ENGLISH: In a guest review by Mildred Gloria Aguilar Díaz written for Radio Cadena Habana and republished here, a look at a style called Changüi con flow by Zona Franka. A tasty mixture of traditional and urban Cuban music.
ESPAÑOL: En una reseña escrita por Mildred Gloria Aguilar Díaz para Radio Cadena Habana y republicada aquí, una mirada a un estilo llamado Changüi con flow de Zona Franka. Una sabrosa mezcla de música cubana tradicional y urbana.

ENGLISH: Nominated in the Traditional Popular Music (later Conjuntos & Other Formats) category in Cubadisco 2017, Sabroseando by Leyendas.com is an impressive and enjoyable collection of sones and boleros. Highly recommended for fans of the part of the music spectrum popularized by groups like Rumbavana.
ESPAÑOL: Nominado en la categoría Música Popular Tradicional (convertido en Conjuntos y Otros Formatos) en Cubadisco 2017, Sabroseando por Leyendos.com es una colección impresionante y disfrutable de sones y boleros. Muy recomendable a los fanes de la parte del espectro musical popularizado por grupos como Rumbavana.

"Soy" is a great introductory album if you want to introduce new fans to some of Buena Fe's biggest hits but the three new songs also give the long term fans something new.

“Sobreviviente” is quintessential Buena Fe – brains and beauty. Winner of the Grand Prize at Cubadisco 2017 as well as Best Fusion Album, this CD is highly recommended for fans of intelligent, beautiful music.

Winner of the Música Bailable - Nuevos Talentos category in Cubadisco 2016, El Noro's debut solo album delivers. A tasty mix of retro and current touches.

This new album by César López & Habana Ensemble is one of their best yet, and César, an alumnus of a later edition of Irakere, is putting out work that deserves a similar level of attention.

An excellent collaboration between the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic and ISA. Hopefully this will evolve into an expanded, continuous exchange between the musical communities of Chicago and Havana.

The songs have the simplicity of merengue with the intensity of electronica, making it tempting and easy for even the most left-footed to dance along. It will appeal to the younger crowd and fans of that illusive Tropical genre.

Like the group's name, this album is deceptively basic. A good solid dance album, but while you think you are dancing guaguancó, for example, it sneaks up on you with Vallenato stylings and other odds and ends. Which won't stop you from dancing. This was nominated for a Cubadisco 2015 in the Música Popular Bailable -Maestros category.

Trombonist/Composer/Bandleader Papo Vazquez has been experimenting with Bomba Jazz, which incorporates Puerto Rican Bomba and Plena with Hard Bop, since the 1980s. The mature results are VERY impressive.

Santa Habana is a project that features Melvis Santa's compositions and draws heavily from her colleagues in Interactivo (of which she was a member) and German Velazco, Telmary, Rumberos de Cuba and others. She was also a founding member of Sexto Sentido, and this recording helps reassure us that intelligent new music is still being made in Cuba even after incorporating influences from the US that could have proven unhealthy.

Salsanimal is GRAMMY-winner Marlow Rosado's newest Salsa album. Once again, there is a distinguished supporting cast (including Mayito Rivera on one track and Larry Harlow & Richie Ray on another). Stands above so much of the industrial Salsa product that is coming out this days.

Former NG La Banda vocalist Gerardo Contino brings his band of A-list musicians into the studio to create his first solo album. The result is an explosive Timba paragon with state of the art instrumental work throughout.

This 2014 release employs all the tried and true formulas that have made New York salsa great since the beginning, proving once again that one can’t go wrong with concise arrangements and A-list musicians. Each part fits together like a well-designed piece of architecture with every detail accounted for and nothing left out of place.

Winner of 5 Cubadisco Awards (including the Grand Prize) in 2014, Sacrilegio is an extraordinary project by Ernán López-Nussa that may very well be the most ambitious blending of Jazz, Cuban and Classical music ever recorded by any artist to date.

Manuel Valera's formidable range of musical influences, his uncanny sense of swing in any meter and the emotional depth of his compositions combine to make Self Portrait full of a sense of wonder that listeners who enjoy any form of advanced music will find irresistible. This is every bit as distinctive among solo piano recordings as the New Cuban Express releases are among ensemble projects. This album brings more of his classical influences to light but still has plenty of Jazz.

Those of you who have been mourning the fact that the 80s and 90s are over can stop now. Sin Freno is a knock-you-flat-on-your-arse Timba recording (with one stray concession to the bachateros) that easily holds its own with anything we old-timers remember from our own versions of the "Golden Age".

Sin Límite, his latest release on EGREM, is one of Pupy's most innovative albums, full of stylistic twists and turns that you wouldn't normally expect in a recording that still contains some great timba.

Omar Sosa's sixth solo piano CD is one of his most meditative, uses a concert grand piano and may also be of interest to Classical music listeners who are unfamiliar with his work.

Charanga Habanera returns with a rousing Timba album that should appeal to its original fan base.

Alfredo de la Fe's new collaborative release with Rodry-Go mixes Charanga with multiple other styles and manages for the most part to do so successfully.

The Afro-Cuban Jazz Cartel returns with a new release that represents some of the best of the California school of Latin Jazz.

This recording by one of Cuba's most prominent Son bands was nominated for a Latin GRAMMY in 2010 and includes a nice mix of different tempos.