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ACL review: Qbeta
A hot and fruitless trudge around the park in a vain quest for ice coffee put me in a foul mood, but Sicilian ensemble Qbeta immediately yanked me out of it. Led by singer-guitarist Peppe Cubeta, the eight-piece Sicilian ensemble was like a quadruple shot of espresso. They had even the chair people in the Clear 4G tent up on their feet and dancing.
Backed by a three-piece horn section, a phenomenal rhythm section, and wildly versatile guitarist Seby Forte, Cubeta radiated charisma, although the goateed singer in his black fedora looked more like a philosophy professor than a rock star, and was equally likely to emote like an opera baritone, arms stretched skyward, as to unspool a rapid-fire dancehall-reggae rap, or croon gently. Qbeta’s style, definable only by the inadequate word “eclectic,” crazily mixes traditional Mediterranean influences, ska, flamenco, funk, mambo, and a host of other genres, segueing seamlessly between them or recombining them, mostly at a rapid pace, although the group never maintained a single tempo for very long. They executed tricky dynamic shifts effortlessly, keeping fans engaged as they tried to find the right dance moves to match a new polyrhythm.
While Cubeta easily claimed the spotlight, all the band members were fascinating to watch. Forti threw himself around his part of the stage as he played, and bassist Santi Romano, grinning happily, must have made eye contact with almost every single person in the immediate vicinity of the stage. Gray-haired drummer Salvo Cubeta (brother of Peppe) was Gene Krupa one minute, and the next he and Romano were locking in a ska-funk rhythm that made you think people would start stage-diving as if they were at a Fishbone concert. When the band members started jumping up and down, nobody had to tell the crowd to do likewise.
Qbeta has terrific songs, too, including the irresistible mambo-and-then-some “Voglio Vivere Cosi” and metal-ska “Ognittanto.” The crowd gave them a rapturous round of applause as they ended their performance with a group bow at the front of the stage, and every band member smiled ear to ear.
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