Musical Chairs in Havana

No need for words.......

Yep, it's another case of musical chairs in the timba department. The lovely Michelle White of timba.com has announced from her Christmas Cuba jaunt that the rumours are true: El Indio is leaving Trabuco to be replaced by El Noro of Salsa Mayor whilst William has left Pupy to be replaced by Lester- a former member of Salsa Mayor. Phew!
Also, the new Los Van Van release is not available from prodland.de so take a look, along with a mysterious new release from Tirso Duarte. Can't wait to get my hands on them!!! (maybe if I ask Santa.....)

New Reve, New Van Van, New Manolito

Well, the anticipated arrival of new releases from Van Van and Manolito have left me drooling and counting off the months...Van Van's should be out soon-ish and will have a lot of guest appearances and feature the talent of Samuel. Maybe even a DVD too if we're lucky.

Contrary to what the grapevine says, Manolito have only just laid down the finishing touches to the new album (which sounds amazing by the way) and expect it to be out early next year.


And of course, can't fail to mention the new release from Reve- Fresquecito. It's getting rave reviews- can't wait to get my hands on it. At the moment, it only seems available from the website prodland but let me know if you find anywhere else, and I'll do the same!!!

Manolito y su Trabuco @Cafe Cantante

Manolito y Su Trabuco @Cafe Cantante (matinee)

Saw them on their European tour in the summer of 2007 in the UK, and I was disappointed with their set which mainly concentrated on old classics and left me begging for more of their fierce but melodic timba.

On arrival at Cafe Cantante, we were treated to the typical romantica, colombiana and then reggaeton but found we were able to get seats right next to the stage- perfect for my pics :-)

They were all I had hoped for and better- opening with the cubaton "Control" which perfectly blended with the previous tracks and dived into full-on heavy timba madness. The atmosphere was fantastic and all of the singers played with the crowd. El Indio, bless him directed his attention towards the most admiring in the audience several times and Amaray continued to be his usual talented self. Mayami seemed a little tired though, but made up for it by somehow balancing between Riveron's bass drum and the floor and displaying his best moves-wow!

Although crammed is an underestimation, somehow I mangaged to get a little fix of dancing (getting kicked asccidently all the while, mind you!) and couldn't stop. I know people who go EVERY WEEK to see them and never get bored- What a change from Harrogate!

Sources tell me that they are in the studio now putting the finishing touches to their new release which is due for release in early 2008. Can't wait guys, really can't!