Issac is back in Cuba and has an exciting new band with three members of the original NG La Banda: pianist Rodolfo "Peruchín" Argudín, trumpeter Elpidio Chappottín and saxophonist/arranger Germán Velazco. On synthesizer is Yusef Díaz of Klímax fame. Click continue reading for a larger version of the poster.

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Israel Rojas - director and lead vocalist of Buena Fe

I believe it is safe to say that Israel Rojas is one of the busiest men in Havana, and I want to thank him for inviting me to the show "Motivos Martianos", which took place at Teatro Mella on January 21, 2014 and for taking time from his schedule to talk to Timba.com. The interview is in video format and in Spanish. I haven't had time to subtitle or to transcribe and translate. Hopefully I will be able to get around to that soon, but for now I have so much video from my recent trip to Cuba, that it is keeping me quite occupied. Meanwhile, for those who don't speak Spanish let me just mention a few key points.

Israel mentioned that in the first quarter of 2014, the band will launch it's new official homepage buenafe.cu. Up to now, the various homepages the band has had have been in domains outside of Cuba. The band has not always had access to the sites, on ocassion they have been hacked and the domains have been stolen, but above all, Cubans have not had access due to the rquirements for broadband. The new page will be a simpler design, but will now be accessible to all their fans, including Cubans with access to an internet connection.

At the beginning of March, probably in conjunction with the band's 15th anniversay, Galician singer/songwriter Andrés Suárez will perform with Buena Fe at Teatro Karl Marx where he will present his CD "Moraima" (highly recommended!). As for tours, the band plans to tour the US in April and Venezuela in May. They are also trying to arramge a major tour of Latin America for the second half of 2014. This is still in the development stage and we'll update you with more information as son as we have it.

For the rest of the interview we talked about the "Motivos Martianos" project and show, about what it was that caused Israel to become such a devoted follower of José Martí (part of which he attributes to the  Cuban special period) and how he views the art of songwriting.

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from afrocubaweb.com

It's been a long wait, but Feliciano Arango and Los Hermanos Arango have finally returned after their one-stop tour to Berklee several years ago. Arango is well-known to timberos as the founding bassist of NG La Banda and co-author of two books on bass-playing. But Los Hermanos Arango is an amazing project in its own right, combining Latin jazz with folkloric vocals, percussion and dancing. They'll be performing and doing master classes all week in Southern California. This is the real deal - don't miss it. The opening act for some of the shows is the changüí group of timba.com friend and contributor Gabriel García.

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Maykel x 2: Blanco & Fonts @ Don Cangrejo

Maykel Blanco and Maykel Fonts are two of the most internationally recognized names of the younger generation of Cuban artists, both excelling in their genre. Maykel Blanco & Su Salsa Mayor exploded on the international timba scene in 2006 with the release of their first CD “Recoge y vete”. Known to fans as “La Maquina de Cuba”, they have since released three more studio CDs and a live album. Their last release “A toda máquina” has been the band’s most successful CD to date, outselling other albums in a matter of months. With a vibrant live show, including audio-visual accompaniment, Maykel Blanco & Su Salsa Mayor are currently one of Havana’s most popular acts and in great demand on the international tour circuit.

Coming from humble beginnings in a solar in Old Havana, Maykel Fonts has become one of the most sought after Cuban dancers worldwide. At the age of 22 he graduated from the Tropicana dance school and shortly thereafter moved to Milan, Italy. Over the years he has worked as an instructor, choreographer and dancer in commercials and television programs, and he recently choreographed and danced in the award-winning video for Havana D’Primera’s hit “Al final de la vida”. In addition to Cuban dances, Maykel has studied flamenco, hip hop, jazz, classic dance as well as other international salsa dance styles, making him a versatile dancer. But without question the genre closest to his essence is Afro-Cuban rumba.

A few months ago these two young powerhouses of Cuban music and dance united to record “Dale lo que lleva”, available on Planet Records compilation "Latino 56 - Salsa Bachata Merengue Reggaeton". Musically the song is designed to be easily accessible to dancers, the coro Izquierda y derecha (Left and right) falling on the one and the five to match the dancers’ steps. The lyrics refer to the similarities in the development of the two Maykels in their different genres.

On January 18th 2014 Maykel Fonts and Maykel Blanco performed “Dale lo que lleva” for the first time live at Casa de la Música Habana. I was not able to attend the concert, but I did find them both at Don Cangrejo on January 16th, and I took the opportunity to ask them a few questions. The video interview is in Spanish. One of my favourite quotes from the interview came from Maykel Fonts when he talked about how with Cuban music and dance "…there are no barriers. When it comes to Cuba, it’s about enjoying yourself" (…no hay barrera. Cuando se trata de Cuba, se trata de gozadera ). I hope you enjoy the interview and the video for “Dale lo que leva” below.

Entrevista a Maykel x 2

Official Video "Dale lo que lleva"

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