By ERNESTO LECHNER, Special to The Times

                      Credit a stern mother and a pair of slippers for the best band to
                      come out of Cuba in the last 15 years. Virginia Correa
                      deployed the slippers as a disciplinary device to persuade
                      8-year-old Alexis to practice his violin.
                      Fourteen years later, her approach seems to have paid off. Alexis
                      Correa is now the composer and musical director of Arte Mixto, a
                      group that plays a refreshing version of traditional Cuban son--the
                      country's main song and dance form, and the root of salsa.
                      "I didn't want to form a band where my violin would be pounding you
                      in the head all the time," explains Correa during an interview at the
                      North Hollywood headquarters of Arte Mixto's record label,
                      Ahi-Nama. The band has been in town for the last three weeks,
                      furiously promoting its second album, "Virginia" (a tribute to Correa's
                      mother, who died almost two years ago), with club and concert
                      appearances. It plays tonight at the Mayan Theatre downtown.
                      "I wanted to be creative and different in every number," Correa
                      continues. "We do Afro-Cuban, but also sambas, passages from
                      classical music, everything. We strive to achieve a constant balance.
                      My goal is for the listener never to be bored with us."
                      The octet's influences cover a rainbow of styles and genres, from
                      American pop vocal harmonies to flamenco, all assimilated
                      seamlessly, and focused in the glorious voice of singer Iris Sandra
                      Cepeda.
                      The band's use of percussion is extremely subtle. Instead of piano,
                      there's the delicate sound of two guitars. The lyrics are playfully
                      sexy, and there are two male singers complementing Cepeda's
                      powerful voice.
                      "I saw an incredible and original talent in them," says Jimmy Maslin,
                      president of Ahi-Nama, whose roster also includes Cuban artists
                      Bamboleo and Rolo Martinez. "It was like no other group I met in
                      Cuba . . . the songs, the hooks, the harmonies. In a way, that could
                      work against me commercially because these guys are so hard to
                      classify."
                      Arte Mixto has provided a much-needed antidote to the
                      commercialism plaguing Cuba's current music scene.
                      The '90s weren't a happy time for Cuban salsa. Western pop
                      influences had a negative effect, as bands started breaking up songs
                      with rap interludes and adding extra syncopation to the beats, trying
                      to make them hip. Instead of the mesmerizing fusion they envisioned,
                      they ended up concocting a forced aesthetic of excess and bad taste.
                      "All those bands have really good musicians," Cepeda says. "But
                      when it comes to composing their songs, they seem to be stuck in the
                      same pattern. And the singers sound all the same. You can't tell one
                      apart from the other."
                      The appearance of Arte Mixto in such a musical climate was nothing
                      short of a revelation. Here was a band that could merge past and
                      future tastefully, one that looked at the music of the world with
                      curiosity while still wanting to preserve Cuban traditions. Spurred by
                      the popularity of the video for its song "Aguzape," Arte Mixto is
                      rapidly gaining popularity in its homeland.
                      Arte Mixto's originality might stem in part from the fact that its
                      members come from Cienfuegos, a small city in the center of the
                      island, rather than Havana, where all the successful musicians live
                      and work.
                      "If you live in Havana, you lean towards what's more commercial,"
                      explains Maslin, who travels to Cuba regularly to take care of his
                      label's business. "Being in Cienfuegos, [the band members] lacked
                      that pressure. They were away from the competitive environment of
                      the capital. And there's a certain innocence about Cienfuegos, too.
                      People seem to be more open and genuine there."
                      It was in Cienfuegos that Correa met Cepeda and asked her to be
                      part of a new band he was putting together.
                      "Iris Sandra was sent there as a singing teacher," Correa recalls with
                      a chuckle. "One day, I saw her in the street wearing a flowery dress,
                      and I liked her instantly. We were boyfriend and girlfriend for a
                      while, and then I asked her to be the lead singer in my group."
                      "It's a good thing we're not lovers anymore, because we would have
                      ended up dead," adds Cepeda as they both laugh heartily. "We are
                      great friends, but the romance thing didn't quite work out with us."
                      * Arte Mixto plays tonight at the Mayan Theatre, 1038 S. Hill St.,
                      10:30 p.m. $12. (323) 746-4287.

                      Copyright 1998 Los Angeles Times.