Mark Lotz & Shango’s Dance

Cross-over with afro cuban religious music (1995-2005)

on Shango’s Dance

Groninger Dagblad (The Netherlands)
“Mysterious and increasingly penetrating ostinato’s evoke an atmosphere of strange rituals.”

General Anzeiger (Germany)
“Freed from the static of the chairs the public absorbed the kinetic energy of ‘Lotz of Music’.”

NRC Handelsblad (The Netherlands)
“The North Sea Jazz Festival’s audience was hypnotized by the sacral atmosphere Lotz Of Music’s interpretations of Cuban Santeria music materialized.”

media snippers

International collective within a cross-over of Afro Cuban Santeria Music (1995-2005). A fusion of an Afro Cuban vocal and drum ensemble with the Lotz Of Music quintet of flautist Mark Alban Lotz.

‘Shango’s Dance’ is a creative platform for some of the finest vocalists and instrumentalists, each representing their own cultural background, but combining them to create something new.

‘Shango/Changó’ is the powerful African god of the Batá drums, dance and thunder, but above all he is a very creative and succesfull womanizer. The name of the band is dedicated to his many guises.

on the CD’s

FLY Global Music Magazine, UK
“…. striking outing from the Netherlands. …veering between the campfires of enslaved Cuban worshippers and the smoke-filled clubs of New York.”

Rootstown Music, USA
“Miles away from convivial Cuban dance music but hitting the essence of Origin.”

Lotz Of Music Meets Batá Drums Blues For Yemayá Cuban Fishes Makes Good Dishes

performances

Toured Germany, Cuba and Holland with Festival appearances like the Percuba Festival, Havana and the North Sea Jazz Festival.

about the music

‘Shango’s Dance’ combines the powerful rhythms and chants from the Santería & Yoruba religious tradition with the art of improvised music. Transforming the ancient songs and dances the Cubans used to worship their West African ancestors and gods into something new.

The performance incorporates grooves, harmonies, improvisations, dancing and melodic movement as the main ingredients. However, the secret of the success of the group lies in the fact that the spiritual and trance states of performance give meaning to the empowering atmosphere of music and dance.

Music that evokes images of African rituals as well as impressions of ‘Big City Life’.

releases

Released a ‘Yoruba Trilogy’ of CDs on the Dutch (Via/Loplop) and the US label (Random Chance)

CD Lotz Of Music Meets Batá Drums (Le Coq Rouge)
CD Blues For Yemayá by Lotz Of Music In Havana
CD Cuban Fishes Make Good Dishes by Mark Lotz & Shango’s Dance

recordings Havana & gigs

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

videos of the recordings in Havana

on the art of improvised music

Following on from the improvisations made by Afro Americans in New Orleans at the beginning of the last century, many musical forms have now taken up the art of improvisation. Realising the freedom it gives to explore new boundaries of sound, rhythm, and harmony it has enabled musicians to advance their art at an ever increasing pace.

Here we have a good example of the fruits of this quest.

on the performers

The line up includes singers & dancers, percussion, flutes, tenor sax/clarinets, piano, tuba/bass and drums. ‘Shango’s Dance’ featured seven up to thirteen musicians and dancers.

International artists associated with ‘Shango’s Dance’ (aka Lotz Of Music) are a.o.

the legendary Amelia Pedroso (CD Blues For Yemayá are her last recordings)
Miguel ‘Anga’ Diaz (Irakere, Cachaito Lopez)
Martha Galarraga (first soloist of the ‘Conjunto Folklorico National de Cuba’)
José Pilar Suarez (creator of the Rumba Tonado)
Ariel Bridon Romero (first soloist of the ‘Conjunto Folklorico de Oriente’, Santiago)
soloist of the ‘Yoruba Anabo’ and ‘Clave Y Guaguanco’ ensembles
Thelonious Monk Competition prize winner Marc van Roon

on the history

The ‘Yoruba Love Affair’ started with the encounter between Lotz and master drummer Javier Campos Martinez in 1996. This unforgettable evening initiated by the musical exchange, resulted in the promise to nurture the seed into a creative work and ended up with CD recordings at the ICAIC studios, Havana, featuring many household names among the cognoscenti of the Cuban Orisha music.

Soon people recognised the value of the initiative and the ‘Lotz of Music – Cuban Roots Project’ got invitations to attend major music festivals such as The ‘Percuba Festival’ in Havana and the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Netherlands. Later the band changed it’s name into Shango’s Dance.