Get ready salseros of Los Angeles! Calixto Oviedo and TIMBA LA are bringing classic 90s timba to the land of LA Style Salsa. Calixto has put together a team of ten musicians to offer the City of Angles an authentic taste of what timba was like when the Havana scene was at it's most creative. The rhythm section is drums with timbales, congas, bass and piano. The horns are two trombones and two trumpets, and the vocals are by Julio César Bouza (Orquesta Reve and Tumbao Habana) and Lily Hernnández. TIMBA LA will have their debut performance on Saturday March 6th at La Trattoria 25. Book your table now!

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Septeto Nacional, a Cuban music institution since 1927, performed to a sold out crowd at Brava Theater in San Francisco on January 17, 2016, playing their exquisite form of son. Six out of the seven were members of Septeto Nacional, but because of visa problems of their tres player, Iván Camblor, band leader, composer and tres player played with the group. Iván, who is originally from Cuba, lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and leads a local son group, Pellejo Seco. Tito González, local Cuban sonero, also sang vocals on a couple of songs.

Click here for the full gallery.

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continue reading La Última

I was at Jazz Plaza in Havana (and also in Santiago de Cuba) in December, and in the near future I will be sharing a lot of what I learned and experienced.  For the moment, there are a number of important events during the next few months in Havana that deserve your attention:

I.
1st Carnaval de la Salsa,  25-28 February, 2016. 
Maykel Blanco is the producer of this street festival, which has a pretty stellar lineup:


For more information, there is a Facebook Page: Carnaval De La Salsa En Cuba

La XV Fiesta del Tambor Guillermo Barretto  (1-6 Marzo 2016, Habana) es un concurso y festival que atrae a más de 1000 músicos. 
El Centro Nacional de Música Popular convoca a la XV Edición del Concurso y Festival Internacional Fiesta del Tambor “Guillermo Barreto in Memoriam”, que se realizará en la Habana, del 1 al 6 de Marzo de 2016 y contará como sedes principales al Teatro Mella, Teatro Karl Marx, Sala Avenida, El Salón Rosado de La Tropical, Jardines del Teatro Mella
En este evento participarán importantes músicos y percusionistas nacionales e internacionales, las principales bandas de música popular bailable de Cuba, las compañías danzarias más destacadas del país, grupos de jazz, y grupos folklóricos, añadiendo que se impartirán Clases Magistrales de Percusión y Danza.
Como parte de las actividades del evento se realizarán dos Concursos Internacionales, uno de Percusión abierto a todas las edades y a todo el público, y el segundo de baile Casino también con carácter nacional e internacional para mayores de 15 años. Los ganadores de estos concursos recibirán premios de instrumentos musicales de firmas nacional e internacionalmente reconocidas como GON BOPS, SABIAN, PEARL, REGAL TIP, SONOC, EVANS, etc., y además la Cadena Hotelera Sol Meliá, la Agencia Paradiso y los sponsors del evento aportarán importantes reconocimientos tales como: estadía en sus instalaciones, diplomas acreditativos, etc.
La Agencia PARADISO es la receptora del evento.
Atentamente,
Giraldo Piloto
Presidente Fiesta del Tambor

Para más información, el sitio web es http://www.fiestadeltambor.cult.cu/

Cubadisco 2016  (May 14-22, 2016) & 1st Fiesta Mundial de Casino "Casino de Todos" (May 19-22, 2016), both in Havana Cuba

Cubadisco is part music awards (which carry the same level of prestige in Cuba that the GRAMMY awards carry in the United States), part symposium, part trade fair, part concert series, and this year the theme is Música Popular Bailable (Popular Dance Music),  Parallel with the event will be the 1st Fiesta Mundial de Casino, which will include workshops, dance parties and exhibitions. 
For more information in English, click here. 
Para más información en Español, haga clic aquí. 

In the near future, the Organizing Committee will be putting out a call to dance schools and casino groups that may wish to participate in the festival.   If you have a school or group that would like to inquire about participating, The President of the Organizing Committee is Juan Gómez, and his email cubadisco.acad@cubarte.cult.cu

En un futuro próximo, el Comité Organizador publicará una convocatoria para las escuelas de baile y grupos de casino que deseen participar en el festival. Si usted tiene una escuela o grupo que desea preguntar acerca de la participación, el Presidente del Comité Organizador es Juan Gómez, y su correo electronico es cubadisco.acad@cubarte.cult.cu 

NEW RADIO PROGRAM / NUEVO PROGRAMA RADIAL

ENGLISH:   Beginning February 1, yours truly (Bill Tilford) will be doing an hour-long radio program every Monday night from 8-9 PM EST called From the Isle of Music, dedicated to most of the genres of music that you can hear in Cuba.  More information @
From the Isle of Music
ESPAÑOL: A partir del 1 de febrero,  su servidor (Bill Tilford) va a hacer un programa radial de una hora todos los lunes por la noche de 8-9 PM EST llamada From the Isle of Music, dedicada a la mayoría de los géneros de la música que se puede escuchar en Cuba. Más información @ From the Isle of Music

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continue reading Sin Clave No Hay Na

Aisar Hernandez in the studio
Photo ©Roberto Ruiz. Used by permission

Today Aisar Hernandez, director, composer, arranger and bassist of El Expresso de Cuba – the newest group on Havana's popular dance music scene – held a press conference about this fledgling musical project. Sadly, Timba.com was not there. But Aisar did take time out of his busy schedule to do an interview for Timba.com. I also want to give a special thanks to Roberto Ruiz for allowing us to use some of his photos to bring some visuals to the interview.

For those of you who may be new to Timba, Aisar was musical director of the great orchestra Elito Revé y su Charangón for ten years, during which time they released the hit CDs "Fresquecito", "De que estamos hablando" and "La aplanadora de Cuba". In 2008 he also released four songs under the name El Expresso de Cuba, but Aisar stayed with Revé until December 2015 when he announced he would finally start his own band.

Knowing Aisar's talent as a composer and arranger and his command of Cuban popular dance music ranging from timba to more traditional music such as son, I have great expectations for this band. In the interview Aisar tells us not only about the band and how we can expect it to differ from the Charangón, but also about what it takes to be a good band leader and the difficulties of starting  a new orchestra in times such as these.
Click here to read the English translation of the interview.

Dale cliq aquí para leer la entrevista en el español original.

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