El Ventilador de La Habana

Amazingly, Klimax gets a bad rap among Cubans, even Cuban musicians. “You can’t dance to it,” they say. “It’s too complicated,” they complain. Even though band leader Giraldo Piloto has written about half of the major timba hits, including Issac Delgado’s “No Me Mires A Los Ojos” (one of my favorites), a lot of guys will hang their heads when Klimax is brought up, as if to say “Yeah, Piloto, he was doing great, and then he went crazy and formed Klimax…”

I’ve got a live track here (one of five that are equally ferocious) that will prove everyone wrong, no contest. Sure, the arrangement is challenging, at the very least, and some might even say long-winded - the mecánica changes every 8 bars or so. Sure, the lyrics are not so deep: most of it is about heading out in the street to get some chicharrones (although there might be some double meaning that I’m not aware of - wouldn’t be the first time, for sure).

But who can deny that groove? Their swing is solid as a rock, despite countless changes, breaks, dynamics, and searing-hot horn lines. I have no problem dancing to this. In fact, I think I have a problem NOT dancing to it. I’ve actually been typing this from my feet for the most part, taking frequent breaks between clauses to work it around the living room. If you’re like me, you might not even be reading this, since you’ll most likely have left your seat after about the first 30 seconds…