Photo courtsey of Cristian Muñoz

Great news from, Miami. Manolito y Su Trabuco have arrived in the US. With all the changes to the concert schedule I only know of 3 concerts. The first two are May 7 & 8 in LA and San Francisco, respectively and the third is May 14 in Miami. I hope they set up a few more because the people of the United States have a right to More Trabuco! If you know about any concert that is missing from out list please send me an e-mail.

Update: Make that 4 concerts. I found one for May 20th at SOBs. But according to Mirco's information at TimbaPorSiempre, Manolito said that they will be playing in 14 states, so we must be missing a lot of dates!

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Things seem pretty turbulent on the US timba tours scene for the moemnt, or at least over no the west coast. The Miami - New York side might be a little calmer. For the time being I'm not even sure what to update and not update in the Tours section for the US tours, so I'm doing nothing. But for those of us here in Europe, things are moving forward more or less as usual. Here's is what seems to be planned so far...with disclaimer for possible changes (there are always changes) in Europe.

If you're having trouble seeing La Charanga Habanera in California, take a summer vacation to Europe and catch them July 13 -  August 8. Havana D'Primera will be back in Europe from May 29 -  June 29th and they already seem to be scheduled for a concert  at the Musicport Festival in England in October, so I guess they'll be back in the fall. Giraldo Piloto & Klímax will be here from  July 6 - August 7. Monika Mesa will be touring with her Maquina Perfecta from June 27 - August 29. Reggeaton fans can see Los Cuatro (Los salvajes)  during July 22 - August 29th. Stay tuned for more updates as they become available.

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Wow! I just got my first listen to the title track from the new CD "De que estamos hablando". Now you all know that I'm a big Revé fan, and I am always confident that they will release quality songs. I knew the CD would be good, but this is blowing me away! So far I've only heard part of Chichi and the full tracks of the remake of "La boda en bicicleta", "Agua pa' Yemayá" and "De que estamos hablando", but I tell you my fellow charangoneros, this is hard core timba as only changüí can be.

I still haven't figured out what it is that gives changüí that extra kick, but I tell you this is absolutely impossible to resist. I was going to say that you'd have to be dead not to dance to these songs, but to be honest I'm pretty sure this will even get los muertos on their feet. I'm not exaggerating! This CD cannot get into my CD player soon enough!



Elito Revé photo Cristian Muñoz

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We have updated Orlando "Maraca" Valle's tour section. As usual Maraca's schedule is rapidly filling up so if you want to book you should get in touch with Celine soon. Fans, take a look at the schedule and find a concert near you.

The band has some exciting additions this year. While young soneros seem to be an endangered species, Maraca has added both Alexei Sánchez "El Nene", and Lester Ciarreta to the group. You know Alexei "El Nene" from Azúcar Negra and Elito Revé, where he both composed and sang several of the hits on the "Se sigue comentando" CD. When El Nene left Azúcar Negra it was actually Lester Ciarretta who filled his place, moving over from Salsa Mayor. Well now both these young sonero/timberos are together in one band under the leadership of one of the most sucessful young bandleaders in Cuba today. French DJ Jack El Calvo informs us that Maraca even has other new musicians including a new trumpet player, from Klímax. Stay tuned for video of the new Maraca line-up!

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