Category: cuba

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cuba salsa

That’s what I’M talking about…

Just came across this Youtube video entitled, Reggaeton in Cuba, 3 hot girls dancing in a disco.

The first two girls dance about as well as I might hope to dance one day if I keep practicing 30 mins a day. (Oh let’s face it, I’m dreaming.)

The third girl, especially when she gets going, looks to me like a professional dancer. She is awesome!

The band is Charanga Habanera, timba geniuses, and according to the debate on Youtube, the dance is known as reparto. But it looks like what we in the UK refer to as reggaeton.

Dale reggaeton!

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cuba salsa

Maikel Blanco Y Su Salsa Mayor

Maikel Blanco y Su Salsa Mayor (Maikel on keyboards)

(Yes, I’m still going on about Cuba…)

I finally found the name of the salsa band who played in Casa de la Musica the night I first took my teenage daughter to Galiano in Havana. Yes, naughty me, I passed her for 18 when she’s only 14 and introduced her to a world of loud timba music, the best dancing in Havana, the raunchy dance moves of Bustamente and Yoandy who were grinding away with their latest dance pupils (who we met weeks later in Oxford), the Cuban hottie who tried to get my daughter to fall for him…and to this amazing timba band Maikel Blanco Y Su Salsa Mayor, who had us mesmerized.

Their hit son “Esto Esta” (This Is…) is my FAVOURITE salsa song to dance to. I hear this and I have to dance…

Here’s the video of “Esto Esta”:

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cuba salsa

Soneando en Oxford – Claro Que Si!

What a pleasure last night to see a halfway decent homegrown salsa band – Soneando.

The creation of a Bristol-based keyboard player, Sara and two British conga/bongo players, Soneando also feature Jimmy, a Columbian bass player and Cuban tres-player and frontman (I think they called him Jesus…?). Yesterday they added in a terrific singer from Santiago de Cuba whose sultry, high voice blended brilliantly in the harmonies with the two male singers. It was a set of classics of Cuban son, but with groovy piano lines and pretty-darn-good improvisations.

They were as good as any small (i.e. non-famous) band we saw in Cuba. Seriously.

After dancing son all night, David and I felt as though we’d been at the Casa de la Trova in Santiago de Cuba – another place with zero air conditioning.
I went to talk to the lead singer afterwards. “You guys were great!” I said. He shook his head, embarrassed. “No…we were RUBBISH!”.

A Cuban from Las Tunas, he was amazed and then sceptical to hear that I’d liked Las Tunas, through which we’d passed on the bus to Santiago, about two months ago. Jesus has a nice line in stage patter – in English too. He likes the word “Wha’eva”.
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cuba jaguar's realm other books salsa

Non-Stop Solemn Salsa

I have worked out…that from now to September, I’ll be attending a salsa event OR going on holiday every single week.

Including:

That should keep me very cheerful, all summer long! I’m a firm believer in the milestones-of-happiness approach.

I’ve dropped my writing target to a manageable 500 words per day. The plan is all done, in mega detail, so barring illness or other setbacks, I am aiming to finish a draft of ‘Jaguar’s Realm’ in time for my birthday at the end of August. That way I can have a joint celebration at…where else but Floridita. Yay!

Ah, the best laid plans…

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cuba

Septeto Santiaguero

This one’s for motorpilot from Litopia.

Septeto Santiaguero
Forget Buena Vista Social Club – founding members Compay, Ruben, Pio and Ibrahim have all passed away. The best son band in the world is Septeto Santiaguero. Contemporary son compositions played in a upbeat, energised way, hugely danceable. We saw these guys on our last night in Santiago, in the famous Casa de la Trova.
Here’s a video from their latest CD ‘Los Mangos Bajitos’. It’s a wonderful guaracha called ‘El Culpable’.
(‘I get the blame for everything; I get the blame for my own stuff, I get the blame for everyone’s stuff, caramba – I get the blame for EVERYTHING!
They say I’m vain, cos I dress like a lad, they say I’m capricious, a drunk…
They say I’m a low-life, stuck me with it, cos I fancy my mate’s woman…
Someone loses a wallet, they mutter that I took it, without noticing that the wallet has an owner – me!’)