Today Combo Vacana is considered the local version of the Buena Vista Social Club. Peregoyo, at 87, still composes new songs and continues to give advice during rehearsals about the new musical material, ensuring the band's sound is kept intact. The other sax player, Luis Murillo, or "Murillin," is nearly 80, and the rest of the musicians are in their fifties and sixties. Some of the original group members have passed away and been replaced by new musicians who are often either old musical friends or their offspring.
The group's most recent loss is vocalist Ramón Sanchez, who passed away a few months after finishing their recording, El Rey del Currulao. The band's present-day musical director is trumpet player, composer and arranger Francisco "Pacho" Peña, who is also in charge of translating Peregoyo's new musical ideas, while business matters are run by Anibal López, the band's timbales player and one of its vocalists. On guitar is veteran Luis Diuza and the band has managed to incorporate one of the Pacific region's best vocalists, the great Pablo Emilio Redin, born in Tumaco and endowed with a terrific voice and years of experience.
And so new blood has caused the phoenix to rise from the ashes. Its music is a bright journey through the African sounds of the planet from Haiti to Colombia, from Cape Verde to the Zairian rumba, from the gold mines of the Pacific to the occult lands of the Congo. It is a marvelous journey crossing new sounds, fresh sounds, tastier than a bowl of clam chowder, more intense than a Caravan descarga and as joyful as a Jamaican mento. "Everything I bring is destined to drink aguardiente and dance currulao," sings Anibal López. Listening to its melody, you could imagine yourself being in Angola or Cape Verde. The album ends with "Caravan," Duke Ellington's standard transformed into a savory roots rendition of Latin jazz. — Lucas Silva
