Tuesday, December 27, 2005 - Fantastic Afrocuban Dance DVD - I just bought an amazing DVD - Dances of the Orisha - by the great dance master José Francisco Barroso (ex-Raices Profundas). It's almost 2 hours long and includes the three types of rumba and six of the most important batá rhythms. These two folkloric genres are perhaps the most important influences on timba rhythm section playing, timba lyrics, and timba dancing and after you study them for a while, you'll begin to hear timba in a completely new light. Each section of the DVD starts with an explanation (in English) and is then followed by a long performance of Barroso and others dancing to a world-class rhythm section featuring, among others, Sandy Pérez, formal principal percussionist of Afrocuba de Matanzas. For more info, or to order by email: obakoso@earthlink.net. (note: timba.com has no business relationship with this company - we're just big fans)

Monday, December 26, 2005 - Havana Report - Martin Karakas' TIMBA IN HAVANA section is updated "Two the Hard Way" a long article with all the latest on Tirso & Michel's collaborations, Pupy, Los Van Van, and much more.

Friday's Lozada Concert Cancelled - I guess I should have posted my pep talk last week! Lozada & Co. are still serious about the group, and determined to continue rehearsing "Cuban style" (that means they actually rehearse and work out all the incredible arrangement elements that we associate with great timba). Let's just hope the next concert comes on a full moon so the Miami Timba Graveyard can show a little life.

Seriously, there must be 20,000 transplanted Cubans in Miami who were in Havana in the 90's and know what real timba is like. Where are these people when a great concert is taking place? Wake up people!

New York & Boston Updates - Linda & Andy have checked in with updates. Click on the links directly to the left for TIMBA IN NEW YORK (upcoming concert with Carlos Manuel backed by Jimmy Bosch's band) and TIMBA IN BOSTON (Dance event at Ryles in January and other news).

The First of Two Lozada Gigs at La Bodeguita Martínez - ... was burning hot, according to multiple sources, and very tight, with an enthusiastic Dany Lozada in top form, but not enough people showed up. If you can, make sure to check out the next show -- THIS FRIDAY - Dec. 30th -- at the same venue -- and please send us your reactions! Miami is finally presenting a real timba band -- not just the usual couple of karaoke singers with a drum machine -- so PLEASE GET OUT THERE AND SUPPORT IT!!!! If you want to hear real timba in Miami, you have to do your part and attend every show until the scene gets rolling. Otherwise it will be back to the same old "timba graveyard".

La Bodeguita Martínez
833 SW 29 AVE, Miami
305-649-9313

Thursday, December 22, 2005 - VIDEO of Dany Lozada in Rehearsal! - Two very brief video clips, but VERY exciting! Dany Lozada may be just what Miami needed -- a real timba singer, one of timba's best composers, and unlike Manolín, it looks like he's serious about being a strong bandleader. Click here for the new sections, from Juan Tomás García (EN ESPAÑOL TAMBIÉN). The Photos section is also remodeled and updated.

Saturday, December 16, 2005 - Manolín Tonight in Miami - El médico will be playing his new hits Tarea pa' la casa and Me falta La Habana as well as his usual timba repertoire.

La Bodeguita Martínez
833 SW 29 AVE, Miami
305-649-9313

Dany Lozada in Miami Sat. Dec. 24th & Fri. Dec. 30th - also at La Bodeguita Martínez

La Bodequita Martínez has become the new timba venue of choice for Miami. Lozada has promised a return to his timba dura style of the late 90's, with hits like Encima de la bola, Charanguéate, No estamos locos, Beso de queso, and Usa condón - complete with all the coros that were censored in Cuba after the fateful August 1997 "suspension concert" on the Malecón.

New En frecuencia - link to the left under BLOGS.

Friday, December 16, 2005 - El Tumbao Video - Thanks to Lara Greene for this video clip of Chaka's El Tumbao on Miami television, with Wickly Nogueras on congas.

Dany Lozada Timba Show in Miami late this month - Juan Tomás & Dany Lozada called today about an upcoming concert in Miami, which they assured me would be "timba dura". Stay tuned. Lozada is also planning a West Coast tour.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - Grammy Report - Duniel & Juan Tomás have the lastest on Mayito Rivera's Grammy nomination, Klímax's 10th Anniversary concert, and much more, in the latest edition of EN FRECUENCIA.

Calixto Oviedo US Tour! - Famed Danish timbalero Calixto Oviedo has secured visas for himself and his band and will be touring the US in 2006 -- details to follow.

No se acabó la maldición - Stay tuned this week.

Thursday, December 8, 2005 - Latin Grammy Nomination for Tiempo Libre - Este lado del puente has the scoop on Tiempo Libre's Grammy nomination.

Saturday, December 3, 2005 - Review of Manolín Concert - Jacira of salsapower.com has an excellent and detailed review of Wednesday's Manolín concert in Miami. The band included Los Pututi, Chaka, and his original bassist, the inimitable Victoriano Nápoles.

Audio Clip of new Robertón track - Check out salsa2salsa.com to hear this new solo release from Roberto Van Van.

Thursday, December 1, 2005 - Is Timba Dying? Or Coming Back to Life? - Check out Yemaya's Verse (under BLOGS, to your left) for a no-punches-pulled assessment of "The State of Timba".

Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - New Michel Maza CD - Check out the freshly updated EN FRECUENCIA for the latest - en inglés y español - on Michel's second new album this year. Like the excellent Fieeesta!, it features Arnaldo Jiménez as musical director and bassist. Hopefully the legendary Sergio Noroña has stayed in the band on piano, and hopefully Michel will be able to perform with this band. The last we heard he had lost his "license" to perform as a bandleader and was singing with Revé.

Michel Maza has always been one of the very best timba singers, but his reckless lifestyle has resulted in him being a major under-achiever and failing to participate in projects of the caliber of his brilliant early work with David Calzado. This year, however, he finally appears to be taking himself and his massive talent seriously. One of the great virtues of even Maza's weaker work in the earlier 2000's is that he hasn't given in to the watered-down "lite timba", reguetón and other commercial tripe that have seduced many of the other former timberos. If Michel can maintain the repartero attitude of his music while keeping it from ruining his personal life, we can look forward to many decades of brilliant work.

Many of the pivotal figures in timba have relocated to Madrid, Miami and other places where the lifestyle is more comfortable but the possibilities for timba are dead, but there's still enough talent in Havana to put together a few great bands. What seems to be lacking is the economic and cultural motivation that was present in the 90's.

Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - Manolín in Miami Wednesday -

Bongo's Cuban Cafe
601 Biscayne Blvd.
Miami
Wednesday, Nov. 30
11:30 p.m.
para info o reservaciones 786-443-1240
havana_productions@yahoo.com

En frecuencia Updated - Click En frecuencia under BLOGS. Duniel & Juan Tomás have the latest on CD's from Manolito y su Trabuco, Paulito FG, and The Afro-Cuban All-Stars.

Calixto en la Yuma - It looks like Calixto Oviedo will be touring the US in early 2006 -- probably either solo or with a Latin Jazz group. He's likely to give percussion seminars at Berklee and elsewhere. More to come.

Saturday, November 26, 2005 - Calle Sol! - We have a large new gallery of photos from Calle Sol. Led by founding Azúcar Negra pianist/arranger Rei Ceballo, Calle Sol, whose home base is Poland, is one of the hottest expatriot timba bands. In fact, they play a more aggressive style of timba than many of the bands still in Havana. We'll have a lot of new information soon on Rei's classic work with Azúcar Negra in 1998.

Thursday, November 24, 2005 - Happy Thanksgiving - And how better to celebrate it than to spend a vicarious Saturday night in Havana with Martin Karakas and Issac Delgado!

Sunday, November 13, 2005 - Pututi III !!! - Who'd have thunk it? Yet another brilliant percussionist from the Arce family. Thank god one of them stayed in Cuba, eh? Don't let his appearance fool you. He looks a lot older than Pututi II did when he was tearing it up with Manolín in the late 90's. Pututi III, Armando, is now playing drums with Paulito FG. Ivette has the latest on the other new additions to that group in her blog, The Ivette Report. There's also a Los Van Van concert report with fotos.

Speaking of Paulito FG: Michelle's Blog has all sorts of other news on his new album and European tour.

Boston & NY Updates - Click the links to the left for updates to Timba in Boston & Timba in New York.

Elain Tonight in Miami @ Nostalgia:

Elain
Sunday, November 13
Café Nostalgia -- 8:30 p.m.
34 Street between Collins Ave. and the Ocean
Miami Beach
305-531-8838

Saturday, November 12, 2005 - First Reactions to the New Charanga Habanera CD - Duniel & Juan Tomás have an advance copy of a new CH album which they say is the best since Tirso Duarte left, and a return to form after their (in my opinion) disasterous wrong turn down down the calle of reguetón and sappy "lite" ballads.

Juan Tomás promises to do a longer review for En frecuencia but here are his initial reactions from email:

All I can say about it is timba, timba and more timba. In my opinion this is their best CD since "Charanguero mayor". It's 10 times better than "Soy cubano soy popular". They got back that old "calle" feeling. They also included "Fanática mía" but it's great -- nothing like Boni & Kelly's version. Also, Aned's singing a lot of songs, and he has the best swing of all the singers.

The first song "El ciclón de la Habana" has a coro that says "cualquiera, me sirve cualquiera, pa' mi gozadera me sirve cualquiera, el que sea, porque yo soy tu charanga, hasta el día que tu quieras". Then it follows with another one that says "hay charanguero, hay charanguera, sin el ciclón de la Habanera que tú te hicieras".

Thursday, November 10, 2005 - New Timba in Miami Section - Lara Greene has added the TIMBA IN MIAMI section, Este Lado del Puente, now in the list of timba cities in the column to the left. The new addition is just in time to announce two concerts this weekend:

Tiempo Libre
Saturday, November 12
Radisson Hotel -- 11 p.m.
1601 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami

Elain
Sunday, November 13
Café Nostalgia -- 8:30 p.m.
34 Street between Collins Ave. and the Ocean
Miami Beach
305-531-8838

Major Update to En frecuencia (ahora en español también) - Duniel and Juan Tomás have a huge En frecuencia update. There are four Manolito audio clips including this exclusive preview of the hot new Manolito song, Comúnicate.

Also in En frecuencia is news on Manolín's new CD with Melón González and Joel Domínguez, audio and video from Soneros All Stars, featuring Samuel Formell, Papiosco, Oderquis Revé and many others, the latest on Boni & Kelly, Alain Daniel Pico, and much more.

Click the links on the left for updates to: Timba in Boston, Timba in New York, Michelle's Blog, several major European timba tours, Elain, Tiempo Libre, Jorge Gómez' page in the Musicians' Directory, La farándulera, and Yemaya's Verse.

Wednesday, November 9, 2005 - Sierra Maestra's Eulogy for José Antonio Rodríguez - Cubakultur, one of the organizers of the New World Latin Festival, sent us this eulogy by Sierra Maestra to Maceo. The English translation is by David Flower of SASA.

Elogio por Sierra Maestra para José Antonio Rodríguez - Cubakultur, uno de los organizadores del Festival Nuevo Mundo Latino, nos envió este elogio por Sierra Maestra a Maceo.

Tuesday, November 8, 2005 - José Antonio Rodríguez Has Passed Away - Yesterday, November 7, 2005, singer José Antonio of Sierra Maestra passed away. He suffered respiratory failure following a heart attack after a concert at the New World Latin Festival in Copenhagen, Denmark. The artists who performed with him at the festival as well as the fans are still in shock.

José Antonio was known throughout the world as one of the great voices of son, and in addition to Sierra Maestra, he participated in other projects such as the Grammy-nominated Afro-Cuban All Stars and most recently in the Soneros All Stars CD. The last time I saw him was after the Stockholm Jazz Festival 2003 when Sierra Maestra went to the Jazz Club Fasching for a post-concert jam session. The passing of José Antonio Rodríguez at only 55 years of age is a great loss to Cuban music and we will miss him. [Michelle White]

Falleció José Antonio Rodríguez - Ayer, 7 de noviembre de 2005, falleció el cantante de Sierra Maestra, más concido como Maceo. Sufrió un paro respiratorio, a lo que le sucedió un infarto, después de un concierto en El Festival Nuevo Mundo Latino en Copenhague, Dinamarca. Los artistas que tocaron con él en el festival y también los fans todavía están en un estado de shock.

José Antonio era conocido mundialmente como una de los grandes voces del son y además de Sierra Maestra, participó en otros proyectos como Afro Cuban All Stars (nominado al Grammy), Buena Vista Social Club y más recientemente en el disco de Soneros All Stars. La última vez que lo vi fue después del Festival de Jazz de Estocolmo 2003 cuando Sierra Maestra fue al club de jazz Fasching para una descarga. La muerte de José Antonio Rodríguez que sólo tenía 55 años es una gran pérdida para la música cubana y lo vamos a extrañar. [Michelle White]

Thursday, November 3, 2005 - Fiesta del Tambor Guillermo Barreto In Memoriam - Martin Karakas has resurfaced with a review of the annual Festival del Tambor, produced by timba superstar Giraldo Piloto in memory of his uncle, the legendary timbalero Guillermo Barreto, who, among his many accomplishments, played timbales with Cachao on the legendary descarga recordings of the 50's. While you're at it, check out Martin's other excellent review in our Timba in Havana section.

¡Viva la Maldición! -- The CIA Leak Investigation hasn't (so far) been the deathblow I'd hoped for, but it plants yet another rejón squarely in the flank of a reeling president whose approval rating fell to a new low of 35% this week. When he recently visited us out here in California, even the Governator refused to be seen with him. The hechizo seems to be working.

As for the implications for live timba, remember that already more than 50% of each house of Congress favors legislation to relax Cuban travel and cultural visa restrictions to at least where they were in the late 90's, but to override a presidential veto, 67% is required. This gives us two things to hope for:

1) A president so weakened that he dares not defy members of his own party to threaten a veto. (Are we there now?)

2) Enough turnover in the 2006 elections to achieve a bipartisan 67% super majority to override the veto.

New Articles Still Coming -- The Issac review I was writing has led me down a long and winding rabbit hole. I now have half a dozen new articles in progress, but none of them finished! With help from Orlando Fiol and others, however, I'm getting close to a new way of describing timba gears which will apply not only to Paulito, but to all of the bands. Stay tuned

Saturday, October 22, 2005 - New En frecuencia -- Click under BLOGS to the left for the latest from Duniel & Juan Tomás.

The Moment of Truth is at Hand -- Prepárense para el gran choque entre la mierda y el ventilador! -- (and if you know the Spanish idiomatic expression for "the shit hits the fan", mándamelo por favor!). I haven't been updating timba.com lately because I've been literally glued to the news. I've been ridiculed for months for my tinfoil hat prognostications about La maldición de los Timberos. Well, my friends, it's time to put up or shut up. This is the week. If I've been wrong, I'll admit it and get back to analyzing clave changes, but if I'm right, we may actually get to hear a little live timba in the USA before we're all too old to dance to it. Even the newspapers and television news channels are starting to pull their heads out of the sand and brace for the category 5 political hurricane that will make landfall in Washington DC this week.

Catch-up Time -- Starting soon, if I'm right, there will be but one topic at the water cooler, at parties, and on the streets, and if you haven't been following this thing for 3 months, as I have, you're going to find out that it's INCREDIBLY COMPLEX. This is one of the most fascinating real-life mysteries in American history, with a massive cast of the most fascinating characters imaginable. If you aren't familiar with the likes of Judith Miller, Valerie Plame, Patrick Fitzgerald, Scooter Libby, Karl Rove, Ahmed Chalabi, Larry Franklin, John Hannah, Jack Abramoff, Arthur Sulzberger, Mary Matalin and Robert Novak, and if you love a well-written, well-cast, mystery thriller with profound real-life implications, you have quite a treat in store for you. This one makes Watergate pale in comparison. It has spies, forgeries, illicit affairs, plot twists, coded letters leaked to the media, double and triple crosses, mob hits, conspiracies and more deliciously bedeviling clues and red herrings than an Agatha Christie novel. If you want to catch up, don't even bother with the newspapers and television news, which are hopelessly behind the curve on this one. The best way to get up to speed is to read the blogs. Below is a list of the best ones. These are written by extraordinarily intelligent professionals, many of them lawyers, who have studied every detail of this amazing case and already predicted many of the developments. They all have a political bias, but those listed below are careful to back up their reasoning objectively:

firedoglake -- The most frequently updated, thorough and funny of the blogs. Firedoglake is the definitive clearing house for everything related to this scandal. If you read the comments sections, you'll get links to new news scoops faster from this site than from google.

emptywheel -- The author has been on vacation for about a week, but when she's updating regularly, she's the most brilliant of all the commentators, with an encyclopedic knowledge of every detail of this 22 month investigation.

justoneminute -- This is the blog of choice for my right-wing friends still clinging to the false hope that George Bush is anything other than a bumbling white collar criminal. The principal author is brilliant and funny -- why he's defending a group of crooks who are anything but brilliant and funny is one of the great mysteries of the case, but I read his every word. Probably the next most intelligent right-wing blog is redstate.org -- they're still pretty much in denial, but this week they'll have to start paying attention.

The following are updated less often, but are always full of incisive analyses:

The Left Coaster
Needlenose Plamemania
TalkLeft
Mark Kleiman
Josh Marshall

And for further study of the facts of the case:

timeline
cast of characters
false news report watchdog

Saturday, October 15, 2005 - Elain Sunday Evening at Café Nostalgia -- catch it if you can.

Elain en Concierto
Sunday, October 16
Cafe Nostalgia -- 8:30 p.m.
34 Street between Collins Ave. and the Ocean
Miami Beach
305-531-8838

Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - tick ... tick ... tick ... for 3 months, I've been patiently telling you that The Curse of the Timberos was about to wreak its merciless revenge on the evil forces that have deprived us of our music. Still think I'm crazy? If this hasn't become the political equivalent of Hurricane Katrina by the end of the month, I'll eat my little tinfoil hat! And if you don't think I'm crazy, but don't agree with me, click here.

By the way, how do you say "curse" (the witchcraft kind) in Spanish?

Friday, October 7, 2005 - New Artist Section -- Chaka's El Tumbao - AUDIO CLIP - Manolín pianist Eduardo "Chaka" Nápoles has been in Miami since 1999 and has now formed his own timba group, El Tumbao, featuring NG La Banda timba legend Wickly Nogueras and a solid cast of Miami best young timberos. Lara Greene has done a whole section on them and they've been added to the artists list to your left.

Tremendo delirio back in print! - Charanga Habanera's Tremendo delirio, one of the greatest timba albums, has been out print for over a year and is finally available again. See the timba store below for details.

Jazz Session of the Timberos in Miami Sunday - Quite an impressive lineup of musicians at Café Nostalgia if you're in Miami.

Jazz Session of the Timberos
Sunday, October 9 9:30 p.m.
Cafe Nostalgia
34 St. between Collins Ave. and the ocean
Miami Beach, FL
305-531-8838

Featuring:
Michel Fragoso (piano)
Armando Gola (bajo)
Tomasito Cruz (congas)
Hilario Bell (batería)
Felipe Lamoglia (saxofon)
Hector Payán (guitar)

Thursday, October 6, 2005 - Latest Changuito Tribute - Rebeca Mauleón-Santana - As announced, October is Changuito Month, with various luminaries from the world of latin music weighing in with their tributes to one of the creators of songo and a primary influence on almost every timbero. Today's homenaje a Changuito is from world-renowned pianist and composer Rebeca Mauleón-Santana, who arranged many trips to the US for Changuito and collaborated with him on a very important educational book/video called The History of Songo.

Wednesday, October 5, 2005 - Tomasito Books Get 4.5 Stars in Modern Drummer! - Probably the world's foremost percussion periodical, Modern Drummer, has published a 4.5 star review of The Tomás Cruz Conga Method, the 3-volume book/DVD set that I wrote with Orlando Fiol and Mike Gerald based on our studies with ex-Paulito, ex-Manolín conga legend Tomasito Cruz.

I haven't plugged these books very much on timba.com, but in celebration of the Modern Drummer review, I guess it's time to tell the tale. Writing these books was a labor of love that consumed 18 months of my life and revealed to me many of Timba's most glorious secrets.

From the first time I saw a timba rhythm section in concert I was so moved and excited that I became determined to understand what they were doing and to encourage American musicians to learn to play that way. For the first year I was absolutely dumbfounded. I was hopelessly addicted to the sound of timba but totally clueless as to what the drummers were doing. All I could do was stare in amazement with my head buzzing and my heart pounding. Eventually I started focusing on bloques, the rhythmic breaks that all the percussionists would play simultaneously. I imagined that the percussionists and bassist, like the horn players, would memorize an elaborate series of rhythmic figures for each song. There was some truth in this, but these bloques turned out to be but trees in a much bigger forest which had not yet come into focus. In the process of seeking out different timba percussionists and gathering more clues I heard that the conguero on Paulito's Con la conciencia tranquila, Tomás Cruz, was living in Miami. I couldn't figure out exactly what he was doing on that record, but every time I listened to it with headphones, the conga parts swept me away, so I got his number and I hired him to make me a video of himself playing along with the CD so I could try to understand his approach. Around this time, Tomás learned that Mel Bay Publications was looking for a series of conga books and I realized that if I churned out the text and musical examples on my computer, (which was easy for me as a result of writing salsa charts for my band), that I could get Tomasito to show me all his patterns for free! I knew I could enter the patterns into the computer in a couple weeks, so I teamed up with Mike Gerald of Sol y Soul and we set out for Miami to transcribe Tomasito's conga patterns. As predicted, that part was easy, but a book needs some text, so we asked Tomasito to tell us a little about each pattern. This is where the problems began! He kept using terms that we didn't understand, like pedal, bomba, and songo con efectos. He'd say things like "well, this one would never be used for marcha, only for bomba, but this other one, bota, is the basis for songo con efectos." Finally, one day I said "look, let me just play you one of your recordings, and you tell me when this "bomba" thing comes in. I'll write down a little roadmap and then listen to the song at the hotel and see if I can figure out what you're talking about". When he did this, I was shocked to hear him calling out a different name every 4 claves or so. I wrote them all down, shook my head in disbelief, and asked him how he and the drummer and the bassist and the bongocero all knew when and how to make these changes. That was when he showed me the hand signals -- and that was also when I realized that this was not going to be a 2-week project! As it turned out, filming the DVD's also turned out to be much more complicated than I'd thought and we agreed that we'd have to reconvene in California in a couple months. I was on the return flight, listening to a Paulito recording while following along with the cheat-sheet I'd made at Tomasito's house when a lightbulb started to flicker ever so faintly above my thick skull. Eighteen months of constant study later, The Tomás Cruz Conga Method was finally published, after several more long meetings with Tomasito, and many more with co-author #3, Orlando Fiol, the blind, bilingual musical genius who finally made sense of the whole system, including the most difficult piece of the puzzle, songo con efectos. As a companion to the 3-volume set, I wrote Reelin' in the Gears to further explain Paulito's amazing gear system.

Ever since, I've been trying to find ways to describe the "gears" of the other great timba bands, using what Tomás taught me about Paulito as a basis. Currently I have a number of half-written articles, in addition to the half-written review of Issac's Prohibido, which will provide some very interesting comparisons between salsa and timba, and also a retrospective of Issac's career. So stayed tuned -- there will be a lot of new stuff coming soon.

Also coming soon ... Timba! - For months I've been telling you that big trouble is brewing for the Bush Administration. I know most of you think I'm completely insane (and pathetically desperate) to hold out the bizarre hope that an obscure special grand jury investigation that's gotten extremely little attention on CNN and Fox News might lead to the return of timba concerts in the US, but this just might be the week that my tin foil beanie turns to gold. Just keep your old pal Kev in mind as you listen to the news over the next week.

Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - Homenaje a Changuito - José Luis "Changuito" Quintana, is on the short list of the most important Cuban musical geniuses. During his two decades as the drummer/timbalero of Los Van Van he was one of the chief architects of Songo, one of the most important musical foundations of Timba. More recently he masterminded the new rhythm section approach of the most exciting new Timba band of the last 10 years, Pupy y Los Que Son Son. He's also made dozens of Latin Jazz recordings and is perhaps the most important Cuban music educator of all-time, having schooled several generations of young Cuban virtuosi such as Tomás Cruz. He's released numerous educational books and videos and toured the world with many different groups. We'll be doing a special tribute to this musical giant all this month, with articles from a wide variety of writers. Our first two tributes are from Calixto Oviedo (en español) and Chuck Silverman who co-authored one of Changuito's best educational books. More to come. If you have an article or jpg's to contribute, please send them to kevin@timba.com.

Here's an audio link of a classic Changuito solo.

New Azúcar Negra bassist - So far we only have his name - Leonardo Oliva Contrera. More info to come soon.

Update from Miami - to the Elain section.

Thursday, September 29, 2005 - Sad News - Another giant of Cuban music has passed away. Eduardo Mora, the brilliant bassist of Manolito y su Trabuco has died in Havana. Bill Wolfer of Mamborama, who knew him well, and did an album and tour with him, eulogizes him as one of the most talented, down to earth, and genuinely lovable people on the planet. Eduardo's temporary replacement will be Roberto Riverón, the brother of longtime Manolito drummer Roicel Riverón.

Bad News - It's rumored that Adalberto Domínguez "El Bamba", another of Cuba's greatest bassists, has left Azúcar Negra. It's rumored that his replacement may come from the timba band of batá god Papo Angarica.

Good News? - Judith Miller testifies tomorrow. It doesn't matter if you're left wing or right wing, red state or blue state, whether you wear a Che Guevara t-shirt or whether foam drools down your chin as you throw darts at a picture of Fidel Castro each night before retiring. If you're reading this, you love Cuban music, and if you love Cuban music, you're going to get to hear it again en la Yuma when the 43rd President of the United States has been mercifully relieved of his duties.

Michelle News - ... is always good news. Michelle White has the latest on Cristián Muñoz and salsa2salsa, Azúcar Negra's European tour, Charanga Habanera's upcoming tour (their new stuff actually sounds a bit like timba, by the way), Carlos Manuel and Calixo Oviedo.

Sunday, September 25, 2005 - En frecuencia update - click here for a video clip from the new timba band "Salsa Mayor", a new Pupy Pedroso CD in the works, and a new audio clip from Luis Bu's "Acheré" featuring Yordamis Megret on vocals.

New Timba Blog - Check the link to your left under Blogs for Yemaya's Verse by Gabriel Wilder -- crazed timbera, professional journalist, singer, dancer, and long-time friend of timba.com.

Thursday, September 15, 2005 - Oakland Katrina Concert Tonight - ... It's a huge lineup of Salsa, Latin Jazz, Gospel, and much more. Click here for a flier with the full details.

Not in Oakland? -- click here.

Tuesday, September 13, 2005 - Michelle Returns! - ... with all the latest on Los Van Van, Maraca, La Barriada, Alain Daniel y su Casino, photographer Cristián Muñoz and DJ Duniel Deya. I wouldn't be surprised to see something on Azúcar Negra pretty soon as well.

Revista prohibida - I'm hard at work on a lengthy article that's ostensibly about Issac's new CD Prohibido, but may wind up being more about his overall career and Timba in general and will definitely contain some exceedingly interesting streaming audio clips, so make sure your computadora can stream audio smoothly.

tick tick tick - Remember what I told you about this? Start polishing your dancing shoes, and take note: if this pans out, I'm changing my apodo from el loco to ... uhhh ... something else. If not, well, el loco will be fine.

Sunday, September 11, 2005 - New York & Boston Updates - DJ Gary has a new timba scene going in Union City and in Boston, there are several new weekly dance groups and a performance on the 24th by La Timba Loca.

Saturday, September 10, 2005 - Martin Karakas Returns - Martin's back with a new article entitled La Habana Hoy featuring concert reviews of La Rebambaramba, La Justicia, Bamboleo, Tirso Duarte, and Maikel Blanco. You can also click here for a list of Martin's reviews from earlier in 2005.

The Bay Area Sings for New Orleans at Yoshi's - Thursday, September 15th -- featuring the great Rebeca Mauleón-Santana and many others. Yoshi's is a truly wonderful place -- they have the best acoustics, atmosphere and food of any venue I've attended and, with their second Katrina benefit in as many weeks, they're showing that they've got a lot of heart too. Click here for a message from Rebeca with more details on the concert. If you can't go, give what you can to the Red Cross.

Te conozco bacalao - Hopefully my Spanish sarcasm makes sense -- if not, enter the caption contest.

Friday, September 9, 2005 - Yordamis at SOB's Tonight - Click here for a flyer with all the details. Yordamis Megret sang and recorded with Bamboleo for 5 years before moving to New York City to form her own group. This will be her third show at SOB's. If you're in NY or NJ, please get out there and support Cuban music in the US.

Aquí está una entrevista con Yordamis sobre los detalles de su nueva música y su carrera en Cuba, Miami y Nueva York.

And click here to listen to a clip of Yordamis stretching on a live cut from Bamboleo's spectacular live CD ñññño!

Tuesday, September 6, 2005 - ¡Bamboleo Bombshell! - According to Máximo Roberto Hernández, former manager of la CH and current manager of various artists, Haila Mompié and Vannia Borges, the original singers of Bamboleo, will be rejoining the group, both in Cuba and for international tours. Here's the exact quote:

Después de mas de 5 años sin trabajar juntos se unen para realizar conciertos en Cuba y giras internacionales las cantantes Haila y Vannia con Lázaro Valdés, director de Bamboleo.

Timba in the Blogosphere - Check out Farandulera for scans of a Cuban magazine article from the heady days of Manolinmanía. Also some great early photos of 2005 Grammy nominees Los Van Van.

Don't say I never warned you - More words of wisdom ... from the man who thinks Ibrahim Ferrer was a terrorist.

Regresa Michelle! - Azúcar Negra goes back to Cuba next week, so look for the return of Michelle, who's accompanied them on their European tour. We should have some major upgrades to the AN section.

Los Hermanos Arango record a new CD in Italy - Feliciano Arango, the founding bassist of NG La Banda and winner of the timba.com award for best bassist of all-time, has recorded another CD with Los Hermanos Arango - a fascinating group plays Latin Jazz with a batá rhythm section.

Calixto in Switzerland September 21st - at La Sprirale.

Manolín & Carlos Manuel Together in Miami? - Duniel says that Manolín's brother Lázaro says that Manolín will be returning to Miami to do a concert with Carlos Manuel at Bongos Café. The unconfirmed tentative date is October 21st. Stay tuned.

La Barriada in Europe - more details here, but here are the confirmed dates:

30 Sept. Århus
1 Oct. Copenhagen
14 Oct. Karlskrona
26 Oct. Helsingborg
29 Oct. Växjö
2 Nov Stockholm
5 Nov. Gothemburg

Monday, September 5, 2005 - Alexander como compositor y cantante! - Alexander Abreu, winner of timba.com's Best Trumpeter award, has long been rumored to have contributed various arrangement and coro ideas to the late 90's work of Paulito FG y su Élite. He's now in Denmark working on a project with monster trombonist Carlos Pérez working on a project with a group called Danzón for which Alexander is writing, arranging and singing as well as playing trumpet.

Ivette has checked in with the latest on Los Angeles de la Habana.

Los Van Van Reunion with Pedro Calvo in México - They play September 30th at Auditorio Nacional in México City with special guest Pedro Calvo, who left the group in 2000. (It's not listed yet on the site, but keep checking).

NG in Paris - on September 23rd at a club called New Morning.

Paulito in Norway and Austria:

19 noviembre 2005 - 21:00
COSMOPOLITE
Oslo, Noruega

27 noviembre 2005 - 21:00
BAUMGARTNER-CASINO
Viena, Austria

Thursday, August 30, 2005 - Juan-Carlos Formell Benefit for Hurricane Katrina Victims - Juan Formell's eldest son, singer/songwriter Juan-Carlos Formell, currently touring the West Coast, will play a special concert at Yoshi's in Oakland on Tuesday, Sept. 6. All proceeds will got to the Red Cross Katrina Relief Fund. Click here for more info on Juan Carlos Formell's latest music.

Thursday, August 30, 2005 - Yordamis at SOB's September 9th - Click here for a flyer with all the details. Yordamis Megret sang and recorded with Bamboleo for 5 years before moving to New York City to form her own group. This will be her third show at SOB's.

Habana Abierta meets Alain Pérez - En Frecuencia has the scoop. Habana Abierta is a Cuban group based in Spain. They've already released a very successful first album and their second features significant contributions from Alain Pérez, the writer/arranger of such timba masterpieces as La Sandunguita, Amigo Juan, Que me disculpen, and Issac's torrid version of Con la punta del pie.

En Frecuencia also has news on Gardi, Fidelito Morales, Lady Salsa, and a great report on Charanga Habanera from Juan Tomás García, who just returned from Cuba.

Wednesday, August 30, 2005 - Big News from Duniel & Juan Tomás - First of all, Los Van Van has received their second Grammy nomination for Chapeando. Second, Charanga Habanera is about to release a new album and you can hear live clips of some of the songs on timba.com. Click here for En Frecuencia and the full story.

Sunday, August 28, 2005 - ¿Qué tiene Formell que sigue ahí? - There's a short but wonderful interview with Juan Formell in The Japan Times. While responding to the question of whether he ever considered leaving Cuba, JF also reveals one of the secrets behind his amazing 40 year tenure at the cutting edge of Cuban music:

"There were many personal reasons for not leaving Cuba, but perhaps one of the main ones is that I consider myself a storyteller who draws inspiration from reality to tell stories and convert these into song themes. Cuba and its people have always been my source of inspiration. I was born in Cuba and I felt that in order to chronicle social happenings I needed to be part of this society. I wanted to be there to live in Cuba's reality. I didn't want to hear it being told by someone else. The idiosyncrasies of Cuban culture inspire me. I walk down the street, see things, hear things, see how people talk, behave, interact and from there, a song is born."

I think the thing I love most about Juan Formell is his humility. He's never lost his respect for the sources of his inspiration, and in doing so, he's never lost that inspiration.

I wonder if Manolín regrets leaving the source of his inspiration? I know I regret leaving Cuba, even though I was only there for a total of a few months! I haven't been back since George Bush took office, but to this day I'm still reeling from the musical intensity I experienced there in the late 90's. I've expectantly followed the careers of the many brilliant timberos I heard there who subsequently left the island but Formell's wisdom is reinforced by their failure to produce any music which remotely approaches the level of musical genius they achieved in Havana. Even more depressing is the effect that the departure of so many of Cuba's greatest musical talents has had on the music recorded on the island in recent years.

Mipa in Vegas - Speaking of transplanted Cuban musical geniuses, Nevada is the new home of Alexis "Mipa" Cuesta, the innovative conguero on Manolín's four Cuban studio CD's and also the conguero of the Team Cuba project.

Las Vegas bassist and timba-freak Abe Gumroyan, who plays with Mipa in a Latin Jazz group tells the story that the other members of the band didn't know who Mipa was until they launched, to Mipa's great surprise, into an impromptu version of the tumbao from "La bola". When Abe showed them some home movie footage of a Manolín concert for a massive crowd in Marianaó in 1996, he said that Mipa and ex-Manolín bassist Victoriano Nápoles were nearly in tears with emotion. I guess I'm not the only one who misses Cuba and wishes that Manolín had thought as clearly about the source of his muse as Juan Formell has.

We hope to have an interview with Mipa soon. In the meantime, if you get tired of the slot machines and Barry Manilov and want to form a timba band (¿Las Vegas Vegas?), you can reach your conguero at mipacongas@hotmail.com.

Radio and Fotos from Cristian Muñoz - Cristian has returned to salsa2salsa.com with a new radio program for the month of August featuring our own DJ Duniel Deya and new photos.

El Ciclón! - The latest addition to the Musicians' Directory is Eli "El Ciclón" Silva, Jr. who's playing with ex-Van Van singer Israel Sardiñas.

Michelle on Tour with Azúcar Negra - Michelle is currently in Belgium and should soon be checking in with a full report on Azúcar Negra's European tour. She's also updated the home pages page with links to the personal websites of most of the major groups. She's also added, thanks to Ivette, a new section for Sur Caribe and a page for Lisandro Arias.

Saturday, August 13, 2005 - Tiempo Libre in CA - Thanks to Katherine Bonalos and Lara Greene for providing this concert report.

Timba in the US before 2009? - Click here, or here, or here, or here, or here. As I understand it, if Cheney & Bush are forced out, next in line would be the Speaker of the House and the Senate Majority Leader. There's an excellent chance that neither (and maybe not even Cheney) would veto the annual bill that Congress tries to pass to relax Cuban travel restrictions. Many red state congressman have publicly stated that the US should have the same type of economic relationship with Cuba that it has with Red China -- hence their support for relaxing the embargo. Yes, I know you all think I'm completely insane for, among other things, speculating that the outing of a CIA operative may lead to Los Que Son Son concerts in Oakland, but give me until October (when the Grand Jury's term expires) before you haul me off in a straight-jacket -- there may be a few surprises coming.

Wednesday, August 10, 2005 - "A Cuban legend is gone"
- Adiós al sonero...

Photo by Cristian Muñoz

Ibrahím Ferrer died on Sunday August 7th in Havana at age 78, after his European tour. He was known worldwide as one of the legendary Buena Vista Social Club singers. He was born in the "cuna del son", Santiago de Cuba, and became famous in Havana (back in the ' 50s), when he started singing with such artists as Benny Moré and Pacho Alonso. He also joined Los Bocucos, becoming the 2nd voice of pilón, after Pacho. In 1997 he recorded on Ry Cooder's Buena Vista Social Club album, which was sold 4 million times around the world. Then came the Grammy Award and Wim Wenders' film, and last year a new Grammy Award. We join the pain of his family and thousand fans all over the world. R.I.P Ibrahím Ferrer, glory of Cuban music and worldwide music history. [Majela Serrano]

Cristian Muñoz has generously shared some of his photos of Ibrahím with us. Click here for a tribute in photos.

Ibrahím Ferrer falleció ayer en La Habana, a la edad de 78, después de su gira europea. Fue uno de los internacionalmente archiconocidos cantantes del Buena Vista Social Club. Nacido en la cuna del son, Santiago de Cuba, se hizo famoso en La Habana por los años 50 cuando comenzó a cantar con figuras como Benny Moré y Pacho Alonso. También fue parte de Los Bocucos, convirtiéndose en la segunda voz del pilón, después de Pacho. En 1997 grabó el disco Buena Vista Social Club de Ry Cooder, del cual se vendieron unas 4 millones de copias en el mundo entero. A eso le siguió el premio Grammy, la película de Wim Wenders y el año pasado un nuevo premio Grammy. Nos unimos al dolor de su familia y los miles de fans del mundo entero. E.P.D. Ibrahím Ferrer, gloria de la música cubana y de la historia musical mundial.[Majela Serrano]

Cristian Muñoz ha compartido algunas de sus fotros de Ibrahím con nosotros. Haga clic aquí para un homenaje de fotos.

Sunday, August 7, 2005 - En Frecuencia Update - Juan Tomás García has now joined Duniel Deya and Andy Pérez and has added some very interesting audio excerpts and album reviews. Click here for news and audio from new albums by Issac, Adalberto, Maraca, Rebambaramba, and, most interesting, a 2004 release called Vitaly y su Timba Habanera which features vocals by Mayito, Calunga, El Gallo, Pepe Gómez and Ricardo Amaray.

Interview with Yeni Van Van - Michelle has posted Claudia D'Ammassa's recent interview with LVV diva Yeni Valdés, with lots of interesting information about her early career with NG La Banda and Sello LA.

Paulito concert review and Issac fotos from Europe - Even when I'm not updating La última daily, timba.com is constantly growing. Make sure to check Michelle's page every time you visit to catch all the updates as they're added, such as David Doogue's Paulito report and Cristian's Issac fotos.

Monday, July 25, 2005 - Muchas Cosas Nuevas - Where to start?

Salsa Matriz - They're from Santiago and that track was from 2002. Here's their website. This is NOT "timba lite"!

Inglés pa' Timberos - Para los que tocan la "timba lite": ¡¡Caballeros!! En inglés el termino "lite" significa algo debil y sin sabor que tienes que que tomar, o mejor dicho, empujarte a la fuerza cuando no te queda mas remedio! Algo así como la cerveza de pipa o chispetrén (¿Ustedes saben?)

Elain this Friday at Yuca - click here for more details.

Friday, July 29 at Yuca -- 10 p.m.
501 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach
305-532-YUCA

Patrick Noble's Timba Thesis - Mr. Noble graduated from Harvard University and this was his final thesis - it covers the history of Timba music and dancing and goes into fascinating detail on the relationship between the development of Timba and the unique socio-economic environment that existed in Havana in the 90's.

Vocal Sampling Tour Update - The latest dates for their August tour or Europe.

Elain Concert Report #3 - Lara & Duniel's rave review of the July 5th show at Hoy Como Ayer.

Tiempo Libre Personnel Changes - click here

Many Updates to the Musicians' Directory - Chaka, Pututi II, Braily, Jorge Gómez, Ludwing Nuñez (Ludwing? We also have his old page under his old name!), Tebelio, Leandro, and Eduardo Quintana.

Saturday, July 23, 2005 - ¡Timba Verdadera! - Salsa Matriz - I'm waiting for more details from Juan Tomás -- but I love this streaming mp3 from Salsa Matriz. Just in case your senses have been dulled by the reguetoneros, THIS is what real timba sounds like! Check out the piano tumbao about one minute into the excerpt!

Friday, July 22, 2005 - ¡Acheré! - Luis Bu, the genius arranger of most of Manolín's greatest hits, has finally finished his first solo album since moving to Miami in 1998. Follow this link to the Acheré website, where you can hear Andar La Habana, with lead vocals by ex-Bamboleo diva Yordamis Megret. Click the PLAY button to the right to hear the whole song. The album hasn't been officially released yet, but should come out soon.

Thursday, July 21, 2005 - Video Clip of Osvaldo Chacón - click here for a brief interview from London with timba.com's Majela Serrano.

Maraca, El Clan y El Clan Oviedo también - click here for the latest from Michelle.

Tuesday, July 19, 2005 - New from el Médico de la Salsa! - Duniel & Guse just sent in a brand new studio track from Manolín, el Médico de la Salsa. I've barely heard it myself and have no other information. Let's check it out! click here for a (streaming-only/lo-fi) mp3.

Wednesday, July 6, 2005 - Elain Concert Reports- click here for a new report from Juan Tomás García on Elain's soon to be legendary performance with Tony Pérez, Dany Lozada, Gola & Tomás Cruz. For Duniel's take on the same show, click here, o aquí para español.

Tuesday, July 5, 2005 - Elain & Tiempo Libre - Lara Greene, all over the Miami scene as usual, has checked in with these updates:

Elain at Hoy Como Ayer this Thursday:
Thursday, July 7 11:30 p.m.
Hoy Como Ayer
2212 SW 8th Street, Miami
305-541-2631

Catch Tiempo Libre on the radio - They'll be on Miami's WDNA Wednesday, July 6 at 9:00 p.m. in interview with Andy Harlow, brother of Larry "el judio maravilloso" Harlow of Fania fame -- no live performance, unfortunately (studio's too small), but they'll be playing and discussing the new album, etc. Click here to listen.

Elain Concert Report - click here

Duniel & Andy Pérez team up on a new blog: Click here for the first edition of "En Frecuencia", featuring more news on Tiempo Libre, Mayito Van Van's new solo album, and much more.

New Tiempo Libre concert report - click here for a new report from Lani Milstein of the NYC rueda scene. With new repertoire, new members and tons of concert dates this summer and fall, this band is really starting to take off!

Michelle on Paulito & la CH: Click here for news on PFG's European tour and here for new fotos of Charanga Habanera in Milán.

Saturday, June 25, 2005 - Entrevista Social Club - Juan Formell is the greatest interview in Cuban music, hands down, but once you get past old JF, it ain't easy to get a straight answer to a tough question. Not so with Havanaway. They're not the most famous band in Havana - not yet anyway - but when Kevin Maestro or Gustavo Erik Jones gives an interview, diplomacy never gets in the way of a candid and sometimes brutally frank answer. Check out DJ Carlota's interview with conguero Kevin Maestro. You can hear DJ Carlota's program Somos Son on KSFR, Santa Fe Public Radio, on Saturday afternoons from 3:00 to 5:00 Mountain Time. Carlota also reportedly did a new interview with Gustavo which we hope to publish soon.

Michel con Revé - Curtis Lanoue, the man largely responsible for turning yours truly onto Timba, is in Havana and confirms that Michel Maza is singing regularly, and brilliantly, with Elito Revé y su Charangón. Catch it if you can.

Mipa & Nápoles in Las Vegas - These two key alumni of the once glorious Manolín band are now playing Latin Jazz in Las Vegas. More details to come.

Issac Letdown? - I haven't heard it myself yet, but more than one reliable source has told me that the eagerly-awaited new Issac album, which was supposed to be a return to his late 90's timba form, is just another collection of lightweight pop. A few years back, Issac, Paulito and Manolín were the three titans of timba -- constantly competing to release the next hook-laden masterpiece. ¿Y ahora qué? It's getting depressing around here! Pupy, Manolito and LVV are still going strong, but everyone else has lost their spark. It's really sad to see so many huge talents chasing the latest fad instead of writing from the heart.

Thursday, June 23, 2005 - Elain's New All-Star Band Friday Night at Yuca in Miami - If you're within striking distance of South Beach, this looks like one of the most exciting shows in years. Elain's group will feature, among others:

Tony Pérez -- piano (Issac, Klímax, Irakere)
Tomasito Cruz -- congas (Paulito, Manolín)
Danny Barrios -- timbales
Armando Gola -- bass (Manolín, Gonzalo Rubalcaba)

Click here for a poster of the event with information on getting there, getting tickets, etc.

Maraca in Europe - Michelle has pictures, schedules and more info. En español también.

Sunday: Quimbombo at Jelly's in San Francisco - Music starts aat 5:00 -- see you there!

Jelly's
Pier 50
San Francisco, CA
415-495-3099

Saturday, June 18, 2005 - Tomás Cruz Conga & Rhythm Section Clinic on Monday in Oakland -

Percussion and Rhythm Section Workshop with Tomasito Cruz
La Pena Cultural Center
3105 Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley
Monday June 20th, 5:30-7:00
$20

Percussionists and rhythm section players: Come attend a workshop with renowned Cuban percussionist and teacher TOMASITO CRUZ at LA PENA! The workshop will cover rhythms and patterns for the rhythm section (percussion, drums, piano and bass) in Timba (Cuban salsa). Tomasito has performed and recorded with Cuban timba groups Paulito y su Elite, Issac Delgado and Manolin el Medico, and currently performs with Cuban Latin Jazz legend Arturo Sandoval. Tomasito's brand new instructional book and DVD will also be available.

For more information please call or email Patricio Angulo of Quimbombó -- he'll be handling the workshop. He can be reached at (510) 928-4016, or pato_angulo@hotmail.com

And even if you can't make it Berkeley, check Tomasito's three instructional book/DVD's, published by Mel Bay, and co-authored by yours truly.

New Section for Miami Timba Star Elain Morales - Lara & Duniel have added an extensive section on this new

MIchelle on Pupy, Azúcar Negra's new demo, Timba in Perú and Manolito - click here. It's looks like after recording with Rebambaramba, Rafael Labarrera has moved to Perú to sing with a new group called "Team Cuba".

Updates to Boston & NY sections - click the links to the left frequently as these sections are sometimes updated before La última.

Havanaway In Rehearsal Fotos - click here

Friday, June 17, 2005 -Tiempo Libre in NY TONIGHT

NY Timberos -- do not miss:
FRIDAY JUNE 17
S.O.B.'s Latin Concerts Presents:
TIEMPO LIBRE
at Salsa Groove
"Arroz Con Mango" Release Concert
Newly armed with serious talent from trompetista Pavel Diaz and Angel "Pututi II" Arce, this show is not to be missed!!

HAPPY HOUR 5-6
Free Admission, 2 for 1 Drinks/Appetizers!
Doors 5:00
Dance Class at 7:00 PM
Shows 8:00, 10:00
Admission $5 from 6:00-7:00; $10 before 8; $15 after 8

Wednesday, June 8, 2005 - New Fotos: Michel con Revé, etc. - Michelle has added a section for Timba photographer Cristian Muñoz with a variety of great shots, including one of Michel Maza with Elito Revé.

Updated Tours - New dates added for Manolín, Paulito, Charanga Habanera, Dan Den, and Adalberto.

Tuesday, June 7, 2005 - El Menor del Changüí - Michel Maza, unable to front his own band due to new, more stringent regulations, is now performing as a featured guest singer with Orquesta Revé. It was only a few years ago that the two groups had a public feud over who had originated the popular "u yu yui" coro. It should be interesting to see if Tirso Duarte, another deposed bandleader. winds up with another established band. I'd like to hear him sing with Bamboleo, but it's not likely.

3 East Coast Updates - Timba comes to Washington DC - weekly dance parties with salsa & rueda lessons at La Caverna. We also have updates to the New York and Boston sections.

Tato's Bio - Ivette has sent us the full dossier on Bamboleo's extraordinary new percussionist, Eddy Montalvan Barban, aka "Tato". Click here.

Monday, June 6, 2005 - Entrevista FG - Michelle got a chance to conduct a short VIDEO interview with Paulito FG, who's currently on tour in Europoe. He'll be in Rome on the 21st.

Wednesday, June 1, 2005 - A "New Force" in Timba - Bamboleo's new drummer, "Tato", is the most exciting new Timba musician to hit the scene in some time, according to our friend Kevin Mastro, who's back in town organizing a tour of México for his up and coming Timba band Havanaway. It turns out that Herlan Sarior left Bamboleo while the band was touring Europe last year and was replaced by Tato on timbales. When 8-year Bamboleo veteran Ludwig Nuñez left the band a few months later, Tato took over his duties as well. He has an unusual setup that allows him to plays timbales and a full drumset while standing. Kevin Mastro is a tough critic of the current Havana scene, but he was blown away by a recent Bamboleo show and was raving with real enthusiasm about this exciting young drummer. Maybe the next crop of ENA graduates will breathe life back into the floundering Timba movement. If anyone else has seen Bamboleo recently, please check in.

Sunday, May 29, 2005 - Locos por mi Habana wins Cubadisco 2005 Best Dance Album Award - That's two years running for Manolito y su Trabuco, and this year they had to beat out Los Van Van. Click here for a link to all the winners. The Grand Prize went to X Alfonso for a rock album called "Civilización". Has anyone heard it?

Saturday, May 28, 2005 - Pupy's New Reviewed in the Japan Press - click here

Friday, May 27, 2005 - Tiempo Libre - This Miami-based timba band is really starting to take off. Check out this article in the Miami New Times.

Michelle is back - Check out her blog, the complete lyrics to LVV's Chapeando, and updated tour schedules for Charanga Habanera, Issac Delgado, Paulito FG, and Cándido Fabré.

Also check out Michelle's growing collection of links to the homepages of timba artists.

Boston Dance Scene Update - click here.

Sunday, May 15, 2005 - Out of the Office - Neither Michelle nor I will be able to add any updates for the coming week. If you start going through timba withdrawals, check out some of these past highlights that you may have missed:

Alain Pérez Interview

De Rodolfo Cárdenas y Pupy Pedroso

El Puente - Manolín in Miami

Michelle's Live Video Page

Charanguero Mayor Album Review

The Story of Team Cuba

The Gears of Paulito FG

Pupy's Que cosas tiene la vida

Attend 20 timba concerts with Michelle White

Spend 8 wild Timba weekends in Havana with Martin Karakas

The Four Great Clave Debates

Un tipo loco - Ilán on a vintage Manolín performance

Tremendo Delirio - Timba on Fire in 1997

La última archives - 4 years of breaking Timba News

Saturday, May 14, 2005 - I was wrong! - Thursday I posted a Google News link which I claimed would present both sides of the argument over political asylum for Luis Posada Carriles. As it turns out, not a single one of those linked articles defended Posada or the Bush Administration. I've search everything from Limbaugh to the Red State blog to Fox News and I've found dead silence. They've buried their heads in the sand and are hoping it will go away.

Now, I'm sure there are some juicy blogs out advocating giving Mr. Posada political asylum, but I haven't found a single one. Can someone send me a link?

And for those of you who don't see what this has to do with Timba, it has to do with the fact that George Bush has prevented US citizens from hearing live Timba concerts in the United States (and Cuba) for four and a half years, and he's done it for the same reason he's harboring a terrorist who blew up a passenger jet carrying 73 innocent Cuban civilians.

Thursday, May 12, 2005 - The Acid Test - To the chagrin of some readers, I have said for four years that George Bush is a brazen hypocrite whose persecution of Cuban musicians, Cuban music fans, and the residents of Cuba and their US relatives is motivated primarily by political greed, i.e., by the desire to keep the votes and financial support of the powerful Florida anti-Castro lobby. The vehement argument that some of you make against my position is that Mr. Bush's true motivation is his honest belief that Cuba is an oppressive dictatorship which he must, in good conscience, do everything in his power to destroy, regardless of the human suffering caused by his actions. (Like he's doing with Red China, right?)

In any case, now it appears that Mr. Bush has been placed in a position where he (and you, my vehement friends) may have to come clean once and for all. Since I admittedly don't have all the facts in this matter, I refer you to the following Google link, which itself is a link to 172 articles from sources on all sides of the argument.

If I understand this correctly, it appears that the United States is currently harboring a person who allegedly, among numerous other terrorist acts, blew up a Cuban passenger jet, killing 73 civilians, including Cuba's youthful fencing team. As with the 9/11 gang, it was an act of mass murder, justified by political ideology. The only appreciable difference is that this guy didn't blow himself up in the process.

So now Mr. Bush has 3 choices:

#1 - Grant the man political asylum.
#2 - Extradite him to Cuba or Venezuela
#3 - Extradite him Europe to stand trial at the Hague.

The concept of "innocent until proven guilty" justifies him in ruling out #2, but I assert that if Mr. Bush chooses #1 over #3, it proves him guilty, beyond a shadow of a doubt, of being more interested in backroom politics than he is in truth and justice -- even when it comes to the defining issue of his presidency -- the War on Terror.

Of course, even if he does the right thing on this highly visible issue, we'll still be screwed on music, but seeing our tormentor painted into a corner provides a bit of solace.

Wednesday, May 11, 2005 - Issac's New Website - Click here - Info on the new album, tour dates, baby photos ... it's all there.

News from the Big Apple: Havana Nights returns to the Copacabana - Click here for the latest exploits of DJ Gary Domínguez, the hardest working man in Timba. Trivia Questions:

1) From what must-have classic timba album did he steal those sexy lips?
2) Whose lips are they?

New York Timba Map - The 7 most exciting places to visit in New York City? Empire State Building? NO! Central Park? NO! Greenwich Village? NO! - click here for the 7 top Timba clubs in Manhattan.

LVV Trivia Answers- Curtis Lanoue found a 6th timba progeny from the LVV gene pool. Here's the full list of LVV members and their timbero sons and nephews:

Juan Formell - Samuel Formell (Issac, LVV)
Lele, Sr. - Lele, Jr. (Pachito, Revé, LVV)
Julio Noroña - Sergio Noroña (PFG)
Julio Noroña - Julito Noroña (Los Que Son Son)
Edmundo Pina - Yosvel Bernal Pina (PFG)
Alvaro Collado - Osmani Collado (CH)

Boston Update - click here for the latest on the Boston rueda scene.

Saturday, May 7, 2005 - Seis Grados de Separación - It's amazing how many Cuban musicians are related. The latest revelation comes from Daniel Roca in Perú. It turns out that Rafael Labarrera, who sang on Bamboleo's second CD, and wrote 4 great songs for their third CD, including the epic La tremenda [click for audio], is actually the son of Manolo Labarrera, the long-time conguero of Los Van Van. Rafael now resides in Perú and has a group called Team Cuba. Viewing the world, as I do, through a computer monitor in a garage in Northern California, my perception is that outside of Havana, the hottest Timba scene in the world today is in Lima, Perú. Mr. Roca has taken on the task of building a Timba in Perú section to keep us abreast of the goings on in the Southern Hemisphere. Stay tuned.

...all of which brings us to today's Los Van Van trivia question: Other than Rafael Labarrera, name 5 famous timba musicians whose fathers or uncles play or played with LVV.

Answers to Thursday Trivia Questions - Lionel Rogier edged out Curtis Lanoue in the LVV Triviafest -- in fact, he came up with several we hadn't even thought of.

1) LVV songs recorded more than once:

--Seis semanas (Ay Dios ampárame & El baile de buey cansado) (Pupy also recorded it 3 times on his own)
--De La Habana a Matanzas (Ay Dios, ampárame & Vol. VI)
--Yuya Martínez (Vols. I & II)
--Que no me mires más así (Vol. VI & Aquí el que baile gana)

2) musicians with LVV & Issac: Boris Luna, Samuel Formell, Cucurucho

3) musicians with LVV & NG: El Yulo, El Tosco, Yeni

4) musicians with LVV & Revé: Juan Formell, Pupy Pedroso, Gerardo Miró, Julio Noroña, Fernando Leyva, Jesús Linares, Iván Rocha, Orlando Canto, Luis Marsilli, José Luis Martínez, Lele, Sr., Lele, Jr.

5) musicians with LVV & Pachito Alonso: Robertón, Lele, Jr., Orlandito Mengual (filled in for Manolo for 6 months)

6) musicians with LVV and Charanga Habanera: Pedrito Fajardo, Cucurucho, Orlandito Mengual

Friday, May 6, 2005 - Mamborama Nominated at Cubadisco 2005!- At first we weren't sure because they got the title wrong, but it's now confirmed that the 2nd Mamborama CD, "Entre La Habana y El Yuma", now licensed to Ahí-Namá Records, has in fact been nominated for best dance album, along with Chapeando, Locos por mi Habana, Nadie se parece a ti, and the latest releases from Yumurí and Son 14. In case you haven't heard it, here are a few clips:

Mamborama 1
Mamborama 2
Mamborama 3
Mamborama 4
Mamborama 5
Mamborama 6

You've really got to hand it to Bill Wolfer. Of course, every Yuma musician who goes to Cuba gets the same brilliant idea: "Holy shit! Next time I record an album I'm gonna come down here and hire THESE GUYS to play on it!". But in the case of "Entre La Habana y el Yuma", Bill has actually made an album that Cubans like -- no small feat. Click here for more on this amazing story.

Los Van Van Trivia Results Tomorrow - It's amazing how knowledgeable the people who read this column are!

Thursday, May 5, 2005 -Trivia Question Too Easy??- I've gotten lots of complaints about the LVV trivia question being too easy, so try your hand at these. The winner gets an all-expenses-paid trip to Cubadisco 2005 ... and if you believe that I've got a tunnel in Playa to sell you.

1) Prior to Chapeando, name three other songs that Los Van Van recorded on two different studio albums.

2) Name three musicians who have been members of both Los Van Van and the Issac Delgado Group.

3) Name three musicians who have been members of both Los Van Van and NG La Banda.

4) Name three musicians who have been members of both Los Van Van and Orquesta Revé.

5) Name two musicians who have been members of both Los Van Van and Pachito Alonso.

6) Name two musicians who have been members of both Los Van Van and Charanga Habanera.

hint: The answers to almost all of these questions can be found somewhere on timba.com.

Los Van Van Tour Section Updated -- We've added 8 dates in Japan in August. Click here.

Wednesday, May 4, 2005 - And the answer is ... Arturo Sandoval played this solo on "No soy de la gran escena in 1989".

Timba in Boston Update - click here

Tuesday, May 3, 2005 - Advanced Vanvanology - Noted LVV scholar Abel Robaina checked in today with a wealth of revelations. First of all, I was wrong when I said that this Alexander Abreu solo was the first time a trumpet had ever been used on an LVV record. In fact, the classic "No soy de la gran escena" from 1989's "Crónicas" (LVV Volume XIV) featured this trumpet solo by _____. Anyone care to hazard a guess? The correct answer will be in tomorrow's "La última".

Abel also points out that two of the songs from Chapeando are actually remakes of earlier LVV tracks. "El montuno" (click here for an excerpt from the new Mayito version) was originally one of the last songs recorded by Lele's father in his second stint with the group. It was originally found on Los Van Van VI as "Montuno sin complicaciones" (click here for an excerpt). The other remake, "Nada", (click here for an excerpt from the new Yeni version), was originally recorded on Los Van Van VII as "No me engañes más que tú eres nada" (click here for an excerpt).

The Los Van Van which reinvented itself as one the great Timba bands of the 90's is so overwhelming that it's easy to overlook the fact that it had already been the top band in Cuba for 20 years by the time Timba took Havana by storm in 1989. But as a child growing up in Cuba, Abel remembers the excitement surrounding the release of each of the pre-Timba LVV albums that we latecomers think of only as "La Colección: Volumes 1-15". I'm trying to get Abel to write an exhaustive survey of the massive and eclectic body of work that came before the release of Disco Azúcar.

New York Update -- click here - for the latest on the New York club scene and DJ Gary Domínguez.

Monday, May 2, 2005 - Michelle on Cubadisco, Issac's new CD, Timba in México, etc. -- click here

Sunday, May 1, 2005 - Los Pianistas de Los Van Van -- Chapeando is the first Los Van Van studio CD since the departure of founding member Pupy Pedroso. There's a lot to be learned about Timba from examining the unique career of the new LVV pianist Roberto Carlos, aka "Cucurucho". Graduating from the Havana conservatories in the same prestigious class that produced Tirso Duarte and Marcos Crego, Cucurucho's first 4 job opportunities had one thing in common -- in each case he was called in, on very short notice, to replace one of the most creative and original figures in Timba. The first was Juan Carlos González, who left Charanga Habanera during their infamous 6-month suspension in the summer of 1997. His next two jobs consisted of replacing Brazil-bound "El Majá" with Issac Delgado, and then following Rolando Luna with Paulito FG.

For me, the most compelling and original aspect of the great Timba of the 90's was the new role of the piano. For example, most of the best songs of the afore-mentioned groups could be identified by their piano tumbaos alone:

example 1 - Nube pasajera by Charanga Habanera (JCG)
example 2 - Usa condón by Charanga Habanera (JCG)
example 3 - No me mires a los ojos by Issac Delgado (Melón)
example 4 - Y ahora qué by Paulito FG (Noroña)

I might add at this point that the absence of this type of creativity in the piano and harmonic structure is one of the main reasons that hardcore timba fans think of reguetón and "lite timba" with such disdain. But, I digress...

In any case, the most recent and most legendary of Cucurucho's legendary predecessors is of course Pupy Pedroso, who was one of the most important pioneers of this movement to liberate the piano from its traditional role of clogging up the harmonic texture with repetitive and formulaic clichés. Pupy had already been experimenting with unique tumbaos such as Disco Azúcar before the word "timba" even came into common usage, but in the early 90's he came up with a piano riff that sent the walls crumbling down and changed Latin piano playing forever - Qué tiene Van Van. Here's an excerpt from the wonderful documentary Empezó la fiesta (in my opinion the best film ever made on Cuban music) in which Pupy recounts the creation of the groundbreaking tumbao and the development of the most unique element of Pupy's style -- the use of "contrary motion" -- where the left hand part goes upwards while the right hand goes down and vice versa. Here's a medley of some of Pupy's most memorable tumbaos, from his recording with Van Van and his current group, Los Que Son Son.

example 7 - medley of memorable tumbaos by César "Pupy" Pedroso

So once again, Cucurucho was expected to adapt his style, something which he's done very well, and very quickly, with each of the groups he's joined. Check out Cururucho's playing on Te pone la cabeza mala. He stays faithful to Pupy's original concept, but tastefully chooses spots to let his own creativity shine through. Even in the tumbaos he's created for new LVV songs, such as No pidas más presta'o, Pupy's influence is dominant. This is not to say that Cucurucho is not an extremely creative musician in his own right. He co-wrote my favorite post-JCG/post-Tirso Charanga Habanera song, Gozando a lo cubano, and he's already written several hits for Los Van Van, such as Ven Ven Ven. Cucurucho's biggest departure from Pupy's style, and for that matter, the new LVV's biggest musical departure from previous efforts comes on the song Agua.

All told, Chapeando continues to grow on me and It will be very interesting to see where Cucurucho and the other younger Vanvaneros take the group in the years to come.

Saturday, April 30, 2005 - Yordamis at La Belle Epoque Tonight in New York -- click here for more info.

Cubadisco Nominees 2005-- click here for more info. Pregunta: ¿Y Pupy dónde está?

Friday, April 29, 2005 - Free Concert in Little Havana Tonight - Tiempo Libre --

Tiempo Libre tonight in Little Havana
SW 8th Street (Calle Ocho) between 14 & 17 Avenues
10 p.m. -- gratis

Here's the latest from Lara Greene on Tiempo Libre, one of the first Miami-based timba bands to tour globally.

This band is on it's way up -- they've been touring the world and taking it by storm (voted best Latin Act of the Day recently at the New Orleans Jazz Festival, over Juanes and Victor Manuelle), and now Miami will finally get a piece of the action! Tiempo Libre's new CD "Arroz con Mango" (upcoming release May 24) will be on sale at the show.

Yordamis Tomorrow Night in NY -- Check out the ex-Bamboleo songstress Saturday night in New York at "La Belle Epoque"

Charanga Habanera coming to London -- For the Floridita Music Awards. Click here for more details.

Thursday, April 28, 2005 - Martin Karakas on Bamboleo's 10th Anniversary Concert -- Another great piece from Martin Karakas. As usual it begins by describing one night's adventures on the Havana club scene and by the time it ends it's covered so much more. Martin is a lifeline for those of us who wish we were living in Havana and seeing a couple great concerts every weekend! I highly recommend all of his articles, which can be found in the Timba in Havana Reviews section.

More Red State Republicans Come Out for Easing Cuban Travel Restrictions -- All hail the senator from the great state of Wyoming, who says:

"When we stop Cuban-Americans from bringing financial assistance to their families in Cuba and end the people-to-people exchanges and stop the sale of agricultural and medicinal products to Cuba, we are not hurting the Cuban government, we are hurting the Cuban people," he said.

"If you keep on doing what you have always been doing, you're going to wind up getting what you already got."

...but don't get too excited. In fact, don't get excited at all -- this happens every year around this time -- an overwhelming majority of both houses of Congress is on the virge of passing a bill to relax restrictions on travel to Cuba, but when Fabulous George threatens to veto -- even though they could override it -- the Republican majority agrees to table the bill in order to save the president embarrassment. I don't follow their logic -- at least 80% of the civilized world already thinks he's a blithering idiot -- how much more embarrassing could one little veto make matters?

Wednesday, April 27, 2005 - Full details of the New Issac CD! -- Michelle has the latest on Issac's 15th anniversary press conference and has added this link to a report by his manager giving the tracklist, musicians, composers, arrangers, etc. The album is called Prohibido.

Tuesday, April 26, 2005 - Even the Red States Hate Bush's Cuba Policy -- Kansas is the very heart and soul of Bush Country but check out this article in the Kansas City Star. Actually it's a link to a link to a report in the South Florida Sun, but why is any of this of interest to Kansans? Are these midwestern Limbaugh-clones really sharing the pain we feel after no live timba tours in the US since 2001? Call me a cynic, but me thinks they may be a trifle more interested in selling a few of their amber waves of grain to the pinko panaderías of the Caribbean. Here's another article from the same publication which exposes the monetary motivation for this unexpected show of support from the Red State redneck idiots who, in their homophoebic dementia, have so overwhelming subjected Americans, and the rest of the world, to 4 more years of hell. But even if our dear compatriots in the Great Heartland had ulterior motives, it's interesting to note the ease and eloquence with which they're able to drive home the damning case against the Administration's Cuba policies.

Monday, April 25, 2005 - Major Updates to Manolito Section - Click here for a new concert review, interview with Manolito Simonet, news of solo albums by Ricardo Amaray and the Riverón brothers, and the origin of the name "Trabuco".

Sunday, April 22, 2005 - Bembé/Salsa at Harvard and the Boston-timba connection - click here to go to the Timba in Boston section - Catch it if you can -- in addition to a presentation by timba.com's Linda Rodríguez on the influence of Santería on Timba, it features Reynaldo González, a brilliant dancer, singer and teacher who is also on the faculty of the annual Humboldt Afro-Cuban Dance & Drum course, which, by the way begins on July 25th this year. I took this course last year and loved it and hope to attend again this year. I started studying Afro-Cuban folkloric music in earnest about a year and a half ago when I read Pepe Martínez' incredible interview with Alain Pérez (English - español). Alain states in no uncertain terms that it's impossible to really understand timba without having a solid understanding of rumba, batá and the other folkloric forms. For me, that one revelation alone has made the labor of love that is timba.com well worthwhile.

Consider for example, the two most common timba kick drum patterns:

xxxx 0x0x xxxx 0x0x [timba] -- [batá]

and

xxx0 xxx x0xx 0x0x [timba] -- [guaguancó]

The first is a common batá part (okónkolo part for Inle, Olokún etc), and the second is derived from the key rhythmic accents of the quinto in guaguancó. In each case, the part of the highest folkoric drum is the basis for the part of the lowest timba drum. (examples are from: Charanga Habanera - Tremendo delirio; Grupo Ilu Aña - Inle; Los Que Son Son - La bomba soy yo; Los Muñequitos de Matanzas - Rumba abierta)

Alexander w/ LVV - Thanks to Lionel Rogier for sending in this foto of Alexander Abreu with LVV in January of 2004. If you look very carefully you can see Mayito in the lower right hand corner. Click here for audio.

Friday, April 22, 2005 - ¡Alexander! - As far as I know, the solo at the end of "El montuno" (from Los Van Van's Chapeando) is the first time in 35 years that LVV has used a trumpet on any of their recordings. The liner notes credit it to "Alexander Rodríguez", but check it out -- audio excerpt -- how could that not be Alexander "The Great" Abreu? Sure enough, my suspicions were confirmed by Bill Wolfer, who's still high as a kite from the gigs he got to play with said Mr. Abreu on the recent Mamborama European tour.

International Meeting of Cuban Popular and Formal Dances - In Havana this Fall. Check Michelle's blog for the details.

Thursday, April 21, 2005 - Aymee Nuviola in Miami - It's hard to tell from reading this Miami New Times article whether the ex-Pachito Alonso diva is playing real Timba or not. If anyone catches her show, let us know.

Charanga & Pedrito Calvo in Perú - click here

¡Chapeando! -- After 1999's Grammy & timba.com Readers' Poll winning Llegó Van Van, the long-delayed followup, Chapeando, arrived without much fanfare, but the more I listen to it, the more I love it. It has at least 6 or 7 tracks that can stand up to anything LVV has done. Click here for audio excerpts. It's particularly great to have some new Roberto tracks while we wait and wait for his long-rumored solo album.

Tuesday, April 19, 2005 - Mi Timba Tiene Sandunga -- Michelle has put the finishing touches on timba.com's Revé section. The current group, now called Elito Revé y su Charangón, is one of today's top timba bands, but the story began in the 1950's with Elito's father Elio, whose fusion of changüí and son formed the basis for the salsa, songo and timba which followed. In terms of the evolution of Timba, Revé is the most important group between Arsenio Rodríguez and Los Van Van. Among the musical giants who started their careers with Revé are Juan Formell & Pupy Pedroso (Los Van Van), Chucho Valdés (Irakere), and Juan Carlos Alfonso (Dan Den). Michelle's introduction page covers all of this in much greater detail.

Monday, April 18, 2005 - Martin Karakas on NG La Banda -- It's been a while since Martin's latest update, but this extensive and candid analysis of the recent exploits of El Tosco was well worth the wait. The article also includes a thorough rundown on the Havana scene with news on Charanga Habanera, Azúcar Negra, Bamboleo, Yoruba Andabo, Tumbao Habana and others. Click here, or click on the Timba in Havana link to the left.

Fotos of Dany Lozada with Havana NRG in St. Petersburg -- Thanks to Willy Fumero for sending these in. Stay tuned for more news on Florida's newest resident timbero. Click here.

Michelle on Manolín, Calixto and "Ricky Ricón el Menor" -- Click here.

Sunday, April 17, 2005 - 6,700 and counting... ... That's how many pages, pictures, audio clips and video clips can be found in just the Artists section of timba.com.

Duniel's Lozada Report -- Dany Lozada is definitely in the US and plans to reside in Miami. He told Duniel that he has a lot of new material and is looking for producers. For the time being the best way to reach him is through Duniel at duniel@timba.com. The most exciting news is that he's contacted Manolín's genius arranger Luis Bu about collaborating on his new songs. Luis, by the way, is getting very close to finishing his own solo album, which features vocals by Yordamis Megret, whose next New York concert with her own band will be on April 30 - "La Belle Epoque" .

Reportaje de Duniel sobre Dany Lozada -- Seguramente está en los EEUU y va a mudarse a Miami este mes. Dijo a Duniel que tiene mucha música nueva y está buscando disquera y productores. Habló de la posibilidad de unirse Luis Bu, un de los mejores arreglistas de la música cubana. Para más información, puedes mandarle un e-mail a duniel@timba.com.

New Charanga Habanera CD - Michelle reports that "Ésta es mi charanga", due to begin production in May, will be a return to the more danceable style of "Soy cubano soy popular" -- a step in the right direction in my opinion -- I have to admit that Charanga Lite was a major disappointment for me. I'm waiting for Mr. Calzado to find another collaborator of the calibre of Juan Carlos González or Tirso Duarte. To see what I mean, check out our study of Charanguero Mayor from 2000, which uses MIDI excerpts to show in detail how the astounding tumbaos of Duarte were incorporated into Calzado's arrangements to create a strikingly original body of music which, in all honesty, leaves CH's more recent work in the dust.

After years of obsessive study, I've concluded that almost all of the timba masterpieces are the product of this type of creative collaboration, whether it be Manolín & Luis Bu, Paulito & Ceruto, Calzado & González, Calzado and Tirso, Issac, Melón & Alain, Piloto & Yusef Díaz, Lázaro & Limonta, or various combinations of Formell, Pupy, Changuito & Hugo Morejón.

Looking for exceptions to the trend, Manolito Simonet comes to mind as an arranger who more or less single-handedly writes the words, music, arrangements and tumbaos, but a more representative example of the timba creative process is the great material of the 1997-1998 version of Paulito's Élite -- for example, the masterpiece Y ahora qué had absolutely indispensible creative contributions from each of the following -- Paulito, Ceruto, Sergio Noroña, Yoel Páez, Joel Domínguez, & Tomás Cruz.

Michelle also has the details of CH's current tour of Perú, as well as an upcoming tour of North America by Calixto Oviedo and his jazz band.

El Clan Section Updated - Click here -- thanks to Ivette & Michelle for putting it together.

Tuesday, April 12, 2005 - Timba.com Founder lays down the Funk in Boston! - ... That's right - SPFunk and the Axes of Evil, featuring our own Bruce Ishikawa on bass & vocals, plays at Harper's Ferry in Boston a week from tonight, Tuesday, April 19th.

Meanwhile ... not to be outdone, Michelle has the latest on the Cuban contingent. She got Ivette's uncensored, unabridged, unabashed transcription of that highly controversial (or was it?) interview with Charanga heart-throb Leonid Torres; she's added a page for Pavel Molina, the bassist chosen by Juan Formell as his successor; and she's also got news from Athens on the tour of a former Charanga heart-throb, Ricky Ricón.

Tiempo Libre section updated - Lara Greene has redone the Tiempo Libre section in honor of the upcoming 2nd album and national tour.

Monday, April 11, 2005 - Lozada Rumor Confirmed - ...by his cousin. It should be interesting to see what comes of this!

Michelle has the latest on: Los Van Van, Azúcar Negra, Klímax, Tiempo Libre & Dantes "Riki Ricón" Cardosa - Click here.

Saturday, April 9, 2005 - Tiempo Libre Tonight at Davidson College, North Carolina

click here for the full tour schedule, including next Saturday in Tampa:

April 16 at 7:30 PM
Ferguson Hall, Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center
for tickets call: 813-229-7827 or on-line at www.tbpac.org

Updates: Timba in New York and Timba in Boston

Friday, April 8, 2005 - Los Van Van Concert Report, Video & Interview - Michelle has added to the growing collection of LVV video clips, and also submitted a new concert report from the recent Copenhagen show, and a video interview with new pianist Roberto "Cucurucho" Carlos. Next up for Michelle is Manolito. Click here for the tour schedule.

Video of Calixto Oviedo's Latin Jazz band - See Michelle's blog for more details and links.

Monday, April 4, 2005 - Dany Lozada in Miami? - That's the rumor, according to our intrepid sleuth Duniel Deya. Just in case you've missed any of the earlier episodes of this particular Timba soap opera, allow me bring you up to speed. Dany Lozada and genius arranger Juan Carlos González left Charanga Habanera immediately following the Cuban government's imposition of the infamous 6-month suspension which began in August of 1997. The group they formed, Dany Lozada y su Timba Cubana, played some memorable concerts, including a riveting live guest appearance on the "Mi Salsa" television show. More importantly, they released one of the best Timba albums of all time, "Tanto le pedí". Unfortunately, González left the group after less than a year, going briefly to Charanga Forever and finally ending up in Europe where he still resides. There have been various rumors that he (González) might be working on something, but none has come to fruition. Meanwhile, Lozada's career has floundered in Havana. He hasn't kept a steady band together for any length of time since González' departure although he did release a lukewarm "pop" album called "Lo mejor de mi corazón" in 2003. Lozada is an extremely talented singer and writer and I found the music on this CD to be better than most half-hearted Cuban cross-over attempts, but it doesn't even come close to the standards set by Lozada and others with albums like Tremendo delirio and Tanto le pedí.

Will the move to Miami help or hurt this phenomenally talented timbero? Well, if it helps, it'll be a first. In my overly-opinionated opinion, the biggest tragedy in Timba history was Manolín's move to Miami in 1999 (and the second was his move to Miami in 2001). Love him or hate him, Manolín's meteoric rise in the mid to late 90's was integral to the explosion of creativity that we now wistfully look back on as the "golden age of Timba". Each of Manolín's departures sucked precious energy from the healthy creative competition that was raging in Havana and, separated from that scene, neither he nor his brilliant musicians has yet to accomplish anything of note after 5 long and frustrating years in Miami. Ironically, Manolín's career has been dogged by the lyrics to his biggest hit -- "Tú te fuiste, y si te fuiste perdiste, yo no, yo me quedé, y ahora soy el rey". Manolín should have followed his own advice. On the other hand, Lozada, who is almost as charismatic and almost as good a songwriter as Manolín, and an infinitely better singer, did follow the sage advice of "La bola" -- he stayed in Cuba, but he's accomplished little more than el Médico did in Miami during the same 5 year period. Dany Lozada, like Manolín, was on top of the world in the late 90's, going from singing and writing for the group that timba.com's readers chose as the greatest timba band of all time, to producing arguably the only album ever made by an ex-Charanguero that equals the quality of the long line of masterpieces created with Calzado at the helm. But since "Tanto le pedí", Dany Lozada's extraordinary musical talent has produced very little. Maybe Miami will be good for him. As always, I can't help but picture some phenomenal collaboration between Lozada, Luis Bu, Reinier Guerra, Chaka, Angel Arce, Victoriano Nápoles and Tomás Cruz, but it's a longshot at best. Very nearly a quorum of the greatest Latin musicians of all time have left Cuba and reassembled in Miami and Madrid. All the pieces would appear to be in place, but something got left behind -- perhaps the intangible spiritual magic of the city of Havana itself.

Sunday, April 3, 2005 - Ned Sublette in San Francisco - Ned Sublette's record label, QBADisc, was responsible for bringing the first recordings of timba to the global market in the form of NG La Banda's "En la calle". QBADisc also released Issac's "Con ganas", and a number of classic recordings by Los Muñequitos of Matanzas, Ritmo Oriental and others. Mr. Sublette is also a radio producer, a recording artist in his own right, and the author of the extraordinary book Cuba and Its Music: From the First Drums to the Mambo. He'll be present for a lecture and book-signing in San Francisco on Tuesday, April 12th at 8:00 p.m. at the Dance Mission.

Timba in New York Update - Andy Pérez, the new editor of the Timba in NY section, has added another update.

Saturday, April 2, 2005 - Festival de Tononja - Click here for Martin Karakas' review of this yearly festival from la Isla de la Juventud. Also covered are the 3rd Annual Egrem Awards, which were dominated by Manolito's "Locos por mi Habana".

Michelle's Video Interview with Calixto Oviedo - Click here . Also check her blog for more on the Egrem Awards and a number of upcoming tours. Michelle has been updating much more often than I have, so don't forget to check her page regularly. She's also updated the sections of Los Van Van and Klimax.

Yordamis in New York - Yordamis Megret (ex-Bamboleo singer) has two upcoming concerts in New York:

April 30 - "La Belle Epoque"
May 27 - SOB's

Boston Update - Click here for Linda Rodríguez' column on the timba, dance and Latin jazz scene in Beantown.

Timba Lives! Lots of great new music being released - I've been driving around very happily listening to Chapeando and Pupy's two new CD's -- each disc has at least several timba classics. And don't forget to check out Pupy's Popurrí of LVV compositions on "Mi timba cerrá".

Saturday, March 12, 2005 - Cuban music in Vegas - It sounds like it's similar to the type of "espectáculo" that so many timba fans complain about sitting through at the Copa Room while waiting for the main band to come out at 1:30 a.m. But in the world's leading mecca for corny, over-hyped entertainment, it seems to fit right in. At least it gave Jordan Levin an excuse to write another great article on Cuban Music (click here to read it before it falls off the non-subscription server).

Actually, I have one very fond memory of "Lost Wages". It was in June, 2000, before Condoleeza Rice replaced Monica Lewinsky in the Oval Office and brought with her a much more hostile attitude towards Cuban cigars. In the glorious first year of the new millennium Timba tours in the US were still a monthly phenomenon. Azúcar Negra, with one of their greatest lineups, featuring Roberto Linares on piano and Yoel Cuesta on congas, played Los Angeles and then crossed the great Mojave for nine stunningly brilliant shows at the Hotel New York New York. As soon as I heard about it I booked a cheap flight, caught all nine -- and was rewarded with a full-body timba adrenaline rush each time ... alas. Click here to take a trip down memory lane with Bárbara Valladares, who wrote timba.com's first concert review to mark the occasion. Now we have a couple hundred concert reviews, but no more concerts to review. Go figure.

Timba Dance Lessons in Boston with timba.com's Linda Rodríguez:

Beginner Cuban-style salsa in Boston
Sundays, April 10-May 1
1:30-2:30pm

Dance Complex (at Central Square)
536 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge MA
617-547-9363

Email linda@timba.com for more information.

Michelle on Los Van Van & Riki Ricón - click here

Thursday, March 10, 2005 - ¡timba.com discount concert admission! - Just for being a reader of timba.com you're entitled to a discount at the upcoming Pupy y Los Que Son Son concert in Milan. I guess I can't afford not to fly over there! Click here for the full details.

¡Oye! Descuento de Timba.com para el Concierto de Pupy y Los Que Son son en Milano, Italia! pon clik aquí!

Another New York Section Update - Click here

Noticias de Gardi - pon clik aquí

Wednesday, March 9, 2005 - Return of the Timba in New York Section - Linda (poor thing) has been too busy going to Cuba to study for her doctorate to maintain the NYC section so she's handed over the reins to long-time timbafreak Andy Pérez. Click here for his first installment, featuring fotos from the recent Carlos Manuel concert at Club España in New Jersey.

Tuesday, March 8, 2005 - Charanga Forever en vivo and more - Martin Karakas has updated the new Timba in Havana section with a lengthy and informative review of Charanga Forever, also including the aftermath of Carnival and a discussion of the Timba scene in general.

Michelle has news on Pupy, LVV, the Plaza Rojo, and the Premios de Egrem -- click here.

Sunday, March 6, 2005 - Manolín in Rome Tuesday - Melón reports that Manolín's new European group played its first gig in Verona this weekend and will play in Rome Tuesday before returning to Madrid on Wednesday.

Listen while you read - CLICK HERE - Today's La última has no less than seven audio links. Just click on the blue hypertext - it will either open a new window or play some music. If you set it up right, Windows Media Player or Winamp will play in the background while you read on. There are hundreds of great timba excerpts throughout the pages of timba.com (for example, in Michelle's new review of LVV's Chapeando), many of them from unreleased live concerts.

El Tren que nunca para - ¡Chapeando! - Michelle has added a review of Los Van Van's latest disc with six great audio excerpts. The Timba scene may be in a bit of a slump, but LVV certainly isn't -- ¿Qué tiene Van Van? - they were on top before Timba, stayed on top throughout the glorious 90's, and show no signs of slowing down now. Click here if you doubt me!

Ni Pupy Tampoco - Meanwhile ex-Van Van pianist Pupy Pedroso continues with possibly even more momentum with his new CD "El buena gente". And Michelle and Cristián of Salsa2Salsa have added 6 pages of new fotos of Pupy's Los Que Son Son in action.

CantaCuba Report -- This new section, from Claudia D'Ammassa features, among many other things, fotos of our pal Bill Wolfer with Mamborama, aka ("el trabuco prestado"). Bill is now "back home" in Cuba, still on Cloud Nine. We'll let you know when his next tour of California is. Speaking of transplanted timberos from Southern California, Kevin Mastro of Havanaway will soon be heading back to Havana, so stay tuned for more on that front.

Carnival-La Habana - This week Martin Karakas writes about the history of Carnival in La Habana.

More on Paulito - Following along with the discussion on the Yahoo CubanMusic Newsgroup, we now know that the unreleased CD is neither the missing Timba classics nor the "ballad album" -- it turns out to be a tribute to the compositions of Tito Rodríguez. The newsgroup also has rumors flying about Issac's next album. The poster has been sworn to secrecy about the details, but since I haven't, I'll pass on the unconfirmed rumor that Issac's next CD will contain a mix of arrangements from the disparate duo of Alain Pérez (known for composing and arranging such Timba masterpieces as Con la punta del pie, La sandunguita, Que me disculpen and Amigo Juan) and Sergio George, who, despite his association with sappy NY pop, has written some creative and hard-driving charts for the Luis Enrique and others.

New Singer for Pupy - Alexander Lara (ex-Azúcar Negra) is now also ex-Los Que Son Son. The new singer is Jannier Rodríguez, previously with Carlos Manuel & Paulito and also one of the lead singers on the first Sol y Soul CD. With Pupy, he sings a recent single called "La baila de billy".

Tuesday, March 2, 2005 - Great New Fotos - Michelle and Cristián of Salsa2Salsa have added 4 pages of great new fotos of LVV and others.

Lo perdido de Paulito - As the discussion rages onward on the Yahoo CubanMusic Newsgroup, Ilán points out that there were 5 great pre-Con la conciencia songs which Paulito frequently performed live but never recorded. Were these, plus Laura and La última bala, on the tracklist of the lost Nueva Fania CD? Stay tuned.

Timba in Spanish Harlem this Friday - Click here for the details and email Vic for more info.

Mamborama on video? - Mamborama is back home in Cuba after a highly-successful, but all too short whirlwind tour of Europe. Unfortunately no audio recordings were made, but many people video-taped it. If you have a video, the band would love to get a copy. Click here to email Mamborama. Click here to email Mamborama.

Los Ángeles de La Habana - Fotos and news from Ivette.

Viene Revé - Michelle is very close to completing a section on the group most conspicuously absent from timba.com's artists section -- Orquesta Revé. Stay tuned. There's an audio interview and some exquisite photography.

New European Contact Info for Los Hermanos Arango - Click here.

Saturday, February 27, 2005 - ¿¿Unreleased Vintage Paulito in the Nueva Fania Vaults?? - Click here for a link to a post on the Yahoo CubanMusic newsgroup. Among other fascinating and amusing things, the poster asserts that as a result of a failed contract re-negotiation, Paulito recorded a third album for the Nueva Fania label that was never released.

To understand the full impact of this, bear with me through this highly-opinionated review of the middle period of the illustrious career of Pablo Fernández Gallo:

If I have my own facts straight, the first CD Paulito released on Nueva Fania (in 1996), was simply called "Paulito FG", and contained the same tracks, in a different order, as the Cuban release "El bueno soy yo", with songs like "Estamos en escena", "El vuelo" "Cuida'o en el cachumbambé" etc. Then, in early 1997, there was a major personnel change in la Élite, with the departure of Frank Rubio on bass, Emilio Morales on piano, Carmelo Andrés on trumpet, and possibly others. Sergio Noroña, who had been playing synth, switched to piano and Joel Domínguez took over on bass. This was the group that recorded the second (and final) Nueva Fania release (in mid 1997), "Con la conciencia tranquila", #3 on the timba.com readers' list of greatest Timba albums of all time, and #1 on my personal list. I myself found this album so compelling that I've sought out and studied with almost every musician who played on it, and even gone so far as to write an entire book (Tomás Cruz Conga Method, Vol. III) analyzing its conga marchas and the innovative "gear" structure of its arrangements. Six years after discovering it (and 8 years after it was recorded), I'm still studying it and am still discovering more treasures in its intricate and perfectly-balanced tapestry of rhythms and harmonies.

Con la conciencia tranquila, by Paulito's own admission in a timba.com interview, was by far his greatest album, but his live performances peaked a year later, in 1998, when the gear structure was expanded even further. Click here for a full discussion of the '98 group.

The repertoire of the '98 edition of La Élite was comprised of songs from Con la conciencia plus two brilliant new arrangements, "La última bala" and "Laura". "Demo" recordings of these two songs were released to Cuban radio in 1998.

This was clearly the peak of Paulito's career, and arguably the very pinnacle of the entire Timba revolution, but Paulito then made a series of monunental errors in judgement. First, he severed his contract with Nueva Fania. The afore-mentioned newsgroup post purports to divulge inside information on these dealings -- I can't confirm any of it, but it's from a well-respected source and it sounds quite plausible. Paulito's next, and even more egregious career move was to alienate his musicians. The '98 group was an absolutely stupendous example of musical collaboration at the highest level. Juan Ceruto, Yoel Páez, Tomás Cruz, Joel Domínguez, Yaniel Matos (and Sergio Noroña before him), Alexander Abreu, and Yosvel Bernal were all critical creative contributors to the final musical product. First Paulito fired Matos (aka "El Majá - now in Brazil playing with Carlinhos Brown) for taking recording work on his off days during the infamous 1998 US Tour. Next, a disillusioned Tomás Cruz jumped ship and stayed in Miami. Next, the two Yoeles quit and were reunited with El Majá in Issac Delgado's 1999 band, which immediately displaced la Élite as Havana's hottest group.

In 1999, Paulito, with no recording contract, did a admirable job of reconstituting his band. He added the prodigy Rolando Luna on piano, Cristóbal Verdecia on bass, "El Toro" (now with Pupy), on congas, and Mauricio Herrera (now in NYC) on drums. I heard this band in 1999 and early 2000 and it was extremely strong, and had added several great new Paulito/Ceruto collaborations -- "Enredadera de amor", "El Chipichipi", and "Dejaría todo".

In the first half of 2000 Paulito began recording what would become "Una vez más ... por amor". It started out promisingly, but halfway through the process, Paulito committed his most fatal error -- he allowed Juan Ceruto to leave. Like Lennon & McCartney, Manolín and Luis Bu, and other legendary writing teams, Paulito and Ceruto had a divine chemistry, and if you listen to the non-Ceruto half of "Una vez más" and the more recent "Te deseo suerte" you can see for yourself if you agree with me that Paulito's more recent music can simply not hold a candle to his work with Ceruto. "Una vez más ... por amor" is still an album well worth having, if only for the priceless version of "Enredadera de amor". It also has a studio version of "La última bala" (called "Una vez más"). What it doesn't have is a recording of Ceruto's exquisite arrangement of "Laura". This is one of the few songs in Paulito's repertoire which he didn't write (it was written by Italian rock star Nek), and apparently the label didn't want to pay the royalties to include it on "Una vez más".

So ... if this "lost" Nueva Fania recording really does exist, what's on it? It's possible that it's only the "all ballads" CD that Paulito has hinted at in some interviews, but perhaps it has "Laura" and/or recorded examples of the '98 band with the songo con efectos gear that it developed after the release of "Con la conciencia".

Friday, February 26, 2005 - Rei Ceballo and Calle Sol - Ilán Greenfield has put together a new artists section on Calle Sol, led by Rei Ceballo, the founding pianist and one of the arrangers for Azúcar Negra. He's been in Poland for several years and has put together a very hot Timba band as you'll hear from the mp3 excerpts. Y en español también!

Miércoles, 23 de febrero, 2005 - Revista de "El buena gente" por Pupy y Los Que Son Son - pon clik aquí para esta revista detallada por Ilán Greenfield.

Tuesday, February 22, 2005 - Michel Maza at La Tropical - Click here for Martin Karakas' latest Havana concert review, which covers much more than just this one concert. This is a great read!

Coming within 24 hours - Ilán's long, and long-awaited, review of Pupy's new CD, El buena gente, and a complete section on Rei Ceballo & Calle Sol. Rei, now in Poland, was the founding pianist of Azúcar Negra and his new group -- thank God -- is one of the few expatriote orquestas to NOT sell out! No stinking reguetón or Boyz2Men aquí -- Calle Sol sounds like hard-driving late-90's timba -- prepárate! -- the new section will have some steaming mp3 excerpts.

Monday, February 21, 2005 - Manolín recording in Spain with Melón and los Yoeles - This time it's not a rumor - several tracks have already been recorded with this "Dream Team" combination of sstars from the greatest bands of Issac, Paulito and Manolín. It's not known whether the tracks are timba or "pop", (and I fear for the worst), but at least we know it will be brilliantly played.

Michelle Michelle Michelle - I can't keep up with her! Make sure to check her blog regularly, as she updates much more often than I do. She's been adding videos at a steady clip and the most recent is Linda Rodríguez' video interview with Tirso Duarte.

Mamborama Tour in Full Swing - Bill and his Trabuco Prestado have already played their first 3 dates, including one in front of 3,000 people in Zurich and a guest appearance in Milan from Pachito Alonso and his musicians. Click here for the rest of the tour dates.

Mauricio Herrera in New York - Mauricio Herrera, who followed Yoel Páez as the drummer of Paulito's band, and who recorded on "Una vez más ... por amor", is now living in New York City. He can be contacted at maurisongo@hotmail.com.

Rest in Peace - Two of the most important figures in the history of Afro-Cuban folkloric music have recently passed away: Lázaro Ros and Pancho Quinto. They will never be forgotten.

Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - Pan con Salsa con Manolito ... Coño! Bill Wolfer, who's leaving tonight for the Mamborama European Tour, reports that Manolito has a new synth player -- none other than Miguelito Angel de Armas "Pan con Salsa", who, with NG La Banda, was Timba's very first tecladista. Manolito's original tecladista, Osiris Martínez, after recording on the first five Trabuco CD's, left for Pupy y Los Que Son Son and was replaced for a couple years by Harold, who, although I don't know his last name, was also a very formidable musician. But Pan con Salsa is in a league of his own, having contributed significant portions of NG's greatest arrangements from the early 90's. I can barely wait for Manolito's 2009 US Tour.

Audio Interview with Adalberto - Michelle White has the latest on Adalberto Alvarez (including an audio interview) and Elito Revé.

Coming Soon - We'll be adding a section on Rei Ceballo y Calle Sol. Rei was the founding pianist and one of the arrangers of Azúcar Negra. He's been in Poland for several years and has formed his own Timba band there.

Monday, February 14, 2005 - Another Review from Havana - Martin Karakas has checked in with another candid and insightful review. It's as close as you can get to being there. Each weekend, Martin explains who's playing where, and his reasoning in picking his destination. This week, it was Tirso Duarte again, but this time with guest artist Michel Maza. Click here for the whole story. And click on TIMBA IN HAVANA in the left column of the main page of timba.com for a full list of all of Martin's reviews.

Live Timba in Philadelphia this Friday, Feb. 18th - Click here for the full details on another Timba party in Philadelphia, this time with La Timba Loca live in concert. There's a poster, an extensive press release and a long interview with Gonzalo Grau, musical director of La Timba Loca.

Latest European Tours - Michelle has the latest on Los Van Van, Manolito, Mamborama and Adalberto Alvarez.

Monday, February 7, 2005 - Two New Sections!

Havana Concert Reviews: Havana resident Martin Karakas will be sending us regular reviews from the Havana concert scene, beginning with this one on last Saturday's reunion of Tirso Duarte with fellow ex-Charanguero Yulién Oviedo and current CH singers Aned and Noel.

New Artist Section: Boni & Kelly: Michelle has added a new section for Havana hottest heart-throbs, Boni & Kelly Validivia - with Interviews, Fotos, and Bios.

Mamborama European Tour: While Manolito Simonet is in Spain producing a record with Ricardo Amaray, Bill Wolfer will be touring with his "Trabuco Prestado" version of Mamborama, featuring vocalist Sixto "El Indio" Llorente, and a band comprised of members of Manolito y su Trabuco and other all-stars such as Alexander Abreu.. Click here for the dates.

Sunday, January 30, 2005 - New Artist Section: Los Hermanos Arango: We've finally added a section for the exciting new group of Feliciano Arango, the original bassist of the first timba band, NG La Banda, and the winner of the timba.com award for greatest timba bassist of all time. Click here. Included is a section analyzing Arango's style, and timba bass-playing in general, complete with computer enhanced excerpts of some of his classic NG recordings, and several full-length excerpts from the new album.

Los Hermanos Arango en vivo en La Habana: Se presentará en concierto la próxima semana en el Delirio Habanero del Teatro Nacional y el día 26 de febrero estará en vivo en el programa de TV 23 y M de la TV Cubana.

More Additions from Michelle: She's added an article on the presentation of Arango's award, new tours by Pachito Alonso, Calixto Oviedo and Adalberto Alvarez, and, as usual, much more.

Saturday, January 29, 2005 - Havana NRG in Southern California Tonight:

Granada y El Río Lounge
17 S. First St., Alhambra, CA
626-227-2572

Havana NRG is one of the most professional Latin groups I've heard in a long time. Check out this clip from their original arrangement of LVV's Havana City. Maintaining a band which plays at this level is very difficult in this country. The financial situation rules out the typical Havana approach of having 14 people on the stage with 3 or 4 frontmen who do nothing but sing and dance. Havana NRG has only eight - 3 percussion, 3 horns, bass & piano. In other words, all the lead and coro singing is done by musicians, with the three horns in front, executing tightly choreographed dance steps. In spite of every player being saddled with multiple responsibilities, the coros and horn section were much tighter and more in tune than most live tapes of big name Havana bands I've heard recently, and, Maiquel Romero is an extraordinary talent who could land a job in most top Havana bands as either lead singer or lead trumpeter. Equally versatile is musical director Mariela Suárez, who sang exquisite coros while playing solid piano, directing the band, and periodically adding a fiery and super-clean electric violin solo.

The next obstacle facing US bands is keeping a steady roster of well-rehearsed players. To make a living here, most musicians have to play in so many different groups that the quality and individuality of each suffers. Havana NRG actually had the same lineup of players that played on their CD they felt like a band, as opposed to the usual group of subs and hired guns that one expects to see at a California dance club.

The final and most difficult obstacle is of course playing TIMBA, and this was the only disappointment. Havana NRG packed the large downtown SF club and kept the dancers happy with a lots of straight salsa, merengue, and even a bachata, playing only a handful of genuine timba numbers: Havana City and two Manolito covers (Pa' que baile Cuba and the evening's high point, El diablo colora'o), although they did manage to sneak a fair amount of timba elements into their salsa. On their previous California tour they played the ultra-conservative Roccapulco club, so this time they played it safe with the set list, although the crowd responded well to the wilder moments such as the scorching guest timbale solo from Bay Area Icon Karl Perazzo. There's no doubt that this band could play a full night of timba, and, as fearless local timberos Quimbombo and QBA have proven, there are more than enough timba lovers in San Francisco to support a more adventurous approach. Hopefully next time through Havana NRG will play at Jelly's, El Río, the Elbo Room or a festival settings where they can play a full show of hard-core timba.

Check them out in the LA suburb of Alhambra tonight at Granada.

Friday, January 28, 2005 - Timba in the Yuma Tonight! -- Havana NRG at Jillian's in San Francisco and Tiempo Libre at the Viernes Culturales Street Fair on Calle Ocho in Miami.

Thursday, January 27, 2005 - Tiempo Libre Tomorrow and SUNDAY in Miami -- Led by "El Kid" Díaz (ex-corista for Manolín, Paulo FG, and NG la Banda) and pianist/arranger Jorge Gómez, the Miami-based timba band will perform TWICE this weekend! In addition to great originals and some burning arrangements of older classics off of their first album ("Timbiando"), they'll be playing material from their new album, which will come out in May under the Shanachie label. Tunes like "Ven pa' Miami", and especially "La Rumba", are hard-driving timba with lyrics relevant to the experience of moving to Miami from Cuba.

Friday, January 28th
Viernes Culturales Street Fair
Calle Ocho between 14th and 17th Avenue
Free admission
Fair starts 7 p.m., band goes on at 8:30 (stage is at either 15th or
16th on the north side of Calle 8)
www.viernesculturales.com

Sunday, January 30th
Uniting Artists for Tsunami Relief
River Night Life Jazz Club, 66 SW 6th Street (formerly Cafe Nostalgia)
$25 donation/entrance fee
Begins at 2 p.m.; Tiempo Libre will go on at 6 p.m., to close the event

Los Hermanos Arango -- Feliciano Arango, the founding bassist of NG La Banda, and winner of timba.com's award for all-time greatest timba bassist, is now playing with a group which fuses batá and other folkloric rhythms with Latin Jazz. We'll have a section for this group soon, but in the meantime you can check out some of their music (and many other new additions to timba.com) in Michelle's blog.

Wednesday, January 26, 2005 - Rumba Interrupted -- If you can handle getting any more pissed off than you already are, check out this great article by Larry Blumenfeld of the Village Voice - "Rumba Interrupted" - a very well-written take on the latest cultural crimes of the Bush Administration.

Havanaway -- We've started a new section for this upstart Havana group with visions of rekindling some of the magic of the late 90's.

Havana NRG on the West Coast -- Meet me at Jillian's in San Francisco this Friday to check out these Texas-based timberos, featuring conguero Raúl Valdés, who holds the dubious distinction of giving yours truly his first timba lesson. They'll also be somewhere in LA on Saturday night.

Michelle is Back -- Click here for the latest on Azúcar negra, El boni, La CH, and much more.

So is Duniel -- Click here for pictures and info from Los Van Van's new CD, "Chapeando" ... and much more.

Yordamis is winning over the Big Apple -- The show at SOB's went very well, with a lot more people than last time. Check their website for the date of her next performance.

Friday, January 21, 2005 - Permiso que llegó Michelle! -- ¡Ten cuidaó! Michelle is finally back and is adding massive updates to Tours, Azúcar Negra, Videos, the Musicians' Directory, Charanga Habanera, and her blog. More are being added all the time, so keep checking her home page.

Yordamis Tonight! - Yordamis Megret (ex-diva de Bamboleo) will be at SOB's in Manhattan TONIGHT! In addition to performing familiar songs from Bamboleo and others, she's starting adding her own compositions which are mix of Timba with rumba, hip-hop and other influences.

Claudia Dámmassa has sent us fotos and a great concert report from Charanga Habanera's recent concert in Milan.

Sunday, January 16, 2005 - Upcoming Events: Yordamis at SOB's, Mamborama in Europe, Timba Party in Philly

Yordamis Megret returns to SOB's:

Yordamis Megret (ex-diva de Bamboleo) will be returning to New York City for a concert at SOB's on Friday, January 21st.

Mamborama in Europe:

Bill Wolfer will be touring Europe with his "Trabuco Prestado" -- an all-star group consisting of members of Manolito y su Trabuco and other master musicians such as trumpeter Alexander Abreu. For a full list of musicians and the itinerary, click here.

Timba Party in Philadelphia: Melissa Scott is organizing a massive timba party on Friday, February 18th, featuring San Francisco DJ Walt Digz,. at the World Café Live. Click here for the full details.

The Duniel Report: click here for the latest from Miami timbero Duniel Deya.