La Timba y  Los Estados Unidos, Parte II: La Recepción Inicial de la Timba en los E.E.U.U
(Para leer este artículo en español oprima aquí)

          If musical merit was the only ingredient necessary for mass popularity  in the United States, Timba would have quickly  taken the country by storm the same way that the Mambo did years earlier.  However, that  is not enough, as many Jazz musicians have also learned the hard way over the years.   An infrastructure to support the music is  also required for any genre to reach large numbers of listeners, and that was not in place for Timba when its sounds first reached the United States. In order to fully understand the reasons for this, we first need to briefly revisit the three decades prior to Timba’s emergence as a distinct style.           

          In the 1960s, there was no significant ongoing cultural exchange between the United States and  Cuba.  This does not mean that there was no exchange of ideas of any sort -  musicians both here and there were listening to each other by various means, and radio enthusiasts such as this writer were keeping up with what was happening in Cuban music via shortwave stations such as Radio Habana Cuba, Radio Rebelde etc.  However, most of the general American public remained....click "continue reading" below for the full article

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Another breakthrough for all timba pianists and bassists! The VIDEO portions of Beyond Salsa Piano and Beyond Salsa Bass (both for Volume 6) have been released. Beyond Salsa Piano 6-9 focuses on Iván "Melón" Lewis -a central player in one of the most important bands of the entire timba era, the Issac Delgado Group of 1995-1998. Beyond Salsa Piano is an instructional (eBook + audio + video), play-along history and anthology of the role of the piano in the Cuban rhythm section –from its first appearance to the present. Melón's 48 video clips were filmed with two cameras, one from the side and one overhead. For every tumbao, we provide three separate videos: a widescreen version of each camera angle and a split screen version combining the two.

Click on the image above to check out the video and for more details on the Alain video clips.....

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UPDATE (a quick note from Issac Delgado): "Conocí a Alain Pérez cuando estudiaba guitarra en la Escuela Nacional de Arte en la Habana, Cuba, con sus prodigiosas manos con uñas largas para ejecutar... Me siento parte responsable y complice en su transición de la guitarra al bajo, el ha sido un aglutinador e inspiración para los músicos a su alrededor, su condición de arreglista, compositor y su talento lo han llevado a una condición natural de ser respetado y admirado como un “musico total”. He seguido y compartido su carrera como bajista, para mi es el más “ritmático” de los que he conocido. El bajo como instrumento en la música afro-cubana ha sido siempre “la columna vertebral” de una agrupación. Alain es capaz de sostener esa responsabilidad, sin embargo su capacidad rítmica le permite hacer figuraciones sincopadas en los lugares mas insólitos e inesperados de una obra musical, sin perder el sabor, la cadencia y sentido de la misma que imprime el bajo a nuestra música. Su paso por el flamenco ha madurado su forma y estilo musical, para mi modesta opinión: actualmente es “El Bajista Timbero” de Cuba, como referencia internacional." -- Issac Delgado

Finally ! The first book of the Beyond Salsa Bass series has been released. Volume 6 of Beyond Salsa Bass begins our 4-volume study of the style of Alain Pérez, one of the most talented bassists, composers and arrangers of modern Cuban music. The bass series follows the piano series exactly, covering the same songs, now from the perspective of the bassist.  hardcopy 

Both the notes and the percussive sounds that he uses to create his funky style. Each musical example is provided in 16th note notation, 8th note notion and bass tablature. There are corresponding audio and video products for each volume.

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Havana Live Music Listings are up - Click here to see the live music schedule for Havana.

Sierra Maestra upcoming US shows - This classic son band has shows coming up in ...... click here for the full story and details

Eddie Palmieri 75th Birthday celebration show is taking place at ....  click here for the full story and details

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Today is International Women's Day, so here's a shout out to all of the women in the music, past and present, especially Orquesta Anacaona, Cuba's all-female band that is still going strong after 80 years with a new generation of performers:

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