Paseo Malanga began as an open music workshop under the wing of the Cuba Solidarity Campaign in 1993.
Dave Willetts had just returned from living in Santiago and wanted to attract more people to the Cuban cause as well as injecting some fun and culture into the campaign.
These workshops culminated in a costume parade on 26th July (carnival time in Santiago) along Oxford Street. Once we'd sorted out who was really into the Conga we became the Moving Targets Street Band and introduced the Conga Parade to regular street events such as the Clerkenwell Festival, Stoke Newington Street Festival (this is still the regular highlight of our year), Brighton Festival and the Burning of the Clocks Parade along Brighton seafront, various events for Cuba Solidarity as well as Latin Clubs and parties across the country. As our sound developed more towards a typical Santiago 'Paseo' of full horn section and rolling conga percussion, we became 'Paseo Malanga' and set about refining our set which now includes classic congas such as 'flores','mirala que linda viene' and 'la chambelona' as well as other parading tunes such as the 'timbalada', a samba reggae by Olodum and a conga - cha. We continue to parade and play at events such as the RHS flower show at Hampton Court Palace, the Respect festival in the Millennium Dome and Notting Hill carnival.
We have worked with members of the Congas Los Hoyos and San Pedrito as well as members of Paseo La Placito and the Cuban Music Theatre Group Estudio Macuba as well as the son group Sonera La Calle.
David has played and paraded with the Congas Los Hoyos, San Agustin and El Guayabito. During Summer 2000 Malanga was invited to represent the UK in the Rainforest World Music Festival in Sarawak, leading workshops, parading and topping the bill of a four day festival in the heart of the Borneo rainforest. We also played the carnival in Santiago de Cubaa and paraded in carnival 2004.