My Night with Gilberto Santa Rosa

Written by: Wil Shamlin

After months of anticipation, I finally saw my favorite salsa recording artist in person on Saturday. 

I broke out my black, six-button suit and tie with French cuffs for the sold-out concert featuring Gilberto Santa Rosa who was originally scheduled to appear in February. Mother Nature had other plans and a blizzard forced the sponsor, ASPIRA Inc. of Pennsylvania, to reschedule its annual fund-raiser for programs for Latino teens and children. 

Held in an ornate ballroom of the Philadelphia Downtown Marriott, the gala brought out hundreds of people who were sharply dressed in their semi-formal attire. 

Santa Rosa joined his band on stage shortly after 11 p.m. and sang hit after hit during a 90-minute performance that kept a large portion of the crowd on their feet. 

The beauty of listening to Santa Rosa is that you can play his song when you want to listen to relaxing mood music and also when you feel like dancing to a smooth groove. At home, I frequently find myself reaching for my limited-edition Deluxe Collection CD with classic Santa Rosa songs. His vocals, lyrics and background instrumentals to his classic hits are all ultra-smooth and he sounded just as good in concert, perhaps even more so as the experience is enhanced by the element of improvisation. 

There was no room to dance immediately in front of the stage with Santa Rosa fans appearing more interested in snapping pictures and video of the salsa star who stood on a raised stage within arm's reach. 

Some admirers turned their back to the stage for just a moment and let a friend snap a picture that showed Santa Rosa decked out in a suit on the stage just behind them. I stood about 30 feet away and snapped some pictures and video of my own whilst looking for space to dance where ever I could - at the opposite end of the dance floor and on the carpeted areas – just to catch a dance to some of my favorite salsa songs.

After nearly two hours, Boney Cepeda and his band came out and played old-school merengue with layers of instrumentals that made much of the merengue songs played on Salsa Night week in and week out seem outright plain.

It was a great concert and a great night! I’m already looking forward to the next concert.

About Wil

Wil Shamlin blogs about the salsa scene in South Jersey and Philly. The blog was launched in May 2008 as an outgrowth of his strong interest in Latin dancing. Bachata is his favorite dance but he has come to love salsa almost as much. Publishing weekly posts is a tough balancing act for this salsero because he loves to write and photograph salsa scenes but loves being out on the dance floor even more. 

Contact info:

Wil Shamlin provides Salsa Scene updates on Twitter as Salsaknight. 

He's also on facebook, as himself.

He can also be reached at (856) 486-2475, or by sending an e-mail to wshamlin@courierpostonline.com