This weekend I shall be attending a local dance festival, so I’ll see you around next Friday!

… y sigue encantando la musica Cubana!

Good evening dear readers!

Today I present you a nice band from Cuba named “David Alvarez y Juego de Manos”, founded and led by composer, musician, singer and arranger David Alvarez from Manzanillo, Cuba.

Once a member of the “nueva trova” movement, and later a member of the group of Pedro Luis Ferrer, he founded his of band in 1994, spreading over a wide variety of musical genres, including Son, Rumba, nueva trova, Bolero, Guaracha, Guajira, cancion, and also fusions of those with various other genres.

The band toured Latin America and some parts of Europe, and received several awards for albums such as Rimasones and Mundo Loco, the album on which the fine Son presented here can be found.
Also, the groups performed with such great musicians as Compay Segundo, Eliades Ochoa and Chucho Valdez.

Disfruten!

Good day dear readers!

Today I shall present you an interesting collection which was recently uploaded to youtube.

The good people at planet records gathered 22 of the most iconic, well known and high quality Timba songs from the 1980’s and 1990’s, and brought them together in an easily accessible collection (and even placed images related to each song while it plays!).
These are all great masterpieces of Songo & Timba, made by artists of the “primera linea”, including NG La Banda, Los Van Van, Orquesta Reve, Manolito y su Trabuco, Paulito FG, Manolin (el medico de la salsa) and many other great figures.

So, regardless if you’re cleaning the house, cooking, working out at home or just have a bit more than 2 free hours on your hands, turn on your stereo system, plug in your headphones, and let the fun begin !

Disfruten!

Good day dear readers & blog followers!

Today I’m glad to present a song by a talented and interesting band from Santiago… but not Santiago as in the historical capital and 2nd largest city in Cuba, but Santiago, the capital of Chile.

This fine band was formed in 2002 by Sergio Riveros, Daniel Maldonado and Rafael Gamboa, 3 friends studying music at the Liceo Experimental Artistico, during their 3rd year of college.
Together with several more friends they formed “nuevo son” with the intention of bringing a new sound to traditional Cuban music.

The band performed for around a year before separating, as 2 members moved to France for work, and the others lost the motivation to go on.
After about another year, the band regrouped and reunited with a somewhat different collective of more mature and experienced musicians, thus calling themselves “Nuevo Son Orchesta”.
The band started performing again and became quite successful at the local level.

In 2005 both founding members who were working in France returned and rejoined the now orchestra, and the band took off to great local and regional success, covering classics in their own unique style and also presenting their original work, such as the song presented here today.

This wonderful song even comes with a message!

“queremos revolucion… hay una pequena accion… apaga la television, y dale ritmo al corazon, porque esta la razon, de todo ser en tu interior…”

And from the coro “no solo te pongo a gozar… oye! yo te pongo a pensar!”

Disfruten!

Good day dear readers!

As you saw in the previous post, I wasn’t here last week due to partying and studying at a local dance festival.

One of the best dances I had at that even was to the sounds of one of the best songs played during one of the parties of that event, and this is the song I’m glad to present you today.

This song is originally from 2004, and is by the virtuoso NG La Banda, the band credited with the “invention” of Timba during the mid to late 1980’s.

This version is from their album “mis 22 anos”, which came out in 2010, celebrating 22 year of artistic creation for the band, and contains many guest appearances by some key players in the Cuban music scene congratulating the marvelous band and wishing them as much success during their next 22 anos (years) as they had during their first, or even more.
The song presented today is no exclusion, and features some interesting guests hanging out with the band.

Disfruten!

As I will be attending a local salsa festival (with Yeni Molinet and Roly Maden, by the way!), there will be no post in the blog this week.

See you next Friday, as usual…

¡Sigue disfrutando la musica Cubana!

Good afternoon dear readers.

Today I’m glad to present a recent interpretation of a 25 year old composition by NG La Banda, together with Issac Delgado, who was the band’s lead vocal at that time, before starting a solo career which brought him fame and recognition.

Here you can see the original composition

And here is the live performance from earlier this year

Disfruten!

Good day dear readers!

Today I wish to present you a wonderful and very productive initiative which is largely unknown by most Timba and salsa lovers.
The artist I present today is La Habana Ensemble, formed by distinguished saxophone player and former member of Irakere, Cesar Lopez (often nicknamed “the Cuban Charlie Parker”) in 1997.
The amazing Irakere, led by Chucho Valdez, served as the inspiration and model for the creation of La Habana Ensemble, as it plays both jazz and Cuban music.

As mentioned before, the ensemble has been very productive, and has by now produced 8 albums with another one coming out soon.
The ensemble toured all of Cuba and also many other countries such as Venezuela, Japan, Peru, The USA, Barbados, Spain, Mexico and others.
The ensemble also won several awards in including best Cubadisco jazz album of 2006, special prize for distinguished achievement of Cubadisco in 2008, and also the best international music album of the same year.
Cesar also won a Grammy playing with Irakere before forming La Habana Ensemble.
The ensemble has also shared the stage with both jazz and Latin music starts such as Chucho Valdez, Pablo Milanes, Compay Segundo and Sting.

The song I present today is a finely made Timba from their 1st, 1997, album, “Mambomania”, inspired by and dedicated to the art of, Perez Prado.

Disfruten!

Good day dear readers!

In today’s post I wish to present you a new song by Calle Real, a unique and very interesting band from Sweden.

Calle Real was formed as a trio in 1999, playing traditional Cuban music, inspired by the success of the Buena Vista Social Club, which brought the founding members to take interest in Cuban music.

Later, during the early 2000’s, the band (which now had more members) traveled to Cuba, and studied Cuban music for several years.
They studies traditional Cuban music, but after a while fell in love with Timba, which at the time was very much in its “golden age”, which was still going on since the 1990’s.
The band was warmly received by the Cuban audience, so much that they were invited to play at the prestigious “festival internacional de musica Benny More”, an annual festival gathering the best Cuban musicians on one stage.
A few international artists also get invited, but must be substantially talented and unique to receive such an honor.

Calle Real apparently were, and succeeded in simply amazing the Cuban audience by their mastery of the quite complex and wonderful genre of modern popular Cuban music.
This concert was recorded on DVD, and released under a Swedish TV label in 2005.

The band released 2 albums since: “con fuerza” in 2006 and “me lo gane” in 2009.
This song, along with 3 others, are the first major release of the band for several years now, and will be included on the album “dime que” which is to be released later this year.

Disfruten!

Good day dear readers!

Today I’m glad to present you a wonderful concert of the Septeto Nacional de Ignacio Pineiro in France, from 2007.

This ensemble in one of the oldest still playing in Cuba, and a source of many wonderful classics of Cuban music.

Personally, I recommend to pay special attention to the amazing Tres solos found in almost every song in the concert.

Disfruten!