Friday nights at Sabor a Cafe

We frequent a Colombian restaurant in Chicago, Sabor A Cafe. In addition to the good food, there is live music on Friday and Saturday nights. I recommend ordering the Pechuga al carbon, but ask for salsa and heap it on the rice. The regular band consists, usually, of Alex (singer), a drummer, and a bass guitar. Alex has a wonderful style, singing a wide variety of Latin songs.

In the video above, Alex, the bass player and the drummer are joined by Agustine, a guitarist from Buenos Aires. He's a phenomenal guitarist. This video is records the first song of the night. In other words, he is hasn't even warmed up. Later, he really gets cooking! Alex told me that Agustine has played with him for about a month. I asked him how often they practiced. He shrugged and replied, "Never."

Later in the evening, Alex turned over his seat to another singer/guitarist, Alfonso Maya (see video below). Agustine supports Maya beautifully although they have never played together before.

note: the sound quality of these two recordings are rather poor. After all, these video clips were captured with the tiny Canon SD450, which is the size of a pack of cigarettes. The other videos, below, were recorded with the Canon G9 and have better sound quality.




The next video, recorded April 18, 2008, is Alex and his amigos playing El Carretero.


Alex sings El Carretero (April 18, 2008) from John Brzezinski on Vimeo.

Alex is followed by a special appearance by singer Pedro. I really like his clean, silky voice.


Como Fue performed by Pedro (April 18, 2008) from John Brzezinski on Vimeo.


The last video, shows what can happen when a bunch of women get together for a birthday party. They PARTY!!! One woman begins dancing on the table and before long Pedro abandons his guitar and leaps on the table to join her.


Predro dances on the table - April 18 2008 from John Brzezinski on Vimeo.