Yoel Cuesta Fernández is the new conguero of Los Van Van upon the passing of Manolo. Timba fans know him from his work with Azúcar Negra and Adalberto Álvarez y su Son. In addition to being a stellar conguero, Manolo was a wonderful human being who contributed to the group with his kindness and his love. Yoel, in addition to being an excellent conguero, is also a genuinely nice person and thus a fitting choice to fill the huge space left by Manolo's death. We wish him the best as he steps into the shoes of one of Cuba's legendary percussionists.

We will soon see Yoelito with El Tren as Los Van Van begin their European Tour on March 1st. This will be the first European tour for Los Van Van since the departure of Mayito Rivera and the entrance of Mandy Cantero, and now the first international presentations with Yoelito on congas. Click here for the list of Van Van concert dates.

Below you can check out video of Los Van Van with Mandy singing Este amor que se muere - qué riiico!

Los Van Van with Mandy Cantero singing Este amor que se muere

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"Dial", Buena Fe’s eighth studio CD, was released one month ago on iTunes, Amazon MP3, Spotify and other digital download sites. To my knowledge the hardcopy is only available at the EGREM stores in Cuba and at Buena Fe concerts. If you have the opportunity to score a hardcopy, take it. I did and the cover art by Jesús Lara is worth the purchase price!

I have spent a couple of weeks agonizing over the CD review, not because I didn't know what I wanted to say, but because I didn't know how to say it to really get my point across. As I was working on the review, I took the opportunity to ask Israel and Yoel a few questions. Click here to read the short interview with Buena Fe.

The first official video for the CD was released just over two weeks ago, and a video says more than a thousand words. "La culpa" is a brilliant guaguancó-rock fusion and a perfect example of Buena Fe's talent for combining intelligent lyrics with captivating music. The video, below, was written and directed by Ian Padrón and features the participation of Clave y Guaguancó and Havana Queens.

Click here for my review/report on “Dial” .

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Andy Gola & Colé Colé are currently in Colombia and begin their visit with a concert this Friday in Bogota at Quiebracanto at 10:00 pm. They will be bringing their mix of salsa, timba and son to the Colombianos who, like the Cubans, know how to party! If we hear about more concert dates we'll publish the information.

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Today we celebrate a quarter century of TIMBA! On this date in 1988, NG La Banda was officially formed and thus we consider it to be the official birthday of Timba. El Tosco & NG celebrated with a concert last night in Havana. We want to take this opportunity to thank José Luis Cortés for his contribution to the evolution of Cuban music! Gracias Maestro! Y que sigas 25 años más! Here is a potpourri of the album "En la calle" from the very early days of timba...para recordar!

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