Grupo Fantasma bewitched Brownsville

The strobe lights bounced off the slide trombones as they released fiery bursts of sound into the room, accented by lusty exuberant percussion dancing through the music of Grupo Fantasma.

The music seductively beckoned the small group of admirers to join in the festive celebration Friday night at Inca del Sol, and soon a group of music lovers, captivated by Grupo Fantasma's vibrant mix of salsa, cumbia and other Latin rhythms, had stepped onto the floor. Black frills gyrated about the sleek legs of a woman in heels as she rolled her hips forward, backward in step to the music, amber hair fluttering about her shoulders as the lights rolled across the floor.

Another woman grasped the hands of her dance partner, whirled around, hips swaying beneath her spotted skirt. The woman, Nydia Gutierrez, moved in close then spun away effortlessly, the music's tumultuous intensity drawing her and the other dancers into the spell. The music had thoroughly captivated her.

Gutierrez, 23, had arrived early for the concert and said she liked the "vibe, the culture they bring down here.

"I wish there was a lot more of them," said the Brownsville resident. "I just want to hear the rhythm and get my bones shaken."

Earlier in the week, bass player Greg Gonzalez had said he looked forward to playing in Brownsville.

"It's always nice to go back to the Valley lands," said the 32-year-old Laredo native as he walked his dog in Austin.

"We played on South Padre Island," he said. "We've also played in Harlingen and in McAllen. Well you know, I like a Valley audiences because it's the kind of audience that I grew up playing to, there's a lot of people who, if I don't know them exactly they remind me of someone I knew or grew up with. It's always fun to play in the Valley."

Their music is fun to listen to as well. Not only fun, this band's musical explorations into salsa, merengue, cumbia and other Latin rhythms draw listeners into an extravagant musical adventure.

Grupo Fantasma's music explodes into consciousness, conjuring the passionate fury flooding the steamy nightclubs of Latin America's tropical cities, the lusty ardor of its coconut-thronged beaches and dreamy cabanas, the aromas of fresh fish grilling in seaside cafes. The rhythms, punctuated with primal percussion, riddled with its soul-throttling horn section, and the powerful vocals of its joyously incensed musicians, invades the languid spirits of anyone who captures even a fragment of the music, reminding them of their own dormant vitality. Others already possessing that realization quickly find themselves synchronized with the rapturously chaotic ecstasy of the Latin pulse. The music's richly textured cadences captivate everyone listening, drawing them quickly into the night's incantation of liberated souls.

Only a small crowd showed up to see the show by the band that has toured extensively with its most recent album, Sonidos Gold, that earned the band a Grammy nomination.

"We could have had a better turnout," Gutierrez said. "There should have been a better turnout. This is Brownsville, full of dancers. We should have had more dancers."

Ed Lopez, 39, had only learned about the concert Friday morning.

"I thought, ‘I have to get over there,' " he said. "We couldn't find a baby sitter, so my wife said, ‘Go ahead.' I have seen these guys once before and I was floored."

Patty Guevara and her husband Gil learned of the concert strictly by accident and hurried to the event.

"I am just surprised this place is not packed," said Patty Guevara, of Olmito. "The music is very fresh. It's very interesting, and the amount of people playing, it's exciting, fresh, new."

"Out here in Brownsville," added Gil, 38, "it's like Tejano. This is salsa. It's nice to know these bands come to my hometown. I am going to have to buy the CD."

That CD, Sonidos Gold, has enjoyed a beautiful success. Grupo Fantasma's Web site, www.GrupoFantasma.com says the band received rave reviews last year and toured across North America and Europe. They performed at the New Orleans Jazz Festival, the Montreal Jazz Festival, and the North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands. In addition, the band also entertained troops in Kuwait and Iraq.

Unfortunately, their Grammy nomination didn't culminate in a win.

"I wasn't that surprised," Gonzalez said. "I was hoping to win obviously, but it's just kind of the way the Grammies seem to be. They tend to award more established artists."

However, being at the Grammies itself was a grand experience.

"All the performances we got to see and just a sense of being part of this worldwide sound, being part of the music industry at large, it was pretty impressive," he said.

In spite of the small turnout on Friday, they still delivered an electrifying performance to those who did attend.

Sweet Lou's hands flew across the congas as he leaned forward, then back, his head rolling to the music; the band's elaborate texture of sound wove together into a music tapestry of dazzling patterns, threads of sound pulsating through the hearts and minds of everyone who heard them, invoking images of warm tropical nights across Latin America.