Saturday was a big day…not only was Puerto Rican diva Choco Orta headlining the festival with Austin’s own party band Grupo Fantasma but I was also dj’ing my second night at Tempo Latino. Choco worked the press on Friday: singing at the press gatherings and wanting to be taken seriously as the heir to Celia Cruz’s throne. I was only able to check out 3 songs but she clearly showed off her powerful singing voice backed by a swinging band with tight coro singers. Her old school repertoire from her recording “Ahora Mismo” included gems from the Machito and Celia songbook. She danced like a staggering woman possessed by voodoo. She was nervous and self concious on stage but turned into a dynamo as soon as the music started. I missed her fiery conga and timbales solos later in the set as I had to run to start my gig. Grupo Fantasma played a tremendous opening set..more salsafied than when I saw them at South By Southwest. Fantasma was made up of an explosive brass section, screaming guitars, fine lead vocalists and played a set that included cumbia, funk, latin rock, bolero and descarga. Vocalist Jose Galeano took the place of two missing percussionists with fire and chops behind his percussion set of timbales, congas and bongos. Eric Duffau introduced their encore by stating “La Revelacion” to the crowd and revealed that Fantasma had earned themselves a headlining spot in the future. The crowd roared with approval. I started at La Conga earlier than expected because the place was nearly packed by 12:15 am! I tore it up on my first of 3 sets before our musical guests Zulu 9.30, a reggae band from Barcelona started. Zulu 9.30 struck a chord with the partying crowd although the salseros backstage were asking me when I was going to come on. The crowd was screaming for more at the end of their set. I had no choice but to play the best music that I felt at the moment. I started with Bobby Valentin’s “Aqui No Me Quedo” and the rest was history-the entire La Conga dance floor was packed with dancers! What a great scene! I loved playing at Tempo Latino!