Sierra Maestra on Tour

Sierra Maestra on tour now!

Tour season is upon us and we are starting to update the tour section for more and more groups, so keep a close eye on the tours section and send an e-mail if you know about any concerts we are missing. Currently Havana D'Primera are in Quebec where they will give two presentations, Tiempo Libre is on tour in the US in support of their new release "My Secret Radio", and the defenders of son, Sierra Maestra are touring Europe. They will be stopping here in my hometown of Stockholm on May 7th. There is nothing as tasty as a good son, so check their full tour schedule to find a concert near you!

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Thursday, 14 April 2011, 10:46 AM

Timberos around the world, take some time today to celebrate a tu manera with Giraldo Piloto and Klímax who are celebrating their 16th anniversary! Having just returned from a European tour there hasn't been time to plan the official celebration event; it will come soon and we will keep you updated. But for now the band is celebrating this morning with friends at Casa De la Música Miramar. Rumor has it there will be plenty of cake, ensalada y ron! I was congratulating Piloto this morning and he asked me to send a "saludo" to all the readers of Timba.com and says "Los queremos". Well Piloto, let me speak on behalf of all timberos and say we love you and your band too! Thank you for all the years of enjoyment you have brought us. We look forward to many more!

Klimax by Patrick Bonnard Klímax - Cannes 2010 - photo ©Patrick Bonnard, used by permission

Canadians will be happy to hear that Klímax will be performing there soon, June 3-5. All details will be posted as soon as we are fully updated.

For now let me leave you with a video from the album "Solo tú y yo"
the hit "La Permuta" sung by Leo Garrido.

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Tuesday, 29 March 2011, 01:22 PM

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.

José "Pepito" Gómez performs in New York 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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Tuesday, 22 March 2011, 06:17 AM

Here in Europe Maykel Blanco y Salsa Mayor are in full swing with their Spring 2011 tour . Pedrito Calvo Jr. is also touring Europe now with concerts in Italy, France, Austria, Macedonia and Denmark.

In the US Paulo FG has just completed a series of concerts in San Francisco that have Kevin waxing lyrical. Hopefully he will post a full report later, but I will say that Paulo and his band were in top form and made quite an impression on the fans in California.

Calixto Oviedo also stopped by to see Paulo the other night. They played together in Adalberto's band lo those many years ago. Calixto is in the US now with Afro-Cuban All Stars for the North American leg of their spring tour . Calixto will also be holding some percussion clinics : April 6 and 7th in Seattle at Pacific Seattle University and Washington University, respectively and April 26 in LA, and April 28 at Cal State U in LA. If you can\t make those clinics, check out his books in the Beyond Salsa Percussion series.

And get ready for the summer tour season! It will be here before you know it.