Timba Cubana!
La Habana, May-June 2007

The last slide show is a mix of groups: Manolito, Alain Daniel with his farandula, at Cabaret Las Vegas and Pabellon Cuba (check out the crowd), Paulito FG - including some lovely shots of him and Vannia (above) - Bamboleo, Pupy y los Que Son Son, Los Van Van and Pachito Alonso, with invitados Robertón and Lele at his 25th anniversary gig.

Salsa Mayor, La Habana '07

Well, I'm on a roll: here is another slideshow. Seeing as Salsa Mayor are so hot right now, I've put all the best pics of them in one show. Click here to see it.

Manolito y Andy Montañez at La Tropical

Finally got another year on my Flickr account, so the pics will start to go up. These are from the Manolito and Andy Montañez gig at La Tropical in May (at left is violinist Nicolas - what a big spunk he is) - which I still haven't reported on. I do have notes though, so it will come. A belated treat.
Click here to see the slideshow.

Paulito y Vannia

The first clip from Paulito's 15 años pega'o concert in May surfaces. Richard at Muchoswing captured it from a Cuban TV show, but as far as we know, the whole concert hasn't yet been televised.
This is part of the duet that he did with Vannia, starting with Tú no me calculas, seguing into a song I don't recognise, and finishing with Illusion de Papel from El bueno soy yo. Now you can see what I meant when I wrote about Vannia's weird dress. But listen to her sing and watch her face. She sings with such conviction even though she is reading the lyrics as she goes! I have a total crush on her.

The timba geek's guide to Havana
2007 update

The cartelera outside Salon Rojo.

Anyone who followed my recent quest to find out where and when the fuck all or any of my favourite Cuban bands were playing will know this is needed. Let's tackle the simple things first:

MATINEE HOURS
These have changed - at Galiano, they are now from 5-9pm, as they are in Miramar (which changed over last year); Cafe Cantante bills almost all theirs now as "matinee larga"s, which means they go from about 5 (not sure, never got there before 6) until 10. The band will play probably around 8, depending on whether they have a support band or not. But not all the matinees here are billed as such extravaganzas, so you need to call and check, if you don't feel certain. I didn't get to a matinee upstairs at Delirio Habanera, so I'm not sure if those have changed too (probably). If someone knows, can they drop me a line?
Of course all the matinees could well revert back to their original hours: a sign at Galiano said the change was for summer, but Miramar changed last year and never went back. To catch the main act's full set I recommend going no later than 7 - and sometimes this is too late - Angel Bonne finished his matinee set well before 8 one evening so I gather he started about 6.30. It depends how desperate you are to see the band in question and how much brain-frying reggaeton you're prepared to put up with.

HOW TO FIND OUT WHO'S PLAYING WHERE
Sigh. Can I just preface this by saying that if you approach any trip to Havana as a zen exercise, you'll probably come away feeling a lot less frustrated.

Online carteleras
Despite the proliferation of online carteleras, it seems to be more difficult than ever to know who is playing where. Being there made me realise how often they are wrong - of course the upside of that is, now that I'm thousands of miles away and can't duck into Galiano or El Cafe, if I see a kickass gig listed I can console myself with thought that it probably won't eventuate anyway...
Canal Cubano, once so reliable (though I see when I last wrote about it I said it was right about 50 per cent of the time) is almost useless. Or it was when I was there. Practically nothing on their list actually transpired. Here's hoping it reverts to its firmer glory.
The H Magazine looks very pretty but is almost impossible to access on a dialup connection (all that's available in Cuba), so I have no idea whether it is accurate or not. Also: not usually updated until midweek, so no good for those crucial Monday-Tuesday gigs.
Ditto Cuba Plus - only seems to be updated towards the end of the week. Sometimes it isn't updated weekly at all.
Egrem, also, weirdly, inaccurate - you'd think they would know who was playing in their own clubs, but it seems not. They do get a lot of stuff right - say 75 per cent. Updated usually on Tuesdays. Now they have matinees listed as well (it's a separate page to the night gigs).
Creart is a weird little page that lists all kinds of things - not many timba gigs, but it's worth checking just in case. (In your search for a timba high, everything is worth checking just in case.) Seems to be accurate.
Radio Taino's page is hopeless. They have this big long list of bands and venues with a day next to them but no date. I tried to match up their info with what I knew was on on any given day, but it was always different, so I had no way of knowing whether they don't update or they just get it wrong. No idea at all. But either way, it ain't accurate.

La radio
Last year, this was the best - though quite a time-consuming - way to find what was going on. Pretty accurate too, and good for last minute changes. The station in question is Disco Fiesta, which they say is 98.3 (I think) but I found around the 94-95 mark. Everyday they have a program from 11am until 1pm, during which they play songs from groups playing on the day and the odd interview. They will give out dribs and drabs of info during the whole show, but they actually do a list, usually between 12.30 and 1. On Fridays, when they give listings for Friday-Sunday, they do the Friday list much earlier - usually before 12; then Saturday between 12-12.30, then Sunday in the last half hour. But none of those times are set in stone. The Friday show is really very useful too, because it means you can plan your whole weekend.
Unfortunately, while I was there, I heard that a new rule came in that they woudn't announce any gigs that didn't have an entrada in moneda nacional. I don't know if this was true: certainly they stopped announcing most of the night gigs about a month after I arrived, but they still announced some: those at Cabaret Las Vegas ($5CUC - no MN) were always announced, for instance, and sometimes (but not always) those at Cabaret Nacional. There was not a peep about the Los Van Van gig at Morro-Cabaña - most Cubanos didn't know it was on either - and as far as the radio was concerned, it was as though both Casas de la Musica had closed for business at night (not true). Most gigs at La Tropical are mentioned (though Trabuco's concert with Andy Montañez wasn't). I assume free gigs are too, though I don't remember hearing anything about the Trabuco/Maravilla gig at La Tribuna - I knew about it thanks to Trabuco's David Bencomo.

Hotels
Another source of info for the bigger bands are flyers at the big hotels. Well, at the Sevilla, at least. I recommend passing by reception there on a Tuesday or Wednesday. If a big band is on at La Cecilia or Habana Cafe - and some other places too - there is a chance there will be a flyer about it.

The clubs
Of course the most reliable way to find out what's on the cartelera is to look at the cartelera: if you're staying near one of the clubs, pass by and make a note of who's on - or better, take your digital camera and take a pic, then you can refer to it. I stayed near Galiano and would regularly pass by to check it out (because it changes so much), as well as taking a pic on entering or leaving any of the venues when I went to see band. Beware that, particularly at Galiano, the weekend gigs listed on the cartelera at the beginning of the week will probably have changed by the time the weekend rolls around.

Sorry I can't be the bearer of better news. Finding out what's on there is a slog. I was lauded by many for my knowledge - my mate Duny even used me as a cartelera one night: he was with his uncle and some friend's of his from Mexico, and he called me about 11 on a Friday night to ask: who is on at Galiano? And Miramar? And El Cafe? And Delirio Habanero... pretty funny. (He also helped me out at times, by calling various musos mates to ask whether they were playing or not.) But let me tell you , I worked hard to become the cartelera oracle de la Habana. Lucky I'm not a morning person - drinking coffee and listening to the radio pushes the limits of my capabilities in the a.m. anyway...

Fond memories of La Habana

• Mandy's rumba dance during La bala de Billy at Cafe Cantante (above).

• Leaning over my balcony looking at the hubbub in Belascoain below: the guy selling sausages outside the carniceria, while a row of sightless pig's heads look on; the woman on the balcony opposite doing her washing; the nurses in their white uniforms with cardboard caps, walking down to the hospital; the camellos, packed with travellers going to the suburbs.

• Sitting in Duniesky's lounge room, with him and Osiris. We were talking about Osiris leaving Manolito after 10 years, with the band still really popular. Duniesky did the same with Bamboleo. Both said everyone said they were crazy for leaving. Both said they are really happy playing with Pupy. How cool is that?

• Drinking beer and playing pool with the chamas from Maravilla, like I was 19 again.

• Driving home from Miramar, Cristóbal with a beer in one hand and the steering wheel in the other, Charanga blaring from the stereo. Like I was 16 again.

• A performance by Riverón one afternoon at Cafe Cantante that was so astounding I was standing watching (and listening) with my mouth hanging open.



• Alain Daniel y su farandula at Cabaret Las Vegas (above).

• Pupy's Pepito giving me a kiss from the steps at the front of the Galiano stage while he sang Calla calla.

• Bumping into Paulito at the Hotel Nacional.

• Bumping into Cristo minutes later outside Salon Rojo.

• Dancing to Maravilla at La Tribuna.

• Skipping down San Miguel in Centro one afternoon, in my high heels, and Miguelito and Riveron - in separate cars - driving past and pulling over to say hi. The day got better: I was on my way to a Salsa Mayor matinee with Pupy later that night.

• Paulito and Vannia singing together at his 15 años pega'o concert.

• The fact that it was called "15 años pega'o".

• The Compania de Ballet at Pabellon Cuba - Cuba's first ruederos in action!

• Walking home with Duny and Bombon from Galiano, Bombon skirting a puddle of blood outside the cafeteria on San Rafael and saying, "Es un poquito fresco..."

• Sundays in Centro Habana - everyone leaves - I don't know where they go; the narrow streets, normally bursting with noise and activity become tranquil.

• Showing the extranjeros the delights of La Habana ... Salsa Mayor at Miramar, Trabuco at el Cafe and Pupy at Galiano - a must for any tourist's itinerary!

• Dancing with the foreign photographers, Patricio and Cristian.

Listen to Maravilla!

So I'm still thrilling to the sounds of Camagüey's finest, Maravilla de Florida, and I've uploaded three tracks from their album Luchando con fe so you can hear what I was banging on about in my recent review. Check out the strings on A recogerse at 2:00.



Get your own playlist at snapdrive.net!

Salsa Mayor - live at Galiano on June 23, 2007. On tour NOW in Europe! Catch them if you can.

One night in Cuba in Sydney

DJ Yemaya (ahem, that's me) made a guest appearance at Casa de la Salsa's One night in Cuba last Friday. Despite the cold weather, the place was packed - which wasn't an entirely good thing: the downstairs area, which is DJed by NY/PR salsa stalwart DJ Joachim, was closed for a private function, so by 10pm the upstairs 100% Cuban night was packed with ... people who wanted to dance LA/NY style. Despite this gargantuan obstacle (jajaja) we stuck to our 100% quota - well almost - I think Dwight took it down to 99% - thanks dude! Anyway, it was a lot of fun. I didn't do much more than a guest spot (as you'd expect - the guest bit, not the not much bit), but here is my setlist:

El Zorro with Ángel Bonne: Te doy mi mano
I'm crazy about this song from Swiss trombone player El Zorro. It's not really timba, but not really not timba; and it has a really poppy coro at the end. Stupid words too ("dale cintura mi gente con la campana caliente/oh la-la; ooh la-la), but the harmonies are divine and Ángel gives the kind of classy performance I've come to expect from him.
Michel Maza: El loco de la mata del coco
Mani (the main DJ) asked me to play some salsa-y stuff with the hard timba, so I thought, El Zorro, then this ... but of course this isn't really salsa - it's a hardcore timbera's idea of salsa. Jajaja.
Pupy y los que Son Son: La Machucadera
Kick ass. Not much more needs to be said.
Manolito y su Trabuco: La Raspadura
More kicking arse. If they won't play it live when I'm in Havana, then dammit, I'll just come back and play it at a club. And maybe see Mi Tierra do it, next time they're in town.
Omar Hernandez: Un disparo en la mirada
This is a great PR version of the Charanga Habanera track. I kid you not. Seriously! It still packs a timba punch, but it has a great swing to it and a fantastic vocal performance by Omarcito. This guy can really sing.

I meant to play El Repartero de La Habana by Sama y el Expreso de Oriente. I first heard this track when someone sent me a live version by Lisandro y su Trato a couple of years back. Great kickin' track. Lisandro is a Cuban who now lives in New York - I don't know much else abot him. But the vocalist from Expreso de Oriente rips off the original version I had completely - inflection for inflection - "me VOY pa' La Piragua!" Still it's a great song, no matter who's doing it. Both versions rock. In the excitement though, I forgot to play it. Next time.
During my set, someone asked if I would play some bachata. I said, no. He looked at me like he couldn't believe it. I said: this is a Cuban night. If you want bachata, go somewhere else. Someone else asked for Trabuco's Control - or specifically, the "dale reggaeton song". I said, oh what a shame, I have it at home but I didn't bring it. Jajaja. Let me tell you, if I have 30 minutes to play and I want to play a Trabuco song, I would only play it if every other CD I had of theirs was broken. And then I would probably just decide to play Pupy instead.
Un montón of Salsa Mayor was played during the night: Esto está, Anda pégate, Ella dice ... and at least three others (if not more). Kian (one of the organisers) was like a kid in a candy store. I said, man, you really need to get your ass to Havana and catch them live. Or take a flight to Europe - they're there right now!
Two girls trod on my foot (the same foot!), hard. Honestly, some chicks need a licence to wear heels...

Muevete con Manolito

The first video from my last trip is up at youtube. As I mentioned before, I didn't get that much video, and most of it wasn't very good. But if you don't live in Havana, it's all you have, right? This is a new Trabuco song called Muevete. It was Mayami's birthday - that's why there is a little bit of Happy Birthday in the middle.

La Maravilla de Camagüey

Last year in Havana I was thrilled when I saw that Maravilla de Florida were going to be playing at Teatro America. In the end I managed to see them twice, and they were even better than I had thought they would be. This year, they also played, though I only got to see one, very brief set. Compensation comes in the form of this new version (I'll explain later) of Luchando con fe; recently released and one of the nominees in the musica bailable category at Cubadisco this year (I don't think they minded that they were beaten by Manolito). In recent years they have done some good work, but this is by far the standout.
Before you dismiss charanga as fusty and old-fashioned, let me tell you that this incarnation is nothing of the kind. Maravilla have a sound that is all their own, and it is neither fusty nor old-fashioned, but tough and funky; the melodic strings providing a sweet counterpart to the robust rhythms.
I love the traditional charanga sound of flute and violins - also evident in the works of disco band Chic - but generally it is just a little too genteel for me: live, it usually packs a punch that is lacking on record, but even then, as when I saw Orquesta Aragon last year in Milan, the uniformity of the songs can't always hold my attention for more than about 30 minutes. This is why this album - and Maravilla - is different.


Maravilla de Florida has proved an extraordinary breeding ground for contemporary Cuban music. Alumni include Pupy's Pepito and Charanga Habanera's Leonid, but the most prolific is Manolito, who, when he left the band to form Trabuco, also took half of Maravilla with him, including conguero Lelo, bajista Mora, tecladista Osiris (now with Pupy), violinist Nicolas and cellist Orestes. The group must have had to rebuild itself from the ground up when Trabuco was formed. But rebuild they did: since then they have released only four albums - Vieja, pero se mantiene, Levantate y baile , 50 y más maravillas and this year's Luchando con fe released by Egrem. Well it's five if you count the early version of Luchando con fe recorded for Envidia in 2005 (on their web site - last updated in 05 - they refer to the Envidia album as Yo te doy la clave, after one of the album's more annoying songs, which happily doesn't make a reappearance on the new version). But this new version - rerecorded, with new songs and also some new musos, including a much less annoying singer - is a great improvement. In fact I've been thrashing it since I got back from Havana.
Manolito is listed as producer for this version; and other members of Trabuco (Bencomo, Miguelito) are listed as invitados. There are no indivdual credits however, so it's impossible to know whether it's Bencomo, or Maravilla's own Anais Casas Guerra who is responsible for the album's ripping flute solos.
The opening track features a rap in the intro, flagging the fact that this is no traditional charanga offering. Unfortunately it comes across as a bit try-hard - it's also completely unnecessary: the zestiness of the rest of the album - indeed the rest of the song - would have made that clear soon enough. Never mind. It's one flaw in an album that has very few indeed. And the song goes onto become one of the best in an album packed with great tunes.
La bola, which starts with a phat, squiggly synth riff, before the violins enter playing a percussive riff, is another.
As with a lot of timba, Maravilla take the energy level up and down and right back up again. It's infectious. A recogerse - played this year during the baseball broadcasts apparently - takes even more from timba with the traditional, almost lacklustre cuerpo, before opening up to fire on all cylinders with captivating coros and funky breakdowns.
I could have done without the ballad, Por estar contigo, but the rest of the album more than compensates.

All images from the sleeve - couldn't get a decent shot at the Tribuna show, unfortunately. So this is it.

If you don't get down to Camaguey, the band can be difficult to catch live - so this album is pretty much the only way to hear them in action. Just as well it's so good. Descarga only has the Envidia version, which is OK, but nowhere near as good as this one. Peeps in the US can buy the good version at Prodland.
One of the group's violinists, Jelien, told me that they will be touring Europe in October. If I find any more details, I will post them here. They are defiinitely worth a look - and a dance.

Havana 07 Wrap-up

I arrived in Havana later than I intended - I was desperate to spend a fair wack of time there before the groups began their annual summer exodus to Europe - and I was held up, for various tiresome and dull reasons. Then once I began my journey, I was held up again by Copa Air, who got me into Havana 24 hours later than scheduled - and without luggage (they sent it to Puerto Rico - it arrived five days later). So my arrival didn't go exactly as planned (to say the least) but while I was marooned in various airports, I did make some new friends, so that was cool.

Andy Montañez and Manolito at La Tropical.

It was good to see Manolito y su Trabuco were still doing the Thursday matinee at Cafe Cantante - in a world where the carteleras and gig guides were increasingly unreliable, if not actually useless, it was good to have something I could count on - except when they nicked off to Canada - then Europe. Having said that, they never fired me up like they did last year. I mean, still awesome, you know. Bunch of great players - awesome players, actually; great guys to hang with; and great songs. They just lacked a little fire for me. Maybe Manolo's chilling out in his old age.


Not so Pupy, who recently came up with La Machucadera, a real sizzler of a dance number that had me burning up the floor every time I heard it. Woah baby. Pupy y los que Son Son are probably my pick for kickarse band in Havana this year. Pepito is back, and belting up a storm (ironically) in Calla Calla; William, Jannier's replacement, has a nice warm onstage presence and does a great job on La bala de Billy and the new members of the rhythm section: Duny (congas); Amilcar (bass) and Miguelito (timbales) are really thumping. It goes without saying that Mandy is still hot. I made a mistake when I chose CarHabana over their matinee a week after I arrived. I was trying to broaden my outlook. Remind me next time I'm faced with the choice of Pupy over anyone (even Trabuco!) to keep it narrow... Jazz schmazz. Shake your booty!

Maikel and Norisley of Salsa Mayor.

Close runner-up would have to be Salsa Mayor. They are Havana's new party band. If Reve is the sound of Oriente's kicking up its heels; Salsa Mayor is the sound of the city getting down. After a procession of front men, Maikel finally seems to have found winners in Ricardo, Norisley and Norberto, with the first two in particular really knowing how to put on a good show. And let me say that I don't just like Nori because he is pretty and hot (a winning combination). Both he and Ricardo have an energy and charisma that demands your attention. The fact that they were able to alternate lead vocals on Anda pégate, without a noticeable decline in the appeal of the song demonstrates how much both these guys have to offer.
I'm gonna stick my neck out and say that I think Maikel's repertoire needs work - he has some truly great party songs - Recogete y vete; Esto está, Que tengo (which they only played once when I was there) and Anda pégate, but he has a long way to go before his repertoire reaches the level of say Pupy or Manolito ... of course he is a great deal younger than either and in this sense, becoming so popular so fast could be a drawback - he is now unable to develop without scrutiny. However he's clearly ambitious and obviously warming to the task. I think he is probably up to it, as well, but we'll see. The band is hugely popular in the city, but not everyone in Havana likes him - one musician described him as "descara'o": some think he has shamelessly stolen the sello of a number of other bands. I think that is true; but I also think he is rapidly moving towards a sound of his own - there has been a huge improvement in his sound over the past year. Now he needs more good songs to back it up, and I have a feeling they're not far away.
[Now that I am back, it is Salsa Mayor's Anda pégate, Recogete y vete and Esto está that most evoke Havana for me. But maybe that's because 1) I saw them so often and 2) they're the newest. (I'm also obsessively playing live versions of Timba a pogolotti, but I've been listening to that song in one form another since 2004, so it's almost part of the Havana furniture.)]


Also showing tremendous promise is Alain Daniel (above), who rocked da house and my world at Cabaret Las Vegas on Thursday nights. Some Havana musos rather disparagingly refer to him as "el hijo del medico", but from what I've heard, Alain couldn't give a toss, and neither could I - he's kicking arse and I'm loving it. Yeah he's channeling Manolin - and happy to admit it too, apparently - and the Havana music scene is all the better for it, in my opinion. His band play with energy, joy and attitude; they're a a little loose but this seems to actually suit his funkier style of salsa-timba. Alain himself is a cute, pixie-ish looking fellow who really has the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand. There are gigawatts of star power there. His songs are all long grooves, booming bombas and irresistible coros. Very inspiring.

Once again I was lucky enough to catch Maravilla de Florida - they sounded as good as they did last year, though the only gig I caught, they didn't play for long. Too bad. I always love their unique combo of strings and timba - their sound is as infectious and "fuerte" as any Havana group and they are a great dance band. I had downloaded their last album Luchando con fe sometime ago and not really listened to it much, I admit, but I decided to buy a copy, because I had liked what I heard. Good choice - the one I bought was a completely new version, re-recorded with different personnel (including peeps from Trabuco) and about a 100 times better than the first version. More people need to know about this band. Of course, if your trip to Cuba isn't going to take in Camaguey, they might be hard to catch. Totally worth the effort though. Pretty, too!

Paulo and Chiri.

The big disappointment of the trip - ironic, given that last year I expected nothing from him and he quickly became a highlight (some might say an obsession) - was Paulito. I'm eternally gratfeul to the gods of timba that I was able to catch his 15 años pega'o concert - that really did send me to heaven. It was an explosive show crammed with classic timba hits and fantastic performances. But I have rarely been as bummed out at a concert in Havana as I was when I subsequently saw him at Galiano. (Of course I never like Bamboleo much either, but then I never expect to.) And there were no external factors to blame - no fights, no sound problems. Just a bunch of disappointing new songs with a monotonous reggaeton beat - it's the very antithesis of what any timba geek is looking for.

Mayito and Cucurucho at Morro-Cabaña.

Los Van Van - not much to say about them. If you're a fan, you would have had a great time: they were there the whole time and played almost every weekend, which was very unusual. I'm not, and only went to see them twice - I don't regret not seeing them more. They were slick, as always, and playing some new songs, none of which grabbed me the way Agua did when I first heard it at a Galiano gig in ... was it 2003 or 2004? I was lucky to see them in such an impressive setting as Morro-Cabaña: that place could make anyone sound good. Well, anyone except Moneda Dura. Formell was playing regularly with them, although I heard he didn't appear the night I decided not to see them at Salon Rojo. As to the "Robertón got sacked" rumour, something clearly happened: an eyewitness told me he saw a big fight between Robertón and Formell jnr; and a day later the former didn't play with them at Galiano, but that is all I have. And now that he's singing with them again (yay!), it's all pretty much moot anyway.

Charanga Habanera were around - mostly in the form of their new disc blaring out of houses. I didn't manage to see them play: they didn't play at any of the usual haunts; though I didn't check Macumba for the Saturday matinee every week - when I did though, it was always reggaeton - so they could have played there, which seems to be a popular spot for them.

Bamboleo were ... Bamboleo. I like the new song they're playing on Disco Fiesta (possibly called La que manda) but otherwise it's business as usual. They play the Galiano matinee every Wednesday and Miramar every Saturday and Sunday, when they're not out in the provinces. Lazaro seems to play with a jazz group whenever he's not playing with Bamboleo. Hardest working muso in Havana. I did wonder if he had had a falling out with Manolito - last year he was at el Cafe almost every Thursday; this year not once. But maybe he was just doing paying gigs instead.

Misses: Reve, Mayito Sombrilla, Charanga Forever. The latter played every Thursday - same time as Trabuco, and a couple of night gigs which I couldn't manage to get to. They always played Miramar, and never anywhere else. So that was a bust for me. Reve only did one gig to my knowledge and I was feeling porrly so I skipped it. I don't know what's going on with them. I love that song Ya no te doy más na, but Habaneros seem completely indifferent to them - maybe that's why the spent all of their time playing the provinces last time I was there. It's odd though - in 2004 they playing in Havana to packed houses (or Piraguas). So I don't know what happened. When I finally got to see Charanga Habanera alumno Sombrilla,he chucked a hissy fit and only played one song. As well as his regular Wednesday Cabaret Las Vegas gig, it now looks like he is doing every Tuesday matinee at el Cafe, so if anyone goes down there, can you go and see him and report back.

Next post: the venues and the carteleras - how to find out what's on in Havana!