CUBADISCO 2019 NOMINATIONS

ENGLISH: Cubadisco 2019 is coming soon - the nominations were announced last week. See the official nominations booklet and more here.
ESPAÑOL: Cubadisco 2019 viene pronto - se anunciaron los nominados la semana pasada. Ve el folleto oficial de nominaciones y más aquí.

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lunes, 22 abril 2019, 06:37 pm

ENGLISH: In March, Bill Tilford attended the Fiesta del Tambor in La Habana. This was the 18th edition of the Festival, which is designed to commemorate the legendary percussionist Guillermo Barreto. Giraldo Piloto, one of the founding organizers of the festival, is also the guiding Cuban presence at the festival, but each year there is a country of honor, Spain this year, and the Spanish organizing team, led by the International Executive Producer Jorge Alfaro, did an excellent job. The Fiesta del Tambor is an intensive week-long series of percussion and dance competitions, workshops and concerts. For those who fully participate, there are nearly 18 hours of events most days. Rumba and Flamenco played prominent roles in the Fiesta, but there was also an extremely impressive lineup of Timba concerts. I would highly recommend this event to foreigners based on the concert lineup alone, even more so for percussionists and dancers.
You can download the official schedule here.
Links to galleries with commentaries are available below.
ESPAÑOL: En marzo, Bill Tilford asistió a la Fiesta del Tambor en La Habana. Fue la 18ª edición del Festival, que está diseñada para conmemorar al legendario percusionista Guillermo Barreto. Giraldo Piloto, uno de los organizadores fundadores del festival, también es la presencia guiadora de Cuba en el festival, pero cada año hay un país de honor, España este año, y el equipo organizador español, dirigido por el productor ejecutivo internacional Jorge Alfaro, hizo un excelente trabajo. La Fiesta del Tambor es una serie intensiva de una semana de competencias de percusión y danza, clases magistrales y conciertos. Para aquellos que participan plenamente, hay casi 18 horas de eventos casi todos los días. La rumba y el flamenco desempeñaron roles prominentes en la Fiesta, pero también hubo una impresionante variedad de conciertos de Timba. Recomiendo encarecidamente este evento a los extranjeros basándose solo en la lista de conciertos, aún más para percusionistas y bailarines.
Puedes descargar el horario oficial aquí.
Enlaces a galerías con comentarios están disponibles abajo.

Galleries with commentaries / Galerías con comentarios:
Opening Gala 2019 / Gala Concierto
Percussion Contest I / Competencia de Percusión I
Percussion Contest II / Competencia de Percusión II
Welcome Dinner and Concert / Cena Concierto de Bienvenida
Dance Classes and Contests / Clases y Competencias de Danza
Laura de los Ángeles & Daymé Arocena
Noche de Sabian - Cubaplus - Kosamusic
Oderquis Reve & Noro y Primera Clase
Noche Dedicada a España
Bamboleo
Manolito Simonet
Klimax
Gala Final

Cimafunk gave an electric sold-out concert in Chicago. See our gallery here

Omara Portuondo is performing in Chicago at the Old Town School of Folk Music on May 1. More information and tickets are available here.

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domingo, 31 marzo 2019, 09:00 am

Cimafunk has taken Cuba by storm, including a nomination in Cubadisco 2018 for their album Terapia. I have seen them live twice in Havana (their leader was also a guest on my radio program From the Isle of Music recently), and their live show is more electric than you would guess from the promo video above. However, Me Voy is their biggest hit in Cuba, so there it is. Here's a taste of them live to underscore my point:

So far, the tour has met with an enthusiastic reception. This week, it comes to Chicago on Tuesday and Wednesday and New Orleans on Saturday as follows:
April 2:  Martyrs, Chicago, IL
April 3:  Old Town School of Folk Music, Chicago, IL
April 6:  Tipitina's, New Orleans,  LA
We will be covering the April 3 performance at OTS here on TIMBA.com. Also, Bill Tilford interviewed Erik, the leader, in Havana last September for his radio program From the Isle of Music. To celebrate the tour, that interview (with music) will be repeated on shortwave as follows:
1. For Eastern Europe but audible well beyond the target area in most of the Eastern Hemisphere (including parts of East Asia and Oceania) with 100Kw, Sunday, April 7, 1500-1600 UTC on SpaceLine, 9400 KHz, from Sofia, Bulgaria
2. For the Americas and parts of Europe, Tuesday, April 9 0000-0100 UTC (New UTC) on WBCQ, 7490 KHz from Monticello, ME, USA (Monday, April 8, 8-9PM EST in the US).
Station website: www.wbcq.com
3 & 4. For Europe and sometimes beyond, Tuesday, April 9, 1900-2000 UTC and Saturday, April 13, 1200-1300 UTC on Channel 292, 6070 KHz from Rohrbach, Germany.
Station website: www.channel292.de

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lunes, 18 marzo 2019, 08:15 pm

Unless you suffer from a Funk allergy (it would be fun to see them share the stage with George Clinton sometime), you will want to see this band, which is now touring the US and already played SXSW.
Here are some upcoming dates (the list is probably not complete):
March 28: Tropicalia Lounge, Washington, DC
March 29: The Galleries at Moore, Philadelphia, PA
March 30: Global Cuba Fest, Miami Beach, FL (with Daymé Arocena, also worth seeing)
April 2: Martyrs, Chicago, IL
April 3: Old Town School of Folk Music, Chicago, IL
April 6: Tipitina's, New Orleans, LA
April 13: Atlanta Jazz Festival, Atlanta, GA
April 15: AS/COA, New York, NY

Chicago fans of Chuchito Valdés will be pleased to learn that he is returning to the Jazz Showcase with his trio Thursday, March 21-Sunday, March 24. He tells me that he has a new album coming, more about this soon. In trio, his style has both mellowed and deepened with age. Highly recommended.