By: Marquis Sanchez

Percussion is everything and ascending to the second floor of the Peter Jay Sharp Building, with DJs from Discolocas setting the tone, I could feel the music in my bones. I had the privilege to attend BAM’s Free Music event featuring Afro-Cuban percussionist Pedrito Martinez.

Martinez, born in Havana, Cuba before settling in New York City in his 20s, is a world-renowned musician who has worked with the likes of Wynton Marsalis, Quincy Jones, Eddie Palmieri, Bruce Springsteen, and many more. One word that stuck with me as I was trying to process what I was experiencing was energy. There was such energy, such a speed to the music. You could feel it with the snap of their percussion, the sound of the trombone rippling through the air in conjunction with the tap dance of the piano.

In addition to the echoing voice of Martinez himself and the collective harmonization of the band as a whole, there wasn’t a pocket of silence in their performance. Even the most timid of souls couldn’t resist at least a two-step. What first struck me was the demographic of people in attendance. People of different races and backgrounds showed up and showed out for Afro-Latin music and danced the night away.

It allowed me to appreciate the physicality and spectacle that is Salsa dancing. It’s a cultural ritual of chemistry and intimacy; there’s a confidence that protrudes through each step taken or body twirled. Everyone else exists to watch the dancers engaged in it. If I can learn to be half as good of a dancer as what I saw yesterday, I’ll sleep that much better at night.