ENGLISH:  The Chucho Valdés tour of the United States, titled Irakere 40,  begins in Los Angeles today.   This tour uses a tremendous younger generation of Cuba's musicians (with the exception of Chucho himself, of course), honors the 40th anniversary of Irakere's work as a free-standing ensemble, and supports the release of the new CD Chucho Valdés Tribute to Irakere, which was recorded live at the Marciac Jazz Festival.  The clip above is this group live at Marciac.  

ESPAÑOL: La gira de Chucho Valdés en EEUU, titulada Irakere 40, comienza en Los Ángeles hoy. Esta gira utiliza una generación más joven de tremendos músicos cubanos (con la excepción del mismo Chucho por supuesto), rinde homenaje al 40 aniversario de trabajo de Irakere como un grupo independiente, y apoya el lanzamiento del nuevo CD Chucho Valdés Tribute to Irakere, que fue grabado en vivo en el Festival de Jazz de Marciac. El clip arriba es este grupo en vivo en Marciac.



ENGLISH:  For those of you who would like to go a LOT deeper into Irakere's  history, the documentary above is an excellent treatment of the original group.  The young musicians in the current touring group are profoundly influenced by Irakere.  You can see the entire US tour schedule here. If you are anywhere near one of the cities on the list, do not miss this.   (Kevin Moore asks that we remind those of you in or near Santa Cruz that it is one of the cities in the tour.) 

ESPAÑOL: Para aquellos de ustedes que les gustaría ir MUCHO MÁS profundamente en la historia de Irakere, el documental de arriba es un excelente tratamiento del grupo original. Los jóvenes músicos en el grupo de gira actual son profundamente influenciados por Irakere. Pueden ver toda la programación de la gira de Estados Unidos aquí. Si están en cualquier lugar cerca de una de las ciudades en  la lista, no se lo pierdan. (Kevin Moore pide que recordemos a aquellos de ustedes en o cerca de Santa Cruz que es una de las ciudades en la gira.)

ENGLISH:  Today is officially the Día de la Cultura Cubana in Cuba.  All of us here would like to take this moment to thank the Cuban people for its wonderful cultural contributions to the world, especially in music. 
ESPAÑOL: Hoy es oficialmente el Día de la Cultura Cubana en Cuba. Todos nosotros  nos gustaría aprovechar este momento para agradecer al pueblo cubano por sus maravillosas contribuciones culturales al mundo, sobre todo en la música.

ENGLISH:  Finally, Telmary Díaz is in Madison Wisconsin this week as part of the Passing the Mic Hip Hop Arts Festival.  She is participating in lectures, roundtables and performances including a concert on Saturday the 24th.  
ESPAÑOL:  Por último, Telmary Díaz está en Madison, Wisconsin esta semana como parte del Passing The Mic Hop Hop Arts Festival. Ella está participando en conferencias, mesas redondas y actuaciones que incluyen un concierto el sábado (24).

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I had a little chat today with Luisin Martí, executive producer and president of Oye Mi Musica Records , and he told me about a few projects that they will release next year. Yeni Valdés of Los Van Van is recording her first solo album! The first single is called "Ya no me llevas de la mano".

Yeni Valdés single "Ya no me llevas de la mano"
coming soon by Oye Mi Musica Records

Don't worry, Yeni is not leaving Los Van Van. Luisin tells us "It is nothing related to what people are used to hearing Yeni sing with Los Van Van. It's a salsa dance track and recording is currently underway in Havana and Puerto Rico with the participation of outstanding artists such as pianist José M. Lugo of Guasabara Group. The album will have 10 salsa songs and some surprises".  Luisin has promised to bring us back un cachito pa' huele when he gets back from Havana.

Another Oye Mi Musica project is Maikel Dinza's album "Regalando corazones" with the very sexy cover below. They expect to release it in January/February 2016. I've heard a number of his songs that are up at YouTube and am very much looking forward to his album.

Maikel Dinza - "Regalando corazones" should be released in early 2016

In 2016 Oye Mi Musica will also release a CD by Dominican singer Sergio Vargas. It is a collection of boleros he recorded in Cuba. Stay tuned for more info!

Dominican Sergio Vargas singing "Boleros en La Habana"

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Saturday October 24-28, Isla Margarita, Venezuela will host the ¡Baílalo! Cuban Dance and Music Convention. It is an initiative of dance schools and organized by Kala Entertainment. The Congreso is eight days of Cuban dance workshops with parties every night featuring the best DJs and the top Cuban orchestras. Check out the poster above to see the dates and artists. There will also be a couples dance competition. We found out about it a bit late so I don't know what packages are still available, but I imagine at least the day passes must be. Click here to check out the convention packages . This is supposed to be an annual event so hopefully we'll be able to get the word out a little earlier next year. For now we leave you with the promotional video from their Facebook site.

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The 58th Grammy(R) Awards process began today with the release of the official Entry List to it's academy members. Thankfully, this first round ballot acknowledges some truly great records by Cuban and Cuban music artists alike.

We begin with the already 2015 Latin Grammy(R) nominated and Cubadisco Winner "No Quiero Llanto - Tributo a Los Compadres" (click to read our review), a Tropical Latin double CD collaboration between world-wide salsa star José Alberto "El Canario" and El Septeto Santiaguero. The New York Times reported "The album, which came out earlier this summer as a double CD, reupholsters old music with relentless technical perfection." Sweet. 

Other notables in contention under Tropical Latin are Austin, Texas mega-timberos Timberos del Norte with their self-titled debut album, Singer Xiomara Laugar "Tears & Rumba", and Miami's Tiempo Libre "Pánamericano", Sonlokos "Locos Por El Son", and Leslie Cartaya "Llévame Contigo". 

Next we move to Latin Jazz -- a notoriously fierce and culturally important category -- where a not-to-be named album of midi sequences was somehow embarrassingly included under Latin Jazz in the Latin Grammys(R) and is fortunately not present here. Said controversy was avoided. Instead, we have a story of very interesting bedfellows.

Before getting to that we begin with Pure Mezcla, a live release from Pablo Menéndez & Mezcla. The record got a shining review in All About Jazz, who called it "Rare and beautiful music." Read it here. Another musician who left their soul in Cuba is Australian saxophonist Paul Van Ross, who recorded "Mi Alma Cubana" in Havana with the participation of slamming players including master percussionist José Luis Quintana "Changuito". Next we visit NATURA, by bassist and now residing in Denmar Yasser Pino & The Latin Syndicate. Interestingly, the entry list also includes records from fellow players of his Latin Syndicate: percussionist Eliel Lazo "Eliel Lazo & The Cuban Funk Machine" (in which Yasser also performs) and drummer extraordinaire Calixto Oviedo "Como Suena". More on Calixto soon as he will play a CD release concert in New York at SUBROSA on Monday November 30. For tix and more info click here. Dang... they could form a grammy nominee band. Are we talking after-party? I hope so. 

It is also important to note that one of TIMBA.com's favorite pianists -- Iván "Melón" Lewis -- who is already nominated for Best New Artist and Best Latin Jazz in this year's Latin Grammys (R), has a great record on the entry list "Ayer y Hoy". Here's a reminder why... enjoy!

More Grammy(R) news to come as we dig deeper into the list and report on other notable entries. ¡Que viva la música cubana!

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