Los Vecinos is the spontaneous invention of percussionist/drummer Michael Skinkus and bassist Andy Wolf, and reflects their powerful love and understanding of Latin music, especially Cuban. Both have played this music for years in various groups, and even took a trip to Havana to listen to the source—Cuban conjunto combo groups a few years ago. Actually, Skinkus has been to Cuba four times and continues to make regular trips in his study of Western African and Latin music. The members of Los Vecinos (which means “neighbors,” or “citizens”) are veterans of the New Orleans scene, yet the band didn’t come into existence until the summer of 1999 when they began to play Thursday happy hours at the Cybernet Café inside the Contemporary Art Center. This gig was so popular that it was extended far beyond the original two months. To the small New Orleans Latin band scene the Skinkus-Wolf confederation has added a fine, danceable band that knows just what to do with the clave beat.

Michael Skinkus has been playing and studying percussion instruments used in Western African and Latin traditions for more than four years now. He also plays with Michael Ray and Fredy Omar. The ubiquitous Andy Wolf is known for playing with, well, pretty much everyone—not the least of which is Iris May Tango and Royal Fingerbowl. Another always-on-the-scene Los Vecinos band member, Jonathan Freilich, is known for his guitar playing with the New Orleans Klezmer Allstars. For years now it’s hard to walk down the Frenchmen Street club corridor or hang out at a brass band club without bumping into Skinkus, Wolf, or Freilich.

Guajira en Cyberspace is an impressive collection of indigenous Cuban styles of music, well-played and authentic in instrumentation and danceability. Cuba, like New Orleans, is known for inventing several kinds of popular musics, but all share the ability to be danced to—just as the musics of New Orleans. The prolific Andy Wolf has written most of the songs on this record, with the band getting credit for several others, and Michael Skinkus and Hart McNee for one each.

“A La Verdegue” and “The Don of Frenchmen Street” add sax for a kind of eastern touch to the sound. Andy Wolf’s composition of “The Don of Frenchmen Street” may as well be about the bassist, since he is as much of a fixture of the street as Ade, the owner of Café Brasil.

One of the record’s most successful cuts, “Descarga,” written by Wolf, has a great melody played by the horns and a nice arrangement. The word is musicians’ slang for a song somewhere between the improvisation of Latin jazz and Latin dance music. There is plenty of room on the cut for inventive solos on trumpet, tres, flute, saxes, and guitar.

“Friendo Yuca,” Michael Skinkus’ son composition takes food as its subject. It is a driving and intense dance piece.

“Adios Mujeres” is a dreamy Latin jazz study featuring a trumpet solo and trumpet and flute combination. “Instant Mambo,” another Wolf composition, is loose and more of a descarga than a mambo but is still a fun and danceable song with a tres (nine-string Cuban guitar) solo and a jazz trumpet solo.

“El Check” is another loosely arranged and playful song, enlivened by a full vocal chorus (coro) singing the melody and wacky lyrics at the end: “International, coast to coast…New Orleans to Chicago, through to the Cosmos.” The Spanish continues, “We are Los Vecinos, and we come bearing good music.”

“Guajira en Cyberspace” is a tongue-in-cheek title for one of the classic styles of Cuban music, the guajira, usually played on the tres, along with a 6-string guitar and percussion. The guajira is a 19th Century invention of Cuban farmers (guajiros). In its classic form, guajira used a 10-line 17th Century Spanish verse, and a slow and nostalgic format. The remainder of the solid record further explores the rich marriage of European harmonies and African rhythms that makes up Cuban music.

The regular band uses Michael Skinkus on bongos, bata, timbales, chekere, and vocals; Hart McNee on flute and vocals; David Sobel on guiro and vocals; Jonathan Freilich on guitar and vocals; John Bagnatto on tres and vocals; Andy Wolf on upright bass and vocals. Guest musicians on this record include Robert Wagner from the Klezmer Allstars on clarinet, clave and sax; Eric Lucero from the Sunpie Barnes band on trumpet, clave and vocals; Joe Cabral from the Iguanas on sax and vocals; David Rebeck on violin and vocals; Sula on vocals.

Incidentally, the otherworldly cover art on this record was done by Hugo Monetero, the sidewalk artist who is a wicked wizard with a spray paint can.