Giraldo Piloto has published the program for the 2017 Havana Rhythm and Dance Festival. The inauguration party will take place March 6th at Casa de la Música Miramar at 11:00pm with Giraldo Piloto & Klímax and Aisar y El Expresso de Cuba. During the week there will also be concerts in Miramar by Manolito Simonet y Su Trabuco, Pedrito Calvo y La Justicia, Adalberto Álvarez y Su Son, Maykel Dinza y Soneros de la Juventud, Pupy y Los Que Son Son and Elito Revé y su Charangón. Hotel Riviera will host jazz groups all week long, while more timba can be had at Salon Rosado de La Tropical with Van Van, El Niño y la Verdad and Maykel Blanco y Salsa Mayor on Saturday the 11th and Havana D'Primera, Paulo FG y su Élite , Leonel Limonta y Azúcar Negra and Giraldo Piloto y Klímax on Sunday the 12th. The rumba and Afro-Cuban concerts will be in the gardens of the Teatro Mella.

The percussion classes and competition will be held all week in Sala Avenida and the major percussion performances and the finals for the dance and percussion competitions will all take place at Teatro Mella. This is a fantastic event with so many facets of Cuban music and dance to enjoy at once. Don't miss it if you can be in Havana in March!

Click here for the full program including venues and times.

For questions about tickets for the various event you can write to
Sra. Darlenys eventos2@paradis.artex.cu

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La Clave Cubana was founded in 2000 in Buenos Aires, Argentina as an 8-man band that played traditional Cuban repertoire. In 2014 they were reborn as La Clave Cubana Timbera , a 15-man band performing their own compositions with more updated arrangements. Today the single "La Chismosa"   from their upcoming debut album "Llegó La Clave", has dropped at Cubamusic.com. It will also be available soon at the other on-line and streaming sites such as iTunes, CD Baby, Amazon and Spotify. You can check it out in the video also released today.

La Clave Cubana Timbera band is under the direction of tresero Eduardo Suárez "El Guajiro" with pianist Hubert Garcia as the musical director. They write the arrangements while the compositions are by this duo and vocalist Geovanny Ruiz Perez. See below for the list of musicians and the instrumentation.

To keep up on the latest you can follow La Clave Cubana Timbera at their Facebook page .

Band members
Eduardo Suárez "El Guajiro", tres & coros. (Cuba)
Hubert García, piano & coros. (Cuba)
Yoedis Oconor, baby bass. (Cuba)
Erick Ricardo Hernandez, keyboard, coros. (Cuba)
Geovanny Ruiz Pérez, vocals. (Cuba)
Daniel Vera, vocals. (Cuba)
Fernando Cruz, vocals. (Cuba)
Eddy Gomez, vocals, coro & minor percussion. (Cuba)
Cristian Ceccardi, congas. (Argentina)
Choco Drumss, timbales. (Cuba)
Moises Quiroz Gomez, trombone. (Peru)
Gabriel Leonetti, trombone. (Argentina)
Javier Sedeno, trombone. (Venezuela)

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Tour season 2017 is getting underway in Europe, and first up is Calle Real who will be giving three concerts in February - the first right here in Stockholm this Friday February 10th at Fasching. The 11th they will be at Nefertiti in Gothenburg and the 17th they will perform i Copenhagen in Studie 2 at DR Koncerthuset. They already have concerts booked in May and more on the way. You can keep an eye on their tours page as more dates are confirmed or follow Calle Real at their official Facebook page.

Make sure to take some extra cash with you because they will have their CD  "¿¡Dime Qué?!" on hand. It was released in mid December 2015 and was one of the CDs I listened to most throughout 2016. Click here for my full review.

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The news has been all over Facebook since Sunday - Yenisel Valdés is leaving Los Van Van to begin a new life with her husband Dancer, singer and percussionist Erick Barbeira. The newlyweds will be settling down in California, and Yeni's relocation is what caused her to leave the orchestra. Timba.com wish them both much happiness in their new life together. It will certainly be interesting to see what she does with that voice of her in La Yuma. Bay Area watch out! Kevin, are you paying attention?

During her career, Yeni had to face down tough, macho audiences that were not receptive to seeing a woman in timba bands such as NG La Banda and later Los Van Van. But her combination of grace and humor on stage with that incredible voice earned her the respect and love of the Cuban and international audiences. Where once people thought Maestro Juan Formell was crazy to bring in a woman after the departure of the iconic Pedrito Calvo, now they mourn her leaving and can't imagine Van Van without La Van Vanera.

But the world moves on, and while Yeni has an exciting new life to begin, bandleader and drummer Samuel Formell has the unenviable job of deciding what to do now. Maybe he will find another amazing talent from Cuba's seemingly endless fountain of musical geniuses. Or maybe he'll decide that no one can fill her high heels and stick with three voices. As always, changes in Cuban orchestras fill me both with sadness and yet also a sense of excitement and possibility.

Yeni, I want to leave you with a short clip from an interview I did with Juan in January of 2008. He was talking about how he decided that to fill the space left by Pedrito's departure he would add two singers to the band - Lele and yourself. And here is what he had to say about you. Congratulations and best wishes - Michelle .

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