A YouTube dream: Cuban music performance wins New Brunswick Youth Orchestra 1 million views

When a video of the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra performing the Cuban "Mambo Potpourri" reached 800,000 views on Youtube, the performers decided to up the stakes.

And sure enough, aftercalling on their audienceto view the video, they hit the jackpot.

The video now has 1,020,233views.

"We shared a couple of clips on the video screen of the mambo piece, and we said to this large crowd 'go home, login, view the video and helpus get over that onemillion mark,'" said KenMacLeod, CEO of the orchestra.

Latin influence

But the video didn't just pique the interest of orchestra fans.

Noticing the high number of views on Youtube,a major U.S. website, Jazz on the Tube, decided toreviewthe performance.

MacLeod said the website holds the biggest online collection of jazz videos on earth.

In its review, itdescribed New Brunswick as a province in Canada, "mostly rural."

The websitealsoposed the question ofhow many Latin American peoplelive in this part of the country.

"And then basically asked the question 'how is it possible, in this small province, that we couldhave an orchestra like this and a performance like this?'" he said.

The websiteended up crediting Antonio Delgado, the orchestra's music director and conductor, for inspiration, said MacLeod.

Delgado used to conduct a world renowned orchestra, theSistema Nacional de Orquestas Juveniles e Infantiles de Venezuela(National System of Youth and Children's Orchestras of Venezuela).

'They said it would be like the Estonian basketball team winning the NBA.- KenMacLeod, CEO of theNew Brunswick Youth Orchestra

It also mentioned the New Brunswick performers'win in Viennaat a youth orchestra competition as a factor in their great performance.

"It's an amazing accomplishment and you're watching the group that did it and they did it with Cuban music," the review concluded.

"They were right about that," said MacLeod. "They said it would be like the Estonian basketball team winning the NBA."

What's next?

MacLeod said the support for the orchestra has been extraordinary.

As for another video, he only said the orchestra has already recorded and is set to perform a new piece as part of their Canada 150 tour through the province.

"Well, look, maybe it will be the Howard Shore piece," he said.