Credit: Courtesy photo

“I  just love salsa music so much. I always say it’s movement music. And I don’t mean movement as in dancing, that’s obvious, but in social movements. It’s about ‘out of many, one.’” 

Orlando Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost is dealing with a dystopian hellscape in the U.S. Congress — endless wars, the Epstein files, defunding healthcare, ICE —  and despite it all, he’s starting a salsa band back home. 

La Orquesta Yeya is a 10-piece salsa band of high school friends: Frost, Niyah Lowell, Alex Bodytko, Shawn Villanueva, Ivan Garcia, Sam Silva, Danny Carrion, Linette Perez Heredia, Jose Rojas and Daniel Chico. Frost plays the timbales, joined by bandmates on cuatro guitar, violin, congas, trombone and flute. 

“It’s nine working musicians and a congressman,” he jokes. “So thank you, Doodle [time management software] free trial for helping us  find, like, the 90 minutes everyone can get together.” 

But this isn’t Frost’s first salsa stint: “Well, it really starts back when I was 14 years old, and I had a salsa band in high school.” 

Frost and his friends got hooked on salsa via their high-school jazz class, and started a band, Seguro Que Si. Many of La Orquesta Yeya’s members were part of this band too. They played all over Central Florida, and even made history with a gig at President Barack Obama’s first inauguration. “We became the first salsa band ever to perform in an inaugural parade.” (Frost applied for the band to perform representing Florida, and won.) 

Memories of Segura Que Is Credit: Courtesy

La Orquesta Yeya is named after Frost’s late grandmother, Yeye. “All my friends from my original salsa band knew her,” shares Frost. “We’re practicing, it’s not sounding great at first and we’re figuring it out. Most people probably go to their room and shut the door, but my grandma would literally pull up her rocking chair and just sit there and watch us the whole time.” 

In addition to inspirations from the past, Frost credits current salsa acts for providing crucial pointers and sparks. “This band was really inspired by another band I saw live when I was in New York called Los Hacheros,” says Frost. “I was like, ‘This is what I want to do.’  They play very traditional Afro-Cuban salsa music. We’re going to play some newer stuff, but we’re really trying to take it back a bit.”

Throughout our conversation, Frost dives deep into salsa music history and styles. “Everything I know about Caribbean music really came from my dad, because he plays the steel pans,” says Frost. “I grew up seeing West Indian guys come to my house and play with my dad and learning about those flavors.”  

During the week of Orlando Weekly’s interview with Frost, the Supreme Court eviscerated the 1965 Voting Rights Act, one of the most successful civil rights measures in history. And our own state of Florida steamrolled newly gerrymandered congressional maps, designed to tip the scales in favor of Republicans loyal to Donald Trump’s right-wing agenda. 

The deeper you go into salsa music history, the more clear the origins of present-day tragedies become. But so does the incredible power of people and music. 

“It’s about ‘out of many, one,’” Frost emphasizes. “When they come together, it creates this sound that first came from Africa, traveled from Africa via African Black slaves to Cuba, brought part of their cultural heritage there, mixed with a type of music called son. All these different flavors came together, went to New York, added horns, and now you have salsa music. And it’s just crazy.”

“It’s really movement music, so it’s sick. And a lot of salsa music tells the history of social movements, of Black people,” he adds. “So I’m just so into salsa, man, and it’s just fire. It’s fire music.” 

Their debut show is this weekend, at a brunch in support of Frost’s reelection campaign. They’ll have just one practice under their belts, a few days prior. “It’s kind of like an experiment. We want to see how people like it, how we sound together.” Their goal is to eventually book gigs, specifically to support fundraising efforts for community organizations. 

For bookings, you can directly message Frost. “Yeah, people should just DM me. Bro, I’m the band manager. Hit me up at @maxwellfrostfl if you want to book us.” 

10:30 a.m. Saturday, May 9, Grape & the Grain, 1110 Virginia Drive, grapeandthegrain.com, $20-$250.

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This article appears in May 6-12, 2026.