{"id":17623,"date":"2019-11-29T11:04:49","date_gmt":"2019-11-29T15:04:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/latinomusiccafe.com\/?p=17623"},"modified":"2022-07-06T17:07:13","modified_gmt":"2022-07-06T21:07:13","slug":"classico-latinos-havana-classic-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinomusiccafe.com\/2019\/11\/29\/classico-latinos-havana-classic-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Classico Latino’s “Havana Classic” Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Classico Latino recently released “Havana Classic<\/em>“, their new album that combines Latin and Classical music.<\/p>\n

Never heard of Classico Latino<\/a>? I hadn’t either until Julian Forbes approached me to listen to this album, which I found refreshingly good. The concept is interesting and the music well balanced.<\/p>\n

Have you ever wanted to hear some soft music to relax, wind down, or as a background over dinner? You may have considered that smooth jazz may be too sleepy and Latin Jazz still too rowdy for your mood. If so, then you might want to consider a new concept. Not too smooth, not too hard, but (as the Three Bears story goes) just right.<\/p>\n

The Classico Latino Concept<\/h3>\n

So it turns out that back in 1998 two music students met by serendipity and decided to start playing around with the music each of them loved. Colombian pianist Ivan Guevara and English cellist Graham Walker began to experiment by playing Latin songs with classical instruments. They liked the sound that came out of that experiment, and began adding other musicians that like them, liked both musical worlds.<\/p>\n

They added Barbara Dziewiecka and Harriet Mackenzie on violin, Andria Antoniou on vocals, Cubans Rey Crespo and (later) Jimmy Martinez on bass, and Wilmer Sifontes on percussion.<\/p>\n

This ensemble can produce incredibly sounding music. The cool thing is that they mostly use the Latin American songbook to adapt them to their unique mix of Latin and Classical music. Based on what I heard in Havana Classic, they seem to have figured out the right mix of each influence and instrument, to make music that is both fun and pleasant to listen to, without having to be a Classical music enthusiast.<\/p>\n

The video below is an interview with Ivan and Graham talking about Classico Latino.<\/p>\n