Good day dear reader!
Today I would like to present you the “dream team” of Cuban musicians assembles during the “golden age” of Timba, the late 1990’s, and was called “Team Cuba” (just like in sports…) .
The goal of the project was to assemble “lo mejor de la Timba”, the best of the Cuban Timba musicians available at 1998, and there sure were many!
The team was assembled by Juan Formell and consisted of personnel from 7 of the greatest bands: Adalberto Alvarez y Su Son, Charanga Habanera, Manolin, NG la Banda, Issac Delgado y Su Grupo, Paulito FG y Su Elite and of course, Los Van Van.
It also rehearsed and first performed at the Salon Rosado Benny More de la Tropical, the place where Los Van Van most often plays.
The band was, naturally, a huge success, and concerts in La Habana were attended by over 70,000 people each, and that’s without official support or advertisement.
The band also performed a European tour in May 1998, playing in various cities in Spain, France and Germany, with thousands attending (in Madrid, for example, more than 5000 tickets were sold).
Being an unofficial group not recognized or supported by the government, the success was short lived, and by 1999 the bands got back doing each their own, and even no CD was released.
Luckily, some recordings from the concerts are available online, such as the one at the bottom of this page.
Disfruten !
