Hot Fire!: Santa Mamba spices up the South Coast Article by Paul Sanguinetti, southcoast247.com correspondent Photos by Dennis Yermoshin, southcoast247. com photographer
The seductive, thumping grooves of Santa Mamba set the Fall River crowd ablaze within moments. The setting: Water Street
Café. The occasion: to simply dance the night away with Latin infused rhythms and searing, sensual vocals.
Formerly named Planet Groove, a band featuring an assortment of players for over ten years now, Santa Mamba is truly
a band at the top of their game and one more than worthy of mention. As a music writer and fan whose been on the scene
sometime now, I thought I had been familiar with the local talent, but every once in a while a band slips under the radar.
Santa Mamba is one such band.
The Water Street Café set the perfect ambience for this Providence based band's eclectic world beat style.
A restaurant and bar, the café included couples casually enjoying wine at their tables and a dance floor packed to the
brim with enthusiastic dancers; the South Coast's diverse cultural heritage setting a perfect primer for the world
rhythms of this well-oiled machine.
From the moment the band started it was a non-stop party and everyone loved it. Santa Mamba's high-energy performance
created an infectious energy that was hard to resist. They left me no choice but to pack up the pen and pad and soak in
the velvet vibe.
Along with well-written and executed original compositions, the band played some highly entertaining covers.
Early in the night they played a rendition of Led Zeppelin's "Dyer Maker" which somehow worked its way into The Red Hot
Chili Peppers' "Give it Away", and then back into the original jam. While on paper this may look like a travesty, the
technically proficient band makes it all come together somehow into a opus that combines feel good dance hopping goodness
with pure bass and drum driven funk. And if anyone knows me well enough, they know I have a soft spot for the funk.
Their rendition of Santana's "Oye Como Va" was perhaps their most impressive cover of the night, their highly percussive
style rivaling the original, but to hear it live made it all the much better.
The night continued on with two total sets that showcased the bands Latin influenced sound. They played salsa,
merengue, funk... the list of styles goes on but it is ultimately just a culmination of all these elements that fuses
together into the one Santa Mamba sound.
Before I knew it, the night was coming to a close. Somewhere between the start of the first set and the end of the
second, three hours had diminished. Our photographer bounced around trying to capture the evening's energy and at one
point was caught off guard when he was invited to the microphone by lead singer Gio Murillo to say something to the
crowd. In the meantime I had strayed from my reporting duties and had been caught up in dancing the night away.
The music has that effect. You can't help what happens when it hits you, 'cause like Bob Marley said, "when it hits you,
you feel no pain." The band has that sort of charisma that will make you drop whatever your inhibitions are and enjoy
the fullness of the present moment. It was a good time, and the band showed what it is to be a class act. We came to
report, but in the end we became participants. Such is the way with true music. Such is the way of Santa Mamba.
For more info on Santa Mamba, check out: www.santamamba.com.
The seductive, thumping grooves of Santa Mamba set the Fall River crowd ablaze within moments. The setting: Water Street
Café. The occasion: to simply dance the night away with Latin infused rhythms and searing, sensual vocals.
