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Verse 3 - A Concert Against All Odds - by Bill Tilford

Story and photos by Bill Tilford, all rights reserved
(para leer en español oprima aquí)

When Saturday arrived, I knew that I wasn’t going to try to do the VIP “Meet & Greet” with the fans. For one thing, as a writer, I have learned over the years that it really is better for my own blood pressure to let the regular fans have their own time at those things. For another, I had no idea where and when it would be. (I later learned that it was in the Rooftop 760 section of the club complex.) 

I did want to see the sound check, and after some effort and assistance, I was able to get into the club around 5 PM.  (There was still no noticeable poster outside the entrance to the club. Did someone decide that the event was top secret?)  I saw a few microphones and an engineer who was eagerly awaiting musicians and instruments. No musicians, no disc jockey, no sound, no sound check, just an engineer and equipment eagerly awaiting something to happen. As 6 pm approached, things didn’t look much different. Since the show was supposed to start at 6, this was not a good thing. More time passed. No real crowd was coming in either. One of the club’s staff, a brave young fellow named Denis, finally decided that there really should be music one way or another. By his own account, he was not a disc jockey and knew nothing about Cuban music but did know how to operate almost all of the equipment in the club including the DJ equipment. Heroically, he began assembling a downloaded playlist in the booth so that the audience would at least have something to dance to until the bands came in.  By this time, there was no escaping the fact that this concert was going to start – sometime - without a sound check by the engineer standing near me.  Bad sound can ruin even the best bands and sometimes has when bands from Cuba have performed in the United States, so I began mentally preparing myself for an impending disaster.    

...Testing, zero, zero, zero...

As the crowd began trickling in, music began playing from the DJ booth.....click HERE to read Bill Tilford's full report on the New York Timba Mega Concert

De La Habana a New York Concert Review - by Rosy Estrada

June 16, 2012 - Despite a very late start, mass confusion about the VIP tickets, and technical sound difficulties, the only thing that saved De La Habana a New York from becoming a Mega disaster was the pleasure the audience drew from watching the pure raw energy pour out of the musicians.  Bamboleo, Pupy Pedroso, and Manolito delivered an engaging performance in a rare appearance of all three groups at the famed Copacabana in New York City.

As the Washington, D.C. Timba.com correspondent and organizer of Distrito Cubano, DC's only Cuban social group, it seemed quite logical for me to organize and encourage a group of Cuban music followers/friends from our nation's capitol to travel to NY to soak in some live Cuban music.  What I didn't know was how much the lack of communication from the concert's organizers would affect my overall enjoyment of the concert.  Having attended both very successful Cuban concerts from visiting artists and others not so well promoted in the DC area, I still haven't been able to properly discern the root causes of what seems to be developing into a pattern and practice of over-promising and underdelivering when it comes to U.S. timba concert peformances.

In our case, we ended up purchasing the VIP Meet and Greet tickets....click HERE to read Rosina Estada's full report on the New York Timba Mega Concert

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Here are some preliminary images of the New York Mega Timba Concert. It wasn't the event that the promoters originally advertised, but it was still an excellent concert chock full of Cuba's best Timba stars. Check out the full gallery here. Articles and photos by Bill Tilford -- All Rights Reserved / Derechos Reservados. Stay tuned for Bill's full report on his blog "Sin Clave No Hay Ná". 

César Pupy Pedroso and Pedrito Calvo take the stage

Hanging out backstage with Manolito Simonet and friends

Pupy and Pedrito playing some classic Van Van tunes

Bamboleo's new front line-up (singers)  - Aliyn on the far right

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If you haven't seen this yet -- check it out! Alain talks about his musical evolution and plays some solo bass. At the end of the segment he engages the house band for a surprising jam session -- one where he plays almiost ALL the instruments ... timbales, congas, piano and sings. Talk about SUPERCUBANO. Check out Beyond Salsa Bass for more info on Alain.

New Manolín release "Tiene Que Ser Manolín" - We've been featuring the title track for many months now on Radio Timba (currently #17), but now it's official....16 tracks under the Xplosion Entertainment. Click here to check it out on iTunes.

1 Mi Desastre
2 Así De Fácil
3 No Quiero Saber De Amores
4 Me Encanta Esa Niña
5 Me Gustas Un Montón
6 Tengo Un Amigo (feat. El Mola)
7 Yo Soy Tu DJ
8 Se La Voy a Regalar
9 Yo Me Enteré En Facebook
10 De Tarea Pa’ La Casa
11 Cubaneando (feat. El Haka)
12 Mi Guaguancó Manolín
13 Tiene Que Ser Manolín
14 Mi Desastre 
15 Así De Fácil 
16 No Quiero Saber De Amores

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Yes it's really happening this time - ALL RIGHT !! Hot off the twitter press....Team Cuba is in Miami and they will appera on the Alexis Valdés show tonight. Check oput his latest twitter posts below. Next stop is the NYC Timba Mega Concert...

Latin Jazz category reinstated in the the Grammy Awards - Last year the Recording Academy consolidated categories, from 109 to 78, with Latin Jazz among the ones affected (though it remained in the Latin Grammys). Four latin jazz artists - Bobby Sanabria, Mark Levine, Ben Lapidus and Eugene Marlow - responded to the change by filing a class action lawsuit, which was later dismissed by the courts. Protests and online aggravation also ensued. It is this writer's opinion that inroads partly began when Mark Levine simply wrote a letter to the Academy stating his displeasure and actually returned his Grammy awards, proving that it's value is squarely in the eye of the beholding artists. Categories in Classical, R&B and Urban Contemporary music were also reinstated. Bottom line is that it's a victory to enjoy for all.

Orquesta La Bohemia takes a stab at timba - Switzerland's romantic salsa mainstayers release a timba track under the musical direction of Celia Cruz's conguero Luisito Aballe. On vocals is Josbel Rodríguez under the general direction of Cristian González. We welcome the change Cristian! Check out "Mujer del otro" on Radio Timba now.

Changuito Master Classes & Concerts in Spain - La Fundación Robert A. Paneque presentará en España un histórico taller, clase magistral y concierto de congas, timbales y batería con el legendario percusionista cubano José Luis Quintana Fuertes (Changuito), considerado hoy día el percusionista cubano más grande y más  influyente del mundo y el músico cubano más imitado de todos los tiempos, conocido mundialmente por ser el creador del songo, el ritmo que ha llevado a la cumbre a Los Van Van. Ha sido ganador de tres Premios Grammy en cuatro nominaciones. Se le conoce mundialmente como El Rey del Timbal.

Para más información oprima aquí o a la foto arriba para descragar la ficha técnica y toda fecha de la gira de Changuito en España. 

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