Click here for Tom Ehrlich's First Gallery (more coming soon) 

The airline lost their bags but even in street clothes Otra Visión brought down the house, with encores demanded for each set. It was a thrill to finally hear El Nene live - he has a soaring voice that reminds me of Kalunga, writes great songs, and is also an excellent improviser. In fact, every member of this band is a brilliant improviser, from ISA-graduate piano phenom Andy Rubal, to Irakere alumnus Alfred Thompson, to Maraca himself. Check timba.com radio for a new timba track recorded by the group only days before the tour for their upcoming CD, Suspendan los comentarios. Maraca also has a new all-star jazz CD/DVD coming for which we'll have a review and interview from Bill Tilford when the Maraca show hits Chicago.

Great New Photographer - The latest luminary to grace our Photography section is Bohdan Kiszczuk of BWK Photography. His pages are under construction but so far there are great galleries of Los Van Van, Klímax and Charanga Habanera in Montreal.

José Miguel Watch - José's visa came through and he'll be at the 2nd show tonight.

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click to hear Pregúntale a mi mujer
photo by Tom Ehrlich
Click for Maraca Tour Dates

Orlando "Maraca" Valle, ex-flautist of Irakere and, as the leader of Otra Vision, has chalked up a Grammy nomination, 5 Cubadisco awards and dozens of wildly successful tours.

With dual-residency in Cuba and Europe, Maraca was able to keep touring the US throughout the dismal 2000s by using all-star groups of expatriates, but the more enlightened post-Bush era has allowed him to return to his Havana roots and put together an actual working band of top Havana musicians that's been able to play gigs, rehearse, and develop unique original material.

Click "continue reading" below for a full list, but the two names that leap off the page are monster timbalero (and singer) José Miguel (ex-Irakere, ex-Issac, and the leader of Balanza), and Alexei "El Nené" Sánchez, who sang and wrote some of Revé's greatest hits of the 2000s, including No te doy más na' and La madrugada. El Nené wrote and sang several songs on Maraca's soon-to-be-released album, including this killer timba track, Pregúntale a mi mujer , an exclusive preview on timba.com. Nené packs more excitement into one syllable ("je!") than many singers can muster in a whole night.

The tour begins at the Napa Valley Opera House on Tuesday, June 14th . Then three nights at Yoshi's San Francisco (Wed-Fri) , then Seattle (21-22) , Boulder (24) , Salt Lake City (25) , Albuquerque (26) , Jazz Glenwood Springs (29) , Aspen (30, 7-1) , Minneapolis (7-6) , Madison (7-9), Chicago (7-10), Portland Indiana (7-14), Detroit (7-15), Sioux Falls (7-16) and Washington DC (7-25). 

IN OTHER NEWS: Team Bahía, with Carlos Caro and the incredible young singer Sulkary, will celebrate their first anniversary this Saturday in Oakland at Club Antón , and Ana Pérez and Luis Cancino of Los Muñequitos, along with Ana's son Sandy Pérez, of AfroCuba de Matanzas, will be giving classes in Santa Cruz on June 17, 18, 24 and 25. Click here for more details .

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Charanga Habanera will be back in the States for the third time since "the thaw". Kay has the full details on Thursday's show at the Conga Room (including discount tickets). The next night they fly to SF and Roccapulco for a show hosted by dancing phenoms Nick & Serena of SF Rueda Festival fame. We're waiting for more dates for Europe this summer.

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photo by Tom Ehrlich

Calixto Oviedo's concert with the CSULA AfroCuban big band went very well. Calixto gave private and group lessons to the various student percussionists and played different instruments on different songs. He also played an electrifying percussion duet with conductor Robert Fernández. And to top it all off, he took the microphone on the last song and sang lead quite brilliantly - who knew? We'll have video in our new Clinics section soon.

Various LA illuminati were on hand, including George Balmaseda (singer of The Latin Giants of Jazz), pianists Gustavo Ramírez, Alberto Salas, Paul de Castro and Scott Oakley, leading drummer and Ritmologist Victor Barrientos, bassist/arranger/author Edgar Hernández (who will soon be opening an educational section in the timba.com escuelas section), Kay Torres of Curuye, and Gloria Herrera.

The May 2nd San Francisco clinic was cancelled, but now a new clinic and concert have been booked for May 7 with Edgardo Gambón and his group Candela. It's an all-day event called the Island Arts Festival, with the following schedule:

11:00 AM -1:00 PM: Percussion Workshop with Calixto and Edgardo  (drop-ins welcome)
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM: Special Family Percussion Workshop with Calixto and Edgardo (drop-ins welcome)
8:00 PM: Salsa Lesson
9:00 PM: Candela (Edgardo's full 9-piece band, with guest artist Calixto Oviedo)

Sliding scale $15-25, includes the workshops.
Free parking at the Paint Company nearby.

On May 9th Calixto returns to STOCKHOLM for several more clinics and gigs with the sizzling new timba band La Jugada. Meanwhile, another Afro-Cuban All Star percussionist, Pepe Espinosa (ex-Bamboleo, Azúcar Negra, Danny Lozada y su Timba Cubana, Klímax, Cubanismo etc.) has moved from Sweden to Miami.

Finally, Tom Ehrlich hits the road for two weeks in New York where he'll photograph Omar Sosa's concert and recording session, Los Muñequitos, and other events.

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