Shawn Cabbell

“Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”

I believe that Latin music reaches far beyond a beat, melody or a lyric to tell a story and deliver a message. I first became infected with Latin rhythms when I spent two weeks in a town called El Cercado in the Dominican Republic. After working all day treating patients, we all looked forward to the sun going down, grabbing an El Presidente and walking down to “El Disco” to listen to Merengue and Bachata all night long. I’m not sure if the songs that we heard every night were “really that good” or if I liked them so much because I heard the same songs over and over again! Needless to say, I quickly added Merengue and Bachata to my music rotation when I came home.

In the summer of 2004, my good friend Ibrahim and I started promoting a Wednesday night party at The Red Room. At the time, I didn’t know much about Salsa other than it seemed to be all that was played when I waited for the Merengue and Bachata at the Jazz Kitchen! After listening to a few CD’s and taking a few beginner Salsa dance lessons, I thought that it might be a good idea to mix a little Salsa into the international mix at the Red Room. The response was remarkable. From that point on I spent countless hours searching for new music, listening to music that people let me borrow and playing more and more Salsa until I was eventually hooked!

Even after falling in love with the music, it still took some time before the infection spread from my ears to my feet! I always wanted to learn how to dance Salsa, but I always had an excuse not to get on the dance floor. After a while, I got tired of doing basic turns over and over and I thought it might be a good idea to take a few more lessons. Once I learned to do a dip, it was all over! I think that having a greater appreciation for the music made learning to dance much easier and a lot of fun at the same time.

When I was avoiding the dance floor and turning down all of those ladies that wanted to dance, I ask myself “Why weren’t you doing this earlier?” I would encourage anyone that loves music, loves to dance or simply wants to try something new to experience Salsa! You’ll never be the same afterwards.