Contrabando celebrate the release of "Abriendo Caminos" with champagne

I have finally overcome my technical difficulties and can share with you all the experience of attending the Contrabando release concert for "Abriendo Caminos". It was really a very elaborate event with several different segments culminating in the concert itself. The band was not stingy. They played every song from the new album, with the exception of the bachata version of "Siempre tú". You can already listen to the song "Mentiras" in our Timba.com Radio. I have also included a little live video in the report as well as a post-concert video of the goings-on in the dressing room after the concert. Click here to check it out and get to know the band a little better. Non-Spanish speakers will be happy that I have gone hi-tech and started adding subtitles to the interviews. If you haven't already seen the interview with bandleader "El Paísa" I recommend you take a few minutes to watch it. You will get an idea of what Contraabndo is about. And check out the entire Contrabando section as well.

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More good new for fans. Adalberto Álvarez is going into the studio on March 15th to begin recording his new CD. I don't know what it will be called, but a CD by Adalberto Álvarez y Su Son is guaranteed to be a must-buy. Adalberto is also working on plans for a US tour. Things aren't confirmed yet, but the current plan is to tour the US before they begin their summer tour of Europe. Stay tuned and we will keep you updated.

Adalberto Álvarez
photo courtsey of David Doogue

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Continuing our survey of one of the great Cuban pianists, Beyond Salsa Piano Volume 8 moves on to Deja que Roberto te toque, Brindando con el alma, and La chica del sol.

The first two go deeper than ever into the  ways that Melón is able to create continuous variations on the same tumbao, while the section on La chica leads to an interesting discussion of salsa versus timba versus Latin jazz.

At this point, the first eight volumes are all available digitally and only Volumes 5 and 8 are straggling behind in hard-copy form. Volume 9 is in the works but before completing that I'm going to start working on Beyond Salsa Percussion.

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Volume 7 of Beyond Salsa Piano analyzes Melón's tumbaos and general style on Por qué paró and Luz viajera, and also includes rhythm play-along tracks.

Meanwhile, Volume 6, whose eBook and audio files have been online for several days, is now also available in hard-copy.

Volume 5 is still only digital. The hard-copy version will go online Wednesday.

Volume 8 is coming very soon.

Meanwhile, I'm shifting my focus to Beyond Salsa Percussion. Stay tuned!

And don't forget - although Pupy has been postponed, his ex-cantante/ex-compositor Pepito Gómez is a definite go for Friday, March 19th at Club Antón in Berkeley (around the corner from Yoshi's).

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