Video pa cualquiera

Pupy y los Que Son Son was in the States for most of my trip this year, and when they came back, they were minus three members - although only two stayed. so I didn't get to see them gig, though I did make it to a rehearsal, which is always interesting - even when one of the guys who is still in the band (Noro) doesn't turn up (even when he's supposed to). At the Varadero gig the following night, Noro sang this song, but at rehearsal, Michel took the lead, so new pianist Maikel, and the new timbalero (not sure of the name) could practice the song.

Below is Salsa Mayor with Yordi on lead doing Pa cualquiera. The lighting was terrible, as is usual at El cafe but it's nice and close at least and Yordi has a bit of fun playing up to the camera.

Directo del Galiano

Didn't get a whole lot of video this year - didn't see as many bands as usual. But this is the first of what I have. Love this song from Combinacion de la Habana.

A final fling

Friday brought with it new illnesses for both myself and MFF and a trip to the clinic in Miramar. That meant a trip to Varadero to see Pupy was off. To be honest, with the trip back home the next day, which consists of one eight-hour flight, followed by a 12-hour stop in Chile followed by a 15 hour flight, I wasn’t that thrilled with the idea of spending five hours sitting on a bus, even with the prospect of a Pupy gig at the end of it. I would have been happier had they played Galiano. Anyway, it was still with regret that I phoned in my absence, not least because it would have been a chance to catch up with my mate Duni, who only arrived back about ten days ago, and who has spent most of that time rehearsing.
I started throwing some things in a desultory fashion into my suitcase, boiled some rice, and decided to go to Galiano. There is always some semi-lame band you’re not that keen on seeing playing on your last night, and tonight it was Salsa Mayor. That’s only half a joke.
The place was jumping as usual. I don’t know how he does it. The MN entrada helps of course. But still. His night gigs have heaps more buzz than a lot of other folks’. Of course some people reading this might say, it’s because he’s good.
The horrible cabaret act seems to have disappeared from Casa de la Musica. I don’t know if it’s because I always go late or they don’t have it on weekends or what. Anyway, it has probably put a few people out of work (what will those fire-eating contortionists do now?), but it’s for the best as far as I’m concerned. They came on soon after we got there - always pleasing, opening again with Pa’ cualquiera, which shits me no end as it’s one of my favourite songs, and it doesn’t give me any time to warm up, but I did manage to get a spot centre front so I finally got some great pics of the band.


Still loving Yordi. I used to be quite entertained by Yasser, because he’s so loco on stage, and he’s still fun, but Yordi just overshadows everything else for me. He. Is. Awesome. Did I mention that he has huge hands? OMG he has huge hands. (Gulp.) Watching him take control of the excenario it occurred to me that he would be a good replacement for Mandy/Rusdel. Of course no one is a good replacement for Mandy - we want Mandy!!! But that isn’t going to happen, and if we have to have someone else, I reckon Yordi could do a good job of filling his shoes - or making them his own. Pupy, take note. Jaja.
I got a mention during the talking bit in Se acabo el amor. That’s what happens when you do nothing but lie around all day and go to gigs at night. The guys usually take turns on vocals: Yordi, Yasser, Pavel, so I was aghast when Pavel got two in a row: OMG: but it’s Yordi’s turn! And he did sing a third song, which was unusual - Maikel’s sets are usually too short to allow for it. I didn’t recognise it, so it must be from the new album along with everything else except for Anda pegate. I actually really enjoyed myself for the first time in ages at a Salsa Mayor gig. Making the most of what little time I have left. Also I was pleased to get the good shots. Put me in the mood for grooving.
On the agenda for Saturday, apart from upgrading the packing from “desultory” to “urgent”, was the Combinación de la Habana matinee at Galiano - as good a send off as I could think of. Well almost. Havana D’Primera were on at the Caprí, but by the time they would be on stage we would be in the departure lounge of Jose Martí airport, so Galiano it was. And a pretty good second best.
I listened to Disco Fiesta anyway, even though I knew I wouldn’t be able to go to most of the gigs mentioned (Pupy at Los Jardines de la Polar, Sunday matinee - if there wasn’t a humungous thunderstorm).
Leonel Limonta turned up about 10 minutes before the show was over, no doubt hoping to get some people to their Palacio de la Rumba matinee - it’s a lovely venue, but people haven’t really cottoned onto the fact that it has salsa now, and it’s usually pretty quiet. Also: they were up against the very popular Combinacion de la Habana matinee at Galiano. After a bit of chat with Pupi Cancio, they played Plato fuerte! OMG - the new song I love! Dayan had told me they had recorded it but hadn’t finished it. I messaged Limonta immediately reminding him of who I was (we had met previously) and asking if I could get it. He got back to me straight away amazingly, and said sure, that I should go to Galiano for their night gig. Not possible! I decided to slip into La Palacio and hope I could cadge it off him before slinking off to Galiano where I had to meet some friends.
Meanwhile, I went round to Duni’s place to catch up and say goodbye (too bad to be doing that simultaneously). He said the Varadero Pupy gig, at Mambo club, was utterly triumphant (my words): it was full of people and they played for two and half hours. I felt sick (sick-er) that I had missed it. Then I asked him who was singing the songs formerly sung by Rusdel and Mandy: Si me quieres conocer for instance. Oh, El Noro he said. Suddenly I didn’t feel like I’d missed much. El Noro has his charms but a working knowledge of rumba isn’t among them. Not sure I ever want to hear him go near that song. Glad I got footage of Michel doing it in rehearsal. Who is singing Pogolotti, I asked. El Noro. What the fuck? Apparently El Noro, bolshie little upstart that he is, is saying to Pupy, give the songs to me - I’ll do them! He did the same in Trabuco with Linda melodia (for example) with less than stellar results. Anyway, Pupy is looking for a fourth singer so we’ll see what happens.
Duni’s wife came home from a rehearsal - she is a conguero too; it’s too cute. They are the couple most chevere. I hung out for a while then went back to the casa to put my gladrags on and headed off for La Palacio. The matinee there is earlier - 4-8 - and I didn’t want to get there after the band had started. No problem, the place was almost empty at 6pm. Maybe 30 people including the band, and Limonta nowhere in sight. I hung out with Dayan a bit, but at 6.20 I could wait no longer. Fortunately, just as I left, Limonta arrived: mission accomplished. New tracks for Sydney’s next Cuban night.
After waiting 15 minutes in Galiano for a normally very reliable friend who didn’t arrive, the clock hit 7 and I raced in just in time to hear the Galiano opening song play to the heaving crowd.


Ricardo was really on fire - doing his trademark drops to the ground with gusto. After initially having trouble getting some ladies up to dance, Yuri eventually found himself inundated with gyrating damsels - and loving every minute of it. Then a couple got up and went totally insane. I’ve seen the craziest stage dancing I think I’ve ever in all my years of going to Cuba this year, from the hot tranny on stage with Reve in Trinidad to the near-orgy in Pinar del Rio with Maraca. It’s all been highly entertaining. The crowd continued to dance after the curtain came down and the band stopped playing, and until the lights came on and it was time to shuffle out. As we left, the musos of Azucar Negra, who had just finished at La Palacio, were walking in ahead of their night gig there.
I had to get back to the casa and finish packing and order a taxi. Big boo-hoos.

Big Thursday

Pupy's Michel and El Chiqui, with Maikel (background) at rehearsal.

Wednesday was, as usual, a slow day music wise. Haila wasn’t on at El Cafe as she had been the last couple of weeks, but after seeing her lame pop/reggaeton song for summer, I wasn’t that bothered. Although the skintight shiny black vinyl jumpsuit I’d seen her sing it in was pretty spectacular. My symptoms hadn’t abated: basically I was OK as long as I didn’t eat anything, but you can only go so far on that. Still that was my plan of action until such a time as I could eat something without being inconvenienced. I ended up spending the entire day in the casa. Not what I had planned for my final week, but as anyone who has been to Havana knows, things never go according to plan here.
Pupy had been driving the band hard in rehearsals all week, with their new timbalero and pianista, and Thursday I finally felt well enough to go. They used to rehearse in Teatro America, but I guess with Bailar es algo mas filming there, and now summer events, it’s pretty busy, so they’re now rehearsing in a decrepit theatre in Havana Vieja. We got there about midday - they’d been going since 11, I think. They were doing Parece mentira, which is sung by El Noro, but Michel was on vocals, cause El Noro was absent - much to Pupy’s displeasure. He’d arrived late the day before too.
The new pianista is Maikel, who I know from when he used to play with Paulito - you can see him in my videos from my Italy trip in 2006. He left Paulo a while ago - not sure what he’s been doing since then. They call him Cuchilla apparently. The new timbalero is from Tumbao Habana. In fact, he’s still playing with them. There was a new singer doing coros as well. I didn’t get his name and although Pupy’s manager Jindra told he who he has sung with I’m afraid I have forgotten (I’ll blame my low-calerie diet).
They ran through Calla calla next. Regrettably. I’d like to see the back of that one. Then a smoko was called (that’s Aussie slang for a break) and everyone wandered out the front to hang out on the pavement where it was, remarkably, cooler.
After the break, they played Un poquito al reves, with El Chiqui, who used to sing with Dan Den on lead. Then Si me quieres conocer with Michel. Fucking love that song. Michel was doing the lion’s share, I guess cause he is the elder statesman now, which is weird. Oh I didn’t mention on the blog that Rusdel has left, so I guess I should, cause that explains why he wasn’t there. He’s in town (which is why he was at Azúcar Negra on Sunday), but no longer with Pupy. I’m not shedding any tears over that one, and Michel was sounding pretty capable, so I don’t know if anyone else will miss him either. It all sounded pretty good.
Afterwards, we went to the Hotel Parque Central to use the wi-fi with my laptop as I had heard the speed was quite good and the net in the house has been driving me nuts - it’s not just slow, sometimes it doesn’t connect at all. Anyway, the rumours were true. It’s $8 an hour but it’s fast. I could use gmail without resorting to html only, and get pics to load in Firefox and tweet and everything. If I had known I probably would have been down there every second day.
It started pissing down while we were there and I started feeling faint cause it had been about a day since I had eaten anything atand I’ve discovered you can’t live on Gastrolyte. I came back and ate rice and sugar. I was so hungry it tasted fantastic. It didn’t give me the shits. Awesome. (Wheat makes me sick, which presents another problem when you have stomach trouble.)

Tirso joins the Tumbao Habana frontline.

Tried to sleep before the Tumbao Habana matinee at Galiano. Failed. I was up at 6 and getting ready.
I had thought it might not be that busy with the rain, but there were enough people there to create a vibe. The began with Tú quisieras saber, and the set was pretty similar to the previous week: terrific dance songs presented with lots of energy an charisma. This band is not thought of very highly here and I don’t really know why. I mean, it’s plain that they are much better now than they were - I remember the last time I saw them the horns were terrible, and they are playing well now; and there are all the great Mambo duro songs, and the delightfully entertaining singers. It’s like people in Havana haven’t caught up with the transformation. Or maybe they’re they’re too “salsa” or too retro or something. Whatever. I mustered up some energy from somewhere and throughly enjoyed myself. The only negative was that Renier, my favourite singer who is kind of the star, had most of his songs stored up for the end, then Tirso turned up and kind of took over, so we didn’t get to hear Mambo duro.

Who would dub these two "los dos negros más feos de La Habana"?

Tirso has lost a shitload of weight. Last year he looked like he was ready to give birth. The prieto - Maikel, I think - who sings with the band is apparently a former student of Tirso’s (I can’t imagine what those classes were like), so the pair sang a song together, then at the end, Leo Vera, wearing an enormous shiny gold shirt that looked like it was left over from his days in Charanga Habanera in the ‘90s, briefly took the mic and tried to stage what turned out to be a half-hearted cintura contest. Azúcar Negra’s Dayan was there enjoying himself - they usually play this slot so I guess it was natural to head down to Galiano at that time. Yulian from Combinacion de la Habana was there too - these guys are old mates, and joke that they are "los negros más feos de La Habana". I'm not sure in which parallel universe that would be. The gnome-like tecladista from Salsa Mayor was there, apparently a little the worse for wear. Pupy's new timbalero is from Tumbao Havana and still playing with them, so he was having a busy day.
I spoke to Renier and said what a shame they hadn’t played Mambo duro - he said come to Cafe Cantante tonight, we’ll do it then! Much as I’m grooving to them this year, I didn’t have enough kilojoules in me to get to a late session at the Cafe and when I told him he quickly turned away and wandered off.
Of course the other option for a Thursday was Alaín Daniel at the Caprí. But I'm never going back to that hell-hole again. Unless Havana D'Primera play there. I would follow Alexander anywhere.

El palo mas duro regresa

My stomach virus - don’t worry, I’m not going to go into details - showed no signs of abating but nothing was keeping me from Havana d’Primera, so with a strategy that consisted of adhering to a diet of a few cornflakes with honey and gastrolyte, and some Cuban medicine for the abdominal pain that the locals swear by, I managed to get myself out to Miramar - for the first time this trip, amazingly. We met some mates in the outdoor parrillada next door and the good thing about that is that the band hangs there too, and as I knew it would be a hell combo of reggaeton and strobe lighting inside, I waited in the beer garden until I saw them make a move. What I didn’t realise was how packed it would be: it was absolutely chockers. I was stunned. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen an HdP gig so crowded. The other shocker: as MFF had reported after seeing Bamboleo, the airconditioner was in no sense of the word “fixed”. It was boiling and once the band started and everyone moved down the front, it reached inferno temperatures. The Disco Fiesta MC promised it would be fixed by the 14th. I’d take that with a grain of salt.
The band had a replacement for Yandy on bass - didn’t recognise him and didn’t catch his name. It was his first gig with them and he sounded fine, if not outstanding. Miguelito - timbalero/bongocero, again did not play with them, though unlike the last time I saw them at the Capri, he wasn’t in the audience, and I don’t know if he has left the band or not. It would be a shame if has: he seemed capable, and had a nice stage presence and good chemistry with the other percussionists.
The set began with Resumen de los 90, continued with Despues de un beso, which has become something of a hit here, which is pretty interesting, then moved into the new beauty, El palo mas duro - from son montuno to rumba buena. Awl right, as they say in rocker circles. Sweat was pouring off everyone. If the audience was burning up, I can’t imagine what it must have been like under the lights on the stage. At one point, corista Jannier slumped against his mic stand, and rested there while he sang. Alexander seemed unfazed by the over-like conditions and was totally feeding off the energy. It’s so hot in here and yet nobody has left, he said, utterly thrilled. Pretty good welcome home I guess.
The funky jam “levanta las manos la gente que son de primera” was played and was met by a raucous response, inspiring an extended version. That one is buckets of fun. Unfortunately Ony Ony, is now the song that leads to the drum solo that in turn leads to the trumpet solo that leads to Cuando el rio suena. It used to be Niña bonita. Both of those are my least favourite songs on the album. But they say you don’t get something for nothing. Again, Rodney left the solo to the chap who had done it at the Capri. Not sure why and I still don’t know who he is. You guys in Europe probably do, as they have just spent a month there. Grrrr.
At the end of Cuando el rio suena, which received by the far the biggest response, I was almost hoping Alexander would wrap it up - sacrilege I know. But I was on the point of expiring. Shall I go? he asked. Nooooooo, roared the totally sodden crowd, and into Historia verdadera they launched. I mustered up the energy for the jumping bits, but by now the casa was not just kiln-like, it was completely oxygen-free, and as the rumble of the final drum rolls sounded I was out of there like a bat out of hell, to quote another artist entirely unrelated to the world of timba, and off to the beer garden to drink a mineral water and appreciate the cool Havana night air. It’s not often I’ve said that this trip.

Negra oscura

Seeing as Azucar Negra hadn’t played all week - except for carnaval in Cardenas - we were eager to go to their Sunday night show, even though Serena and Nick, who had arrived from San Francisco, had told me that Bakuleye were at Miramar. That’s the first sighting of them so far this year (and in fact the farandulera’s bible, Disco Fiesta, hadn’t mentioned it) and I would have liked to have seen if they had improved since the debacle of last year (I imagine the answer is yes).
We left the house as usual at 12.15, so there wouldn’t be too much excruciating time spent waiting for them to come on, but in fact just as we rocked up to the doors outside, the Galiano theme music started playing, and by the time we had handed over our $10, Ailyn was already warming up the crowd. Or doing her best. It was so dead it was shocking, especially after the previous night, which had been rocking. A lack of MN cover charge wouldn’t have helped - I don’t know why they don’t have that at every night gig these days - who makes that decision anyway? Also: Sunday night. The fact that the band was lit only by ultra-violet light, bathing them in an eerie glow made the scene even more bizarre.
The dance floor was completely empty except for one Cuban showing off his moves with a foreigner - complete with dips (?!). We lurked in the shadows, but when the intro number had finished - which regrettably includes a truncated version of Estres, which means it’s the only version of it you get - and they launched into La identidad, well, what could we do, but make a beeline for the front - the only two down there. The band seemed pleased, and when they launched into La mala de la pelicula, which I really think is one of the finest things Limonta has come up with in a while, Ailyn dedicated it to us. Bless. They surprised me by doing the funky new moña next about the plata fuerto. Still doesn’t have a marcha to speak of, still sounds great. It’s all grind. It went on and on and after these three songs, I was covered in sweat. Unfortunately the next song was the merengue fusion thingy. It gave me an opportunity to buy a drink, but as soon as I stopped dancing, my body temperature dropped and with the sweat and the aircon, I was suddenly freezing. The white boy was up next with his song, which is OK but a little on the underwhelming side. By now, the dancefloor was as populated as it could be with the turn-out and it became apparent that there were quite a few Cubans there, despite the lack of MN entrada.
The keyboard supplying the piano died about halfway through, so the pianista switched to the other one, which meant we had to go without synthsizer, which suited me fine, as Limonta tends to favour cheesy synth sounds anyway.
Ailyn’s ex, Rusdel popped up on stage to do backing vocals. She didn’t look exactly thrilled about it, but she handled it like a pro. She was wearing an outrageous minidress that was loose at the top, slashed to the waist at the back, and skin tight around the thighs. It required considerable and regular adjustments. She looked fantastic. The guys were in dark-coloured waistcoats. I could see some bling on the white T-shirts underneath.
A mi La Habana was next with Dayan on vocals. People like that one. I like it less with each hearing. But everyone was having fun. I’ll not begrudge them that. Big of me. Jaja. Que pasa con las mujeres was the closer. I really wish Ailyn would sing more - I don’t know why she doesn’t. Maybe I’ll send Limonta an SMS and ask him. I’ll get back to you.
I felt a bit guilty about skipping the Charanga Forever matinee at Palacio de la Rumba earlier in the day, given that there are only seven days to go, but hey, finish as you start I guess. I haven’t faranduleared as I have in previous years and there have been many reasons for that.
A few foreigners were going to 1830 for the regular Sunday casino day. I said to Nick: I hate that fucking band (Moncada). And he said, oh yeah, but you don’t go for the band. But they do about three sets (maybe more). Don’t know what you’re supposed to do when they’re playing. Sit around with your fingers in your ears? Someone told me they got the gig because they organised it in the first place,
The gigs at Los Jardines de la Tropical have dried up as suddenly as they started. The Friday matinees only seemed to last about three weeks. I didn’t hear any reports back about the Van Van matinee on the Saturday, so I don’t know what that was like. Now there are matinees and night gigs at Los Jardines de la Polar - also a former brewery, like La Tropical, I believe - which is nearby. Haven’t made it out there yet though, and unlikely to this trip. Someone else can report back on that.
I didn’t make it to make Salsa Mayor’s gig last night at El Cafe. I’ve come down with an illness that consists of pain in the small and large intestine, chills, and nothing else. This is weird, even for me with all the food problems I have. It’s probably viral, I guess. So I stayed in and rested - I needed to be fighting fit for today: it’s Havana D’Primera at the Miramar matinee.
Pascualito was on Disco Fiesta today, spruiking two gigs on Thursday - it’s weird that they’re doing two on one day (Galiano matinee; Cafe for the night); even weirder because he told me they wouldn’t be doing any cause they were tied up doing work for a TV show all week. Still it’s not really weird at all given that this is Havana and things change so much. So I will get to see them again - twice more if I want to! - and even cooler is that he talked about me on the radio, which was pretty funny. I had told him that we play songs from Mambo duro at the club in Sydney and the dancers like them - which is absolutely true - Padrino, Familia Cubana and Ella no tiene na all go down well - and he was telling Pupy Cancio - el tio - all about it. Jajaja. Hilarious. I’ll bet it’s the first time Australia has been namechecked in a music interview here.

Inicio el verano

Combinacion de la Habana's Ricardo and Julian (Yuri in the background).

So right now just about everyone in Havana is watching the World Cup grand final. Luckily for me, Julie and Julia is on another channel.
The summer concerts started in earnest this weekend - last weekend’s Tribuna gig with Los Intocables, was just the opener, last night, Adalberto was scheduled with Explosion Latina, to play on Prado in front of the Capitolio, then Explosion Latina were moving down to the bottom of my street - Belascoain - to play on the Malecon. I walked across Prado about 1.30pm and saw that it was blocked off to traffic and that there were stalls set up selling I-don’t-know-what (I was running late for a lunch - I didn’t stop to look).
We had Combinacion de la Habana booked in for the arvo, como siempre, but I thought I’d pass by the Capitolio after. I had thought the free gigs might affect the matinee, but it was pretty full - more people than the week before; though they were a more sedate crowd. The least raucous Combinacion de la Habana crowd I’ve seen at Galiano in fact. Abraham from Tumbao Habana was there grooving down the front. MFF says she has seen him there every week, but I didn’t recognise him until after I’d seen him sing with TH play. She said she thought he was an Italian impresario. He looks a bit like that, with his white skin and pale brown hair.
Combinacion de la Habana don’t do a long set; though it’s long enough. Ricardo - mi amigo! - has risen quickly. The hit he sings of theirs, Se te fue el avion, is the centrepiece, in that it goes for ten minutes with audience participation. He’s also been given a new song to sing, the name of which eludes me right now. He doesn’t have the boy band dance chops of the other singers Yuri and Julian, but boy can he sing. I’m still not sure they’re the right band for him, but I think they’re the right band for him right now. Julian and Yuri are both good singers, but Yuri needs to take care that he doesn’t fall into that Amaray/Charanga sob style. I think Renier from Tumbao Habana has been the best of the new young singers I’ve seen. He has a strong voice with good pitch control but he has no sentimentality at all in his style. He just sings straight and pure. The ballad he sang would have tempted most of the young singers here into overblown histrionics, but he had the good sense to resist. It was all the better for it.
It felt like the air-conditioning wasn’t working in the Casa. There have been massive problems in all the main venues this trip. Miramar’s only got fixed a couple of weeks ago - they had no matinees at all for a month - I guess they figured it was cooler at night. But MFF went to see Bamboleo their last Sunday and she swears it stills feels like a sauna. Likewise, El Cafe’s aircon was out and they trumpeted on the radio that it had been fixed, but at Trabuco apparently it was pretty hot and Manolito said that if it wasn’t fixed in two weeks when they got back from Europe they wouldn’t do their regular Thursday gig until it was.
After Combinacion de la Habana, we went, with Julian and his friend Danny, to get something to eat at the Hanoi. Prado was still closed to traffic, but there was no music playing - it was supposed to start at 8, and it was now after 9 - and it didn’t look like much was going on. We went to dinner - fritura de malanga! - and when we came back after 10, the street had been opened to traffic and there was nothing going on at all. As we walked home, a woman with a pram passed us on San Martin and asked us if the concert was happening. Nope, we said. She continued on anyway.
Even though it was well into night, the heat was stifling. usually when you walk through Centro, you get a cooling breeze from the Malecon on the cross streets. But there was nothing. I felt like my jeans were suffocating me. OK, weird image. Sorry. I couldn’t wait to get back to the house and peel them off. It was just a short break though, cause we were going back to Galiano for Salsa Mayor. At their gig the previous Monday, they had said it would be their last gig before heading off to Europe; but during the day, Maikel was on Piso 6 saying that their last gig was the 26th. Pretty hard to get solid info when even the horse’s mouth is getting it wrong. So anyway, down we went. It’s $150MN for Cubans, which isn’t that cheap but it was pumping inside. Big screens with reggaeton videos on them. That and the crowd made it seem the Capri had relocated for the evening, though it wasn’t quite that bad. Alexis was there, I’m guessing with some students, though they didn’t take over the dance floor like they had for Tumbao Habana. Probably because the DJ played no salsa at all: just reggaeton and house. The curtain was up, which was odd, but it didn’t seem to signify anything much. Singer Pavel was sitting at a table near the bar with two Capri-style bleached blondes. Business as usual.
They opened with Pa’ cualquiera, which I’m always happy to hear - it’s one of the few songs of Maikel’s that has a different sound, and of course Yordi sings it - but it seemed an odd choice to open with. But you take what you can get. Yordi was in good form. Man that guy is charismatic - he totally makes the stage his own. I can’t imagine Salsa Mayor without him. They did a short set - they tend not to do long ones - but it was long enough for me. I was tired.
I had bought a bootleg of the Salsa Mayor disc in the Casa de la Musica store - I know it’s out in the online stores, and I’ll buy the real one when I get back, but of course you can’t get that here, and it was only $3, so I thought I’d get it to listen to until I go home. So I put it into my computer and ... not the Salsa Mayor album (que sorpresa!). It was three of the new demos, plus Ella dice, and a bunch of songs by random Cuban groups, including a version of Ni bombones ni caramelos by Pupy with Rusdel on vocals.
Today Charanga Forever is at Palacio de la Rumba for a matinee and Azucar Negra are at Galiano for the night. Definitely going to the latter. Not sure about the former.

La reina de mi corazón

La reina de mi corazón, Vania

Typical. Just when I get my shit together to go out, nature throws an obstacle in my way.
I’ve listened to Disco Fiesta and recorded the guia for today, Saturday and Sunday, I’ve had my Spanish class, and then showered and dressed and now ... ka-boom. Thunder and lightening. And any minute now, rain I guess. Really I didn’t have too much to do - mainly go to Etecsa on Zanja and sell my first born for mobile credit. I recharged with $10 CUC two days ago but already I’m down to $2 - the government must be making a squillion bucks off mobiles here - the offices are open from something like 7.30am till 8.30pm and there are queues all day. It’s crazy. So anyway I’m going to buy about $40 credit in the hope that it’ll tide me over until I go.
There isn’t much musicwise today: the radio still says Vania is playing at the Cine Riviera tonight. I’m going to call to check, but that’s me sorted. NG la Banda are playing Cine Rampa tomorrow. Seems to be a new thing here to have bands on at the theatres. Not sure it’s the best venue for salsa bands, but it’ll be fine for Vania and the bands start at 10 so it’s a more civilised time to see them than at the clubs.
Bamboleo are doing a matinee at Galiano - they seem to have taken over, as they did when I was here in 2004 from July-September and all the groups were out of town. This week they played: Miramar on Saturday and Sunday, Galiano on Monday, Galiano again tomorrow, and Tanya has two gigs with her own band (she plays every Thursday at Casa del Habano if anyone’s interested. I haven’t been). In 2004 I was here for seven weeks and only saw Trabuco and Pupy twice cause they were away - can’t really remember what I did with the rest of my days though it’s easy to fritter them away in a contented fashion as I have this trip, though I am slightly tormented by the thought of Reve, Pupy and Havana D’Primera all gigging here mere days after I arrive back home. (To add insult to injury, I just received a Facebook message saying that Havana D’Primera are playing twice next weekend: the first time at the Capri, at the exact same time I’ll be at Jose Marti airport waiting for my flight.) It’s going to be pretty hard to plan your trip around the groups from now on though, with the US tours. Chino from Trabuco said that all the groups had their visas held up for 20 days, which is why all the tours seemed to be confirmed at the last minute.
Once, if you came for Cubadisco, you could be certain of finding everyone here, but that’s not the case now. Probably the only time you are guaranteed of finding the big names here now is December 31. I love timba, but I’m not sure I love it enough to trade a glorious Sydney summer for a cool-to-cold December. My apartment here in Centro Havana would be bloody freezing at that time. That Malecon wind would come right in the slats of my balcony doors.

12.15am
Well that was a real Havana experience. The Vania gig at the Cine Riviera was 20MN entry and I’d neglected to bring any Cuban pesos, and the woman at the box office wouldn’t take CUC. A guy lounging on his car out the front with a wallet full of $50MN notes changed them for us and in we went, just after 10pm.
The cinema was musty and decrepit, with strips of something or other hanging off the walls and holes in the curtains. The large stage was set up with a drumkit, bass, guitar and keyboards. Reggaeton boomed from the sound system. It’s a small theatre and it was only about a third full. It hadn’t been well-publicised. About 10.05, Maureen - the support act - came out with a four piece band. The girl on keyboards who looked about 14 turned out to be the MD. Maureen was a bit cheesy in a cabaret kind of way, but not bad. I imagine she was there cause Vania didn’t want to play the hour. Her 30 minutes passed quickly and soon Vania came out, looking divine - much better than when I last saw her. More svelte than in recent years, and more glowy than ever. She totally owned the stage, as usual, and engaged in lively banter with the small but very enthusiastic audience. It was almost all ballads, and she sounded sensational. She admitted she hadn’t rehearsed with the band: it was obvious, but it didn’t really matter, and after a few songs she dismissed them and sang to backing tracks. She closed with a salsa track that got everyone dancing. Then Maureen came back with the 14-year-old and her band and they did La vida es un carnaval, which I never want to hear again as long as I live, unless Vania is singing it, which she did, joining the band for the finale.
It was one of those slightly Lynchian, only-in-Havana experiences. I’m sure El Tosco is thrilled about playing the Cine Rampa tomorrow, given the admission price. I'm not sure I can fit it in between Combinacion de la Habana and Salsa Mayor. I’m not a big fan of the latter, as you all know, but it’s their last gig, and I want to see Yordi sing his two songs again, cause they totally rawk.

Last night I left Alaín Daniel’s gig early. I know I know. I suck. I just couldn’t stand it. Being buffeted by people non-stop. We’re the fuck are they going all night anyway? The Capri fucking drives me nuts. Alain was doing a fairly subpar set anyway, and was more sartorially compromised than I had ever seen him. So I fought my way out of the frontline, into a taxi and home, where I met MFF who had gone to a Manolito matinee that deposited her at home at 2.30am. Some matinee. She said Tirso and Tanya got up and played with the band. They're off on Saturday for a whirlwind two-week trip to Europe.

Tienes que ir Tumbando

The lads from Tumbao Habana have some fun. Renier is in white.

Well that was the best $5 I ever spent. Tumbao Habana is the first matinee since I’ve been here to charge less than $10 for foreigners - even Combinacion de la Habana have come from behind to usurp them. Too bad there weren’t more people there to enjoy it. They were cooking.
It’s been a couple of years since I’ve seen them and the handful of good songs on their Mambo Duro album sparked my interest, but every time they have played it has conflicted with something else - usually Azúcar Negra, who are also creating some heat at the moment. If I’d known how good TH were right now, the decision would have been even more difficult.

I got there late – the preparation of a lobster stir-fry went a little over time – and they were already playing when I got down there. Blonde negrito dance teacher Alexis was leading a large posse of unco-ordinated foreigners in a series of shines. The first song seemed to be one of those intro-to-the-band numbers and I didn’t recognise it. It was a little underwhelming but the singer, a blanco with an infectious grin, was entertaining. Next was Ella tiene na’ which is one of the songs from the album I like, this too was a little underwhelming but, awww, next - La familia cubana. It’s my favourite song, with my favourite singer, Renier, the one that sounds like Michel Maza. It was bloody awesome. I love love love that song. And they kept extending it and I couldn’t have been happier. A large chap in a checked shirt with a cigar asked if I was Cuban while I was singing along. I said no. Later he said, how do you know the song? I said, I have the disc. He looked disappointed and walked off. I was sorry I couldn’t offer him a more exciting answer.
Candela was next, I’m not a big fan of that on the disc but it sounded pretty good actually.
Next they did a merengue-bachata fusion - two of my most loathed forms in one tidy package. But the singers were so full of energy and so smiley and happy that god help me I even danced a little bit. Renier stepped forward next to sing a ballad and I was like, uh-oh, but man, what pipes! (Though he loses points for wearing low-slung jeans and showing a large expanse of navy blue undies. Dude, you’re not 17 any more. ) It almost made the Kenny G sax solo worthwhile.
The band’s music director Pascualito wasn’t on the stage much - he was wandering off and on - he’d wipe down his keyboard, grab the mic and walk to the front to say something, and wander off again. He wasn’t really missed. Everything was firing on all cylinders - the other pianist did a great job; the horns were all in tune; the singers were giving it their all. It was excellent.
During El Padrino I saw Pascualito look at his watch - it was just after 8, but once you hit the hour here, you can expect the band to finish at any time. Padrino used to be sung by Emilio, who is now with Reve, and the guy who is doing it now I think is one of TH’s old guard - at least he seems pretty familiar.* He had some pitch problems but was pretty good with all the yoruba stuff. Great song. They launched into the Despedida after, but suddenly changed mid-song to Mambo duro: I was thrilled. Another of my favourites with Renier. It sounded great.
I spoke to Pascualito after: alas they are spending the week recording music for a TV show and their next gig is at the Palacio de la Rumba about 15 hours after I fly out.
At least I got to see them once.

* Actually I might need to take that back cause I think I just saw him on tele singing with Chispa. Him or his twin bro.

It never rains but ...

Combinacion de la Habana's Yuri and some lady friends.

It shits me that, with so many of the big bands out of Havana - the ones that are left are still competing with each other. So we get days of literally nothing of interest, followed by: Thursday matinee - Tumbao Havana at Galiano (Azúcar Negra seem to be in el campo playing carnaval) and Manolito at Cafe Cantante; and for the night, Alain Daniel at the Capri and Charanga Latina at Galiano. Meanwhile Galiano had nothing for their Tuesday matinee; possibly nothing for Wednesday (it’s been closed for the last three or four); Miramar had someone I’ve never heard of and Cantante had Havana Show (?). Tuesday night it was Pedrito Calvo at Miramar and I think La Barriada at Galiano. Honestly I wouldn’t mind seeing Pedrito but I have had a killer throat infection that kept me away from Salsa Mayor’s second last gig last night and I’d probably only risk Havana D’Primera on it at night. The jury’s out on whether I’ll have the chance to see them or not. Bass player Yandy stayed in Europe to play on the Klimax tour, so I guess they need to find a ring-in if they going to gig, and maybe they can’t be arsed. Sob.
I’ll probably wind up seeing Combinacion de la Habana twice this week - they do El Cafe on Fridays now before the matinee at Galiano on Saturday. I’m retracting my initial opinion about them not having good songs: they do a couple that are derivative, but they have more plenty of great ones too - ones with coros that stick in your brain and refuse to be dislodged.
Last Saturday their matinee was busy but a bit less manic than usual - maybe some people decided to save their pesos and go to the free gig for the start of summer at La Tribuna with Los Cuatro/Los Salvajes/Los Intocables/Whatever they’re called his week (for the record it seemed to be the later). There were still plenty of crazy drunk people. Groups from work and colleges seems to use this Saturday matinee for their outings, so there are always plenty of people keen to have a good time. When it was cintura time, about five girls got up and every one tripped on her way up the stairs. I thought for sure it was all going to end with a visit from the ambos, but there were no broken bones - not even a broken stiletto.
This trip has been marked by absences - not just by the bands that aren’t playing but by the friends that aren’t here: Duni; Yuliesky, who used to play trumpet with Havana D’Primera and stayed in Europe earlier this year, extranjeros Jeremy and Stefan - we had quite the posse last year. Canadian Martin, who lives here, has gone back to Canada for a while too. It’s a little weird. It’s almost like the first trips I made where I didn’t know anyone. Of course we have made new friends. That’s the upside. We had dinner with Chino from Trabuco last night. He is such a great guy - completely simpatico and unpretentious and very funny. He had an awesome time on the US tour.

I had a fun morning at immigration on Tuesday - I made a total of three trips before I was able to renew my visa. Here’s a tip: take your medical insurance papers with you; you know, along with your stamps, your proof of paid accommodation, your old visa and your passport. I think that’s everything. Then make sure you have a spare couple of hours. One year I arrived and was processed immediately, but I must have stumbled into a parallel universe that day because it has never happened again. There is a tiny reward now in that the artesan market that used to be further around on the Malecon has moved into an old building right on the water, more or less across the road from the Centro de Negocios, where you have to go to renew your visa. Pretty incovenient for everyone else I’d have thought, but a small consolation for those who have had a frustrating morning in el Centro. It’s cooler now - it used to bake in the sun - and it’s bigger too - there are about 300 stalls in tiny, unattractive white cubicles. They’re not all open at the same time (and those that were might not be open when you come back) and the place is like a rabbit warren, so if you see something you like and plan to come back for it, note the number on the stall.

Breaking news: Duniesky just got back and confirmed that timbalero Miguelito and keyboard player Osiris decided to stay in the States. So we won’t be seeing Pupy this trip then. But at least my best mate is back in town.

More breaking news: Havana D’Primera are playing next Tuesday. Probably.

Apologies for the delays in the posts this year: some days I just can't connect to Blogger at all.

¿Tú sabes quien llegó?

I rang the Capri on Thursday night just to check that Alaín Daniel was playing, and that he hadn’t fucked off to Pinar del Rio. The number was fuera del servicio, but I thought, well we’ll go and if he isn’t there we’ll cab it back to Centro and see Charanga Latina at Galiano. We had dinner at the Chinese restaurant on Zanja which is a favourite of Duni’s - mention it to him and you’ll spend the next 15 minutes listening to him wax lyrical about the pizzas’ virtues. We had been told it was closed - misinformation, fortunately, because it’s round the corner from our place and quite good. I got lobster al ajillo for $6 (I can’t eat wheat); which had enough on it to serve as the basis for a lobster-heavy stirfry the next night. The waiter actually looked Chinese (unlike a lot of people who are dubbed “Chino” here) and was super keen to practice his English. He was a lovely chap. Muy simpatico.
The Capri was as usual when we arrived, except the DJ was playing a bit of salsa which was weird. Pretty soon he switched to reggaeton, but most of it was reasonably agreeable. I can’t believe I just wrote that. The text scrolling over the videos said Gente D’Zona were going to be playing there on Tuesday. I can’t imagine what kind of special hell that might be. My friend on the door said you’d have to get there at 9pm to get in - and wait till 1am to see them play. [shudder] They have no bands on Friday or Saturday, due, apparently, to bad business negotiations. Would have loved to get the dirt on that but regrettably that was all I was able to get.
Alaín arrived a little early, bless him, but I barely had time to snap some pics, do a quick despelote and receive a dirty look from Jacob from GdZ for not moving immediately away from his hallowed aura when he greeted a guy seated next to me, before the sound cut out and the entire place was plunged into the deepest blackness, to a cry of “ohhhh” from everyone present. After a couple of seconds, the jineteras got out their iPhones and Blackberries and the place was lit with the feeble glow of smartphones. Pretty funny. Would have been a different story even five years ago. Some even had those cool torches on them, which I imagine double as a flash (my 3G iPhone isn’t so sophisticated, and in any case, I didn’t have it on me).
I had actually managed to get a prime position - practically a miracle in that place - and didn’t want to move in case the electricity made an unscheduled reappearance. But without the air conditioning, the smoke soon become intolerable, and we moved to the staircase outside to hang out and give the sitch some time to resolve itself. Most of the buildings outside were in darkness (the Hotel Nacional was not), and the Capri obviously has pull, because the electricians were already a block away checking cables and sending sparks showering dramatically onto the road. It didn’t look good, and when my bouncer mate said, “It looks bad”, we decided to cab it home. We left a crowd of people inside demanding their money back from the admissions desk, and a group of exceedingly drunk Americans drinking vodka from a bottle and swearing on the stairs.
Friday was another lame day for matinees: Gardi (Miramar), Arnaldo (Cafe) and Sello LA (Galiano). The fería at Pabellon Cuba has just started and will offer another option until September, although it won’t always be salsa. It pissed down all afternoon - in fact it had been raining for days, thanks to Cyclone Alex near Mexico. It put a dampener on some plans and we just hung at the house - probably been spending a bit too much time here really. I cooked up the lobster, watched Precious on tele, then we walked down to Galiano to see Trabuco. It was the usual Trabuco-at-Galiano crowd: dance instructors with big groups of students dancing casino and rueda. In fact that seemed to comprise the entire crowd, apart from a few jineteras and a hippie extranjera with long blonde dreads and a young very try-hard dude wearing carefully worn threads, a hat tipped casually back on his head and clutching a bottle of Havana Club. He was in desperate need of a shower. The DJ played all salsa which pleased the crowd who packed the dance floor trying out newly learnt moves.
Trabuco’s trombonist Pipi had invited some mates and they had a table down the front stage right, and were partying hard. The band came on about 1.20. They were all wearing white, and Amaray took the stage first. Pepitin and Mayami turned up later, both wearing black, the latter sporting an Urkel-goes-bling look with glasses. They started with La Habana me llama: that song doesn’t get any better with age. I tried to maintain interest by focusing on the musos: trombonista Leonardo was missing for some reason. I know he’s around: I’ve seen him in the street and at other gigs. Otherwise everyone was present and playing well, though they didn’t look especially pleased to be there. Control was next - from mediocre to genuinely appalling. “Un abuso,” as a muso friend of mine here described it (I’m not going to dob him in). The lovely intro of El Aguila followed. What joy. The arrangement had been fucked with a bit, and Amaray was really straining to sing it - guess El Gallo is still a hard act to follow after all these years - but it’s such a great song. It was pretty much all downhill from there for me. The derivative La noche - which makes La Habana me llama sound like a tour de force - followed; Pepitin struggled with Marcando la distancia, and the rest were a bunch of songs I didn’t really care about. By the time they closed with Locos por mi Habana, I was too frozen by the air-conditioning and lack of interest to get up and dance.
I think I’ll be going to see them in future only if there are no other options and I really want to go out. So long Trabuco, we had some great times, but now it’s over between us.
They're only making a brief cameo appearance here in Cuba - they're off to Europe on the 10th. Pupy's back, but Duni has stayed in the US a week, and if some chisme I heard today is true (I hope it isn't), they'll be down a couple of members and in no state to play. Havana D'Primera aren't scheduled anywhere yet :(
Thank god for Combinacion de la Habana!

Tranquila en La Habana

Veronica Mars is on every night at 7.30 - it ends a block of programming for kids, and afterwards a cartooon comes on of sleepy Care Bear style characters to tell the niños that it’s time for bed. I would have thought Veronica Mars would have been a little racey for the little ones, especially season three, which deals with rape, but then maybe they grow up fast here. The epsiodes are cut down into about 22 minutes and end frustratingly abruptly. But it’s still great. I love Veronica. She’s my hero. At the moment Paul Rudd’s in it as a loser hasbeen rock star. He’s always awesome; even in crappy Apatow movies.

Salsa Mayor’s regular gig at El Cafe was out of the question on Monday due to acute roadtrip fatigue, and we skipped Van Van’s matinee yesterday too. Felt a bit guilty about that, especially with just under three weeks to go. They were being supported by Los Confidenciales, a group from Matanzas who have the big reggaeton hit here at the moment that everyone - Alexander, Revé, Combinacion de la Habana - has referenced, called Agua. Oddly, there isn’t any other one song on high rotation. There is one by Gente d’Zona but as it sounds like all their other songs it doesn’t really stand out. Gozando en la Habana is still being thrashed, but regrettably it’s the Miami version, which takes some of the sting out of it.

Trabuco are playing on Friday. I have mixed feelings about that. I was pretty lukewarm on them last year. Still I need to see them. Too bad they’re playing at the same time as Combinacion de la Habana. But they have their regular Saturday matinee, so I can always go to that. Trabuco are also at Varadero on Saturday and MFF is keen on going, but I’ve had enough road trips for now: even if Havana is a little quiet, I think I’d rather spend my last couple of weeks here.

Today is a fucking disaster. After a having a smorgasbord to choose from for the Thursday matinee (Azucar Negra, Tumbao Havana, Salsa Mayor) today we have Los Confidenciales, Los Angeles de la Habana and Triangulo Oscuro. Am now beginning to wish I had seen Van Van - who are now in Colombia, and leave for Europe next Wednesday - on Tuesday, or even Haila yesterday. Boohoo. Still have Alaín tonight - I think. haven’t checked yet. He’s probably fucked off to Pinar de Rio or something.