Good evening dear readers and followers!

Recently, I have re-watched the lovely “dance film” named Salsa y Amor, known by most simply as “Salsa (2000)” (distinguishing it from an 1988 movie of the same name).

The film is not simply a nice love story full of Cuban sabor and dancing, but it also features the wonderful music of Sierra Maestra.

Sierra Maestra is Cuban son band from La Habana, Cuba, and was formed in 1976 by none other than Juan de Marcoz Gonzales, who will later be the founder of the Buena Vista Social club.
But more than 20 years before the world fell in love with Cuban music through the gentlemen of Buena Vista, Sierra Maestra was gaining great popularity and respect reviving Son Cubano.

The group’s breakthrough happened in 1980, when they received a “silver record” and “best record of the year”, with the album “Sierra Maestra llegó con el Guanajo Relleno”, and got signed up by EGREM.
The national record company did quite well in spreading the group’s music world wide, and during the 1980’s and 1990’s Sierra Maestra toured the world, performing in Angola, Belgium, Bulgaria, Congo, Denmark, Finland, Japan, israel, Spain, Canada, Mexico, Puertorico, Singapore, Turkey, USA, Yugoslavia and many other countries.
The culmination of international fame came in 2000, with the release of the French-Spanish film “Salsa”, which features the band (as themselves) in an important role in the plot.
Over the years the group released several albums and nowadays keeps touring the world’s leading Jazz, Latin and world music festivals.
Look out! They might soon arrive to a city near you!

And now, for the most well known song of the move “Salsa”; Disfruten!

Good day dear readers and followers!

Today I gladly present you a new song by Tirso Duarte and Negroson Orquesta from Chile.

This wonderful, suave and romantic song is the fruit of a collaboration between the amazing Cuban singer Tirso Duarte and very nice Chilean salsa band named Negroson Orquesta.

The muchachos of Negroson have been performing since 2009, brought together by bassist and compositor Juan Rivadeneira.
Since then the band has performed all over Chile, Cali (Colombia), Peru, and other countries.
This song is their international breakthrough, and definitely is a very good beginning!

On a personal note, it’s not the first time that I cover Chilean bands, and they prove their worth time and time again.
It seems that together with Peru, Chile is currently taking a high place at the Timba scene outside Cuba.

Disfruten!

Good evening dear readers, listeners and followers!

Today I’m happy and honored to feature a special project by Jarryd Randolph, of the “Rueda in Tampa Parks” community event and SALSAventure dance school in Florida, USA.

In the recent few years, since 2012, Jarryd has been in a “discovery mode for Timba”, with the help of Cuban born Yoel Marrero.
During this time he has discovered a lot about Timba, Son, Danzon, Rumba, Cuban music and Cuban social dancing in general, information which is very much lacking among the people of his dance community and those around him.

So, it was decided that this situation cannot go on any longer, and that the musical ignorance should be banished!

In his own words:

“The idea came up because I could not find anything that would demonstrate the musical genre through time, earliest recordings to now. I’ve gone through many documentaries, read books on the subject, and even had conversations about the subject but a musical playlist was something that just wasn’t out there publicly. We all know how hard it can be to find those early recordings.
It’s amazing what’s out there that people haven’t heard or probably haven’t heard in many years. I made sure that this compilation took all listeners through time and through the many styles of Cuban groups. This list could have been a lot longer but I made sure that 30 songs was the cutoff.
I made sure to include key figures and groups such as Arsenio Rodriguez, Sonora Matancera, Orquesta Aragon, Los Van Van, Charanga Habanera, Manolin el medico de la salsa, etc. so to many new listeners and dancers this compilation will answer some questions and probably give them more about this dance genre. ”

So there you have it
A true fellow aficionado of Cuban music who has a message to share – Son is the past, the present and the future of popular Cuban music, especially the songs we all enjoy dancing to!

Great job on taking a stand against ignorance, and thank you for the efforts of searching and arranging all these masterpieces of modern Cuban music.

Here it is, disfruten!

Good evening dear readers!

Today I’m glad to present you a wonderful song from the latest album of Orquesta Reve, called “no debo explicarte nada”, also known as “todo lo que sube tiene que caer”.

The album came out in 2014, and included a CD of cover versions with several ex-reve members and other famous singers and musicians, and a CD of original, novel compositions.
IMHO, the cover versions are not as good as their Reve sr. and older Reve jr. originals, but the original work is as amazing as always.

I loved most of the disc, but this song is one of my favorites.

Disfruten!