Rumba Caraqueña

Cool oranges: In my inbox this morning, an email from Venezuelan vibraphonist Alfredo Naranjo with this link to two free song downloads on his ReverbNation player.

Really hip. One of the most exciting artists on the Caracas-based Cacao label (which includes Cuban artists such as Changuito and Horacio "El Negro Hernandez). In 2007 they released Alfredo Naranjo y su Guajeo, featuring trombonist Jimmy Bosch in a guest spot.

In Venezuela, they seem to know how to make modern, intelligent Latin jazz that also swings for the dancer. One way they do it: don't stint on a vocalist. Naranjo's new tracks feature bold choices from the popular music fields of Venezuelan parranda and ska: Francisco Pacheco (of the venerable Un Solo Pueblo) lends his natural baritone to "El Cumaco de San Juan," while rocker Horacio Blanco from Desorden Publico sings "Un Lote de Amor."

I recently came across another excellent, timba-jazz-flavored dance band from Caracas: Cabijazz led by guitarist Alvaro Paiva Bimbo.

Caracas tiene su swing!

RADIO ALERT: "Azuquita Pa'l Cafe" Giveaway TODAY

Today on my radio show AZUCAR y CANDELA I'm going to be giving away the new Tiempo Libre CD, Bach in Havana, AND a can of Café Bustelo! Courtesy of Sony Masterworks. Tune in to WXDU 88.7 FM today, Wednesday (5/13) between 6 and 8 pm to find out how to win!

Read More about the Tiempo Libre Bustelo promotion here

Grammy-nominated Tiempo Libre's third major label CD, Bach in Havana fits right in to Cuba's long history of mingling European classical music and Afro-Cuban popular music. The music of J.S. Bach is known for melodic purity and spiritual power. To that, Tiempo Libre has added Cuba's own sacred music (the batá drums and sacred songs of the Yoruba tradition), as well as its rambunctious timba dance rhythms, crafted together with classical reverence and a Latin jazz sensibility. Two of Cuba's finest saxophonists, Paquito D'Rivera and Yosvany Terry, take prominent guest spots.

This album highlights fine keyboard work by pianist and musical director Jorge Gomez, who says he used to lie in bed at night and listen to his father, a classical pianist, play Bach. All the young members of Tiempo Libre studied classical music at strict, Russian-style conservatories in Cuba, where popular music was taboo. However, they inhaled Afro-Cuban musical traditions, such as rumba, son, danzon, timba and Santería, just by growing up there, where music is in the air, in the streets, in private homes and nightclubs. You might say that Bach in Havana takes classical music from the salons out into the solares, the courtyards in poor, black neighborhoods in Cuba where the rumba was born.

It's interesting to contemplate "Air on a G String" [sic] had it been written as a lovesong to a beautiful behind, if J.S. Bach could walk the streets of Miami Beach, sans powdered wig, waistcoat unbuttoned to mid-chest. Tiempo Libre doesn't only loosen up the classics, it breathes new life into them. This album might help a lot of people better understand Cuba's birthright and invention of a creole musical language. As North Americans, it's our birthright too.

Morning Jolt: Timba y Café

Tiempo Libre, my favorite expat Cuban band in Miami, has teamed with Café Bustelo to promote their latest album, a classical/timba mix call Bach in Havana, release date May 5.


A million cans will go out with Tiempo Libre's picture on the bottom and links to a free song download. I hope I can find one at the Super Compare...


UPDATE added Monday 5/4...

Good news...I'm going to be doing a radio giveaway of Bustelo cans + Tiempo Libre's new CD, coming soon to Azucar y Candela on my new time of 6-8 pm Wednesday nights on WXDU 88.7 FM! (I mean, without Azucar y Candela, you can't really have your cafecito cubano, can you?) Tiempo Libre has one awake marketing team...I will give a special "heads up" to Onda Carolina readers about the giveaway once we get it set, but expect it this May!