We just finished listening to Omar Sosa's new release, Eggūn, and it blew us away.   We'll be reviewing it in detail in a few days, but meanwhile, there is a YouTube video that is more informative than the usual promo clip, and it is worth checking out: 

In December 2012, The CMQ Big Band  did some beautifully-orchestrated tributes to Beny Moré featuring Alain Pérez on vocals.   Love the sax section in this band too.  Here's a taste:

                                                                                                                                                                                Last but not least:  After an absence from most of the United States of more than a decade, Ernán López-Nussa is planning a tour here later in 2013.  This will be a reunion tour with two former bandmates, drummer Jimmy Branly and bassist Sawa Perez. In 2011, these three played together for a couple of sessions in Wisconsin and Iowa, and the chemistry and music were great. Ernán won four Cubadiso awards for Veinte Pianos in 2012. Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available.   

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David Calzado y su Charanga Habanera on tour in Europe in February

The 2013 Tours season is already in full swing in Peru with Charanga Forever and Charanga Habanera performing together in Peru last weekend, and Calle Real, Havana D'Primera, Maykel Blanco & Salsa Mayor and Klímax performing together Friday, February 1 in Lima.

Here in Europe Maykel Blanco is just finishing up his solo promotional tour for the "A toda máquina" CD, while La Charanga Habanera will start their European winter tour next Thursday with a concert at Cuba te quiero in Rome. David and the boys will hold 16 concerts across Europe and then head to Japan in March. Their Tours Page has the list of all concerts we know of thus far. If you know of any we are missing, please send me an e-mail.

Gente D'Zona on tour in Europe February

Also on tour in Europe during the month of February is Cubas hottest reggaeton act, Gente D'Zona. They have 12 concerts in 4 countries, including Spain, France, Italy and Germany. Click here to see the full list of concert dates and find one near you. Again, if we have missed any concerts, please send me an e-mail.

Later this spring we have Elito Revé y su Charangón and Havana D'Primera visiting so stay tuned for tour updates.

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This concert was originally intended to take place back in November in my old hometown of Boulder, Colorado and I was going to be able to attend. But as it is sometimes hard to coordinate musicians' schedules, the concert was postponed until February 10, 2013 at the Fox Theater in Boulder at 8:00pm. It's bad news for me, since I am back in Stockholm and can't make it. But for Colorado timba fans, and I know there are some timberos there in Boulder/Denver, the delay has made it possible for La Maquinaria to bring in more exciting guest artists. In addition to master percussionist Calixto Oviedo, the February 10th concert will feature none other than Pepito Gomez and Lily D Oviedo on vocals! Pepito has been working in Puerto Rico with Jose Lugo y Guasabara while Lily has been performing regularly in Stockholm as well as around Europe and on salsa cruises. The director of La Maquinaria is Armando Santoyo and on piano Gustavo Ramirez currently residing in Los Angeles. It will be a night of timba, Latin jazz and genuine Cuban music. These kind of concerts don't come along so often in Colorado so don't miss it!

Booking for Calixto Oviedo & La Maquinaria
lamaquinariacubana@aol.com
Contact: Mandy Sant
1-303-475-7894

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As you know, Maykel Blanco is currently on a solo tour of Europe, i.e. without los mayores, to promote the new CD "A toda máquina". This is Salsa Mayor's 5th album and it is also the most successful so far. If you don't already have it, you can get it at iTunes and Maykel is selling the CDs during this little tour so hurry before they are sold out! The remaining dates of this 8-country tour are all in France.
January 22 Lille
January 23 Tours
January 24 La Rochelle
January 25 Bordeaux
January 26 Lyon
January 27 Paris

Solo Frank, Maykel & Moreno @ ClubCalo

It was great to see Maykel again. It's been two years since his last visit to Sweden so we did a little catching up at dinner, which was provided by Cantineros, a relatively new restaurant/salsa club in the center of Stockholm. After dinner here was a lot of action on the dance floor at Cantineros, but the event was held by ClubCalo at a venue called ARENA, so we took off for the club. Poor Maykel suffered quite a lot from the -17 Celcius temperature. This is what Maykel had to deal with last night.

View from the car window

The plan for the night was a salsa party with 3 dance floors: salsa, bachata and timba, Maykel's presentation of the CD "A toda máquina" and a concert by Solo Frank to promote his new CD "A mi manera". Before Maykel went on stage I did a short interview with him. It's all in Spanish. I haven't had time for subtitles. If you don't speak Spanish, here are some interesting details. The song "El songo de todos" was originally intended to be recorded with Los Van Van, but due to differences in their tour schedules, Maykel was forced to record it without them. Thus he came up with the idea of bringing in the most popular young singers in timba. The video is up at YouTube so check it out if you are one of the few who hasn't seen it yet!

Maykel also mentioned the upcoming mega-concert in Lima on February 1st with Calle Real, Havana D'Primera, Klímax and Salsa Mayor at the Centro de Convenciones de Barranco, as well as the summer tour of Europe which will take place in June and will be with the full band of course. You can keep up with Maykel Blanco y Salsa Mayor via thier Facebook page and their official website maykelblanco.com.

For those who speak Spanish here is the whole 4 minutes y pico at YouTube filmed in the kitchen with workers going back and forth and bachata blasting in the background.

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