Peter Maiden, whose photo for "Live in the USA"...

... resulted in one of the all-time classic timba album covers, has a new gallery from the group's  recent San Francisco tour.

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continue reading La Última

Yes his English is getting better! Here's a nice shout-out we got today from Melón (Iván Lewis).  His genius piano work on many of Issac's hits has been successfully deciphered by our resident expert Kevin Moore. The Beyond Salsa Piano book series has now grown to nine (9) volumes --the last four (4) focused exclusively on Iván's piano advanced piano concepts and executions. More surprises in store from Melón.

We also got a message from Calixto Oviedo that really blew us away....singer Lily Hernández tearing it up with La Jugada in Sweden. That's Calixto on drums & timbales. Is that La Timbara Mayor Michelle White with the black top and miniskirt taking video? Could be... That guiro is really cutting thorugh...excellent chambo all around. "El Congo Francisco" from the Soneros All Stars CD. "La Timba Soy Yo".  Believe it or not that is El Sonero himself from Soneros All Stars,  Janne "Yanesito" Bogdan tocándlo a lo cubano on bass. There is a highly anticipated percussion method from Kevin and Calixto in the works. Enjoy.

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continue reading Pa' Ponerte en Talla

As the summer winds to a close there are a few upcoming timba events that you should be aware of. La Charanga Habanera will be back at Yoshi's in San Francisco August 20-22. They will be doing the two-shows-a-day thing so you can see the boys six times in a row! And at the other end of the Cuban spectrum and on the opposite coast we have our first confirmed date for El Caballero del Son, Adalberto Álvarez. They will be playing September 16th at S.O.B.s in New York City. I hope we will soon be updating Adalberto's Tours page with many more concert dates in the US. So get out there and enjoy the final days of summer with La Charanga and Adalberto! And stay tuned for tour updates on Klímax in the US as well!

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continue reading Timbera Mayor

Kafri, Tomas & Michel

Calle Real performed last Thursday night, August 12, 2010 at the Stockholm Kulturfestival on the big stage at Gustav Adolfs Square. They put on a great show and the audience loved every minute of it even insisting on a encore, which isn't always possible witrh the tight schedule of a festival. Bandleader and tresero Patricio Sobrado is still in Chile so it was a little unusual to see them without him. As always Calle Real bridges the gap between Latino and mainstream music and I'm sure they made many new fans that night and probably opened up more hearts to timba as well. Click here to check out the full concert report including 3 videos.

Here is a sample video to get you started: "Me lo gané", the title track from their latest CD.

Me lo gané

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continue reading Timbera Mayor