Manolito Simonet photo courtesy of Cristian Muñoz

For International Timba Month we honor not only anniversaries but also birthdays. Bandleader Manolito Simonet celebrates his birthday today and we wish him health, happiness and que haya trabuco pa' rato. Manolito hails from Camagüey and has been one of the main proponents of heavily son-influenced timba. His piano tumbaos are mesmerizing hooks that are irresistible to dancers. Who doesn't immediately recognize the opening tumbao of "Marcando la distancia"?

But Manolito is not just living in the past and neither are we, although we have posted a lot of classic timba and there is more to come. Timba is alive and well in Cuba and here is the recent official video of the collaboration between F-Clan and Manolito Simonet y Su Trabuco "Yo soy bueno". A tasty combination of urban Havana with the son sello of  Manolito Simonet, it is destined to be another big dance floor hit.

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Today Giraldo Piloto & Klímax celebrate their anniversary. In tribute we offer fans this video filmed by the late, great Chuck Silverman, this is the original Klímax, playing at the famous "piscina" venue of the Hotel Riviera with the original lineup with priceless closeup footage of Piloto and Yonder de Jesús Peña Llovet (who has a great youtube channel of his own). They play half a dozen songs from the first album, Mira si te gusta (all of the brilliant original Eurotropical material is now downloadable on amazon), and some dramatic and riveting Latin jazz arrangements.

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This concert took place about a month after the Montreux concert posted earlier. 

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This is quite a gem. Remember that after the Suspension Concert, only two members left the group - Dany Lozada and Juan Carlos González. The rest of the group returned to the scene and although they never recorded again, they developed new material. Some songs, like Se que ha fallado, were later done by Charanga Forever, while others, like La suegra, were never officially recorded. Then came the big breakup the following summer of 1998 that yielded Charanga Forever and left Calzado with only Michel Maza and the name "Charanga Habanera". In shockingly short order, he put together the band in this video - one of the greatest in Cuban history. I know I keep saying that about late-90s bands, but I'm tellin' it like is is - many of the great bands of all time were competing against each other on a nightly basis in this brief but magical era.

In any case, this is one of the very best of the Cuban TV documentaries, entitled Charanguero mayor, and including both of the above mentioned rarities, along with Charanguero mayor sung by Michel, Usa condón sung by Tirso and much much more.

For more on all of this:

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