‘Nostalgia’ Concert’s Latino Acts Get Back to Satisfying Basics

“Nostalgia Tropical,” a marathon concert advertised mostly through fliers plastered all over town, was by no means an upscale event Saturday at the Los Angeles Sports Arena.

Yet, the seven-hour affair, which included hefty sets by Sonora Santanera, Orquesta Perez Prado, the Latin Brothers and Sonora Dinamita, was one of the most satisfying Latin shows of the year. Its message was loud and clear: Listeners in search of intense musical experiences should forget all about the glitzy clubs and the nouveau Latino trends and follow instead the Hispanic everyman, the immigrant with a longing to connect with his roots. He knows where the most raucous fun is to be had.

The show managed to be a success even though it had plenty of problems to overcome. One was the poor sound, an inevitable occurrence at an arena known for giving sound mixers a headache. The lineup could also have been a problem since most of the advertised orchestras were actually spinoffs or merely modeled after the real thing.

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The Latin Brothers, for instance, were not the authentic Colombian outfit with singer Gabino Pampini and musical director Diego Gale, but a new group with some of the original members in it. Nobody had any complaints, however, after they offered a blistering version of the gritty “Las Calen~as Son Como Las Flores.”

The case of Sonora Dinamita was even more intriguing. Saturday’s group was not the four-decades-old, hit-laden cumbia outfit with vocalist Lucho Argain and percussionist Fruko. This L.A.-based ensemble, however, boasts original singers La India Meliyara and Macondo.

Instrumentally, the group sounded adequate at best. But La India was always the best of Dinamita’s stable of revolving singers. Dressed Saturday in a deep-orange, sequined dress, she performed her old hits “El Viejo del Sombreron” and “El Cucu” with such relentless enthusiasm and such obvious hunger to be liked by the audience that it was impossible not to be captured by her persona.

The bouncy cumbia was present throughout the evening, which also included tasty excursions into mambo, tropical pop and bolero territory. Thousands of audience members danced nonstop as the bands’ unpretentious, reliable musicianship filled the air with delectable beats and lilting melodies.