I've spent almost every waking moment since July on these six new products, but it was well worth the effort. Calixto Oviedo is truly amazing. In addition to the NG La Banda masterpieces we've all been listening to for years, his style is so all-encompassing that I was able to cover timba drums and timbales in a much more global way than I had hoped to at the beginning.

This project, as requested, is the approach used in the piano books, but for percussionists, but with one major enhancement. The piano books have audio, still don't have video - that will come in 2011, with Melón making the videos from the books, but with the percussion series, we did it the other way around. We started with three days of filming Calixto, with the Bay Area brain trust egging him on and requesting specific rhythms and approaches. We added several hours of interviews, and then I spent five months writing the books from the videos. The approach is to take a bona fide master of Cuban music and let him do thing, then break it down into bite-size pieces so that jazz and pop drummers can learn Latin, salsa drummers can learn timba, timba drummers can learn Calixto timba, and beginners (and non-drummer arrangers such as myself) can get a clearly-presented dose of "the big picture". As before there are hard-copy and eBook versions, fast and slow audio loops, and this time ... a wild video-looping component that's - if I say so myself - is amazingly cool. All of this is explained in the tutorials and Question & Answer sections of the home page, timba.com/percussion. 

VOL. 2 CALIXTO OVIEDO           •         VOL. 3 CALIXTO OVIEDO
BASIC RHYTHMS                                      TIMBA GEARS

Purchase Bound Paperback Book           |           Purchase Bound Paperback Book

Purchase eBook                         |                         Purchase eBook

Purchase Audio Files                      |                      Purchase Audio Files

Purchase Video Files                     |                     Purchase Video Files

Download Free Promo                    |                    Download Free Promo

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SELAM is starting off the holiday season with a major salsa party starring Gilito backed by a powerful band featuring Pepe Espinoza, Oldrich González, Evelio Galán, Ezequiel Nuñez, and Carlos Pérez among others. SELAM has also brought in Stockholm's great timba DJs, Soto-Mayor and N'Rike. The concert will take place at Kulturhuset on December 4th, yes on Changó's Day, so be sure to wear something red. Gilito has been busy all year performing with his own group and with Juan De Marcos' Afro-Cuban All Stars, and finally he is making a stop here in Stockholm. What better way to heat up a cold, dark Scandinavian night?

Here is a little taste of what you will get, "Timbeando" from Gilito's album "Al César lo que es del César". See you there!

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continue reading Timbera Mayor

"Dressed In White" is the new album from an all-star timba project developed by drummer Michael Gerald and brothers Yosvel & Edduar Bernal. Exclusive to LPM & Timba.com, this record delivers exactly what it claims: killer timba from Havana's heaviest players.

While other genres and styles impose themselves on the current market, this HHH project arrives just in time to demonstrate the quality and grandeur of the way popular music was created in Cuba during its stellar days of the 1990s, a time for which many musicians -including myself- share strong feelings of nostalgia. -- Edduar Bernal Pina

Hoy en el 2010, nuevos géneros y estilos se imponen pero el proyecto Havana Heavy Hitters llega en el momento justo para demostrar al mundo la calidad y grandeza de una forma de hacer música popular en Cuba que por los años 90 tuvo su mayor esplendor y por la que muchos músicos en la actualidad, al igual que Yosvel y Edduar, sienten nostalgia. -- Edduar Bernal Pina

>> Read the full story here - Lea el desarollo completo escrito por Edduar Bernal Pina

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continue reading Pa' Ponerte en Talla

I've been working around the clock since July when I spent 3 days filming Calixto Oviedo for a new series of books: Beyond Salsa Percussion. 

Many announcements coming in the next few days, but if you want to get yourself in the mood, today's big news is that LPM has finally added Simplemente lo mejor de NG La Banda. The title, for once, is dead-on accurate.

It has all the best masterpieces from the Calixto era including Santa palabra, Échale limón, La bruja, Picadillo de soya, etc. Audio excerpts are available for every track. Enjoy.

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