These are Cuban groups on tour 2009
Juan Kemell y La Barriada
La Barriada’s “Havananza”, released 2008, was Best of 2008 Editors Pick Award in the on-line magazine Descarga.com—Where Latin Music Lives: www.descarga.com. From the review: “…Kemell’s band has the energy of the best timba orchestras, leavened with salsa, and it swings heavily. The singer, Yury Tejeda, can really rock, and the coros, constantly changing, make each piece epic…the arrangements are pretty nearly dance floor genius, with the singing constantly talking back to the coros, and the rhythm section charging forward, unstoppable… This is the best Cuba can offer, with no apologies, or excuses, or missteps, and it’s hard to believe that a better recording will show up with urban Cuban dance music…Again, I can’t imagine anything better showing up this year.” Full review of Havananza by Peter Watrous at http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/22847.20?wBKYKeVy;;94
Giraldo Pilot y Klimax
The most sophisticated and strikingly original of the major Timba bands, by a considerable margin, is Giraldo Piloto's Klimax. Descended from a long line of famous Cuban musicians and composers, Piloto has been omnipresent throughout the first decade of Timba history as a drummer, a songwriter and an arranger. He was a founding member of the first Timba band, NG La Banda. When La Charanga Habanera exploded onto the scene, their first big hit, "Me Sube la Fiebre", was written by Piloto and they followed it up with several other Piloto songs, including "Mi Estrella". When Issac Delgado left NG to form his own group, Piloto became his musical director and wrote a number of songs for him, including possibly his most important hit, "No Me Mires a los Ojos", which Issac still plays at nearly every concert. In January of 1995, after 8 years at the epicenter of the Timba revolution, Piloto decided to form his own group and in April of that year, Klimax played its first concert at the famous La Cecilia club on Avenida Quinta.
Klimax has released 3 CD's on Spain's Eurotropical label and has toured extensively throughout Europe and South America.
Manolito Simonet y su Trabuco
Adalberto Alvárez y su son
Elio Revé y su Charangón
