BUENA FE

Buena Fe en la escalinata de Universidad de La Habana Photo courtesy of BUENA FE (PÀGINA OFICIAL)

Last night Buena Fe ended their national tour with a special concert on the steps of the University of Havana. The concert was attended by...well as you can see...by a lot of people. The national tour was in conjunction with the 90th anniversary of the University Student Federation (FEU) and consisted of concerts in 19 cities across Cuba. Last night's concert was the grand finale, and Buena Fe invited a number of special guests including a horn section, Descemer Bueno , Frank Delgado and Boni & Kelly. For more photos from last night's performance, check out Buena Fe's Facebook page , which is very active and contains all the latest information about the band including video, photos and concert dates.

During the tour they have been performing songs from their latest CD, "Dial", which will be released in 2013. Israel Rojas says that this CD represents the beginning of a new phase in Buena Fe's music. Their arrangements have always been eclectic, but "Dial" may be even more so with different styles of music as if you are turning the dial on a radio and switching channels. The song "Pablo" from the movie of the same name, "Ojeo" a song about the role that digital camera technology can play in our intimate lives and "Volar sin ti" a ballad written together with Galician singer/songwriter Andrés Suárez are some of the highlights of the new CD. I haven't heard all of the new songs yet, but if the little lyric teasers they have been uploading to their Facebook page are any indication, this CD will be another award-winning home run for the band. Buena Fe will perform 2 concerts at Karl Marx Theater in Havana for the release of the CD on February 8 and 9. If you will be in Havana at the time, this is a must-see event!

As I have previously posted the videos "Ser de sol" with Descemer Bueno and "Pablo", I will now leave you with video from the first live performance of "Volar sin ti", which took place with Andrés Suárez in Madrid in August.

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Monday, 17 December 2012, 11:25 AM

Maykel Blanco y Salsa Mayor "A Toda Máquina" Timberas y timberos...finally the new Maykel Blanco & Salsa Mayor CD, "A toda máquina", is out at iTunes and just in time for the holidays! It contains 13 songs including the hit "El songo de todos" featuring guest singers and a potpurri to close the album. This is the holiday gift for all the timberos you know, and get one for yourself while you're at it! I don't know if the hardcopy will be out in time for Christmas, but one can always start with the MP3 and get the hardcopy later.

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Friday, 16 November 2012, 11:07 AM

Buena Fe

On the eve of their national tour, Buena Fe has released the video "Pablo" from the film of the same name. It was shot on location in Camagüey. The tour begins tomorrow in Santa Clara and for the month of November the band will be heading to Eastern Cuba for 10 concerts, including free concerts in Holguín, Guantanamo and Santiago de Cuba, where the people are still recovering from the severe damage caused by Hurricane Sandy. The band will also perfrom at the Festival Aragua in Maracay, Venezuela on December 2nd and will then return to complete the national tour which will end on December 20th on the steps of the University of Havana as part of the celebration of the 90th anniversary of the University Student Federation (FEU).

During the tour, Buena Fe will be presenting songs from their new CD, "Dial". For more information about the video, the new CD and the tour, check out the interview with Israel Rojas at Suena Cubano. Follow them at Buena Fe (Página Oficial) on Facebook.

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Friday, 09 November 2012, 05:32 AM

I am so excited! I just watched the teaser for the soon-to-be-released documentary of Michel Mirabal's "Créeme" project that was held during the Bienal in Havana this summer. This work is a collaboration between some members of what I see as Havana's artistic elite. Michel Mirabal is one of Cuba's most recognized young artists and has held exhibitions in the US in Miami, L.A. and Chicago, as well as in Paris, France; Buenos Aires, Argentina and Bogota, Colombia. His collection includes the Rockefeller family, Donald Trump, Mohammed Ali, Carlos Santana and author Gabriel Garcia Márquez, among others.

For "Créeme" he teamed up with Havana's hip-hop community. They composed and recorded songs inspired by Michel's work, including a fantastic hip-hop remake of one of my favorite Buena Fe songs "Soy" with Raudel from Escuadrón Patriota and Israel Rojas of Buena Fe. Other artists included Silvito El Libre, Maykel Xtremo, Soandry Hermanos de Causa, Carlitos Mucha Rima, Bárbaro el Urbano Vargas and Al2. To top it all off was the biggest name in Cuban music: Juan Formell & Los Van Van. The entire event was documented by another of the young guns of the Havana artistic community: filmmaker Ian Padrón. Padrón has been on the leading edge of socially conscious filmmaking with works such as the award winning movie "Havanastation", the groundbreaking video of "Ser de sol" by Buena Fe & Descemer Bueno and with audiovisual of this historic concert. They are currently subtitling and editing the DVD, which I hope will be ready in time to make it into my stocking as a Christmas gift! So check out the teaser here and keep an eye out for the DVD release!