Paulito and Yoshi herself burning up the dance floor at his recent Oakland tour. Click here for Tom Ehrlich's full gallery. [Kevin Moore]

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Ok here we go.....the first dedicated timba drumming clinics in the country begin APRIL 6 & 7 in Seattle Washington. The instructor is master percussionist Calixto Oviedo, the drummer with the iconic band NG La Banda during the period that produced their greatest recordings, including Santa Palabra, Échale Limón, and El Trágico. For his full biography and discography click here. 

APRIL 6 - Beyond Salsa Percussion
Timba Drumming Clinic
Seattle Pacific University - http://www.spu.edu - 9:30 AM
3307 3rd Ave W, Seattle, WA 98119-1997
Phone: 206-281-2142 / Dan Adams Percussion Studies

APRIL 7 - Beyond Salsa Percussion
Timba Drumming Clinic
University of Washington 
http://www.music.washington.edu - 1:00 PM
1100 Ne Campus Parkway, Seattle, WA 98105
Phone: 206-543-121 / Richard Karpen Director


Calixto's clinics coincide with his performances with the AFRO-CUBAN ALL STARS tour. Seattle shows include April 5-6-7 at the JAZZ ALLEY (http://jazzalley.com). 

Jazz Alley - jazzalley [at] jazzalley [dot] com
2033 6th Avenue, Seattle WA 98121
Phone 206.441.9729

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Monday's sold out show (over 1,000 people) was greeted with - and closed by -- the most thunderous, sincere and heartfelt ovation that I can recall hearing ... ever.

photo by Tom Ehrlich - click here to view more

The music, the dancing and the crowd were all amazing. Tonight was the formal show with one set of Afro-Cuban music and one of rumba. Tonight, Tuesday, will be a much more informal setting, at the Mission Language and Vocation Center with Los MdM's crack dancing troupe squaring off against the "the locals", who of course, in this town, include plenty of transplanted Cuban masters like Sandy Pérez, José Francisco Barroso and Rosita Villamil who played with major folkloric groups in Havana and Matanzas. Next stop is Savannah, Georgia, then Atlanta, then Florida and the buzz is that the three New York shows are already almost sold out. CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL TOUR.

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Click here to listen to the new single by Pepito Gómez & José Lugo.
Oprima aquí para escuchar el nuevo sencillo. Mañana estrena en Puerto Rico. 

Pepito performing to a full house in New York last week

They say that Cuba and Puerto Rico are "two wings of a bird" and the latest collaboration between Cuba and Puerto Rico is the new single "No me saques de tu vida" lyrics and music by José Gómez "Pepito", José Lugo & Juan José Hernández  "Juanchi". Pepito needs no introduction to timba fans. His brilliant tenor voice is unmistakable and his iconic interpretations have left an indelible mark on contemporary Cuban dance music. Also a composer, Pepito contributed the mega-hit "Un poquito al revés", including the coro that gave the name to the award-winning CD "Tranquilo que yo controlo" by Pupy y Los Que Son Son. Since his arrival in the US in 2008 Pepito has performed  to rave reviews and recorded with a number of artists, and he is now part of José Lugo's latest project in the Guasábara series as composer and lead vocalist on the single "No me saques de tu vida", which premiers on Puerto Rican radio tomorrow!

José Lugo is one of the most important Latin producers with many Grammy nominations and eight wins under his belt. Lugo produced, arranged and played piano on the single, and you will recognize his style with some interesting and unexpected harmonic changes and even a bit of a timba teaser at 3:30. Juanchi is the director of the group San Juan Habana. An ex-singer for Adalberto Álvarez, he is the composer of such hits as El Gran Combo's "Arroz con habichuela" and Gilberto Santa Rosa's "El conteo regresivo", as well as "Ella menea" by NG2. This is truly a stellar combination.

So how did Los Joséses begin this collaboration? Pepito tells us:
José Lugo and I met through Issac Delgado who referred him to me. José Lugo invited me to sing on a production that he was doing for Pablo Aubia, bassist and director of the group Batambo. Mr. Aubia is Argentinean and living in Geneva. I went to Puerto Rico and we met, and after that we stayed in contact and formed a good friendship. José Lugo had now finished the first production of his CD "Guasábara". It was a project with a big orchestra where singers such as Gilberto Santa Rosa, Cano Estremera, Víctor Manuel, Issac Delgado and Herman Olivera participated and it was nominated for an American Grammy. With the passage of time our friendship led us to work together. He proposed that I do two songs to start with for the project "Guasábara 2"  with a 7-musician format and the possibility of doing live performances. We recorded two songs, this one and another that is in the mixing process called "Si te quiere sola regresa" . The lyrics and music are mine, and the arrangement, production and piano are by José Lugo.

"No me saques de tu vida" was recorded in Puerto Rico at José Lugo's Guasábara Records and will be available at iTunes next week. These are the two first songs prepared for the CD Guasábara Combo.

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