Summerfest's Harley-Davidson Roadhouse stage became an enclave of Puerto Rican pride on Sunday, July 7, as La Sonora Ponceña plied scintillating salsa music for a crowd unafraid to show their appreciation through dancing nearly as much as clapping.
The 13-member ensemble dressed in festive flamingo-festooned tops got some audience members on their feet nigh immediately, primed as they were by Van Lester's tribute act to late salsa popularizer Héctor Lavoe earlier in the evening. Tight as Lester's band was, they offered only a fraction of the onslaught offered by the headliners who followed. Though he was relegated to the side of the platform with bassist Alexander Rosa, the linchpin to La Sonora's propulsive sound was pianist Papo Lucca.
Over the insistent melodic figures Lucca played, a trio of percussionists on timbales, cowbell, bongos and congas intertwined with the quartet of trumpeters to buoy the four singers out front, with a tenor lead to the audience’s left and his baritone complement to the right. Two of Sonora's veteran members were the gents in the middle of the vocal front line, who dueted a bit to start one of the act’s 10 long songs.
And though the overall effect is different, and arguably sweeter, with its Afro Cuban origin, it may be helpful to hear La Sonora Ponceña and other salsa on similar terms as African American funk. Even the instruments one first believed to be carrying the melody, such as the brass and keyboards, carried at least as much of percussive attack. The multiplicity of drums made for polyrhythms that coordinate the beats that dancers picked up on.
Whatever the bodily response to the music and the lyrics’ romantic storylines, it afforded occasions for the band to display affection for the island of their heritage (they’re named for Ponce, Puerto Rico's second largest city). Displays of the Puerto Rican single-star flag on and offstage peppered the act’s nearly 90-minute performance, as did the occasional shout of “Boricua!” to affirm ethnic solidarity of much of La Sonora Ponceña’s listenership.
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