We lost another great Los Van Van musician this week. Pedrito was a charter member of Charanga Habanera, switching over to Van Van in about 1996. In addition to being a fine violinist and percussionist, he was one of the great dancing musicians of all time. When he did his violin bow dance with Van Van he visually captured the joy of music better than anyone I've ever seen.

Pedrito was also one of the most genuinely warm and kind human beings in the world of Latin music. He will be sorely missed.

Here's a recent clip.

Click here for more of Tom Ehrlich's photos.

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Click here for Tom's report and gallery from September's Monterey Jazz Festival. (also videos)

Zahili González Zamora

Alfredo Rodríguez

Quincy Jones

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Timbasa is the latest brainchild of Václav Greif, the young Czech Republic virtuoso who was responsible for the sessions that resulted in the Alain Pérez volumes of the Beyond Salsa series.

Václav wrote the material after years of studying Afro-Cuban folkloric music with various masters, including the legendary Piri López of Los Chinitos and Máximino of Rumberos de Cuba. After assembling a group of Czech and Slovakian musicians, he invited the extraordinary Cuban singer Martha Galarraga, who now lives in France where she works with Omar Sosa and others. Here are the full bios of all the participants.

After a series of concerts, Timbasa recorded all of the material live in one day. Here are some clips from the sessions.

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To whet your appetites for the upcoming Calixto Oviedo youtube, here's a particularly encendiary concert from the mid-1990s.

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