Bio Ritmo’s latest CD, its fourth in 12 years, has just been released nationally, and it’s climbing the charts in Europe.  International acclaim seems a long way from a regular biweekly performance at Emilio’s, the band’s home base at the corner of Broad and Meadow streets.

Tonight the nine-member band is holding sway along the dining room wall.  The floor’s been cleared for a dancing crowd that spills out into the bar and edges the doorman onto the sidewalk.

The group formed in 1991 as a percussion ensemble to accompany IMAX movies at the Science Museum of Virginia.  “The first two years were experimental,” lead singer Rei Alvarez says.  “We loved the salsa sound, but we didn’t know how to play.”

Lack of knowledge was more blessing than curse, according to percussionist Guistino (Justin) Riccio.  “We share a common aesthetic and brought anything in that appealed to our taste.  We got a much better understanding when we stepped back and started to realize all the things that influenced salsa.”

Definitively multicultural music, salsa was brewed in 70’s Puerto Rican New York from Afro-Cuban roots, rock attitude and R&B soul.  While adhering to the traditional forms, the band’s current working approach is a departure from the norm. “Most bands have a leader, who chooses the material and writes the charts,”Riccio says.  “Everybody else is a hired hand.”  Bio Reitmo was that kind o group for years, with singer Rene Herrera at the helm.

The hierarchy dissolved when Alvarez, a founding member, returned from Ne York and took over lead vocals.  The fresh approach revitalized the band.  “Now we’re mre like a grage rock band” Riccio says, “openminded and collaborative.”

Adding pianist Marlysse Simmons was another positive change. “She shares our taste and humor,” Alvarez says, “and she has the same way of experimenting.  She could play with us right away.” In other words, she fit right in with the band’s intuitive, school-of-fish unison shifts and wheels.  After 12 years, Bio Ritmo is a band reborn, returning to its roots with a passionate creativity rare in a group that’s been around this long.