Click here to read this review at the Georgia Strait web site
“LOS
ZAFIROS-MUSIC FROM THE EDGE OF TIME” featuring
Los Zafiros plays
Friday through Tuesday, August 18-22 at
the VANCITY THEATRE Is
there anything more ephemeral – or more substantial- than popular
culture? While you’re caught up in a momentary frenzy for, say, Jane
Powell or Tone Loc, you think the object of your fascination just might
be one for the ages. In reality, well, feel free to consult Wikipedia on
the names above. The
fickleness of fans is often well-founded. I mean, isn’t Colin
Farrell’s appeal already wearing then? But really good music tends to
resonate far past its sell-by date, and some becomes emblematic of a
particular place and time. That’s particularly true when a country’s
cultural history has been hermetically sealed, as was Beautifully
representative of the period was the sound of Los Zafiros (The
Sapphires), a vocal ensemble that blended the harmonies and sartorial
presentation of American groups like the Platters with Cuban rhythms and
island sensuality. The
group’s collective star managed to shine through the 1960s. But
politics and changing musical fashions saw it struggling as the decade
wore on. B.C.-based filmmaker Lorenzo DeStefano was fortunate, then, to
catch up with two of the key members, still alive and talking, around
which he based the band’s alternately tragic and inspiring story. Founder
Miguel Cancio moved to The
particulars are important, of course, but as this delightful feature
(smartly paired with BALLETS RUSSES) well conveys, the Zafiros music
stakes out a territory too universal to be owned by anyone, and too
potent to be lost to mere fashion. |