Lanzallamas Monofonica Perform at the Van Dyke this Fri.

(Photo via Lanzallamas' Myspace page.)

Formed in 2006 by former Suenalo percussionist Fabi Patiño, Lanzallamas Monofónica epitomizes what is often described as the "Miami Sound" - a hodgepodge of musical influences from the South Florida melting pot.

"Lanzallamas is a project that I created based on my experience in Miami," explains the Mexican-born Patiño, who serves as percussionist, guitarist, and main songwriter for the band. "I've been here since 1993 and played with just about every other local band, in all kinds of genres, ranging from Brazilian music to jazz to funk to salsa and reggae, always involved in the original music scene." Lanzallamas, who have yet to release a commercial disc (you can hear some tunes on their MySpace page), perform an upbeat set that includes samba, Latin jazz, reggae, funk, Afro-Brazilian and Afro-Colombian grooves. The lyrics, as well, are sung in English, Spanish and Portuguese - something that Patiño describes as coming directly from the Miami experience. "I started out working with a lot of Brazilian bands, then all of a sudden I found myself gravitating into writing songs in Portuguese," he says with a chuckle. "English was pretty much my second language, and then you have the whole mix of languages here in Miami - they call that stuff like Spanglish or Portuñol."

He also says that as the group gets closer to entering a recording studio, his bandmates are beginning to pitch in with compositions of their own. "We are now moving into a more collaborative thing - everyone is bringing lyrics, arrangements and new music to the table. We are starting to blend our ideas a lot, so the sound is expanding more than ever now."

-- Ernest Barteldes