Good day dear readers, listeners and blog followers!

Today we have a great collaboration of 2 major players of contemporary Cuban music, who have been (and definitely still are!) very influential in Cuban & Latin music, and even modern popular music in general… Los Van Van and Issac Delgado!

Born in 1962 in the Marianao neighborhood in La Habana, studying the violoncello from age 10 to 12, and initially dreaming of becoming a professional football (“soccer”, for my dear friends in the USA 🙂 ) player, Issac would become a Rumbero, a master of improvisation and “doble jugada”, and also “el chevere de la salsa”, the personification of the romantic side of Timba music.

Issac’s interest in music actually started a bit later in life, while he was a university student.
After graduating from the academy of physical culture & sports, Issac joined the (quite originally named…) musical project of famous pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba called “Proyecto”, where he developed a passion for singing studying vocals with Mariana De Gonich, one of the best vocal instructors in Cuba.
Issac’s professional career started in 1983 with Pacho Alonso’s orchestra, with whom he toured many countries (including, but not limited to, Czechoslovakia, Australia, France, Spain, Italy, Panama, Mexico, and Peru), and also got his first recordings, in Spain.

Issac plunged into the world of Timba with not just any band, but the band so influential that it is credited with defining Timba as a novel musical genre – NG La Banda.
From 1988 until 1992 Issac was one of the lead vocalists of the band, leaving in 1992 to start his solo career, which he very successfully did, releasing “Dando la Hora” later that year.
“Con Ganas”, his most well known album, came out in 1993; a collaboration with Adalberto Alvarez called El Chevere de la salsa y El Caballero del son came out in 1994; El Ano Que Viene came out in 1995… and the rest is (Timba) history (other notable albums include La Primera Noche from 1998 and La Formula which came out in 2000).

In 2007 Issac abandoned Cuba, leaving for Miami, and since then has been making less and less Timba with each new album produced, which is quite disappointing (yet, sadly, this is not the first such case…) … yet 2016 has given us Timba fans some hope for recuperation, with the release of “Made in Habana”, a very nice album (partially) recorded in Cuba (as the name implies).
Although having some irrelevant genres such as pop and reggaeton on it, this album features some nice Timba collaborations with Los Van Van and other prominent names such as Sur Carribe and Alexander Abreu.

So, here is “Va a Caer”, the beautiful composition we have for today.

¡Disfruten!

P.S:
A new, very beautiful, clip for the song has been released in early May 2017, which is added below…

Good day dear listeners, readers and blog followers!

Today I present you a very nice composition by Cuban Bassist, Tres player, compositor, arranger and singer, Dany Noel.

Dany Noel is a graduate of classic guitar at the Ignacio Cervantes conservatory in La Habana.
Dany moved to Spain in the mid 2000s and after that to Italy, where he started releasing the work of his band with Abanico Records.
Since 2006, Dany and his band (which includes bass, tress, congas, timbales, bongos, campana, piano, trombone, trumpet, saxophone, and vocals) released 5 albums being Dime Si Tu Sabes (2006), Mi Sentir (2006), Proposicion (2011), Tinta Unida (2014) and recently (February 4th 2017), Por La Habana.

In my opinion the album is very nice, and apart of the track presented today (which is my favorite, by the way), other tracks shall be presented here in the future.

So, here it is, the romantic, mellow yet quite energetic and dance-compelling, track called “Mi Compas”.
Disfruten!

Good day dear readers, listeners and blog followers!

This week brought us the yearly fest of lovers (and shopkeepers 😉 ) all over the world – “Valentine’s”, the day of saint Valentine, also known as el dia the los enamorados.

As it is also known, not everybody has yet found their perfect mate, and many had (or preferred) to spend this day on their own, as singles.
Some places (like China) have already turned that into a gold mine as “singles’ day“, which brings us to today’s song, as this Cuban young man, although nowadays married in Peru, goes along this lines, claiming “¿para que el amor? para que el dolor? pa’ que me voy enamorar, si soltero me goza mejor?”

Michel Robles Ramos was born in La Habana in 1983, and has been singing for his whole life, professionally since the age of 15.
Having moved to Peru in 2000, Michel has been working with Robert Armas as one of the main vocalists of Los Conquistadores de la Salsa for over 8 years.
In 2009 Michel started forming his own project, with a band coming together in 2011, thus giving birth to “Michel Robles y el Sello”.
The band creates Timba and salsa using various Cuban rhythms, but also makes other music such as pop and ballads.
2 albums have been released by the band, called “la bomba que tengo”, which came out in late 2014, and “Mejor Solo Que Mal Acompañado”, which saw the light of day last march.

Today’s song is from Michel’s 2nd album, and deal with the topic of love, or more precisely, with the advantages of being single as compared to falling in love and getting into a relationships.
Some may agree, some may not, but all should be having a great time dancing Casino socially when this song gets played;
¡Disfruten!

Good day dear readers, listeners and blog followers.

If you are fans of Timba or Cuban music in general, you must have probably heard of the departure of Yeni Valdez from Los Van Van due to personal reasons.

This is quite sad for us music fans, but love always comes first… such is life!

You most probably know Yeni as the wonderful lead singer of Los Van Van… but did you know that her big break into the world of primera linea Timba came before that?
Actually, Yeni started her career in the big league with NG La Banda, as a new lead singer on their 1997 Album Veneno.
Yeni sings on the title track, on Acorralada and on Negrita Fina.

So for today we have not one clip but two new ones, never appearing on this blog before!
And here they are… Disfruten!

Good day dear blog readers, listeners and followers.

Today I present you a nice, romantic composition by Paulito FG.

Paulito had a thing for romantic music since his early days in the world of Cuban music, and this is apparent in most of his albums;
Even his most “hardcore” Timba albums of the “epoca de oro” of the 1990’s include 1-2 romantic and highly lyrical compositions.

The song presented today is the title track of the 2003 album “Te deseo Suerte”.
This is not your typical Timba, Salsa or even typical Paulito FG album;
Rather, it is an eclectic album of western music, Cuban music and everything in between, including salsa, Timba, pop, reggaeton, Bolero and ballads.

The salsa and Timba compositions on this album are quite nice in my opinion, with “Que Mania” being one of the better ones, but the title track, presented here today, being my personal favorite.

So, here it is;
Disfruten!

Good day dear readers, listeners and blog followers!

Today I present you a very nice Timba composition by Orquesta D’Talle, one of several Timba groups made only of women!

This fine band released only 1 album as far as I know, called “de la salsa Cubana”, and this took place in 1999.
Since then the band moved to Vancouver, Canada and has released several singles over the years, but none of them became a full album.

Anyways, the few compositions that we do have are wonderful, including the one I chose for today, called “Algo Anda Mal”.

Disfruten!

Good day dear blog followers, readers and listeners!

Today I present you a very nice composition by yet another Colombian group, this time Altibajo Latin Son from Bucaramanga, Colombia.
Founded in 2006 by singer, guitarist and composer Victor Carreño, the group makes Colombian, Antillan, Caribbean and Afro Cuban music in a Sexteto format, with vocals, bass, timbalero, conguero, saxophone & trumpet players and even a Tresero!

In December 2016 the group released their first album, De Amarte Mas, who’s title track I present you today, as it is in my opinion very nice and full of Sabor Cubano!

Disfruten!

Good day dear readers, listeners and blog followers!

Today I present you a fine Timba composition by an artist mostly known in the genre of La Nueva Trova and political song – Xiomara Laugart.

Starting her musical career in 1979, participating in the Red Dianthus political song festival in Berlin.
A year later she won the 3rd place in the prestigious Concurso Adolfo Guzman de Musica Cubana in Cuba, and 2 years later took 3rd place in the Red Dianthus, which on that year took place in Sochi, USSR.
Over the years Xiomara had been a member of several music ensembles, traveled to Europe, Africa and various countries of the Caribbean, performed with such notable figures as Pablo Milanes and Silvio Rodriguez, and even participated in the films Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights and Paraíso Bajo las Estrellas .

Over the years Xiomara produced 17 albums, with the song presented today being from the 2010 album “Que Manera de Quererte”.

Disfruten!

Good day dear blog followers, readers and listeners… welcome to the first post of 2017 !

A few weeks ago I stumbled upon quite a nice, newly released, salsa romantica by Japanese ex funk, and nowadays, salsa, vocalist Amy Akaoka.

This song is nice on its own, and I enjoyed listening to it, but it lacks the unique sound found in Cuban music made in Cuba (or by a few talented bands outside Cuba… most of which have at least 1 Cuban musician among their members…), both old and new.

Anyways, I recalled that some time ago I dedicated a blog post to the 25th anniversary of Japan’s only (yet very creative and talented) Timba \ Cuban music band, Grupo Chévere.
I also remembered that despite releasing several albums during this time period, the band is little known by Timba fans, especially outside Japan, and very few materials, if any, are available on youtube.

So, it was quite a nice surprise to see that one of their songs from “Chéverelax” was recently uploaded… and just like the one mentioned in the beginning of the post, it’s a romantic one, yet this time around a Timba.

Disfruten!

Good day dear readers, listeners and blog followers!

Happy new year, merry Christmas and and other holiday you might be celebrating at this time of the year 🙂

Today I share 6 great Timba compositions not covered in my blog that you might have missed during 2016.

So, give them a try…

P.S:
The songs are not listed in any specific order, nether chronological or otherwise.

*Clave Cubana Timbera – Somos

Clave Cubana Timbera is a band of Cuban musicians living in Argentina.
After playing traditional Cuban music for years, they decided that it is high time to step into the Timba era!
Somos is the title track of their album, and a fine composition on its own, starting out slow and picking up energy at a steady pace until a great explosion del momento 🙂

*Orquesta Reve – Cachita

Although it hasn’t yet come out as an album, Orquesta Reve released some wonderful songs for their 60th anniversary, including this great composition, which is a Timba infused with ritmo Pilon, one of the first musical styles to emerge in post revolutionary Cuba during the 1960’s…

P.S:
A new, and very beautiful, clip has been released for this song in June 2017…

*Robert Armas y Los Conquistadores de la Salsa – La Timba la Traigo Yo

As a promo for their album of the same name, Robert Armas y Los Conquistadores de la Salsa released a very nice composition called La Timba la Traigo Yo… and he sure does!
With a driving beat and mambos, Robert and his band can surely say “tu sabes como vengo? conquistando!”

*Pupy y Los Que Son Son – 15 Años

Oh, how fast time goes by… one can think that only yesterday Cesar “el pupy” Pedroso left Los Van Van to pursue a solo career with his own band… but this was 15 years ago!
October 4th 2001… on this day Los Que Son Son was founded by Pupy!
So, to mark this occasion, the band released an “auto-chronology” composition called “15 Años”.
And those sure were great 15 years of artistic creation (some of the highlights of which are mentioned throughout the song) !

*Maikel Dinza y Los Soneros de la Joventud – De Igual a Igual

The year 2016 saw the release of several cover version to great classics by Los Van Van, both by the great band itself and other artists.
A little known cover was released earlier this year by Maikel Dinza y Los Soneros de la Juventud, and it is for the wonderful De Igual a Igual, from Van Van’s 1996 ¡Ay Dios, ampárame!
Sounds quite different from the original, but still interesting a well performed, in my opinion…

*Angelito Ramirez y el Tren Bala – Bata Ya

Last but certainly not least, is a song from former Mayimbe’s singer, Angelito Ramirez and his band “el Tren Bala”, who released a mostly well made album called “Mi Historia” earlier this year.
It has some better known Timba hits such as “Amigo de Que” and “Mi Historia”, which were released before the album as promos, becoming dance floor favorites long before the release of the album… but it also has some less well know, but not any less well written and performed, compositions, such as the one before you here!
For the Spanish speakers among us, take note of the lyrics found on this album.

Well, here they are… 6 great Timbas you could have easily missed this year… so I hope that this will teach us all to be a bit more diligent in 2017, and look deeper into things 🙂

¡Disfruten el año que viene!