Mambo Tribe European Salsa Tour 2005

The Mambo Tribe European Salsa Tour 2005
(Cannes, Nice, Italy, Hamburg & Paris)

2 and half weeks of travelling to 4 different cities! Whew!

We landed in Nice, and were taken to Cannes just 20 minutes away. The congress hotel (Noga Hilton) is situated 2 minutes away from the Cannes Film Festival location, right on the glamorous boulevard called "La Croisette", across the street from the beach! We had the opportunity to perform on the stage that is permanently on this beach. It was packed! A dance floor had been laid down for all the salseros to enjoy dancing outside. At 2am the party went across the street to the hotel terrace til 5am. There were dancers from Stockholm, Paris and all over France, all over Holland, Vancouver, even Toronto! We were the only international show however and had a great time performing our 'Masquerade Ball' (with all 8 members of the troupe!).

After a weekend in Cannes, we spend 5 days in Nice with my dear friend Nico who used to live in Toronto and is now teaching there under the name Kedonico salsa school. We went to 2 different clubs and also went to Italy for a day/evening only to return and jet set to Hamburg for another congress.

The Hamburg congress is known to be the best venue in all of Europe. It is located at the City Congress Centre where guests stay at the Radisson. It's like a metro convention centre but a little more intimate, with a top dance floor and stage. Mambo Tribe had a great show on the Saturday night and had fun dancing til 5 in the morning for 3 nights along with Super Mario, Edie the Salsa Freak, Leon Rose & Susanna, Maya, Albert Torres, Al Espinoza, Luis Vasquez, Johnny Vasquez & Ramon with their partners, Alex Lima, Paul from Holland, Candy & Juan Matos, the amazing Jesus Aponte, Erik and Ludwina from Salsa Squad, Mimo from Germany, Dady from Paris and Farid from Marseille. DJ Ben was amazing as well as Henry Knowles from NYC. We were so lucky to have Spanish Harlem Orchestra play on the Sat night as well!

Trionne and Magna then returned to Toronto and the rest of us stayed in Paris for another few days enjoying salsa, the Musee d'Orsay, the Seine river, the Champs Elysee, the Eiffel Tower, l'Opera, Montmartre, le Sacre Coeur, Montparnasse, mussels and frites, crepes with nutella and bananas, foreign films, the Barrio Latino social, theatre plays, walking in the rain, shopping, bumping into old friends...it was a blast.

Video Clips coming soon!!!

Mambo Tribe at the Cannes Salsa Festival 2005 (South of France)