MisterBryans

Descansa En Paz Lazarito

The Toronto Cuban community lost one of it's most prominent members last Sunday upon the news that Lazarito (aka Chico Valentino) died in an automobile accident while back home in Cuba.

I did not know Chico that well personally, when I was entering the Cuban music scene as a live music promoter (in 2001-2002) he was one of the first Cuban dance teachers in Toronto, running the Thursday night parties at El Convento Rico. The last time we talked was at the Salsa on St. Claire festival this past July. And from the first to the last time, what I remember most was his irrepressible smile, his handsome Cuban-guy good looks and the way he danced with an infectious energy that always made the room feel better.

Two of my best Cuban friends posted these messages on Lazarito's facebook page

from Sarita Leyva

Lazarito, es extremadamente triste y dificil saber que ya no estaras mas entre nosotros, todos los que te conocimos y queremos estamos consternados con la noticia, nunca te voy a olvidar, descanza en paz querido amigo, hermanito mio, se que donde quiera que estes tu sonrrisa y alegria contagiara a todos, gracias por los buenos momentos, recuerdos y memorias, mis condolencias para tu familia, que la paz y la luz del señor esten contigo. Te quiero mucho R.I.P

from Alberto Alberto

Hermano mio, que Olofin y todo el Panteón Yoruba ilumine tu camino a la eternidad. Que aunque se que de este mundo nadie se marcha, y que tan solo cambiemos de posición, siento una gran tristeza al saber que ya no estas entre nosotros. Pena por tu familia y amigos. Hoy brindare por ti y recodare los buenos momentos en que compartimos. Que en paz estes mi hermano.

Interactivo Last Night

How To Dance Properly

From the instructional Cuban dance DVD Son Cubano featuring Jose Carrion

3rd in a series of instructional Cuban dance DVDs to be produced by the Academy of Cuban Folklore and Dance. This DVD features detailed instruction on Cuban Son including the basic step with clave, turn combinations & tornillos. The DVD also includes a lecture, "Raices del Son", as well as demos & performances by Cutumba.

For more info visit http://www.cubanfolkloricdance.com/products.php

Schedule For Havana Cultura - Saturday Night at Queen And Dovercourt

8:00 pm Glenda del E's Mixology

8:45 pm The Elmer Ferrer Band

9:30 pm Ogguere

10:15 pm Interactivo with Telmary, Francis del Rio and Roberto Carcassés

11:30 pm Finale

Show is over by midnight when we will all head over to Lula Lounge for Roberto Linares Brown.

Here's the HavanaCultura website

Havana Cultura Toronto - The Music

Havana Cultura 2009 Toronto UPDATED
http://www.havana-cultura.com/canada/

Friday September 25
ROBERTO CARCASSES in Concert
8:00 - 10 PM
The Drake Hotel
1150 Queen Street West
416-531-5042
Free Admission

Havana Cultura presents pianist/composer Roberto Carcassés performing with renowned Canadian bassist Roberto Occhipinti in a special concert in The Lounge of The Drake Hotel.

An instrumentalist of exceptional range and diversity, pianist/composer Roberto Carcassés is the leader of the jazz fusion
collective, Interactivo, and is considered one of the key figures in the new generation of Cuban music that has emerged on the island since 2001.

For this concert at The Drake, Carcassés will be joined by one of Canada's most recognized latin/jazz musicians, bassist Roberto Occhipinti, as well as percussionist Frank Durand, playing the traditional Afro-Cuban percussion instrument, the cajón.

JOAQUIN HIDALGO'S Cuban Caribbean Jazz Quartet
Lula Lounge
1585 Dundas Stret West
Admission $10.00
8-10PM

Cuban percussionist and bandleader Joaquin Hidalgo presents his Cuban Caribbean Jazz Quartet featuring Roberto Riveron, Michael Chan and Gareth Burgess.

Saturday September 26
INTERACTIVO featuring Telmary, Francis del Rio and Roberto Carcassés

THE ELMER FERRER BAND and GLENDA del E's "MIXOLOGY"

ALSO ADDED Cuba's hottest hip-hop artissts OGGUERRE

NEW START TIME *PM

8PM - 12 AM
Outdoors at 1093 Queen St West
Admission Free

Three principal members of one of Cuba's most legendary groups re-unite for their first ever concert in Toronto.

Interactivo are a collective of some of the most prominent musicians from the new wave of musicians who have transformed Cuban music in the last decade

This Interactivo concert features pianist/composer music director Roberto Carcassés, singer/sonero Francis del Rio and jazz-poet rapera Telmary backed up by the creme of the Toronto's Cuban music scene. This will be a concert to remember

The evening also features sets from the Elmer Ferrer Band (the pioneer of the Cuban electric guitar featured on the last two Los Van Van albums) and Glenda del E's Mixology (Glenda being the rising star of Cuban jazz and classical piano)

The concert takes place ion a beautiful outdoor stage created specially for the evening - located in a parking lot at 1093 Queen St West, just west of Dovercourt on the south side.

Also featured are afro-cuban dance performances choreographed by Consuello Herrera.

Saturday September 26
THE ROBERTO LINARES BROWN ORCHESTRA
Lula lounge
1585 Dundas St West
10 PM $15.00

As part of the Havana Cultura Festival, bandleader/arranger/pianist/composer extraordinaire Roberto Linares Brown presents an all-star line-up of the finest Cuban musicians in the country.

Linares Brown was a catalyst for the creation of Lula Lounge's popular Havana Norte series which has featured a who's who of Toronto-based Cuban musicans. Linares Brown has been contributing to the series since 2006 performing original compositions that became the basis of his brilliant 2008 solo release, "Que No Se Pierda La Essencia". After an extended tour of Europe, Roberto Linares Bbrown (aka El Seña') has returned to his home in Canada - boasting new compositions and with a renewed desire to take Toronto's alsa scene to the next level.

Sunday, September 27
THE TELMARY BAND, featuring Alberto Alberto and Francis del Rio
The Gladstone Hotel
1214 Queen St West
416 531 4635
Doors Open 8pm
Showtime 9pm
Free Concert

Jazz poet and rapera, Telmary will perform a free concert at The Gladstone Hotel on Sunday September 27 for the final party of the Havana Cultura festival.

Her 10 piece band will feature Toronto's own Alberto Alberto, as well guest vocalist from Havana, Interactivo's Francis del Rio. Included in the line-up as well will be Roberto Carcassés, pianist and producer of Telmary's award winning album 'A Diario'

The evening also includes dance performances as well as DJ Alexis spinning Cuban hip-hop and DJ Billy Bryans spinning the latest Cuban salsa and reggaeton.



--

Is This The Beginning of the End...

of the embargo?

Cuban Artists to Perform in US and Puerto Rico for first time since 2003

Visas provided by State Department to Zenaida Romeu, Pablo Milanés viewed as "major breakthrough"

With a peace concert in Havana by Miami-based singer Juanes days away, Cuban singer-songwriter Pablo Milanés and composer-conductor Zenaida Romeu have been granted visas by the State Department to enter United States territory for performance purposes. This is the first time since late 2003 that Cuban performing artists have been allowed into the United States.

"The entry of high-profile performing artists such as Zenaida and Pablo is a major breakthrough following years of wrong-headed U.S. policy towards Cuban artists, scholars and professionals," said arts immigration attorney Bill Martínez, who worked with the arts presenters involved to secure the visas and who is a co-founder of US-Cuba Cultural Exchange.

"It is especially important right now," added Martínez, "as Congress prepares to consider legislation that would eliminate travel restrictions on Americans who desire to travel to Cuba," a reference to the Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act pending in the U.S. House and Senate.

Romeu, director of the legendary women's ensemble Camerata Romeu, one of Cuba's finest chamber orchestras, is headed to Fargo, North Dakota in mid-November where she will guest conduct the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Orchestra.

Fargo-Moorhead Director Bernard Rubenstein, who has traveled on numerous occasions to Cuba to conduct orchestras there, says that he is "thrilled" by the turn of events.

"The FMSO hopes that this will be just a beginning to increased cultural exchange between our two countries, and that all cultural and travel barriers will soon be eliminated," he said.

Renowned singer-songwriter Milanés is meanwhile headed to Puerto Rico in October, and possibly to the United States as well.

The issuance of visas to such high-profile performing artists comes on the heels of visa approvals during the past two months by the State Department for a handful of visual artists and scholars, as well as a theater group that collaborated with the University of Alabama to develop a production of a Shakespeare play.

Over 1300 US citizens in the arts and culture have signed a letter to President Obama initiated by US-Cuba Cultural Exchange that calls on the Administration and Congress to allow for full cultural relations with Cuba, eliminate travel restrictions on Americans, and to normalize relations with our island neighbor.

This is from a press release written by a group called US-Cuba Cultural Exchange, it's not a confirmed story from a wire service or news agency, so lets give it a coupla' days to get verified, but it 'sounds' like the start of normalization of music touring for Cuban bands in the U.S.

Pupy Pedroso w Candido Fabre in Toronto 23/10/09

FRIDAY OCT 23 2009

Cubaintoronto.com presents
PUPY Y LOS QUE SON SON with CANDIDO FABRE
The Phoenix Concert Theatre
410 Sherbourne Street Toronto
also including dance performances and
music by Miami's DJ Melao,
$30.00 advance tickets $40 at the door
Doors 8.30pm
Dance performance 9.45pm .
Showtime 10.45 (first of two sets)
Infoline 416 836 2600

Two Giants of Cuban Music Collaborate for Unique Toronto Concert

One of Cuba's most famous bandleaders PUPY PEDROSO returns to Toronto on October 23 - this time bringing a true legend of Cuban vocals CANDIDO FABRE - for an unprecedented evening of Cuban son, salsa and timba music direct from Havana.

One of the true giants of modern Cuban music with both LOS VAN VAN and his own group LOS QUE SON SON, PUPY PEDROSO will lead his crack 16 piece band through the songs that have made him famous in Cuba and throughout
Latin America and Europe.

Adding to the evenings festivities will be Pupy's collaboration with singer CANDIDO FABRE, famous for his unique improvisational skills and original songs that have been performed by artists such as Celia Cruz, Issac Delgado, and Oscar D'leon.

The opening event of the first annual Cuban Dance Festival, Pupy Pedroso's concert will be augmented with dance performances from internationally acclaimed choreographer/teachers Angel Aristides Santos and Yaimara Rodriguez
Nicot (direct from Havana) and Duane Wrenn from Energetic Soul Studios in the U.S.A.

The October 23rd concert will also present North America's best known timba DJ, direct from Miami - DJ Melao.

Advance tickets are available at Soundscapes, Bolis Books and other locations to be announced.

Advance tickets also available online at www.torontohispano.com

For more information please call Sophie at Cubaintoronto 416 836 2600 - cubaintoronto@yahoo.com

For more info on the Cuban Dance Festival Weekend please contact Albena at Afrolatino Dance Company 416 671 7140

For hi-res photographs and other media info please call Billy Bryans Productions  416 887 8439

Chendy and Maninho

Two of Toronto's finest percussionists at Brazil Day September 7, 2009

New Manolito Tunes

Mirco's got some samples over at Timba Por Siempre. Sounding real good.

The Phenomenon that is Gozando

In seven years of DJ'ing Cuban salsa/timba music in Toronto, I have never quite seen the reaction that Gozando in Miami/Havana (either version) is getting from the Cuban audience. It looks like this response is happening all over.

En las terrazas y locales de La Habana, “Gozando” consigue animar la fiesta como ningún otro éxito musical del verano (boreal): todos se levantan, bailan y cantan; después muchos se vuelven a sentar. Resulta incluso raro encontrar a jóvenes que no se sepan de memoria la letra de la canción, que se emite también en las cadenas de radio y televisión de la isla, todas controladas por el Estado

I have no idea why this is happening. It was obvious that Gozando was the hit from the new Charanga Habanera album, it has an 'anthemic' chorus and nice salsa-con-reggaeton' rhythm and all, but still......

Bandleader, David Calzado explains the theme

“Mucha gente que se va llega a esos países y consigue cambiar su estatus de vida. Y de repente quieren tratar de olvidar de dónde son, quiénes son, dónde están sus raíces. Quieren aparentar que todo marcha bien, pero dentro del corazón está esta cosa que es la nostalgia, la añoranza, el deseo de vivir con los suyos”, afirma.

According to the same article, some have accused Calzado of writing a political diatribe - but i don't buy that at all. The whole history of Charanga Habanera is about David Calzado's single minded determination to keep his band number one with the young Cuban audience. Period.

A young Cuban friend has another interpretation of the song

.....that Cubans in Miami are not all doing well there, all are doing their best trying to save money (to send) to their family here in HAvana. and those families who have that support live well here, they can afford going to Casas de la Musica, Cafe cantante, Salon Rojo del Capri etc. and see shows including Charanga without the need of working hard, just receiving every month money from Miami. Also they can dress well, with expensive articles, eat well etc...also being part of LA FARANDULA. And all these plus the fact that they are in Cuba, in their home, "Gozando el Comunismo" where everything is BLa Bla BLA etc, not like in Miami where for you to have something you have to work a lot a lot...

So who knows? The essence of a good song is the ability of it's audience to give it it's own meaning.

Franz from Planet Timba was good enough to write up the lyrics of both versions of the song

Gozando In Havana



ladies & gentleman, now from cuba
que lo que hay con cuba pa' que lo vamo hacer en ingles
mejor sueltalo en el españole HELLO !

cuentame , como te ha ido si has conocido la felicidad
cuentame , como te va, yo por aki my bien
y tu por alla que bola ! Charanga Habanera !

dicen que se siente bien que Miami es la locura,
pero le falta la Habana, el chisme y la sabrosura
dicen que tiene dinero, el carro que ella soño
pero no encuentra en Miami , lo que en la Habana dejo !

Ahora te voy a contar algo que me sucedio
yo que la queria tanto, pero se fue y me dejo
Lachy ! queria hacerse famosa queria ganarse un Grammy
y salio a provarse su suerte avion destino Miami


--> (David ) oye chacal ..... te oi <--

dicen que se siente bien que Miami es la locura,
pero le falta la Habana, el chisme y la sabrosura
dicen que tiene dinero, el carro que ella soño
pero no encuentra en Miami , lo que en la Habana dejo !

mentira mentira
(rap chacal ............)
pa que tu lloras
si te fueste sufre mami que le van hacer
De q te sirve micky mouse si te gusta elpidio valdes.
audi pa mi ,.....
pa ke vivir de cuento que cuento , sigo comiendo picadillo pero contento
(rap chacal ............)

(Dantes) y ahora me llama llorando,dice que no encuentra el modo
que no se siente feliz, que de Cuba extraña todo
extraña a los van van , hectico y pmm
extraña a la charanga , y el papi que ella mas quiere

(Randy mc)yo sigo charangueando como me da la gana

tu llorando en Miami, yo gozando en la habana
tu llorando en Miami, yo gozando en la habana

se siente triste porque, alla no hay Capri ni Tropicana
tu llorando en Miami, yo gozando en la Habana
extrana mi habana tu y al Bucanero que ella tomaba
tu llorando en Miami, yo gozando en la habana

hasta donde mami?, hasta cuando?
si te comportas como Yuma, tu tienes que ir tumbando
hasta donde mami?, hasta cuando?
si te comportas como yuma tu tienes que ir bajando

tumbando , tumbando tumbando
si te comportas como yuma, tu tienes que ir bajando
tumbando , tumbando tumbando
si te comportas como yuma, tu tienes que ir bajando

ella esta hablando ingles conmigo y yo no se lo que esta hablando
si te comportas como yuma, tu tienes que ir bajando
y preparado , vamo a gozalo !
mano pa' arriba to' el mundo
vamo to' el mundo a cantarlo!

cuentame , como te ha ido si has conocido la felicidad
cuentame , como te va, yo por aqui my bien
y tu por alla que bola !
cuentame , como te ha ido si has conocido la felicidad
cuentame , como te va, yo por aki my bien
y tu por alla que bola !

(El Chacal )oye chula, yo sigo con lo mio y no lo cambio por nada
por eso me mantengo por eso sigo siendo lo que me da la gana, la reverenda gana !
desde el cuartel pavel, frank dos metra , repeta,
camina pa que aprenda,
esto es pa que goces y no pa que ud me reprenda
ok ok pa que tu quieres pan si yo tengo confi cake
copiaste !

this version is Gozando en Miami

Ladies and Gentlemen
Now From cuba que es lo que hay con cuba?
para que lo vamos a decir en ingles
mejor q ...sueltalo en el español, hello!!

cuentame(ok) como te hs ido (jaja)si has conocido
la felicidad, ah ah, cuentame como te va
yo por aqui muy bien, y tu por alla que bola?
Charanga habaneraaa, dice que se siente bien (agua)
que miami es la locura(ok), pero le falta la habana
el chisme y la sabrosura(tu sabes), dice que tiene dinero(david)

y el carro que ella soño pi pi, pero no encuentra
en miami, el papi que ella dejo,(aned) ahora te voy
a contar algo que me sucedio yo que la queria tanto
pero se fue y me dejo, (lachy) queria hacerse famosa
queria ganarse un grammy, y salio a pronar su suerte
avion destino miami

dice que se siente bien que miami es la locura
oye chacal, te oi,pero le falta la habana el chisme
y la sabrosura, si si, dicen que tiene dinero, (ta bien)
(david ta bien) y el carro que ella soño pero no encuentra
en miami el papi que ella dejo


oh caridad como tu goza la papeleta porque
tienes una nueva choza yo te imagino en miami
comiendote un piti la fruta mas sabrosa pero
extrañandome a mi cuando tomes un martini
mami acuerdate de mi para sentir todo lo que
rico que te esta pasando alli, de la habana para
miami tengo un correo pa ti, forever i love u tu pimpin mami

ella me sige llamando dice que lo tiene todo y que
se siente feliz, y que de cuba extraña un poco
extraña los van van hectico y p.m.m extraña la
charanga y el papi que ella mas quiere
yo sigo charangiando ay como me da mi gana

tu gozando en miami y yo gozando en la habana
tu gozando en miami y yo gozando en la habana


ya tiene lo que soño willy chirino con tropigala
tu gozando en miami y yo gozando en la habana
tu gozando en miami y yo gozando en la habana
y tiene tremendo ache como se hace la americana
tu gozando en miami y yo gozando en la habana
hasta donde mami, hasta cuando, quedate gozando
alla por la yuma que yo me quedo aqui en la habana
charangueando

hasta donde mami hasta cuando
tu gozando alla en la yuma
yo en la habana charangueando
tumbando, tumbando, tumbando ( por eso)
tumbando mama tumbando
y olle, en la habana charangueando
tumbando tumbando mama tumbando
tu gozando alla en la yuma
yo en la habana charangueando (ay dale mambo)

mami un ratico ap ies y otro caminando
ella hablando en ingles conmigo
y yo no se lo que esta parlando
tu gozando alla en la yuma
yo en la habana charangiando
y preparadooo vamos a gozarlo
manos para arriba todo el mundo
vamos to el mundo a cantarlo

cuentame como te ha ido si has conocido la felicidad
cuentame como te va yo por aqui muy bien y tu
por alla que bola? cuentame, como te ha ido si
has conocido la felicidad, cuentame como te va
yo por aqui muy bien y tu por alla que bola?
cuentame como te ha ido si has conocido la felicidad
cuentame como te va yo por aqui muy bien y tu
por alla q bola!

desde el cuartel pavel fran los metra respeta
hello, copiastes! cuentame!!