photo courtesy Tiempo Libre    

Jorge Gómez, líder de Tiempo Libre,  habla del nuevo proyecto en español aquí

Tiempo Libre has never been afraid to take risks, whether fusing Bach with Cuban Music, working with symphonies, mixing in other genres of popular music with Timba  and  projects with Joshua Bell and James Galway. They have paid a price of sorts for that path - rather than being the darlings of the less expensive dance halls, they have sometimes had to settle for the likes of the Tonight Show, Live From Lincoln Center, several prestige festivals and three GRAMMY nominations.   They have still been a perfectly danceable música popular bailable band throughout, just maybe a little too uptown at tmes for some of the most hard core Timba purists (which has never stopped open-minded listeners like yours truly from getting into them or most of the dancers either).   

photo courtesy Tiempo Libre

Now comes a new Tiempo Libre project, Bohemia, a quartet that interprets more traditional material from the Cuban songbook.   This isn't the first time that timberos have gone to the traditional songbook- former vanvanero Mayito Rivera for example has delved deep into Rumba and Son. Tiempo Libre itself had its US road debut in Chicago, so it is fitting that Bohemia's road debuts are on Tuesday, August 1 in Minneapolis (Dakota) and Wednesday,  August 2 in Chicago (City Winery). Those of you in those cities will be the first to hear this outside of Miami.   Both of these are among the best venues in their cities for presenting this type of music (I can vouch from experience that the City WInery also has excellent food and drink). 

Jorge Gómez tells us about the new project  in English here

Basically, there will be two Tiempo Libre groups now -the Tiempo Libre that we've known for years, and the Bohemia project.    You can get a taste of  the Bohemia project on their Facebook page here. 

For more information (and tickets) for the Dakota performance, click here....

For more information (and tickets) for the City Winery performance, click here....

Both Tiempo Libre's Bohemia project and the full Tiempo Libre ensemble will be on tour in the weeks to come.  You can see their schedule here.......

Septeto Santiaguero is on the road in the US with engagements in multiple cities in support of their latest album Raiz (you can read a review here), which was nominated in the Raíces Soneras y Campesinas category in Cubadisco 2017.   (Septeto Santiaguero  already has some recent Cubadisco and Latin GRAMMY® awards under its belt.)   
As a Chicagoan, I wish to let my fellow Chicagoans know that Septeto Santiaguero will be performing here on Saturday, August 5 at Martyrs, 3855 N. Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, Illinois:   This is being presented by HotHouse, and you can see more information here.   I have seen them live in both Santiago and la Habana, and they pack a wallop - musically speaking, I actually prefer them live by themselves, as they will be here, to their many collaborations with more "famous" artists.   
You can see an earlier version of the tour schedule here, but there have been some date changes, so be sure to verify before you go. 

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continue reading Sin Clave No Hay Na

ENGLISH: On June 17th La Liga Habanera gave a concert at Fasching in Stockholm and I sat down with director and drummer Max Alton and singer Daniel Baro for a few minutes to talk about their upcoming single "Hacerse El Sueco" as well as the difficulties of rehearsing and recording in Sweden. Since the song is about a Swede in Havana, Max himself sings lead vocals on this track! The video includes a few short teasers from the demo. The single should be out in the fall. The interview is in Spanish with English subtitles.

Max is currently in Cuba and took the opportunity to film a video for the new song. Here is a photo he shared with us from the filming.

Max está en Cuba y nos pasó una foto de la grabación del videoclip 

ESPAÑOL: El 17 de junio La Liga Habanera dio un concierto en Fasching en Estocolmo y me senté con el director y baterista Max Alton y el cantante Daniel Baro durante unos minutos para hablar de su próximo single "Hacerse El Sueco", así como las dificultades de ensayar y grabar en Suecia. ¡Ya que la canción trata de un sueco en La Habana, el mismísmo Max canta voz principal en esta pista! El video incluye algunos cortos teasers de la demo. El single debe estar a la venta en el otoño. La entrevista está en español con subtítulos en inglés.

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The founding bassist of NG La Banda - and the seminal figure in the development of timba bass - playing will be in the Bay Area with his group Amistad Cubana at Ashkenaz on San Pablo Thursday night at 8:00 p.m. Only $15 in advance - a welcome respite in terms of ticket price inflation. It will be Feliciano's first Bay Area performance since the 90s.

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continue reading La Última

ENGLISH: On June 16, 2017 El Noro & 1ra Clase held their first performance in Stockholm. After the show I got a chance to sit down with El Noro and talk a little bit about his roots and the band. It wasn't easy. El Noro is a popular guy and there was a steady stream of friends and fans coming backstage for photographs for a good half an hour. Never once did he lose patience, but seemed to enjoy spending time with everyone. Later people were coming and going so often that we had to stop and restart the interview with a guard at the door to keep it from being opened until we were done. That's why we're laughing at the beginning.

I have uploaded pictures from the concert to the photo gallery. Keep an eye out because the official video for "La Receta (La Costurera") will be out very soon and looks like it will be quite funny.

You can watch the video interview with English subtitles  below, or if you prefer written interviews the English translation can be found by clicking here.

ESPAÑOL: El 16 de junio de 2017, El Noro & 1ra Clase realizó su primera actuación en Estocolmo. Después del show tuve la oportunidad de sentarme con El Noro y hablar un poco sobre sus raíces y la banda. No era fácil. El Noro es un tipo popular y hubo un flujo constante de amigos y fans que venían al backstage para tirar fotografías durante una media hora. Nunca perdió la paciencia, pero parecía disfrutar de pasar tiempo con todo el mundo. Más tarde la gente iba y venía tan a menudo que tuvimos que detener y reiniciar la entrevista con un guardia en la puerta para evitar que se abrió hasta que se hizo. Así que estamos reindo cuamdo empieza.

He subido imágenes del concierto a la galería de fotos. Manténgase atento porque el video oficial de "La Receta" (La Costurera) saldrá muy pronto y parece que será muy divertido.

Puedes mirar la entrevista en el video a continuación.

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