Septeto Santiaguero is back in Europe and their tour begins with a concert tomorrow in Nice, France at Festival Latino de A a Z. The list of confirmed concerts has been uploaded so look for a concert near you . The band's last CD, "Vamos pa' la fiesta", recently won at Cubadisco 2013 in the Traditional Tropical Music category. You can check out Bill's review here . Below is their excellent version of the classic Van Van hit "Qué le den candela".

Qué le den candela - Septeto Santiaguero

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The members of Interactivo during the filming of Interactivo La Película

If you are already familiar with Interactivo, just skip down to the trailer for the documentary below. If you are not yet familiar with Interactivo, allow me to take this opportunity to introduce you. Interactivo is best described as an open project or collective of young musicians under the direction of pianist Roberto Carcassés. They have released two CDs: “Goza Pepillo” (2005) winner of Cubadisco 2006 in the categories Opera Prima, Fusion and Gran Premio and “Cubanos por el mundo” (2010), the subject of a documentary by Cuban filmmaker Tané Martínez. 

Many of the names of musicians that have worked with Interactivo will be familiar to you, such as Roberto Carcassés, Yusa, Telmary, Rodney Barreto, Yaroldi Abreu, Carlos Rios, Raul Verdecia, Julito Padrón, Francis del Río, Oliver Valdés and, Melvis Santa among others. Whereas turnover of musicians is generally a negative thing for timba bands, which are better able to consolidate their sound when the same musicians have been working together for years, it has actually been a strength of Interactivo. The experimental, fusion nature of their music benefits from the constant flow of new ideas as older members leave to do their own projects and new members enter with their own unique influences and visions. Roberto describes their music as “timba funk”.  It really seems to be a fusion of whatever the bandmembers find interesting, building on the musical heritage of everything from  Afro-Cuban traditional music to timba to jazz, funk, soul and hip-hop.

Thanks to Facebook, I stumbled across a link to “Interactivo La Película”, which is available at Vimeo. The documentary is about the release concert for “Cubanos por el mundo” and follows the band from rehearsals through the final show, including interviews with key members as well as cameos by guest artists such as X Alfonso and Rodney Barreto. I contacted Tané Martínez and asked her how the documentary came about.

The project of making “INTERACTIVO La Película” arose when Roberto Carcasses saw my documentary TENGO (2008) on the NYC-based Cuban singer Xiomara Laugart. From there, Roberto proposed that I document the release of their 2nd album "Cubanos por el Mundo" and I immediately started working with them. The social presence that I found in the lyrics of the songs really caught my attention. I wanted to make a movie about Interactivo and the release of the album, but also as a filmmaker I wanted to tell a story of migration, freedom and Cuban music.
Tané Martinez

You can check out the trailer below. The full 70-minute documentary is found at https://vimeo.com/ondemand/ilp/20517029

Note: the trailer is subtitled, but the full documentary is not.

Interactivo La Pelicula Teaser 1.40m from colorbox on Vimeo.

SYNOPSIS
Interactivo, is a Cuban band directed by Roberto Carcasses. The release of their 2nd CD, “Cubanos por el Mundo”, leads us to a deep analysis of migration, freedom and Cuban music. 

CAST
Roberto Carcassés, Melvis Santa, Julio Padrón, Francis del Río, Oliver Valdés + Interactivo. 

TECHNICAL DATA
HD 720, NTSC, Color, 70min
CUBA/USA 2011 

A Colorbox Productions Inc. Production
Director: Tanè Martìnez
Producer: Ivonne Cotorruelo
Script: Zulema Clares, Tanè Martìnez
Música: Roberto Carcassès & Interactivo
Director of Photography: Sveinung Bokn
Audio: Abel Calderòn
Editing: Tanè Martìnez
Post-production of Audio & Mixing: Rocio Garcia Pazos
Post-production of Images: Inti Martìnez
Still Photography: Denise Guerra
Graphic Design: Idania del Rìo

BIOGRAPHY
Tané Martínez (1981, Cuba) 
Director, Producer and Editor.
Studied “Performing Arts” at the Cuban National School of the Arts (ENA) and later studied "Film Direction” at the Training Center  of Cinematography of Mexico (CCC). 
Directed the fictional short  “Malos días mi amor” (2005) and the documentaries "Paquete Familiar" (2004), “Tengo lo que tenia que tener” (2008), “Interactivo La Película” (2011) and “Caminando Aragón” (2012). She is a partner and founder of Colorbox Productions Inc.

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The European summer tour season is off to an early start with Issac Delgado, Tirso Duarte, Pedrito Calvo Jr. and Septeto Nabori already on tour in May, among others! I was able to see Elito Revé y su Charangón on the Viking Line salsa cruise last month and will be catching the Supercubano himself, Issac Delgado, at the May 25th concert in Copenhagen. This will be the only concert in Scandinavia, by the way, so if you live in Sweden or Norway you should make a timba pilgrimage to see him! Doors open at 8:00pm and the pre-concert activities include my friend Salsani Salsa-dj spinning tunes and a salsa warm-up with Stine Ortvad and her Cuban Moves group at 9:00pm. The concert will be from 10:00pm-11:30pm and then the afterparties begin, first at Vesterbro Kulturhus and later at Club Mambo!
Advance tickets are 280 DKK at the door they cost 330 DKK
For more information: www.cubakultur.dk

The remaining concerts of Issac's tour are posted on his tours page so check it out to find a concert near you.

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Adalberto Álvarez y Su Son are on tour in Europe right now. Adalberto is this year's Cubadisco winner for Best Video for the Bailando en la Tropical clip. The CD El Son de Altura was also nominated for Best Dance Album.  Click here for the list of concert dates so you can bailar con Adalberto y su son.

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