Yulién Oviedo has just released his new video for "Cuba está de moda" and it couldn't have arrived at a more propitious time with visits later this month by President Obama and The Rolling Stones who will give a free concert. An enjoyable salsaton with fun coros and even a tip of the hat to the US national anthem. Well played Yulién, well played.

deja un comentario

continue reading Timbera Mayor

Wow - either one of these artists would be big news, but together it's a revelation. Issac is famous for his improvisation and his ability to soar over some of the greatest rhythm sections in Cuban music history and as we all know, PMG makes the short list in that particularly category. It's a marriage made in heaven at one of the great outdoor venues. Click here for more info.

deja un comentario

continue reading La Última

Alexander Abreu & Havana D'Primera have just released the official video clip for the single "Conga pa' cerrar" from their latest album "La vuelta al mundo". This is another blazing arrangement by these masters of Timba and cubanía . They have been working on their new CD and in February released a little teaser of the new song "Siempre sí" on the Havana D'Primera Facebook page . This month they perform in Venezuela, next month Peru, and Alexander has also recorded on the upcoming CD by Emilio Frias "El Niño" y La Verdad. 2016 is going to be a great year for timba releases!

And here is the teaser of "Siempre sí".

deja un comentario

continue reading Timbera Mayor

"History was made earlier this week when President Obama became the 2nd sitting American president to visit Cuba in nearly 90 years, and while all eyes (and ears) continue to await the results of the recent thaw in US-Cuban relations, it is clear that the Bay Area has had a long-standing love affair with Cuban music for decades." -- Pianist & Composer Rebeca Mualeón, form an interview with Jesús Alemañy of ¡Cubanismo!, performing at the SF Jazz Center this week March 24-28. Click here to read the full interview. 

Jesús Alemañy & ¡Cubanismo!
March 24-27 @ the SF Jazz Center
7:30 pm every night
SFJAZZ Center
201 Franklin Street, San Francisco, CA 94102
Click HERE for tickets
Box office 415-788-7353

check out and listen to ¡Cubanismo! on youtube

¡Cubanismo! founder Jesús Alemañy came to fame as a brilliant 15-year-old trumpet player for the iconic Cuban group Sierra Maestra – the band that led to the formation of Buena Vista Social Club – and carries on in that fiery Cuban tradition. Alemañy’s all-star orchestra plays sizzling dance tunes full of swaggering horn charts and wild polyrhythms that recall the vintage big-band son sound of the 1940s and 50s, embracing traditional rumba, cha-cha, danzon and pa’ca rhythms arranged in the classic descarga, or “jam session” style. Their 1996 self-titled debut album was a global smash, listed in the Top Ten lists of Billboard, Latin Beat, and Afropop Worldwide that year. In the two decades that followed, ¡Cubanismo! have toured the world relentlessly, while releasing a series of recordings that have expanded the venerated son sound to incorporate influences from American music, in particular the swampy, second-line rhythms of New Orleans, as well as the dancehall sounds of Jamaica. Since its beginning, ¡Cubanismo! has been a proving ground for many of Cuba’s greatest young musicians including pianist Alfredo Rodríguez and bassist Carlitos del Puerto, and the current incarnation is no exception, presenting a blazing ensemble of horns, rhythm section and percussion that transforms a concert hall into a hot night in Havana. 

deja un comentario

continue reading Pa' Ponerte en Talla