If you go to Cuba, you fall in love with the music. It reeks of sunshine and rum and makes your hips sway like no other music on the planet. So when you get the chance to hear the real thing again in Swansea, you take it.
Of course, it was never going to be the same in the relatively sterile atmosphere of the Taliesin Theatre. You can’t get that salsa rhythm going sitting down.
But Tradicional Cubano, with their show One Night in Havana, brought us enough of that Cuban magic for a couple of hours to make us forget we were in cloudy old Swansea.
The band is actually based in Britain but founder Jose Zalba-Smith had arranged for his dad to fly in especially from Havana to make a guest appearance. Javier Zalba is no ordinary dad, having played with the Buena Vista Social Club and Cubanismo amongst others.
He played the flute, the clarinet and the saxophone like a demon and I am sorry you missed him, but if you really want to hear him, he plays in the 23rd Street Jazz Club in Havana every Thursday night apparently.
The performance started out low key, with just the core members of the band, and some nice chat and excellent hip action from Jose.
It built up to a fine crescendo as more guest appearances came from sultry half-Armenian singer Cevanne, and the inspired James Clark, of the Welsh College of Music and Drama, on grand piano.
A truly international effort that produced two hours of exhilarating music and sent the audience home very happy.
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