La Habana del Norte Strikes Again!

A big thank you to Lani Milstein for keeping us up-to-date on what is happening in Timba Canada! Here is her report on the recent concert with Pupy y Los Que Son Son featuring Mayito & Tania!

May 19th was a fantastic explosion of great timba in Toronto, thanks to cubaintoronto.com, Casineros Unidos and Lula Lounge’s Lulaworld Festival, who presented Pupy y los que son son at The Phoenix Concert Theatre. The evening began with rising star DJ Bernal, who spun the latest and greatest timba, and the show kicked off with a dance performance by Afrolatino Dance Company. This was followed by a very special performance for Yemaya, by Melissa Noventa, in honour of the late icon and friend to many in Cuban music, Billy Bryans, who we lost recently to cancer. Billy had been a co-producer of many Cuban concerts in Toronto, and was perhaps Canada's key proponent of Cuban music. He is greatly missed by all!

Pupy with Mayito in Toronto

Cesar “Pupy” Pedroso y los que son son blessed the Toronto crowd with an electrifying concert, adding a special twist: invited guests Mayito Rivera and Tania Pantoja. You can imagine how those vocal duels went, right? Electrifying de verdad! Mayito singing with Pupy sounded, well, just like Van Van. Pupy’s band was in top form and has such a youthful energy (Bombon is truly an animal.) The crowd was loving every minute and they played for almost 3 hours- right up until around 2:30am, when the soundman pulled the plug. Noise curfew! Oh, Canada…

No matter! The fun continues June 15th with Gente de Zona and their 12-piece band feat. El Micha and Yulien Oviedo, at the Opera House in Toronto. Presented by the Cubaneando festival, once again Toronto will prove itself as one of the greatest hotbeds of Cuban music in North America, as timberos, casineros and la farandula que tu conoces come out to break it down, Torontón style.

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miércoles, 23 mayo 2012, 04:06 pm

Klimax - Todo está bien Good news for timba fans: 2012 looks to be a rich harvest of new CDs! This topic will be coming up again and again as the year progesses and more of the CDs become available! We will be back soon with more news about CDs by Bamboleo, Tumbao Habana, Charanga Latina, Elito Revé y su Charangón and many more to come!

We start of with the new release by Giraldo Piloto & Klímax: "Todo está bien". The album should be available online within about 24 hours! "Todo está bien" contains 11 tracks, several of which have already been dance-floor hits for some time now. This album is a must for DJs and connoisseurs alike!

1. La abusadorcita
2. La pelirroja
3. Qué sería de mí
4. La descarga
5. Lola
6. Black or white
7. Regresa
8. Todo está bien
9. Quiero salir esta noche contigo
10. Hay que recordar
11. Homenaje a Michel Legrand

Another important release this year is the long-awaited second CD by Havana D'Primera entitled "Pasaporte". I don't know the release date, but Lionel from FiestaCubana.net has posted the following track list. It includes a number of songs that have been out for a while as singles as well as some new tracks.

1. Pa' mi gente
2. Plato de segunda mesa
3. La figura
4. Carita de pasaporte
5. Se te olvidó quien soy
6. Al final de la vida
7. La celosa
8. Donde estemos tú y yo
9. Amor a la roca
10. El que sabe está caya'o
11. Verdades que hablan

Maykel Blanco y Salsa Mayor are also in the studio, and Maykel reports that they are recording the metales now, so they should be moving on to mixing and mastering quite soon! The CD doesn't have a name yet and Maykel says he's fielding suggestions if anyone has ideas. It would be nice if they could have it ready in time for their summer tour (June 22-July 8), but that is probably just wishful thinking! Tracks include: Yordi - Sabrosa, La calle está caliente, Tres hermanos & El artistasoy yo; Yasser - La figura & something he says is for the girls who don't like to stay at home; Alexis - El Kilo, Tremenda pinta, Tú no eres mi amigo & Hazte.

Here is a little peek into the recording studio including interviews with Maykel, where he tells us that the band is developing some new percussion patterns in the song "Tú no eres mi amigo". This sounds very exciting! So check out the video and preparense que vienen Los Mayores otra vez!

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domingo, 20 mayo 2012, 03:37 pm

Timba.com wants to congratulate Pachito Alonso y Sus Kini Kini on their 30th Anniversary, which they are celebrating tonight at La Tropical. The party should be starting right about...now! Invitados include Adalberto Álvarez, Revé, Bamboleo and Salsa Mayor, among many others.

Over the past 30 years Pachito Alonso y sus Kini Kini has been one of the great schools for young Cuban musicians. Here are a few name that should be familiar to you: Robertón and Lele, Tirso Duarte, Orlando & Lázaro Mengual, Lázaro Valdés, Vania Borges, Rigoberto López, Carlos Álvarez, Amaury Pérez and Cristobal Verdecía,j juts to name a few not to mention Pachito's sons Christian and Rey.

For those of us not able to attend the concert tonight, let me leave you with the title track to their last album, "Pasarela", from 2011.

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miércoles, 16 mayo 2012, 02:14 pm

Issac Delgado - Copenhagen May 25, 2012 The European summer tour season is off to an early start with Issac Delgado, Tirso Duarte, Pedrito Calvo Jr. and Septeto Nabori already on tour in May, among others! I was able to see Elito Revé y su Charangón on the Viking Line salsa cruise last month and will be catching the Supercubano himself, Issac Delgado, at the May 25th concert in Copenhagen. This will be the only concert in Scandinavia, by the way, so if you live in Sweden or Norway you should make a timba pilgrimage to see him! Doors open at 8:00pm and the pre-concert activities include my friend Salsani Salsa-dj spinning tunes and a salsa warm-up with Stine Ortvad and her Cuban Moves group at 9:00pm. The concert will be from 10:00pm-11:30pm and then the afterparties begin, first at Vesterbro Kulturhus and later at Club Mambo!
Advance tickets are 280 DKK at the door they cost 330 DKK
For more information: www.cubakultur.dk

The remaining concerts of Issac's tour are posted on his tours page so check it out to find a concert near you.