Metro Art Los Angeles presents a special evening of kizomba for Valentine’s Day!
A FREE kizomba lesson by Chris Kizomba will be followed by social dancing, accompanied by live music featuring Ricardo Lemvo y Makina Loca.
Kizomba is both a dance and a style of music, which developed in Angola in the 1980s and 1990s. The dance derives strongly from zouk, a Caribbean Carnivalesque quick rhythm originating in the islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique, and which is reminiscent of reggaeton and Brazilian funk. Zouk, which means party or festival, drifted to Angola, where it mixed with traditional Angolan music and semba, the Angolan origin of Brazilian samba, resulting in kizomba.
Ricardo Lemvo is the embodiment of the Afro-Latin Diaspora, connecting back to Africa via the Cuban clave rhythm. He is truly multi-cultural and equally at home singing in Spanish, Portuguese, Kimbundu, Turkish, Lingala, and Kikongo. Lemvo grew up in Congo-Kinshasa where he was introduced to Cuban music by a cousin who owned a large collection of vintage Cuban LPs. Lemvo came to the U.S. more than 30 years ago to pursue a law degree but ended up devoting his life to music.
Since forming his Los Angeles-based band Makina Loca in 1990, Lemvo has refined his craft and vision, raising his joyous voice with strength, singing songs that celebrate life, and most importantly, inspiring his audiences to let loose and dance away their worries. Lemvo’s innovative blend of Afro-Cuban rhythms with pan-African styles has been described by the Los Angeles Times as “seamless and infectious.”
More information: www.makinaloca.com