** Updated with Adalberto's official statement on Facebook
If you have more details please add them to the COMMENTS section. Here's Roccapulco's site, saying tonight's show is cancelled.

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English:  The winners of Cubadisco 2014 were announced during a gala at the Hotel Nacional  de Cuba in Havana Cuba on May 14th. . You can read more and download the official booklet of winners here. 



Español:  Los ganadores de Cubadisco 2014 fueron anunciados durante una gala en el Hotel Nacional de Cuba  en La Habana, Cuba el 14 de mayo  Puede leer más y descargar el folleto oficial aquí. 

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Master drummer Calixto Oviedo will be performing May 23rd, at The Granada in L.A. with Salsa, Timba y Sabor Band. Vocalists are Grammy nominated singer Lily D Oviedo and Cuban sonero George Balmaseda. Musicians include Serafin Aguilar on trumpet, Yosmel Montejo on bass, as well as Ramon Flores,  Natanael Molina,  and others. This will be their only L.A. show so don't miss it!

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photo by Tom, Erhlich • 2010 • Yoshi's, San Francisco

Last night we lost the most important Cuban musician since Arsenio Rodríguez. 

A few hours before getting this horrible news Orlando Fiol and I were working out the chord changes to a string of Juan Formell songs and marveling at his endless creativity. The track below, from 1996, is typical of Formell's best work - running the full range of emotions, starting with melancholy and building slowly and relentlessly through a series of higher and higher climaxes.

A handful of the greatest musicians are able to spend a few years in that magical zone where one brilliant idea flows out of the last and each connects directly with the hearts of their public. Juan Formell stepped into that zone with Aquí se enciende la candela in 1970 and stayed there for as long as he stayed on this earth. 

Among countless awards, Formell won the Grammy in 1999 for Llegó Van Van and the Grammy Latino a la Excelencia in 2013. He also composed the top two songs in our "greatest timba song of all-time" poll - Soy todo and Te pone la cabeza mala. I clearly recall counting the votes and it was not remotely close. But for every towering hit that you know by heart there's another - just as great - that you may not have discovered: Barriste con el, No somos de la gran escena, Quién no ha dicho una mentira, Ponte para las cosas, Pero a mi manera, Si tú te vas, Mis dudas, Me basta con pensar, Tú tranquilo ... we've lost the man, but his music will last forever.

Formell's death caps one of the most tragic two-week periods in memory, with the losses of Armando Peraza, Cheo Feliciano, Chuck Silverman, and Gabriel García Márquez.

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