Chicago, we were at Hector's rehearsal this afternoon.  Hector is originally from Camaguey, Cuba, and is now based in Chicago.  The band was blowing the doors off the rehearsal space today - this IS the real thing.  Miss this for any reason other than illness, work, out of town or death, and your license to publicly complain about any aspect of the local concert scene will be officially revoked. For more details, see our Report From Chicago section for October 28, 2012.

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I had the privilege of seeing Pablo Milanés for the first time two weeks ago in Madrid. The concert report is pending but I want to make sure everybody knows that Pablo is still on tour and will perform this Wednesday, October 31 at Polideportivo de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. This is truly a must-not-miss concert.

          Pablo Milanés in Madrid after the show with his opening act Andrés Suárez

In addition to the tour, Pablo is about to release a new CD that is going under the working title "Renacimiento". On this album he has continued incorporating Cuban traditional dance music, this time using rumba and changüí in his arrangements. His popularity with the younger generation of troveros has led to recent collaborations with artists such as Maná, Buena Fe and Andrés Suárez.

Pablo Milanés' musical career spans more than 50 years. From the very start he was a part of some of the most interesting and important developments in Cuban trova music, from his collaboration with Grupo de Experimentación Sonora de ICAIC (GESI) to his decisive roll as one of the founders of the Nueva Trova movement in Cuba and Latin America. While he has faced controversy at times for always speaking his mind, his fans deeply love him as you can see in the video below from the Madrid concert, which he closed with: "El breve espacio en que no está" . Stay tuned for the full concert report.

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Tonight is the long awaited and slightly delayed anniversary party for Maykel Blanco y Salsa Mayor at Casa de la Música Galiano. The band's eight year anniversary passed in October, but the official party was pushed back until November. As they say, No hay mal que por bien no venga and in this case Maykel is combining the the anniversary party with promotion for the new CD "A toda máquina". If you have signed up for newsletters from their web page, you already know that the CD consist of 13 tracks, including "El songo de todos" with the participation of many of the most popular young singers in Cuba today: El Noro, Christian and Rey Alonso, Emilio Frias "El Niño ", Ailyn, as well as Salsa Mayor singers Yasser, Yordis and Alexis David. Maykel Blanco y Salsa Mayor continue to be one of the most popular young bands in Cuba and one of the bright spots on the timba horizon. The CD should be released by Planet Records in December making it the holiday gift of 2012 for all the timberos on your list!

Track List: 
Son estos
El artista soy yo
Tremenda pinta
Anda por la calle
Tú no eres mi amigo
El songo de todos
Bembé
Un kilo
Pa' que se te quite
Hazte la que no me ves
La figura

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New Van Van "Conga Tour"  featuring Mandy Cantero on lead vocals

I've decided to start sharing some of my favorite videos here at Timba.com, not just at Facebook. So let me start with El Tren, La Maquinaria, whatever you want to call them, Juan Formell & Los Van Van are back with an estreno 2012 and I am in love again! This song makes me crazy to hit the dance floor immediately!  It's another song with Mandy Cantero, the newest Van Van, on lead and despite the name it is not a conga. It is timba, baby, timba. Enjoy, and stay tuned for more of my favorite videos!

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