Here in Europe Maykel Blanco y Salsa Mayor are in full swing with their Spring 2011 tour . Pedrito Calvo Jr. is also touring Europe now with concerts in Italy, France, Austria, Macedonia and Denmark.

In the US Paulo FG has just completed a series of concerts in San Francisco that have Kevin waxing lyrical. Hopefully he will post a full report later, but I will say that Paulo and his band were in top form and made quite an impression on the fans in California.

Calixto Oviedo also stopped by to see Paulo the other night. They played together in Adalberto's band lo those many years ago. Calixto is in the US now with Afro-Cuban All Stars for the North American leg of their spring tour . Calixto will also be holding some percussion clinics : April 6 and 7th in Seattle at Pacific Seattle University and Washington University, respectively and April 26 in LA, and April 28 at Cal State U in LA. If you can\t make those clinics, check out his books in the Beyond Salsa Percussion series.

And get ready for the summer tour season! It will be here before you know it.

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Ladies and gentelmen, enjoy this great video of NG La Banda live in Japan, 1994. This clip shows their classic hit "Picadillo de soya" and Calixto Oviedo gives another masters lesson in drumming. Fuera de liga! So sit back (if you can keep yourself from dancing) and enjoy one of the great moments in Cuban music history!

NG La Banda - Picadillo de soya - Tokyo 31 July 1994 - Caribbean Heat Festival

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It is time again for Cuba's biggest percussion festival and competition in memory of the legendary Guillermo Barreto. This year's festival will take place from March 8 - 13. As always it is a huge project with events taking place across the city from morning to night. The percussion competition is open to Cubans and non-Cubans and there is no age limit for participants. Categories include drums, timbales, congas, bongo and batá. Winners may participate in one or two categories. The winner of each category will receive an instrument and special prizes will be awarded for the best woman and child participants. See the full details in Spanish.

In addition to six days of exciting competitions, there will be  symposiums and musical performances throughout the city. The Inauguration Gala will take place on March 8 from 8:30pm - 10.30pm at Teatro Mella where the 10th anniversary of the Grammy for "La Rumba Soy Yo" will be celebrated by Muñequitos de Matanzas, Conjunto Folkórico Nacional, Compañía JJ, Compañía de Roclan, Klímax Amadito Valdés and Luis Carbonell.

Throughout the week you can see the best percussionists in Cuba together on a single stage, jazz concerts, dance performances, documentaries and of course timba! The finals and award ceremony for the percussion competition will take place at Teatro Astral  on March 11th and feature artists ¨Jorge Reyes y sus Amigos¨ (Tribute to Barreto); with Changuito, Yaroldy Abreu, among others. There will also be a presentation of the DVD by Rodney Barreto and Oliver Valdés: Drums  La Habana¨.

Saturday the 12th from 10:00pm - 02:30am at Salón Rosado de La Tropical you can see Klimax, Manolito Simonet y su Trabuco, Yuly y Habana C, Maykel Blanco y Salsa Mayor. And the event will be closed on the Sunday the 13th at La Tropical with concerts by Carbe Girl, Alexander Abreu y Habana de Primera, Yoruba Andabo, Pupy y los que Son and guests Haila, Vania  and Tania Pantoja.

Click here for the complete festival schedule and all details about the competition (in Spanish).

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In January 2011 Cuba's hottest new band Havana D'Primera was in the studio working on their second CD. Gabriel Wilder and Martin Karakas stopped by to interview bandleader Alexander Abreu. The result was a facinating and candid look at how the band works and what they are trying to accomplish. Check it out and check out Yemayá's Verse for more Havana D'Primera photos, video and concert reports from her stay in Havana. The interview is in English y Español.

Click here for HDP Interview in English - Oprima aquí para la entrevista de HDP en Español

Alexander Abreu & Havana D'Primera at Casa de la Música Miramar
Photo courtesy of Gabriel Wilder

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