Rita Indiana, Geko Jones And Choc Quib Town Play Central Park For LAMC

This past Saturday, I was lucky enough to visit New York’s Central Park for a special concert featuring Rita Indiana and Choc Quib Town. In between sets, DJ Geko Jones spun masterfully short tracks, sampled Beyoncé and fired up the crowd. He declared that “Colombia está presente!” — Colombia is here!

I surprised myself by screaming, “RITA!” when the fabulous Rita Indiana took the stage, rolling my Rs like the best of them. Some folks ahead of me got seriously down to the Dominican “lover boy” and her brand of sped-up merengue. I couldn’t let loose as much as they did, but seeing an androgynous Latina take the stage, without apology or artifice, made one of the most exciting scenes I’ve witnessed in a long time. Her hard-working male backup dancers were like an inside joke about the music industry.

When Choc Quib Town played, we in the audience got a reprieve from the drastic summer heat as a cool breeze began to blow. Lead singer Tostao asked everyone to focus their energy on the music and the moment. It must have worked, because soon the sounds of the Colombian Coast lulled everyone into a kind of collective groove. Once the band sang, “somos pacifico” — we are pacific — I could finally get down. From there, the buena onda, or good energy, just flowed, past the taco stands and the remote-controlled sailboats on the pond, all the way to the outer boroughs.

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