On June 30, Los Cumpleaños will be playing at Bembé. Known as “Rhythm Section Sundays”, a weekly series that has been consistently voted the best late-night Sunday dance spot for years, this is one of the city’s hidden gems. Co-hosted by in-demand singer Mariella Price Brooklyn and mainstay DJ Mickey Perez, the party features some of the city’s best Latin and “world groove” (for lack of a better term) musicians, often in looser, dirtier forms than their regular big-stage gigs. The night starts at 11pm, and the room is small, so the sweat, energy, and late-night joy is dense. Bembé is one of the last grungy music clubs left in Williamsburg; small, and dank, and special.
Los Cumpleaños is made up of Colombian percussionist Nestor Gomez, Argentinian drummer Lautaro Burgos, and US-born Eric Lane (keyboards) and Alex Asher (trombone), with other guests often sitting in. Their music is based primarily in the Colombian Cumbia tradition, with plenty of psychedelic sounds and punk-rock attitudes thrown in. They’re typically multi-cultural in their influences, and draw on many Latin styles, including tons of interpretations of the rep from the golden age in Spanish Harlem. Filtering everything through psychedelic organs and soaring trombone solos, the place will be bouncing, for sure.
It’s important that there are still after-hour dance parties, and in this city, on a Sunday night, you can get some of the best musicians in the world willing and ready to throw down. These types of nights, these types of clubs, these types of hangs are always the key to the heart of Brooklyn. Bembé is located at 81 S. 6th St. (corner of Berry St.). www.bembe.us
- Stefan Zeniuk
