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Orchestra with a side of spice

Alisha Self, Of the Record staff

Salsa and orchestra are two words you wouldn’t expect to find in the same sentence, much less the same room. But for a group of performers from Salt Lake City, the seemingly disparate musical formats are a perfect match.

On Saturday, Sept. 26, the Salsa Brava Orchestra will bring its unique rhythmic blend to the Egyptian Theatre in Park City. "We’ve always done concerts, we’ve always done comedy, we’ve always done film We wanted to do something fun, colorful and festive," says theatre manager Randy Barton.

Parkite Ira Sachs has seen the group perform several times and personally contributed to arranging a concert for Salsa Brava in Park City.

Godo Delgado, who has managed the orchestra since its inception in 1993, describes the group’s sound as a " world beat style." "We try to borrow some of the more known rhythms from around the globe so that it sounds familiar and at the same time we apply our own style to it," he explains.

The orchestra consists of nine to 11 musicians playing string instruments, horns, percussion, keyboards and more unusual accompaniments such as timbales (a traditional Latin instrument), congas and the Peruvian Cajon. The group members hail from areas across the country and from South America, bring an international flair to the contingent.

The core of Salsa Brava’s rhythm is rooted in the beats of the Caribbean. The lead female vocalist, Sariah Jacobson, sings in both Spanish and English. According to Delgado, the vocalists have also started mixing in bits and pieces of other languages including French and Portuguese.

Delgado says that concertgoers should expect to experience a mixing of music sauces "We’ll give them a taste of a little bit of everything." He encourages guests to bring their dancing shoes. "People sometimes cannot help but to get up and shake it a little bit," Delgado says. "People are welcome to let themselves go."

The Salsa Brava Orchestra has performed at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas, the Sundance Film Festival, and the 2002 Winter Olympics. The orchestra members have found themselves onstage with the likes of Barenaked Ladies, Frankie Ruiz and Marc Anthony.

The group has performed in Park City at the Arts Festival in the past, but has not played a concert in town for several years.

The doors open at 8 p.m. and the show starts at 8:30. Tickets are $15 in advance at http://www.egyptiantheatrecompany.org or $18 at the door. To listen to audio files from Salsa Brava, visit http://www.salsabravaorchestra.com .


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