Orquesta Manplesa’s salsa para la gente (for the people)

It’s no coincidence that D.C.’s newest salsa band, Orquesta Manplesa, shares a name with La Manplesa, the unofficial Hispanic neighborhood that encompasses D.C.’s Columbia Heights and Mount Pleasant neighborhoods. Named by the community, La Manplesa is a place where migrants (primarily from Latin America) have created a home away from home.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the area experienced large inflows of migrants and refugees fleeing from civil wars and strife in El Salvador and other Central American countries. Since then, the diaspora of La Manplesa has developed into a community through cultural expressions like music and performance.

Despite gentrification, the original concept of La Manplesa still holds true today. Even as people move away, La Manplesa maintains a sense of home. People return to the area frequently to visit loved ones, eat at their favorite restaurant or enjoy live music and dance salsa to Orquesta Manplesa’s performances in Mount Pleasant’s Lamont Plaza.

“We are the District. We are a flag, too… like in the documentary ‘La Manplesa,’” says Camilo Montoya, one of the founders of the band. “There was an older generation of artists who put up a flag and said, ‘This place is Latino.’ So here comes another generation of artists who bring that flag and move it somewhere else.”

With roots in Nicaragua, Mexico, Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Guatemala, Orquesta Manplesa follows the musical tradition of La Manplesa by bringing together various Latin musical influences. People dance salsa during Orquesta Manplesa’s outdoor concerts, enjoying evening performances at Haydee’s Restaurant or Marx Cafe in Mount Pleasant a few times a month. If lucky enough, one can hear their band practices through a window on 11th Street in Columbia Heights. 

The band came together this past summer through the inspirations of Montoya and Joe Lostumbo. The two went to high school together. Now Lostumbo — who recently received a bachelor’s in music from Berklee College of Music in Boston — plays the bass in Orquesta Manplesa. Montoya, a company manager at the Gala Hispanic Theatre, plays the congas and does percussion for the band.

Months earlier in January 2024 at Bossa Bistro + Lounge, Montoya and Lostumbo were enjoying Bongo District, a Latin-influenced, reggae-funk band. Watching the band onstage, they looked at each other, and Montoya said, “What’s stopping us from being like them?” 

On a mission, the two friends recruited other band members. Orquesta Manplesa started to form into a big band with nine members. Diego Villeda plays the trumpet, and Henry Chavez plays the piano. Both have music degrees from Towson University in Towson, Maryland. Glen Munson, another Towson graduate, and Jose Niño, a research assistant at the Federal Reserve, both play the trombone. Collin Eccles plays the drums and timbales, and fellow trained musician, Camilo Linares, accompanies them with vocals.

Everyone was more than interested in performing salsa. At that time, only one piece of the band was missing. It was Maria Elizabeth Peguero, according to Montoya. Peguero is a professional singer, teacher and musician who studied at a conservatory in the Dominican Republic. She is the lead vocalist for the band that so inspired Montoya and Lostumbo (Bongo District), and she has her own band called Maria and the Sacred Hearts. Peguero says she has always wanted to sing salsa. 

 “I used to sing all kinds of genres. Merengue, bachata, you name it. But when I moved here, I stopped. I was just doing pop, pop rock and cumbia, which is not the type of music I grew up listening to,” says Peguero. “I missed that.” 

“Then one day Camilo tells me, ‘Hey, I founded this salsa band.’ At first, I thought that it was for fun and [wouldn’t be] serious, but after our first practice, I thought there was potential,” adds Peguero. “And our first gig was really good.”

Because the band includes several full-time musicians who together have seven music degrees, precision and craft are very important to them. When creating their sound, they decided they are first and foremost a salsa band. They perform salsa classics, mainly sticking to Colombian hits from the 60s and the 70s, or “the golden era of salsa,” as Montoya puts it. 

“That’s the beauty of the classics,” says Peguero. “People get excited right when we start a new song.” 

The band is also considering writing their own original music, but they first want to learn the repertoire of salsa. “We can start adding our own style and taste [from there],” says Montoya. “That’s how we grow as a band.”

Orquesta Manplesa’s debut performance was at a concert for D.C.’s New Minimum Wage, organized by DC Jobs with Justice last July in Lamont Plaza. It was a fitting venue, considering Lamont Plaza’s importance to D.C.’s Latine history. In 1991, Lamont Plaza was the epicenter for the Latine uprising sparked by the police shooting of Daniel Gomez, a Salvadoran immigrant. The plaza still serves as a place for community gathering, activism and live music. The band’s debut performance was a huge success, as community members filled the plaza from the late afternoon into the evening.

“It was the hottest day of the year,”  recalls Montoya.

 “And people were still dancing salsa,” adds Niño.

“It was the sweatiest salsa you’ve ever seen,” continues Linares.

Since then, the band has only grown closer. 

“We hang out. We mess with each other,” jokes Montoya. “We’re also getting to know each other as we go.” 

Orquesta Manplesa’s members say they prefer to play in smaller, more intimate venues, creating a closer relationship with their audience members. They work to make sure their performances are accessible to the community by having gigs with no covers and shows take place entirely outside.

“It’s all about being part of the community because that’s how this whole thing started,” says Montoya. “I always say we’re gente [people]. We are with everybody — we’re having drinks with people, we’re dancing with people, we’ll follow up on Instagram, etcetera.” 

It is obvious Orquesta Manplesa shares a special connection with their audience, as they reach multiple generations of salsa lovers in the District.  

“My parents don’t come to my other bands’ gigs,” says Montoya, who also plays in Los Locos, a rock, cumbia and jazz band. “They don’t like rock, but they’ve come to most of Orquesta Manplesa’s gigs. They love it. They bring their friends. I’ve never had a project that brings my parents out.”

Jose Niño, one of the band’s trombone players, points out that there are not a lot of young people interested in the salsa scene in D.C.  “[Salsa is] an older music that is almost losing its audience,” he says, but Orquesta Manplesa consistently draws in a younger crowd, as well.

From the beginning, Orquesta Manplesa has had a lot of community support. From family and friends to other local bands and community members, D.C.’s latest salsa band has been well-received. In fact, they say they don’t feel competitive with other bands because they all understand the love for performance and hope of growing their platforms. 

“There’s just not really a limit. The group that we have feels special from the inside, so people will feel and connect with that,” says Linares. “We want to show people what we can do.”

Catch Orquesta Manplesa on February 12th at Pearl Street Warehouse at 8 p.m.

– Story by Olivia Olson

– Copy edited by Michelle Benitez