Artists
Album Info
Label: Promarket
In 1969, Formell retired from the Revé orchestra and founded Los Van Van. Since then, saying Juan Formell and saying Los Van Van is referring to the same creative and enriching entity of the Maximum Expression of the Latin Quarter. Under Formell's musical direction, the orchestra became one of the most important and innovative in Cuban music.His greatest contribution was the incorporation of electric instruments—derived from the North American rhythms that influenced him—to the Afro-Spanish base of traditional Cuban music. With this fusion, maestro Juan Formell developed his own style and created, together with José Luís Quintana “Changuito,” a rhythm that he called the songó, by incorporating the electric bass and keyboard in place of the double bass and acoustic piano, thereby giving his music a new sound.
Juan Formell's first album with his group was in 1969 and was titled Los Van Van, Vol. I. The extensive musical career of the maestro Formell, particularly with his orchestra, allowed him to record around sixty musical works in all formats, from 45 rpm to DVD. This musical legacy is available in the recording section on our website.
The themes in the music and songs of Los Van Van refer to the mischievous, ironic and traditional Cubans. In the extensive songbook of the maestro Formell, songs such as: “Anda ven y muévete”, “Artesanos del espacio”, “Chirrín chirrán”, “El baile del buey cansao”, “El martes”, “El negro no tiene ná”, “Eso te pone la cabeza mala”, “La Habana no aguanta más”, “La titimanía”, “Llegué, llegó”, “Ponte para las cosas”, “Por encima del nivel”, “Que no, que no”, “Qué vola, qué bolón”, “Sandunguera”, “Te traigo” and “Yuya Martínez” stand out.
The tours and concerts of Los Van Van de Cuba, and the cities in which they have performed, are innumerable: they are more than 45 years of musical career. They have also received awards, recognitions, honorable mentions, gold and platinum records, and even Grammy awards. In 1999, he was awarded the Latin Grammy for best salsa performance for his album Llegó Van Van (Van Van is here). And in November 2013 he received the Latin Grammy for Musical Excellence, in a ceremony in Las Vegas.