LOS VAN VAN, the dance band which is practically synonymous with Cuban music after the Revolution, was formally incorporated December 4 (the day of Changó), 1969.

Van Van leader Juan Formell had joined the charanga of Elio Revé a year and a half previously, and with Formell contributing tunes and arrangements that band - Changüí '68 - was a runaway success in Havana. But Formell found Revé's format too restrictive, and he left, quickly followed by a number of other members, including Revé pianist César Pedroso ("Pupy").

The new group took the name Los Van Van, playing ironically on the then-omnipresent slogan for the disastrous 1970 sugar harvest: "Los diez millones van". Using rock-type instruments and timbres, the orchestra was an instant hit in Cuba. At a time when listening to foreign music was considered "ideological diversionism," they represented an important lifeline to contemporaneity in Cuban music, within the context of Cuban dance music.

The group has remained at the top in Cuba. (As Y2K rolled around, the #1 song in Cuba was Van Van's version of Pedroso's tune "El Negro Está Cocinando.") In the late 70s, Formell added three trombones to the typical charanga instrumentation of violins and flute, giving the band a different weight to its sound and affording it wider timbral possibilities.

Los Van Van's sound is peculiar, instantly recognizable and has few imitators. But all Cuban bands that came along subsequently owe a debt to LVV. Formell is, in the words of the late Emilio Vandenedes, Cuba's Lennon and McCartney in one person. His lyrics have always paid close attention to the street, and the title of whatever their current hit is will inevitably be on the lips of habaneros as a catch phrase applied to practically any situation. A reorganization of the group in the mid-90s added singers Mario Rivera "Mayito" and Roberto Hernández to a lineup which already included gravel-voiced stud Pedro Calvo. This incendiary front line can be heard on their last several albums, including their greatest - Ay, Dios, ¡Ampárame! - which was never released in the United States. Their big-budget 1999 release, Llegó Van Van, won a Grammy for best salsa performance, in spite of not quite being what most people think of as "salsa". Calvo left the band in late 2000.