Good day dear listeners, readers and blog followers!

Today I present you, once more, a nice composition by a salsa band from… Japan !

This time we will be dealing with Orquesta del Sol, the first Japanese Latin & Salsa band.
The 12 member band was formed by Masahito “Pecker” Hashida in 1978, performing in both Spanish and Japanese.
The band’s first album, Amor de Arcoiris, came out in 1981, with the band performing extensively in the clubs of Tokio.
Since then 9 more albums have been released, and the band performed with such pillars of Afro Cuban & Latin music as NG La Banda, Tata Guines, Yumuri and el Gran Combo.

The song presented today comes from the 2002 album Carcajada.

íDisfruten!

Good day dear listeners, readers and blog followers!

Today I gladly present you some songs from a new concert of Orquesta Reve, from their recent “series” of the 60th anniversary concert.

As typical with such concerts, it contains several classics of the orchestra, performed by the current generation of its musicians and some special guests from the past, this time including Juan Carlos Alfonso, Roberton, Haila, Paulito FG and Mandy Cantero.

So, here are the wonderful compositions, and there are quite a few!

¡Disfruten!

Good day dear blog followers, readers and listeners!

Today I present you the best song (in my opinion) of a nice album that came out earlier this year, by Aisar y el Expresso de Cuba.

This is rather new band, formed in late 2015 by former Orquesta Reve bass player Aisar Hernanadez Segundo from La Habana, who before was also a part of Maravilla de Florida, Dan Den, and several other groups.

Other group members include Eduardo ‘El Chino’ Broche from Pachito Alonso y sus Kini Kini, Akaena Rodriguez from Caribe Girls, and Wilmer Munoz from La La Charanga Forever.

The album “Musica Cubana, Llego el Expresso” contains 11 tracks, and is quite dance floor friendly…

So, here it is, the best track of the album, with the wonderful vocals of Akaena Rodriguez…

¡Disfruten!

Official disc version:

From 23yM Cuban TV:

Concert version:

Good day dear listeners, readers and blog followers!

Today I gladly present you a live performance of Maykel Blanco y Su Salsa Mayor from the Congahead studio, one of the oldest functioning music recording studio of the united states.

Many great musicians passed through this studio over the years, and in recent times, as tour became an option, more and more Cuban musicians follow suit.
Maykel and his band have performed at this studio before, and luckily for us, do it again!

So, here it is – the wonderful track “la Calle” from the album “a Toda Maquina”.

¡disfruten!

Good day dear readers, listeners and blog followers!

Today we explore some more of the early history of Timba together with the band credited to be the progenitor of the genre, NG La Banda;
We shall look at a composition from an album that became the stuff of legends, and even came out in 2 versions… ¡echale limon!

This amazing album was first released in 1992 after being recorded in Tokyo, shortly after the band toured the country with Japanese musical producer Ryunosuke Murakami .
The album has some of the most well known and well loved compositions of the band, such as “santa palabra”, “el tragico” and the title track, all of which are considered staples of the Timba genre.
This album was released, in different variations, a year later in Cuba, featuring a persona that would be very influential in years to come, but little known at the time – Manolin.

With great vocals, a catchy piano “tumbao” full of drive and wonderful use of folkloric elements, “el tragico”, the song for today, became a powerful and very memorable track, considered to be a good representation of the genre as a whole.

So, today we have not one but 3 (!) different interpretations of this great composition from 3 different occasions – the CD version, a concert performance and a recent one from Cuban TV.
¡disfruten!

Good day dear blog followers, readers and listeners!

Today I gladly present you a fine composition by Cuban-Canadian group called “Habana Cafe”, from Quebec, French Canada.
The group was formed during the late 2000’s by Cuban singer, composer and songwriter Julian Gutierrez, with 5 Cuban and 4 Canadian musicians.
The band released 2 albums so far – “Vengo de mi Cuba” in 2009 and “Mi Camino” in 2014, o which the song presented today, “Puedes Sonar”, is present…

So, here it is!
¡Disfruten!

Good day dear blog followers, listeners and blog readers!

Today we have a beautiful new clip for a wonderful Orquesta Reve song that came out a little earlier, as a part of the “60 años aniversario” album.

The song is a great pleasure for the ear (and feet 🙂 ) and the clip a treat for the eye… so here it is! Yo Me Muero en La Habana.

¡Disfruten!

Good day dear blog followers, readers and listeners.

Exactly one month ago (interestingly, both that and this Friday are the 24th of their respective months…) I published here a song called “Mi Compas“, from the very nice and interesting new album of Cuban Cuban Bassist, Tressero, arranger, compositor and singer, Dany Noel.

His style is smooth, lyrical and playful, with the song I present today not being an exceptions.A good tune to start a great weekend with, if you ask me.

So, here it is, the composition for today – Vivo con Poco.
Disfruten!

Good day dear readers, listeners and blog followers.

Today I present you a very nice Son Montuno composition coming all the way from Russia!

As you remember, Changito is a 4 member group from Leningrad, Russia, some of whose members are also in Cuba Jam.
The group members are Sonero Boris Hecha, Guitar player Ramon Rodriguez, Tressero Guillermo Reyes and percussionista Giandy Torres.

They are one of the groups assembled by the ritmo productions studio, and have a unique and interesting style of music, on the verge of traditional and modern.

So, here is their latest hit, Bien Fuerte.
Disfruten!

Good day dear blog followers, listeners and readers!

Since the tragic departure of the maestro almost 3 years ago, there has, quite rightfully, been released a decent number of songs in memory of Juan Formell.

All of those that I have heard are quite good, for example:

This:

Or This:

And it is not surprising… what artist wouldn’t do their best when honoring the man who can quite justly be called the father of contemporary Cuban music?

Anyways, today I wish to present you yet another wonderful song, which in my opinion stands out a little even among the wonderful group mentioned above, both in terms of rhythms and lyrics.

It is a song for Formell by the current generation of his precious Los Van Van, together with Cuban Nueva Trova star, Frank Delgado.

So, here it is, great for both listening and dancing Cuban social dances…
¡Disfruten!