Festival Directors Nick Van Eyck and Serena Wong with El Médico de la Salsa

The SF SalsaRueda Festival was really a great event - having 500+ great and enthusiastic dancers in the crowd really seemed to fire up the musicians. Here's Tom's gallery from Saturday - Part 2, covering Sunday, is still to come.

Rumor Central: As per DJ Melao, Arnaldo Jiménez (ex-Paulito, leader of la Cosmopólita) will be Los Van Van's new bassist.

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** Breaking News Update - Singer José Antonio Rodríguez González (Pepitin)
leaves Manolito y su Trabuco **

A new homaje to the classic salsa sounds of the 1970's has been released by Miami-based pianist, Grammy winner and band director Marlow Rosado y la Riqueña. The current track on RADIO TIMBA features Cuban singer Marlon Fernández siging the hit "Señor Sereno".  This new album, called RETRO, is an all-star release that counts with the participation of singers Bobby Cruz, Ismael Miranda, Tony Vega, Luigi Texidor, Marlon Fernández, Kevin Ceballo, Sonora Ponceña pianist "Papo" Luca, Salvador Cuevas (bass with Ruben Blades), Tito Puente Jr., and Quique Dominich (cuatro).

The new single "Fuego A La Jicotea" featuring Tito Puente Jr. is available on iTunes here.

Pavel leaves LVV: Bassist Pavel Molina announced he has left Los Van Van, possibly over some controversy generated from facebook comments he posted in regards to the recent death of beloved LVV conguero Manolo Labarrera. (photo courtesy of SalsaMadrid). Pavel and Manolo were very close.

New Maykel Blanco photos: Timba.com photographer Peter Maiden has a new feature in an International Salsa Digital Magazine. Check out this veryslick gallery here.

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Yoel Cuesta Fernández is the new conguero of Los Van Van upon the passing of Manolo. Timba fans know him from his work with Azúcar Negra and Adalberto Álvarez y su Son. In addition to being a stellar conguero, Manolo was a wonderful human being who contributed to the group with his kindness and his love. Yoel, in addition to being an excellent conguero, is also a genuinely nice person and thus a fitting choice to fill the huge space left by Manolo's death. We wish him the best as he steps into the shoes of one of Cuba's legendary percussionists.

We will soon see Yoelito with El Tren as Los Van Van begin their European Tour on March 1st. This will be the first European tour for Los Van Van since the departure of Mayito Rivera and the entrance of Mandy Cantero, and now the first international presentations with Yoelito on congas. Click here for the list of Van Van concert dates.

Below you can check out video of Los Van Van with Mandy singing Este amor que se muere - qué riiico!

Los Van Van with Mandy Cantero singing Este amor que se muere

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Coky García, Carlos Caro, Leo García (photo by Kevin Moore)

After backing up Manolín on Saturday, Timbalive closed out the massive and extraordinary SF Salsa Rueda Festival with two burning sets, highlighted by these percussion solos from Los García: Leo, the leader of the band, Coky, his older brother, who played with the original NG La Banda, back when they were called Nueva Generación, as well as Emiliano Salvador, Opus 13, Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Mamborama, their cousin Miguelito, who just arrived, having been a founding member of Havana d'Primera, and guest artist Carlos Caro, the subject of the soon to be released Beyond Salsa Bongó, a former member of Opus 13 and Paulito FG. Enjoy!

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