Los Hermanos Arango rehearse in Guanabacoa photo by Patrick Bonnard

Although they were billed at a number of sites, including here, as performing at the Beantown Jazz Festival in Boston this month, Feliciano Arango informs us that due to a great enthusiasm for Los Hermanos Arango in Boston, their trip has been delayed in order to arrange a larger event. With any luck Los Hermanos Arango will be in the US for a full-fledged tour. If you happen to know any promoters in your area, drop them a line and tell them you want to see Los Hermanos Arango live in your city!

Photographer Patrick Bonnard visited the Arangos this spring and told us about how the collaboration between Los Hermanos Arango and Berklee came about. "Professor and saxophonist Neil Leonard brought his students to Cuba last December and visited the homes of Chucho Valdés and Los Hermanos Arango. They returned in May and gave a concert, this time together with Los Hermanos Arango in La Casa de Las Americas." The Vice-President of Berklee College was in attendance and invited Los Hermanos Arango to Boston, which culminated in the current discussions about bringing the band to El Yuma. Here is an article written by Frank-John Hadley in Downbeat magazine about the visit to Cuba.

Although it would have been great to see them this month in Boston, we can console ourselves with hopes of a larger tour  to come. Feliciano also informs us that Los Hermanos Arango will soon release a new DVD featuring a collaboration with the stars of Cuban folkloric music. For this recording they invited five founders of Conjunto Folklorico Nacional who range from 80 - 90 years old. This is the beginning of what they are calling the Guanabacoa Social Rumba, where they will be performing all of the Cuban folkloric genres with the greatest exponents of each genre. This sounds like an amazing and brilliant project and I can hardly wait to see the first fruits!

For a taste of their music check out the Los Hermanos Arango channel at YouTube. Here is a little teaser: a song for Oyá including a bass solo by Feliciano Arango winner of the Timba.com Best Timba Bassist Award. And if you are inspired to delve more deeply into the bass style of Feliciano Arango, check out the book "CUBAN TIMBA: A Contemporary Bass Technique" by Feliciano Arango and Cherina Mastrantones. It is available in both Spanish and English.

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The Cuba Antwerpen Indoor Festival -a Cuban music festival hosted by the Arenberg Theater in Antwerpen, Belgium- will take place on Saturday, March 17, 2012.

Click here to listen to Radio Timba to check out the festival title track "Cuba Antwerpen" by Contrabando, saluting all their favorite timba djs and websites. 

Currently on the roster are:
1) Bárbara y el Vaivén Cubano
2) Contrabando featuring Jesús Alemañy (Cubanismo)
3) DJ Rubio, DJ Samurai & DJ Pepe

The festival is currently accepting submissions from Cuban music groups and urban music artists (cubatón, timbatón, reguesón). For more information please email your press kit to Andrés Fernández Ordóñez at afopaisa2 [at] hotmail [dot] com. 

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Current Tour Schedule:
Thursday October 13 - Moe's Alley - Santa Cruz, California
Friday October 14 - Café Cócomo - San Francisco, California
Monday October 17 - Mission Cultural Center (Lecture) - San Francisco, California
Thursday October 20 - The Reef - Los Angeles, California
Friday October 21 - S.O.B's - New York City, New York
Saturday October 22 - Aché Supper Club - Miami, Florida

Listen to Maykel on RADIO TIMBA - Track #10 - "Un Kilo"
First Performance in the United States! - Direct from Cuba - Visas Approved
Musician / Staff List for the Maykel Blanco U.S. Tour 2011 

First Performance in the United States!

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José Luís Cortés, mejor conocido como "El Tosco", director y flautista de la agrupación musical NG La Banda, aquí explica el uso del término "timba" como una abreviación y manera práctica de expresar lo que es la "música popular contemporanea cubana", un nombre, como comenta el Tosco, "super estereofónico". Simplemente funciona, porque la timba abarca muchas influencias, específicamente usando influencias de diferentes géneros pero siempre con su sabor cubano. En esta interesante entrevista se comenta el rol de NG en la creación del nuevo género, entre otras importantes orquestas, y sobre el desarollo del tema "'Echale Limón", con influencia de la isla de Jamaica.   

También hoy, en mi visita a youtube investigando las recomendaciones de La Timbera Mayor, he tenido el placer de ver bailar a una pareja de Oakland, California que espera a Maykel Bkanco, disfrutando el tema "Anda y Pégate", que estrenará su primeros conciertos aquí en el Yuma en Octubre. Anda y Pégate tu también con la gira de Maykel que viene con su orquesta completa. Unsaludos fuerte a los peruanos de la bahía que son unos leales timberos y timberas!

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