Pedrito Calvo Jr. is about to releases his second full-length CD, "CUBANEO". It contains ten tracks which range from salsa to timba to timbaton and even one mambo-son, appropriately titled "Mamboson". The album was recorded in Havana and Italy, and mixed and mastered in Italy. We took the opportunity to ask PC about the new project.

Well CUBANEO comes at a necessary for me, after almost 3 years spent between composition, arrangement, recording in Cuba and Italy, and time mixing and mastering. It's CD designed for various audiences where I enjoy moving from salsa to timba, and also what is called timbaton plus as son with mambo where I have in mind a performance dancing.

You collaborated a lot with Juan Kemell on the CD. In addition to arranging five of the songs and singing coro, he was co-musical producer together with you and Azaris Pijuan. How did the working relationship function?

Look, with Kemell there has been a chemistry since the last record, because his arrangements reflect each note or chord in my mind and he always manages to capture it with his expertise. Kemell also followed much of the recording and mixing process with great professionalism. Azeris Pijuan, bassist and musical director of the orchestra, was involved in Italy with all the putting together of arrangements and the other parts of the recording process. It has been a very good combination that has resulted in the album that I dreamed of.

The single that you have released to DJs is called “Ready Pa’ Mí” and is a timbatón that you recorded with Super Joe El Mayoral. What was it like collaborating on a sing with himl?

The song READY PA 'MI was co-written by Joel Gonzales "EL MAYORAL" and myself. Joelito has a million fresh ideas for good songs and one day commenting on how everything moves around an artist, we started writing the chorus and that's how the whole song arose, then the arrangement and midi+demo was made by ​​Oldrich thinking only about reggaeton. Joe and I proposed to do timba version which is what remained.

Do you notice any differences between the musical preferences of the dancers in Cuba and in various cities in Europe?

Surely everyone has various answers, but from what I have seen, the musical preferences do exist but are reduced more each day, and it may be a small thing, but new technologies (if we think 80-90 years) have helped greatly to further promote our music. The European audiences follow more and more the work of all the artists, and as a consequence, the musical patterns of the fans change more easily. I marvel at how people dance in several European countries, they know the Cuban bands, it is really impressive to see how it is promoted and how they have that unbridled passion.

 The official release date may be announced as soon as next week, so stay tuned! 

Track list:
Burundanga
Se Acabó
Con Fe
Cuba Mía
Ready Pa'mí
Felicidad
Chica Mala
Salsa Salsita
Mamboson
Ya Llegué

General Direction: Pedro José Calvo

Musical Production: Juan Kemell, Azaris Pijuan, Pedro José Calvo
Executive Production: Christian Madera

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Mayito Rivera @ SF Salsa Rueda Festival courtesy of Mayito @ Facebook

Mayito Rivera and Timbalive perform tonight at the San Francisco Salsa Rueda Festival. They will play two sets: 10:30-11:30 and 12:00-01:00. The concert will be preceeded by dance performances and DJ Walt Digz will be spinning in between. Click here for the full festival schedule.

Mayito will continue to perform in the US with concerts in New York and again in San Francsico.

February 15, 2014 - San Francisco, CA. - San Francisco Salsa Rueda Festival
February 22, 2014 - Rego Park, NY. - Rumba night club
February 23, 2014 - New York, NY. - Gonzalez y Gonzalez
March 1, 2014 - San Francisco, CA. - Teatro Brava

Click here for the current list of Mayito's concerts in the US and Europe. More updates will be forthcoming so stay tuned.

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Masterminds Nick Van Eyck and Serena Wong of Salsa Vale Todo (video below) at the 2012 festival.

Here's this year's full schedule. Thursday night is a welcoming party featuring Bay Area timberos Team Bahía, followed by three fully packed days of workshops and performances. Among the highlights are Mayito Rivera's first California show since leaving Los Van Van on Saturday night, backed by Timbalive, who play their own show Sunday night, Roberto Borrell's Finding the Clave course on Saturday, The Bay Area Timba Salsa All Stars on Friday night, and dance performances by troupes from around the world each night in the main ballroom. For tickets and reservations.

Mayito Rivera

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Ok get ready for MAYITO!! "El Poeta de la Rumba" will be in San Francisco SATURDAY February 15 with Timbalive at the 2014 SALSA RUEDA FESTIVAL. This is at the Hotel Whitcomb downtown SF. After that you can catch him with Jhair Sala and Sebastian Natal and their crew LA TEMATI-K in Woodbridge, Virginia at The Palace Nightclub ( 703-490-3814 ) on Friday the 21st and in Elizabeth, New Jersey at Mi Tierra ( 917-459-0014 / 908-422-3088 ) on Saturday the 22nd.

While Mayito heads over to the East Coast, the West Coast keeps the party going with the first of a series of GRAMMY® Award Grammy celebrations. The PACIFIC MAMBO ORCHESTRA headlines the Santa Rosa Salsa Festival this Saturday February 15 at the Flamingo Hotel.  After that you can catch them celebrating at Terrapin Crossroads on Saturday, March 1 in San Rafael.

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