Poland's Timba Spring

Well in the Spring it never rains but it pours and this is definitely the case in Poland. I know that for timberos in Poland it sometimes seems like an uphill battle spreading the good news of timba and casino, but their hard work is bearing fruit. This Spring there are two Cuban dance congresses including live timba bands. Unfortunately they happen to take place the same weekend! Now that's just not fair! Cubamemucho will be in Warsaw from Friday April 30 - Sunday May 2, while Krokow hosts the Festival Cubana from Friday April 30 - Monday May 3. While I am thrilled to see that Poland is host to two major Cuban congresos, my heart goes out to the timberos who have to choose which event they will attend. And imagine this, Yanek will be at the Cuban Festival while Diana goes to Cubamemucho and both congresos will have an El Indio singing.

Sixto Llorente El Indio

Sixto Llorente El Indio Angá El Indio

Fortunately which ever event you decide to attend you will be getting excellent dance instructors and great music. In Warsaw you get Angá better known as El Indio from Orquesta Revé and Rei Ceballo & Calle Sol on April 30th, Calle Real on May 1 and a rumba party on May 2. In Krakow you get Tirso Duarte and Sixto Llorente El Indio on April 30, Pedrito Calvo Jr. & Leo D on May 1, and José Torres y Salsa Tropical and Calle Real on May 3.

| Share

Tuesday, 23 March 2010, 06:19 AM

Finally the people of Sweden will get to experience the ecstasy that comes from seeing Havana D'Primera live. I have always loved their music, but I remember when Gabriel from Yemaya's Verse first saw them in Havana and went wild, raving like a lunatic about how great they are. I mean, sure I knew that this collection of musicians must be great, but still...she seemed to be a little overly dramatic.

Then it happened. I saw them live in Copenhagen in 2009 and I became a believer too. There is something special that happens at a Havana D'Primera concert. Alexander connects with his audience in a way that has to be experienced to be understood. And this Thursday March 25th, in a concert at Södra Teaterns Kägelbanan, Sweden will finally understand too. Check their tour schedule for the nearest concert. It will make a believer of you.

Estreno...El palo más duro

| Share

Friday, 19 March 2010, 05:55 AM

Timba photographer Tom Bauer has shared some more excellent photos with us, this time from Los Van Van in Stuttgart, 7 March 2010. In fact there are 65 pictures from the concert, so I decided to do something a little different. I created a main page with a variety of pictures from the evening and then subpages for the singers and musician sections. If you aren't familiar yet with the new subpage feature, when you go to the main page you will see a Table of Contents to the right of the center frame. You can use this to jump directly to any of the subpages or you can use the Previous/Next buttons at the bottom of each page to navigate between subpages.

Tom was at both the Stuttgart and the Erlangen concerts and says that they did the standard Arrasando Tour playlist, opening with "Arrasando" and closing with "Te pone la cabeza mala". Both concerts were attended by over 800 people. Juan Formell is not on this tour, but bassist Pavel Molina does an excellent job. I just have to say that I love the dress that Yeni wore in Stuttgart!

And before I give you the link to the first set of Stuttgart pictures I thought we'd play a little game: Name That Van Vanero! using three pictures from Tom's collection. It shouldn't be too challenging for Van Van fans, but try to answer who's who before looking at the picture gallery.

Whose feet? Whose hands? Whose hands?

When you have answered the questions you can go check out the Van Van in Stuttgart picture gallery and see if you got the answer right.

| Share

Wednesday, 17 March 2010, 05:41 AM

I assume that everyone follows Mirco's TimbaPorSiempre blog, but if you are new to timba, maybe you haven't discovered it yet. Mirco has great contacts for getting the latest music. Of course he has a couple of clips to give you an idea of what the new Revé CD "De Qué Estamos Hablando" will be like. He also posted the complete track listing for the new CD. So click here if you haven't had a chance to sample the new Revé songs. And let me tell you right now, if you drive a Chevrolet, you don't stand much of a chance with Chichi.