Latin Summer Concert Brings Energy to Hips-Shaking Audience

The upbeat Latin tunes of The Luis Mangual and The Salsa and Merengue All-Stars kept Yorktown residents on their feet as part of the Yorktown Lions summer concert series on Sunday, August 22.

Due to heavy rain, the concert was held at the Yorktown Stage. Although thousands were expected, the weather caused a much smaller turnout, about 100 people attended.

"Una mano," the vocalists sang as spectators rose out of their chairs, waving a hand in the air from side to side. People of all ages danced at their seats, aisles, and even circled the auditorium in a conga style procession. Each song ended with an enthusiastic applause from the small, yet lively crowd.

Joseph Straci, President of the Lions Club, has been putting on the summer concert series for 16 years. With local sponsors such as Yorktown Parks and Recreation and Audi Mohegan Lake, he said he hoped to continue bringing musical performances to the Yorktown community.

"We introduce a variety of genres, such as jazz or in this case, Latin, because it's music that is accepted all over the world," Straci said. "This band is beautiful, you can't sit still when you listen to their music."

More than half of the crowd was shaking their hips to the salsa tunes. 

Elise Gorman, a local who has been attending all of the concerts in the summer series, said the performance was what she had expected.

"The band is a wonderful and talented bunch," Gorman said. "The authentic music and sound really gets the crowd going."

Gorman added that she appreciated how the band shared their musical gifts with a lot of energy.

Marteze Del Rio, another local resident in the audience, was drawn to this particular concert in the series because of her love of Latin style music. Del Rio said she thought the band was excellent and would consider seeing them perform again in the future.

"The quality of the music is great and the variety [of the summer concert series] works to bring the community together, which is an important thing," Del Rio said.

The 10 band members who took the stage with trumpets, percussions, bass and more, all hail from different areas of New York City. Some have been with the band longer than others, as they vary in age and experience. For their performance in Yorktown, the band drew from three different CDs.

Luis Mangual of Luis Mangual and The Salsa and Merengue All-Stars said he grew up in the music business and his family has been playing music together for over forty years. Officially, the band has been together for four years. They produce their music under their own record label, Lujoso Productions.

"Our music is typical Cuban with New York aggressiveness," Mangual said.

During the concert, the band dedicated a song to New York City. The energetic group also dedicated a love song to a local couple in the audience who were celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary.

The vocalists also explained the writer's inspiration before each song was played, whether it be sitting in busy Paris, France or dancing all night with a beautiful woman.

Also in attendance was the Mangual family, sitting front row and center to support the family band. Ashley Mangual (the lead singer's niece and director's granddaughter) said she attends a lot of the band's concerts with her family all over New York City and surrounding areas.

"With three generations of percussionists, we're a very musical family," Mangual said. "My family originally traveled from Puerto Rico, and has been rockin' out ever since."