Notes of Latino Los Angeles at the Usadba Jazz Fest

The Usadba Jazz Festival in Arkhangelskoye is one of Moscow’s most popular cultural events every summer. It takes place on three stages spread throughout the wooded grounds of the 18th-century estate that belonged first to the storied Golytsin family and later to the equally well-known Yusupov family.

This year, as part of a tour of Russia, the Los Angeles-based Latino group Kimera performed at the festival on its final day, June 7. Prior to that, they performed at the Composer’s House in Moscow, at a benefit concert for homeless children in the city of Zaraisk and at a festival in Krasnodar.

After Kimera’s final Russian concert, I pulled the band’s bass player, percussionist and leader Daniel Groisman aside to get his impressions of Russia. In the first video below, Daniel talks about the trip to Zaraisk, where the band had the opportunity to see the world-famous Bolshoi Theater bass Vladimir Motorin sing in a 19th-century church. While in Zaraisk, the band, whose other members are lead vocalist and guitarist Alberto Mirabal and lead guitarist Joe De Sa, were also convinced to strip naked and take a 40-second dip in a holy spring. He didn’t expect it to, but it felt great, Daniel said.

In Krasnodar, Kimera played for 1,000 enthusiastic spectators who surprised the musicians with their love for, and knowledge of, Latino music. “People are like Latinos here — the energy they have,” Daniel said of Russian audiences. That enthusiasm was also evident at Arkhangelskoye. Check out the band playing the old chestnut “Volare” in the second video below.