The most
sophisticated and strikingly original of the major Timba bands, by a considerable
margin, is Giraldo Piloto's Klimax. Descended from a long line of famous Cuban
musicians and composers, Piloto has been omnipresent throughout the first decade
of Timba history as a drummer, a songwriter and an arranger. He was a founding
member of the first Timba band, NG La Banda. When La Charanga Habanera exploded
onto the scene, their first big hit, "Me Sube la Fiebre", was written
by Piloto and they followed it up with several other Piloto songs, including
"Mi Estrella". When Issac Delgado left NG to form his own group, Piloto
became his musical director and wrote a number of songs for him, including possibly
his most important hit, "No Me Mires a los Ojos", which Issac still
plays at nearly every concert. In January of 1995, after 8 years at the epicenter
of the Timba revolution, Piloto decided to form his own group and in April of
that year, Klimax played its first concert at the famous La Cecilia club on
Avenida Quinta.
Klimax has
released 3 CD's on Spain's Eurotropical label and has toured extensively throughout
Europe and South America.
For a full discussion
of all of Klimax's albums, click on the DISCS
button above.
For information on the
past and present musicians of Klimax, click on the PERSONNEL
button above.
For breaking news from
Piloto himself, click on the NEWS button
above.
The information presented
here will be rewritten and expanded from time to
time to make them more complete, more accurate and more up-to-date. If you have
corrections or comments, or have written articles, essays or reviews you'd like
to contribute to timba.com, please submit them to kevin@timba.com.