ENGLISH: Tonight at Mojitos in Miami, La Charanga Habanera begin their North American tour with four concerts in the US and three in Canada. On the 12th they will perform at Havana 1957, and David has announced that for this concert they will focus on their "classic" repertoire, i.e. the timba Charanga we all loved back in the late 90s early 2000s. Click here to read David's statement at the Charanga Habanera offical Facebook page.

ESPAÑOL: Esta noche en Mojitos en Miami, La Charanga Habanera comienza su gira norteamericana con cuatro conciertos en los Estados Unidos y tres en Canadá. El 12 se presentarán en La Habana en 1957, y David ha anunciado que para este concierto se enfocará en su repertorio "clásico", es decir, la Charanga timbera a la que todos amábamos a fines de los años 90 a principios de los años 2000. Haga clic aquí para leer la declaración de David en la página oficial de Charanga Habanera en Facebook.

August   2, 2017 - Miami, FL. - Mojitos
August 12, 2017 - Miami, FL. - Havana 1957
August 13, 2017 - Chicago, IL. - Festival Cubano
August 25, 2017 - Toronto, Ontario, Canada - Phoenix Concert Theater
August 26, 2017 - Montreal, Quebec, Canada - Club Soda
August 27, 2017 - Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada - Commadore Ballroom

ENGLISH: This Saturday Qban Fest comes to North America celebrating the 15th anniversary  of Pupy y Los Que Son Son with two concerts featuring and guests Tania Pantoja, Pedrito Calvo, Mayito Rivera and Pepito Gómez. This is a must-see if you are in the vicinity of Washington D.C.  or New York City. The San Francisco concert has been postponed and the promoter has informed fans via Facebook that they are rescheduling and will announce dates for Los Angeles and San Francisco, so check their tours page regularly to keep updated.

ESPAÑOL: Este sábado Qban Fest llega a Norteamérica celebrando el 15o aniversario de Pupy y Los Que Son Son con dos conciertos presentando invitados Tania Pantoja, Pedrito Calvo, Mayito Rivera y Pepito Gómez. Este es un evento obligado si estás en las inmediaciones de Washington D.C. o la ciudad de Nueva York. El concierto de San Francisco ha sido pospuesto y el promotor ha informado a los aficionados a través de Facebook que están reprogramando y anunciará fechas para Los Ángeles y San Francisco, así que compruebe su página de tours con regularidad para mantenerse actualizado.

August 5, 2017 - Washington DC - Bethesda Blues and Jazz Supper Club 
August 6, 2017 - New York City, NY - Highline Ballroom

ENGLISH: Formell & Los Van Van also begin their US tour on August 5th at the Latin Festival Por+ Música Miami also fetauring La India, Adalberto Álvarez & Su Son, Laritza Bacallao, Los 4 and Carlos Manuel. The tour will includes New York, Florida, California, Oregan, Washington and Puerto Rico. US audiences will get their first live look at the band with Vanessa Formell filling the rol of female vocalist. Click here for the list of concert dates.

ESPAÑOL: Formell & Los Van Van también comienzan su gira por Estados Unidos el 5 de agosto en el Latin Festival Por + Música Miami, también con La India, Adalberto Álvarez y Su Son, Laritza Bacallao, Los 4 y Carlos Manuel. El tour incluirá Nueva York, Florida, California, Oregan, Washington y Puerto Rico. El público estadounidense obtendrá su prime vistazo en vivo de Vanessa Formell llenando el rol de vocalista femenina de Van Van. Haga clic aquí para ver la lista de conciertos.

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photo courtesy Tiempo Libre    

Jorge Gómez, líder de Tiempo Libre,  habla del nuevo proyecto en español aquí

Tiempo Libre has never been afraid to take risks, whether fusing Bach with Cuban Music, working with symphonies, mixing in other genres of popular music with Timba  and  projects with Joshua Bell and James Galway. They have paid a price of sorts for that path - rather than being the darlings of the less expensive dance halls, they have sometimes had to settle for the likes of the Tonight Show, Live From Lincoln Center, several prestige festivals and three GRAMMY nominations.   They have still been a perfectly danceable música popular bailable band throughout, just maybe a little too uptown at tmes for some of the most hard core Timba purists (which has never stopped open-minded listeners like yours truly from getting into them or most of the dancers either).   

photo courtesy Tiempo Libre

Now comes a new Tiempo Libre project, Bohemia, a quartet that interprets more traditional material from the Cuban songbook.   This isn't the first time that timberos have gone to the traditional songbook- former vanvanero Mayito Rivera for example has delved deep into Rumba and Son. Tiempo Libre itself had its US road debut in Chicago, so it is fitting that Bohemia's road debuts are on Tuesday, August 1 in Minneapolis (Dakota) and Wednesday,  August 2 in Chicago (City Winery). Those of you in those cities will be the first to hear this outside of Miami.   Both of these are among the best venues in their cities for presenting this type of music (I can vouch from experience that the City WInery also has excellent food and drink). 

Jorge Gómez tells us about the new project  in English here

Basically, there will be two Tiempo Libre groups now -the Tiempo Libre that we've known for years, and the Bohemia project.    You can get a taste of  the Bohemia project on their Facebook page here. 

For more information (and tickets) for the Dakota performance, click here....

For more information (and tickets) for the City Winery performance, click here....

Both Tiempo Libre's Bohemia project and the full Tiempo Libre ensemble will be on tour in the weeks to come.  You can see their schedule here.......

Septeto Santiaguero is on the road in the US with engagements in multiple cities in support of their latest album Raiz (you can read a review here), which was nominated in the Raíces Soneras y Campesinas category in Cubadisco 2017.   (Septeto Santiaguero  already has some recent Cubadisco and Latin GRAMMY® awards under its belt.)   
As a Chicagoan, I wish to let my fellow Chicagoans know that Septeto Santiaguero will be performing here on Saturday, August 5 at Martyrs, 3855 N. Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, Illinois:   This is being presented by HotHouse, and you can see more information here.   I have seen them live in both Santiago and la Habana, and they pack a wallop - musically speaking, I actually prefer them live by themselves, as they will be here, to their many collaborations with more "famous" artists.   
You can see an earlier version of the tour schedule here, but there have been some date changes, so be sure to verify before you go. 

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ENGLISH: On June 17th La Liga Habanera gave a concert at Fasching in Stockholm and I sat down with director and drummer Max Alton and singer Daniel Baro for a few minutes to talk about their upcoming single "Hacerse El Sueco" as well as the difficulties of rehearsing and recording in Sweden. Since the song is about a Swede in Havana, Max himself sings lead vocals on this track! The video includes a few short teasers from the demo. The single should be out in the fall. The interview is in Spanish with English subtitles.

Max is currently in Cuba and took the opportunity to film a video for the new song. Here is a photo he shared with us from the filming.

Max está en Cuba y nos pasó una foto de la grabación del videoclip 

ESPAÑOL: El 17 de junio La Liga Habanera dio un concierto en Fasching en Estocolmo y me senté con el director y baterista Max Alton y el cantante Daniel Baro durante unos minutos para hablar de su próximo single "Hacerse El Sueco", así como las dificultades de ensayar y grabar en Suecia. ¡Ya que la canción trata de un sueco en La Habana, el mismísmo Max canta voz principal en esta pista! El video incluye algunos cortos teasers de la demo. El single debe estar a la venta en el otoño. La entrevista está en español con subtítulos en inglés.

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The founding bassist of NG La Banda - and the seminal figure in the development of timba bass - playing will be in the Bay Area with his group Amistad Cubana at Ashkenaz on San Pablo Thursday night at 8:00 p.m. Only $15 in advance - a welcome respite in terms of ticket price inflation. It will be Feliciano's first Bay Area performance since the 90s.

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