José Luís Cortés, mejor conocido como "El Tosco", director y flautista de la agrupación musical NG La Banda, aquí explica el uso del término "timba" como una abreviación y manera práctica de expresar lo que es la "música popular contemporanea cubana", un nombre, como comenta el Tosco, "super estereofónico". Simplemente funciona, porque la timba abarca muchas influencias, específicamente usando influencias de diferentes géneros pero siempre con su sabor cubano. En esta interesante entrevista se comenta el rol de NG en la creación del nuevo género, entre otras importantes orquestas, y sobre el desarollo del tema "'Echale Limón", con influencia de la isla de Jamaica.   

También hoy, en mi visita a youtube investigando las recomendaciones de La Timbera Mayor, he tenido el placer de ver bailar a una pareja de Oakland, California que espera a Maykel Bkanco, disfrutando el tema "Anda y Pégate", que estrenará su primeros conciertos aquí en el Yuma en Octubre. Anda y Pégate tu también con la gira de Maykel que viene con su orquesta completa. Unsaludos fuerte a los peruanos de la bahía que son unos leales timberos y timberas!

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Imagine “Eat, Pray, Love” meets “Lonely Planet" and its all about Cuba, its people and culture. My Seductive Cuba is a great read and resource for those who have traveled, and who plan on visiting, Cuba. 

It's author, Chen Lizra, started traveling to Cuba in 2005 in order to train with the island’s best professional dancers.  Each year she finds more excuses to visit Cuba, discovering the culture from within and hanging out with her close friends. Chen grew up in Israel and later moved to Canada. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a major in marketing, which allowed her to turn her passion — Cuban dance and music — into an inspiring lifestyle for others through her company, Latidos Productions®. 

Regarding the development of her labor of love, Chen comments: "I’ve seen many people travel to Cuba and miss the best parts of this captivating culture. It’s not easy to enter a system that is so different than your own. Yet, Cuba offers something that no other country even comes close to. I’ve decided to write this book to help travelers get a smoother traveling experience as if your local best friend met you and showed you around. I want to intrigue those who spend time in resorts to venture out, and to help those who cannot travel get to know Cuba intimately, from the comfort of their own seat."

"The book is deeply personal with my own experiences in this fun loving culture, sharing stories of possessed people, seduction, scams and much more. And yet it is a practical travel guide. The book fuses history and politics with real-life experiences among the people of this often-visited but little-understood island – Cuba on the verge of historic change.

"I've always felt the need to make a difference in the world, and this is my way of doing it. What I want you to walk away with is reflecting on what is important in life. I will be truly happy if by the end of reading this book your heart will be moved. I love Cuba like home. I hope that this book will make you fall in love with it as I did."

For more info on My Seductive Cuba = My Seductive Cuba on Amazon.com
For more info about Chen = www.chenlizra.com

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"Labor of Love" is a term that I'm somewhat familiar with, but this amazing book had been a labor of love in progress well before my first trip to Cuba in 1999. Afro-Cuban Percussion Workbook is written by my first timba guru, Curtis Lanoue, about one of the greatest and least-publicized percussion masters of Cuba, José Eladio. It covers all the main folkloric and popular rhythms thoroughly and systematically. Here's the link.

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Almost exactly one month ago I posted about the beautiful and talented new Azúcar Negra singer, Ingrid Leyva, including a video of her singing the new hit Perrita fina . The response to that video has been overwhelmingly positive . So now let's take a look at what Lazarito is doing with Ailyn in Bamboleo. I very much like this new video of a song called La historia de mi prima . Ailyn looks and sounds great, as does the rest of the band! I'd say that Lazarito is going a little less callejero with Bamboleo's sound than he did during Tania's time. What do you think?

Bamboleo with Ailyn Dalleras singing La historia de mi prima

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