Happy Anniversary Klímax!

Today Giraldo Piloto & Klímax celebrate their anniversary. In tribute we offer fans this video filmed by the late, great Chuck Silverman, this is the original Klímax, playing at the famous "piscina" venue of the Hotel Riviera with the original lineup with priceless closeup footage of Piloto and Yonder de Jesús Peña Llovet (who has a great youtube channel of his own). They play half a dozen songs from the first album, Mira si te gusta (all of the brilliant original Eurotropical material is now downloadable on amazon), and some dramatic and riveting Latin jazz arrangements.

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jueves, 16 abril 2015, 11:20 pm

This concert took place about a month after the Montreux concert posted earlier.

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miércoles, 15 abril 2015, 10:55 pm

This is quite a gem. Remember that after the Suspension Concert, only two members left the group - Dany Lozada and Juan Carlos González. The rest of the group returned to the scene and although they never recorded again, they developed new material. Some songs, like Se que ha fallado, were later done by Charanga Forever, while others, like La suegra, were never officially recorded. Then came the big breakup the following summer of 1998 that yielded Charanga Forever and left Calzado with only Michel Maza and the name "Charanga Habanera". In shockingly short order, he put together the band in this video - one of the greatest in Cuban history. I know I keep saying that about late-90s bands, but I'm tellin' it like is is - many of the great bands of all time were competing against each other on a nightly basis in this brief but magical era.

In any case, this is one of the very best of the Cuban TV documentaries, entitled Charanguero mayor, and including both of the above mentioned rarities, along with Charanguero mayor sung by Michel, Usa condón sung by Tirso and much much more.

For more on all of this:

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lunes, 13 abril 2015, 02:43 pm

This one covers the early history of the bass tumbao up through 1950 and Arsenio Rodríguez. Lots of interesting stuff on changüí.