Elito Revé y Su Charangón have finished their new album, "De qué estamos hablando" and are promoting the first single. It is a number written and sung by Dagoberto Vazquez called "Mi amiga Chichi" and features Kola Loca as well.

Amazingly the new CD is rumored to surpass their last album "Fresquecito", winner of Best Dance Music CD for 2008 at CubaDisco and Best CD of 2007 at FiestaCubana.net, and I tell you it also won my heart as best CD of the year. So hold on to your hats or whatever you have to hold on to and get ready que La Revé está en la calle otra vez!

And yes, they are still planning a tour of the US at the end of April so stay tuned for the details as they become available.


Elito Revé courtesy of Karim Ryde

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Contrabando celebrate the release of "Abriendo Caminos" with champagne

I have finally overcome my technical difficulties and can share with you all the experience of attending the Contrabando release concert for "Abriendo Caminos". It was really a very elaborate event with several different segments culminating in the concert itself. The band was not stingy. They played every song from the new album, with the exception of the bachata version of "Siempre tú". You can already listen to the song "Mentiras" in our Timba.com Radio. I have also included a little live video in the report as well as a post-concert video of the goings-on in the dressing room after the concert. Click here to check it out and get to know the band a little better. Non-Spanish speakers will be happy that I have gone hi-tech and started adding subtitles to the interviews. If you haven't already seen the interview with bandleader "El Paísa" I recommend you take a few minutes to watch it. You will get an idea of what Contraabndo is about. And check out the entire Contrabando section as well.

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More good new for fans. Adalberto Álvarez is going into the studio on March 15th to begin recording his new CD. I don't know what it will be called, but a CD by Adalberto Álvarez y Su Son is guaranteed to be a must-buy. Adalberto is also working on plans for a US tour. Things aren't confirmed yet, but the current plan is to tour the US before they begin their summer tour of Europe. Stay tuned and we will keep you updated.

Adalberto Álvarez
photo courtsey of David Doogue

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Stockholm is the capital of Sweden. Located at the 59th parallel, just shy of the polar circle it is a city where the days are short in the winter and seem neverending in the summer. Stockholm City is home to almost
830 000 people and the greater metro area houses 2 million. I have to ask myself how did this rather medium sized city tucked away in the remote reaches of northern Europe develop such a thriving Cuban cultural life? We have our ups and downs, but there are always a core goup of Cubans and Swedish Cuban music & dance fans that are working behind the scenes to maintian the club life and the concert life. How is this reflected, you ask? Well take a look at the Cuban dance/music related activities we have going on in March. The list below does not even include the Saturday timba parties at El Benny, the Sunday matinee at Cumbé or Mi Salsa! You will see why I am so spoiled that I can say "if a DJ doesn't play music to my liking I won't come back". I have so much to choose from!

Calendario de Marzo
3/5 Liga Habanera & Dance show & Workshop by Tropicana Stockholm - Club Guantanamera
3/7 Ladies Afro-Cuban dance day (in honor of International Women's Day) - Cumbé
3/12 El Médico de rap Cubaton & Reggaeton + Robertico "Galán" & "Moreno" - Club Guantanamera
3/12 Calle Real at Fasching
3/13 Gilito y Su Clave at Mosebacke by Cuba Nocturna
3/19 DANCE SHOW: Saúl Perez & Diasmanin Silva 22.30 La Rueda de Casino - Club Guantanamera
3/25 Havana D'Primera at Kägelbanan by SELAM
3/26 Raices Afro-Cuban dance & music show - Club Guantanamera
3/31 Maykel Blanco y Salsa Mayor at Kolingsborg (Slussen)

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El Zorro featuring Ángel Bonne

El Zorro has posted a couple of high quality videos from the Aquí Cuba Festival. El Zorro is aguably the most prolific of the European timberos and has produced a stready stream of projects working with many of Cuba's biggest stars. If you are a big Ángel Bonne fan like myself, you will be excited to see these songs performed live. I have added a Video page for El Zorro to timba.com, but the full selection of videos is found at his homepage. Enjoy!

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I love being the bearer of good news and here is something that will make you happy. Maykel Blanco y Salsa Mayor are finishing up the recording of their next CD. You have no doubt already heard the single "Pa' cualquiera', which was Yordi's first song after his return to the group. Maykel continues his collaboration with Planet Records, and Bis Music will handle the distribution in Cuba. The CD will contain 11 songs and the band will begin promoting one of the new numbers before they leave for the tour, so that's pretty much now.

Maykel Blanco at the 5th anniversary party of Salsa Mayor

The album won't be released until after they get back from their tour. Currently they are planning on an  April release. So by the time the summer tours begin the fans should all be familiar with the new material. The lucky Cuban audiences are already enjoying the new songs and judging from Mirco's reports about the popularity of the Salsa Mayor concerts in Havana, they are hits. Fortunately Salsa Mayor kick off their March tour of Europe on the 17th in fair Verona, Italy so we don't have to wait for too long to hear the new songs. And the singer line-up has got to be one of the most charismatic around with Pavel "La Figura", Yordi and Yasser. This is going to be a very exciting tour that you don't want to miss!

Pavel "La Figura" and Yordi at the 5th anniversary concert

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A few people caught my error in my last post where I said that Orquesta Revé would be at Cubamemucho. In fact the band changed their European tour due to their imminent plans for touring the US in the spring (we will post the US tour dates as soon as they are confirmed). Instead Elito and the Charangón will be in Europe for the regular summer tour season. They are already confirmed for a mega-concert on July 13 at Zenith in Paris. How is this for a blockbuster line-up: Oscar D'Leon, Los Van Van and Orquesta Revé all in one night! That's the kind of concert that is worth taking a mini-vacation for.

Thanks to everyone who wrote to me about the error. If you have information about tour dates that we are missing please send me an e-mail. Or if you register here at timba.com you can make comments directly in the blogs as well as participate in the Timba.com Forum and make comments in the Guestbook.

As for the final line-up for Cubamemucho Munich it is: March 18 - Los Muñequitos de Matanzas, March 19th - Maykel Blanco y Salsa Mayor, March 20 - Havana D'Primera, March 21 - Los Van Van. Stay tuned for more tour updates as the summer tour season bookings get underway as well as more tours of the US are confirmed.



                                                                                            Maykel Blanco y Salsa Mayor
                                                                                        are on their way to a city near you!

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Photo courtesy of Cristian MuñozAlexander is amazingly charismatic on stage as witnessed by this audience. Don't miss Havana D'Primera as they return to Europe this March.

The 2010 tour season is underway here in Europe with Alexander Acosta currently on tour and Tumbao Habana's upcoming French concert dates this weekend. Also starting this weekend is Los Van Van's traditional winter tour, which begins with concerts in Helsinki and Copenhagen terminating in Spain in March before they return to the US for a longer tour in June. Also touring in March is Maykel Blanco y Salsa Mayor. We have just updated their tour page with additional dates today. Havana D'Primera will be returning to Europe for the second time and will finally play in my hometown of Stockholm on March 25th. In April Monica Mesa will be doing a promotional tour with her band Maquina Perfecta under the musical direction of Joel Dominguez. Orquesta Revé is also expected to tour in March and April just as they complete the mixing of their new CD "De que estamos hablando", but currently the only date we have for them is March 21 at Cubamemucho in Munich. And finally El Indio and Tirsio Duarte will be in Europe from March through May so keep a lookout for their concerts. Right now all we know about is the festival in Dampierre - Nevoy, France on March 12-13. If you know of any tours we have missed send me an e-mail.

And in the US this spring there are a number of exciting tours planned as the floodgates open. While we wait for the confirmed dates to be released we can at least tell you that Alaín Daniel has announced a US tour at his Facebook site, so all you Mikis get ready.

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On February 6, 2010 I attended the release concert for Contrabando's second CD, "Abriendo Caminos". Located in Belguim, Contrabando is dedicated to spreading Cuban music and culture in Europe with a repertoire of original songs and arrangements that range from son to timba to fusion of Cuban rhythms with other Caribbean genres. The band has been working hard and paid their dues and have developed a steady following. The release concert was a celebration of the completion of this project and the beginning of the next stage in the band's development. The full concert report including video clips will follow soon. In the meantime here is a short interview with director and trombonist Andrés Fernández "El Paísa" with English subtitles!

Since the first decade of the new century is coming to a close, I decided it was time to go high-tech. I bought a program that easily adds subtitles to videos. So now both Spanish and English speaking fans will be able to enjoy the interviews! Click here or on the image above to watch the video. And stay tuned for the complete concert report.

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Tom Bauer was present for the annual Fiesta Latina at Hotel Bayerischer Hof in Munich. This year's concert was held by Alexander Acosta y La Nueva Propuesta, and Tom has sent us a selection of his excellent photos. Click here or on the photo above to see all of the pictures.

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