ENGLISH: On June 17th La Liga Habanera gave a concert at Fasching in Stockholm and I sat down with director and drummer Max Alton and singer Daniel Baro for a few minutes to talk about their upcoming single "Hacerse El Sueco" as well as the difficulties of rehearsing and recording in Sweden. Since the song is about a Swede in Havana, Max himself sings lead vocals on this track! The video includes a few short teasers from the demo. The single should be out in the fall. The interview is in Spanish with English subtitles.

Max is currently in Cuba and took the opportunity to film a video for the new song. Here is a photo he shared with us from the filming.

Max está en Cuba y nos pasó una foto de la grabación del videoclip 

ESPAÑOL: El 17 de junio La Liga Habanera dio un concierto en Fasching en Estocolmo y me senté con el director y baterista Max Alton y el cantante Daniel Baro durante unos minutos para hablar de su próximo single "Hacerse El Sueco", así como las dificultades de ensayar y grabar en Suecia. ¡Ya que la canción trata de un sueco en La Habana, el mismísmo Max canta voz principal en esta pista! El video incluye algunos cortos teasers de la demo. El single debe estar a la venta en el otoño. La entrevista está en español con subtítulos en inglés.

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Not taking time to rest from their recent European tour, David Calzado y Su Charanga Habanera are touring Canada. They have performed in Toronto and Vancouver. On Wednesday they will be in Edmonton, AB and Friday in Montreal, QC. They are performing a mix of new songs, recent hits and classic medleys. The boys are always a great time so don't miss the show! Here is a link for Edmonton tickets. And click here for tickets to the Montreal show. As a little preview here is a clip form the new song "Arriba de lo mal hecho" performed in Vancouver.

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photo courtesy Tiempo Libre    

Jorge Gómez, líder de Tiempo Libre,  habla del nuevo proyecto en español aquí

Tiempo Libre has never been afraid to take risks, whether fusing Bach with Cuban Music, working with symphonies, mixing in other genres of popular music with Timba  and  projects with Joshua Bell and James Galway. They have paid a price of sorts for that path - rather than being the darlings of the less expensive dance halls, they have sometimes had to settle for the likes of the Tonight Show, Live From Lincoln Center, several prestige festivals and three GRAMMY nominations.   They have still been a perfectly danceable música popular bailable band throughout, just maybe a little too uptown at tmes for some of the most hard core Timba purists (which has never stopped open-minded listeners like yours truly from getting into them or most of the dancers either).   

photo courtesy Tiempo Libre

Now comes a new Tiempo Libre project, Bohemia, a quartet that interprets more traditional material from the Cuban songbook.   This isn't the first time that timberos have gone to the traditional songbook- former vanvanero Mayito Rivera for example has delved deep into Rumba and Son. Tiempo Libre itself had its US road debut in Chicago, so it is fitting that Bohemia's road debuts are on Tuesday, August 1 in Minneapolis (Dakota) and Wednesday,  August 2 in Chicago (City Winery). Those of you in those cities will be the first to hear this outside of Miami.   Both of these are among the best venues in their cities for presenting this type of music (I can vouch from experience that the City WInery also has excellent food and drink). 

Jorge Gómez tells us about the new project  in English here

Basically, there will be two Tiempo Libre groups now -the Tiempo Libre that we've known for years, and the Bohemia project.    You can get a taste of  the Bohemia project on their Facebook page here. 

For more information (and tickets) for the Dakota performance, click here....

For more information (and tickets) for the City Winery performance, click here....

Both Tiempo Libre's Bohemia project and the full Tiempo Libre ensemble will be on tour in the weeks to come.  You can see their schedule here.......

Septeto Santiaguero is on the road in the US with engagements in multiple cities in support of their latest album Raiz (you can read a review here), which was nominated in the Raíces Soneras y Campesinas category in Cubadisco 2017.   (Septeto Santiaguero  already has some recent Cubadisco and Latin GRAMMY® awards under its belt.)   
As a Chicagoan, I wish to let my fellow Chicagoans know that Septeto Santiaguero will be performing here on Saturday, August 5 at Martyrs, 3855 N. Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, Illinois:   This is being presented by HotHouse, and you can see more information here.   I have seen them live in both Santiago and la Habana, and they pack a wallop - musically speaking, I actually prefer them live by themselves, as they will be here, to their many collaborations with more "famous" artists.   
You can see an earlier version of the tour schedule here, but there have been some date changes, so be sure to verify before you go. 

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Hay Un Run Run is the first single and video for Septeto Santiaguero's new double-album: No Quíero Llanto, Tributo A Los Compadres. The tune features José Alberto and a fantastic vocal-only breakdown with clever (mouth) percussion effects. A real hoot! 

The album is a collaboration with Dominican Salsa Star José Alberto (El Canario) -- who also co-produced the work -- and will be released on his record label. The songs are a tribute to the famous trova duo Los Compadres, of which Compay Segundo of Buena Vista Social Club fame was once tresero and singer. The release date is May 12. 

It also features a slew of incredible artists: Osacar D'León, Eliades Ochoa, Andy Montañez, recent Latin Grammy & Grammy Nominee Aymee Nuviola, Ismael Miranda, Tiburón Morales, Grupo Esencia from Puerto Rico (their track Sarandonga is gold!) and Edwin Bonilla.

Check out Bill Tilford's review (English and Spanish) here or click on the album cover below...

Also very cool is this "making of" video, in which José Alberto and the members of the septeto speak about Los Compadres and their influence on Cuban music and the "son" genre. I especially like the part that discusses the use of whistling that became a unique stamp of the classic santiaguero group that preceded the septeto. Here it is... 

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