Yambeque Orquesta

Salsa, merengue and cumbia sit at the core of Yambeque Orquesta in Perth, led by band leader Mateo Lorenzo and built from musicians drawn from across Australia and Asia. The band's debut album, 'Homenaje a Barranquilla', a tribute to the Colombian city of that name, carries ten tracks of salsa, merengue, cumbia and other Latin folkloric rhythms, and includes Duro, which reached number one on MadWasp Radio's UK Latin chart and the Solar Latin Club chart in Cali. Long-term residencies have run through the Windsor Hotel, the Subiaco Hotel, the Mustang Bar and the Ellington Jazz Club, with headline slots at the Spanish Film Festival, the Latin American Music Festival and the Subiaco Street Festival, plus dates in Melbourne, Darwin, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. The repertoire pulls from Grupo Niche, Cheo Feliciano and El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico alongside Tito Puente and Ray Barretto, and runs to more than 100 songs.