Daniel Martin - Cuba's Next International Pop Star?

(Daniel Martin at The Foundry, Aurora, Illinois)
(photo by Bill Tilford)

Most of our readers are familiar with the music that is pura cubana in origin and are aware that Reggaeton and Hip Hop happen there as well, but many readers may be less aware of the fact that most of the rest of the spectrum of what many would call "pop" music is also performed on the island as well. This young man, Daniel Martin, performs most of those other styles from ballads to Cubaton to techno all at once and is beginning to make his presence felt internationally (including some work with Madonna) while remaining based in Havana and maintaining some definitely Cuban sensibilities in his work. We recently had the opportunity to get to know him better and found his story interesting enough to take advantage of that opportunity to get a closer look at a part of the Cuban music scene that doesn't get as much coverage up here.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT IT AND LISTEN TO AN INTERVIEW WITH DANIEL

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Sunday, 18 December 2011, 01:46 PM

There is nothing quite like Timba live, and Timbalive is quite an experience too. When they performed in Chicago, their first appearance in the area, they played like they had something to prove, and they were able to do just that. There are reasons why this group is able to perform with the likes of Mayito Rivera and Manolin, and we heard those reasons here.
Click here to continue reading our concert review and view the photos from the performance.

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Sunday, 11 December 2011, 09:01 AM

One of the most intense Jazz/Latin Jazz pianists playing today, Chuchito Valdes, youngest member (so far) of the Bebo Valdes/Chucho Valdes/Chuchito Valdes dynasty, was a nominee for a Latin Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Album this year and just played two very exciting performances at The Green Mill in Chicago Illinois on November 9th and 10th, 2011. Chuchito's performance style is so powerful that there have been a few jokes in the musicians' community about the safety of pianos whenever he comes. Click here to read our review and view the photos.

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Sunday, 04 December 2011, 11:45 AM

(CLICK HERE TO READ ALL ABOUT IT AND CHECK OUT OUR PHOTOS )

Up until now, we thought that the odds of our using the words "Timba", "dance band" , "explosive" and "quartet" in the same sentence were roughly equal to our chances of feeding a real live unicorn at the local zoo. Well, two nights of the Pedrito Martinez Group in Milwaukee and Chicago have persuaded us that we might need to consider the possibility that those unicorns could be real after all. This quartet really is an explosive Timba dance band with added measures of killer funk bass and excellent Rumba chops. They tore the roof off in Milwaukee and Chicago and lifted the crowds out of their seats both places. What's more, they did it without the electronic toys that some bands use for cheating.