The next three weeks are a great time for both Jazz and dance music in Chicago.

First up, tonight (Sunday, July 14) Hector Silveira brings some seriously good Salsa Cubana (the modern kind) to the 39th Annual Arts and Crafts Festival at the Dusable Museum of African American History, 740 E. 56th Place, Chicago. There is also other entertainment throughout the day, and this group hits at 7pm.   Hector fronts one of Chicago's best dance bands, but he also carefully rations his performances, so catch him while you can. 

Next, on Friday and Saturday, July 19-20, the 7th Chicago Latin Jazz Festival at the Humboldt Park Boathouse, 1359 N. Sacramento Av in Chicago brings Jane Bunnett, Hilario Duran and Candido Camero to perform together in trio on Friday and Bobby Sanabria's Quarteto Ache on Saturday. Hilario is a phenomenal Cuban pianist who is now based in Toronto; Candido, who is now 92 years old, is one of the giants of the music, and Jane, also based in Canada, began doing cooperative recordings with musicians in Cuba over two decades ago. New Yorker Bobby Sanabria just came off his 7th GRAMMY nomination.   For the complete schedule, click here. 

TImbalive to join Festival Cubano lineup:   Festival Cubano (August 2-4, Riis Park, Chicago) now has Timbalive on the bill for the final day in place of Manolin.   Buy your tickets now for a discount at Festival Cubano's website. 

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We're now getting close to catching up with the timbanado that hit the Bay Area last month: 5 HdP galleries and about 6 videos; selected Mayimbe shots, soundcheck photos from PMG in SF, and now Tom's PMG gallery from the mind-boggling Santa Cruz show. Still to come are the videos from this show.

PMG comes to the Mendocino Music Fest this coming Friday, July 26.

Everything else is just rumors - maybe Manolito, maybe Revé - keep your fingers crossed, and don't forget Issac in Boston for free on Thursday (see previous post).

Book news - Tirso Duarte is done and on sale at createspace and LPM. Now about 50% done with Beyond Salsa Bass, Vol. 2. Volume 1 ended with Arsenio, and Volume 2 begins with the most adventurous Arsenio survey yet - the cierres and diablos of almost 50 tracks - Arsenio, my friends, Arsenio - what can I say? Everything keeps coming back to the blind tresero from Bolondrón. Volume 2 will also cover Cachao, Dizzy & Chano, and the 1950s Puerto Rican roots of salsa: César Concepción, Cortijo, Ismael Rivera and the two Titos. Stay tuned!  

Late-breaking news! - timba.com contributor Pepe Martínez reports that Yosvel Bernal has joined Havana d'Primera! Yosvel, the nephew of Van Van's trombonist Mundo, played teclado and then piano with Paulito FG for close to 10 years before moving to Spain. He has a gorgeous voice and has been recording a lot of original R&B flavored tracks. He will apparently sing coro with HdP and help with material. [Kevin Moore]

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photo by Tom Ehrlich

Thanks to Pedro Aizcorbe for alerting us that Issac Delgado and his group will play - for free - as part of Boston's 9-day Outside the Box festival on Thursday, July 19. 

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Cuba in Nijmegen / Hennes Latin Stage 2013
"Hennes celebrates his annual party and everyone is invited."

The Summer Festival Season 2013 is in full swing throught Europe now, and we are grateful to all the enthusiasts that are the driving forces behind these events. We who enjoy the fruits of their labor really have no idea how much time and effort these people put into it.

One particularly interesting case is the annual Hennes Latin Stage in Nijmegen, Netherlands. It is truly the result of the vision of a single person, Henri van Woerkum aka "Hennes". His love of Cuban music and dancing led him to decide to bring Cuba to the Netherlands. It is an ispiring story close to my heart. I think we'd all like to do something like this in our own hometowns. Click here to read the story of the origins of the Cuba in Nijmegen festival in Hennes' own words and see the full program of events for 2013.

It is a week-long Cuban music festival that takes place during the "international 4 day marches Nijmegen", the world's largest marching event, held since 1916 with particpants from 24 countries. The Cuba in Nijmegen event features DJs and top-name bands. Previous years have seen Elito Revé y Su Charangón (2012), Azúcar Negra 3 nights in a row (2007), and in 2008 Maravilla de Florida and Septeto Naborí  each had concerts for for 3 nights. The 2013 Cuba in Nijmegen festival starts today with concerts by Trio Canay at 6:30pm and Contrabando at 9:30 pm. Maykel Blanco y Su Salsa Mayor will perform 2 nights in a row July 15-16. You can also see Orquesta Salsabor, Tomi y Su Timba Light and Lariba. Each day begins with a DJ and then at 6:30 the concerts begin with Trio Caney. The headline band goes on at 9:30pm. I can't go this year due to work, but if you're in Europe, hop on a discount airline and take advantage of this opportunity to enjoy the concerts by night and the Nijmegen marches and surrounding events by day.

Concerts:
July 13 Contrabando
July 14 Trio Caney & Friends
July 15 Maykel Blanco y Su Salsa Mayor
July 16 Maykel Blanco y Su Salsa Mayor
July 17 Orquesta Salsabor
July 18 Tomi y su Timbalight
July 19 Lariba

Hennes Latin Stage on the River Waal in Nijmegen, Netherlands

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