La Pelanga del Pacífico – this Saturday Aug. 25 at La Peña

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We’re back!

Since 2008, we’ve been bringing our community together around a crazy, positive dance floor with the freshest sounds from Kinshasa and Cartagena, Port au Prince and Nueva York, Oakland and Abidjan. We mix the old with the new, the city and the village, bombardinos and autotune.
La Pelanga was born in Cali, Colombia during the Festival Petronio Alvarez de Musica del Pacifico. Your pelanguero family has collective roots in California, Colombia, Indonesia, Perú, China, México, the Phillipines, Canada, and Korea. Now we call Oakland our home.
So you get the idea. Somos Pacífico, and this Saturday we celebrate.

LA PELANGA DEL PACIFICO

Saturday August 25, 10pm-2am
La Peña, 3105 Shattuck, Berkeley (near Ashby BART)
$5 All ages

For a little preview of what’s coming, check:
https://www.facebook.com/events/334924603257837/

A is for Azonto, B is for Booty… K is for K-Pop

My sweet Pelanga brothers have encouraged me to post again, after a long hiatus. Today I’m going to drop you two tracks that I have sworn to mix together, and one day hope to gift you in a sweet mixtape.

Part 1: Lapaz Toyota – Guru (Ghana)

What do you expect to see when you hear “Lapaz Toyota”? Tunda said it makes him think of a Bolivian mototaxi dealership. It turns out Lapaz is an area of Accra, Ghana – working class. It’s not every day a music video shows women swooning or dancing on top of crappy cars. I did a bit of looking around and apparently the song is about being happy with what you have – it deliberately counters imagery that implies fancy cars and happiness are connected. Watch the moves, they come in around 1:30.

Then there’s a tonne of random videos showing other people dancing Azonto to the Lapaz Toyota track, like this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvpvCaxUnHo

 

Part 2: Gangnam Style – PSY (Korea)

This video has been making rounds like wildfire on the interwebs, and my friend sent it to me a day after I came across Lapaz Toyota. Gangnam is also a neighbourhood – but in contrast with Lapaz, it’s one of the shwankiest districts of Seoul, South Korea. Now, if you look closely at a few of the moves, you _will_ see some similarity to the Azonto, I swear. And that’s not the only similarity you’ll spot: watch for similar shots, little kids breaking out some sick moves, and comment on anything else you spy!

 

Conclusion? Booty. Get yours moving.

Next Pelanga is August 25th.

 

Yours in full blown dance nerdery,

DJ China Tu Madre