Tonight: Havana d'Primera in Las Vegas - Mayimbe in SF

LINKS TO GALLERIES IN PROGRESS: 
Peter Maiden HdP - Tom Ehrlich HdP Fri - Tom Ehrlich HdP Sat -
Tom Ehrlich Mayimbe - Peter Maiden Mayimbe 

LINKS TO VIDEOS:
coming soon

CONCERT REPORTAGE:

Kevin on HdP: Both nights were great, but everyone I talked to agreed that Saturday's shows were more intense, partly due to Alexander's unbelievable trumpet solo (video coming) and partly due to the band's overall energy level. There were lots of new songs. Among the post-Pasaporte fare were Rosa la peligrosa and La bailarina. For me, the hottest tune each night was Se te olvideo quien soy, a blazing hot 3-2 track from Pasaporte that recaptures some of the wicked feel of Alexander's late-90s days with PFG. One of of the mambos paraphrases the classic live coro corta conmigo corta, from Paulito's longest and possibly most intense live anthem, Y ahora qué. Catch them Sunday at Sam's Club in Vegas and Tuesday as Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz.

Kevin on Mayimbe: This is the first time I've heard them and they're definitely the real deal. If you're reading this from anywhere near SF, stop reading and get down to Cócomo to stake out your spot. As you might expect, Cócomo was uncomfortably crowded, but as you definitely would NOT expect, the SOUND was great! Everyone agreed that they had never heard Cócomo sound so good. It wasn't overly loud; you could hear all the detail; and the COROS - My God - really clear and in-tune. The band is incredibly well-rehearsed and well-disciplined. It's not a hyper-choreographed beefcake revue like Charanga Habanera and Salsa Mayor. The beefcake and stage presence are there, but the feel is more improvisational and less contrived.

Then there's THIS guy:

Marcelo Villar (photo by Tom Ehrlich)

Michelle's new Mayimbe page (coming soon) lists the 4 singers as follows: Ángel Ramírez Ballesteros, Marcelo Villar Cano, Damian Janes Carbonell (el Gallego), and Gary Lobaton Orosco, of which only the first two are on the album, but whoever this guy is, he has an amazing set of pipes - his voice cuts through everything without any strain. Major stage presence and major musicality without contrivance. The other singers were also strong and the coros - again - were really tremendous. UPDATE: It's Marcelo Villar. The guy who sounded (too much) like Mayito on the album was Rafael Labarrera - no longer with the band and apparently playing with a different band that he calls Mayimbe - yikes - this is as crazy as the Charanga mutiny. Well, maybe not that crazy, but there are apparently three different Mayimbes, so look for the Bárbaro Fines Mayimbe to hear the band discussed here.

And then there's this OTHER guy:

photo by Tom Ehrlich

... whose name we know - Barbarito Fines Fortes. As well as being an apparently extremely together bandleader, he's the real deal on piano tumbaos - with that magical electrifying finger action a lo Melón, Tirso & Rolando. His fingers attack the keys like a wildcat with his claws out. I couldn't get a clear view of the bassist but Mike (a bassist) was raving about him, so he can tell that story below.

THE PERUVIANS! Who are these people? Only rarely do they come out for a timba show (last timba was Charanga Habanera in 2009), but when they do - when the Bay Area Cuban and Peruvian (and Yuma timbageek) communities come together for one show - the turnout can be tremendous. There were almost 1,000 people at Cócomo and that was on a night where the hottest Cuban band was playing at another club a couple miles away. Viva Perú! And aside from the Bay Area Peruvian phenomenon, it's also time to start talking about Lima, which has almost undoubtedly the hottest Latin music scene in the world today. I'm not sure what's happening socio-economically to put the pieces in place, but it would seem that the number of lucrative gigs has reached or even surpassed the levels of the 1990s in Havana and perhaps even the 1970s in New York - not sure about that last part, but something's going on down in Lima and there's every reason to hope it will be a major catalyst in producing the next great surge in Latin music that we've all been waiting for since the initial timba explosion dropped back down to business as usual in Havana. 

RUEDA CON RITMO! The bouncers were somehow able to clear a space for Rueda con Ritmo to perform their choregraphy for El tren bala.

Hopefully they'll perform it again tonight.

Rueda con Ritmo photo by Tom Ehrlich

Ronald Maguiña Garcia "Teves" - photo by Peter Maiden

Las Peruvianas "¡cojones!" - photo by Peter Maiden

Alexander Abreu - photo by Peter Maiden

Mike Lazarus on Mayimbe:

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