenting on that.
The band has traditionally been just about having a good time, about letting go of the troubles of the day and coming together. But this is definitely the darkest album we’ve put out there.
Q: Your last album included the song “Mambo Verde.” Can you fashion a G-rated explanation of those lyrics?
A: Yes, in fact. There is a plant that can be used for many things. It can be a physical resource. It can be used for paper, for rope and clothing, as a food source, as its seeds are rich in protein. It has health-giving oil, and it can also be used as a medicine or drug.
Some people are very concerned about this plant because of its drug possibilities. As with any medication, it has beneficial and appropriate uses and it has non-beneficial and inappropriate uses. This song seeks to promote its appropriate uses.
Staff writer Elana Ashanti Jefferson can be reached at 303-820-1957 or ejefferson@denverpost.com.
