A big thank you to Lani Milstein for keeping us up-to-date on what is happening in Timba Canada! Here is her report on the recent concert with Pupy y Los Que Son Son featuring Mayito & Tania!

May 19th was a fantastic explosion of great timba in Toronto, thanks to cubaintoronto.com, Casineros Unidos and Lula Lounge’s Lulaworld Festival, who presented Pupy y los que son son at The Phoenix Concert Theatre. The evening began with rising star DJ Bernal, who spun the latest and greatest timba, and the show kicked off with a dance performance by Afrolatino Dance Company. This was followed by a very special performance for Yemaya, by Melissa Noventa, in honour of the late icon and friend to many in Cuban music, Billy Bryans, who we lost recently to cancer. Billy had been a co-producer of many Cuban concerts in Toronto, and was perhaps Canada's key proponent of Cuban music. He is greatly missed by all!

Cesar “Pupy” Pedroso y los que son son blessed the Toronto crowd with an electrifying concert, adding a special twist: invited guests Mayito Rivera and Tania Pantoja. You can imagine how those vocal duels went, right? Electrifying de verdad! Mayito singing with Pupy sounded, well, just like Van Van. Pupy’s band was in top form and has such a youthful energy (Bombon is truly an animal.) The crowd was loving every minute and they played for almost 3 hours- right up until around 2:30am, when the soundman pulled the plug. Noise curfew! Oh, Canada…

No matter! The fun continues June 15th with Gente de Zona and their 12-piece band feat. El Micha and Yulien Oviedo, at the Opera House in Toronto. Presented by the Cubaneando festival, once again Toronto will prove itself as one of the greatest hotbeds of Cuban music in North America, as timberos, casineros and la farandula que tu conoces come out to break it down, Torontón style.

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Volume 7 of Beyond Salsa Bass is out in both hard-copy and eBook, with accompanying audio and video.  Volume 7 is the second installment of a 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. Both the notes and the percussive sounds that he uses to create his funky style. This volume features a 19 page bass transcription of "Por qué paró" (as made famous by Issac Delgado). There are corresponding audio and video products for each volume.

Volume 7 covers two of Delgado's greatest live timba arrangements: "Por qué paró" and "Luz viajera". The piano and bass parts are drawn from extended live performances at the legendary Palacio de la Salsa nightclub in the Hotel Riviera on the Malecón. This is the seventh book in a instructional series set to become the new standard for contemporary Latin bass styles. 154 pages (154 páginas) with 25 audio tracks (25 pistas).

Alain is playing tonight Thursday - 3 shows ($15 for the whole night) at Zinc Bar in NY.

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BREAKING NEWS: Rebeca Mauleón finds time to play a gig! She's usually too busy writing books and symphonies, making records, having kids - you know, minor stuff like that - but she'll be tearing it up Sunday at Yoshi's SF with three world-class percussionists - Jimmy Branly (ex-Issac, ex-NG, now plays with everyone in LA), Carlos Caro (ex-Paulito), and Jesús Díaz (leader of QBA). Click Continue Reading below for the poster.

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Good news for timba fans: 2012 looks to be a rich harvest of new CDs! This topic will be coming up again and again as the year progesses and more of the CDs become available! We will be back soon with more news about CDs by Bamboleo, Tumbao Habana, Charanga Latina, Elito Revé y su Charangón and many more to come!

We start of with the new release by Giraldo Piloto & Klímax: "Todo está bien". The album should be available online within about 24 hours! "Todo está bien" contains 11 tracks, several of which have already been dance-floor hits for some time now. This album is a must for DJs and connoisseurs alike!

1.  La abusadorcita
2.  La pelirroja
3.  Qué sería de mí
4.  La descarga
5.  Lola
6.  Black or white
7.  Regresa
8.  Todo está bien
9.  Quiero salir esta noche contigo
10. Hay que recordar
11. Homenaje a Michel Legrand

Another important release this year is the long-awaited second CD by Havana D'Primera entitled "Pasaporte". I don't know the release date, but Lionel from FiestaCubana.net has posted the following track list. It includes a number of songs that have been out for a while as singles as well as some new tracks.

1.  Pa' mi gente
2.  Plato de segunda mesa
3.  La figura
4.  Carita de pasaporte
5.  Se te olvidó quien soy
6.  Al final de la vida
7.  La celosa
8.  Donde estemos tú y yo
9.  Amor a la roca
10.  El que sabe está caya'o
11. Verdades que hablan

Maykel Blanco y Salsa Mayor are also in the studio, and Maykel reports that they are recording the metales now, so they should be moving on to mixing and mastering quite soon! The CD doesn't have a name yet and Maykel says he's fielding suggestions if anyone has ideas. It would be nice if they could have it ready in time for their summer tour (June 22-July 8), but that is probably just wishful thinking! Tracks include: Yordi - Sabrosa, La calle está caliente, Tres hermanos & El artistasoy yo; Yasser - La figura & something he says is for the girls who don't like to stay at home; Alexis - El Kilo, Tremenda pinta, Tú no eres mi amigo & Hazte.

Here is a little peek into the recording studio including interviews with Maykel, where he tells us that the band is developing some new percussion patterns in the song "Tú no eres mi amigo". This sounds very exciting! So check out the video and preparense que vienen Los Mayores otra vez!

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