Photo by Paul Sanders The Band MangoSon is a seven-piece band from Seattle that takes a fresh look at traditional Cuban son, Dominican merengue, cumbia, and Venezuelan parranda -- percussion-heavy music that cuts through the formalities to get you dancing. Unlike other Latin bands, we are not heavy with brass, relying on only one trumpet or flügelhorn. Our forms start on a solid base of congas, trapset, maracas or güira and electric bass. What sets us apart is the unexpected blending of Puerto Rican and Venezuelan cuatros, instruments separated at birth during colonial times. Finally, we stick with simple vocal lines and harmonies, letting the total blend be the signature of each song. Ultimately, we want to recreate the sounds you might have heard in the street corners and marketplaces of coastal cities of Latin America before the onslaught of keyboards and electric guitars, the beat carried to the New World in the chanting of African slaves, in the sad verses of Spanish and Portuguese peasants, in the homesick squeeze boxes of sailors. We want our music to smell of sweet rum, black beans and rice, plantains and casabe. We want to bring to life the sound of the trade winds. We have played shows at the Tractor Tavern, The Triple Door, Mojito Cafe, Nectar, Tost, The Contour, and at festivals like Folklife and Bumbershoot, to name a few. It might be useful to think of MangoSon as a musical community, not just a band. You will often see some of our friends in the lineup, folks like Larry Rock or Edsson Otero on congas and bongos, George Iftner on trumpet, or Julio Jáuregui on piano. Whatever the mix, wear comfortable shoes, because you are going to dance all night!