AfroCubism @ Royal Albert Hall

AfroCubism @ Royal Albert Hall

Monday 27 June 2011

Featuring: Eliades Ochoa, Djelimady Tounkara, Toumani Diabaté, Bassekou Kouyate and Kasse Mady Diabaté 

With the current world wide tour receiving resounding reviews the extra one-night-only date gives audiences another rare and ‘unmissable’ (MusicOMH) opportunity to see Cuba and Mali’s finest musicians performing together in London’s finest venue.

AfroCubism was an idea originally conceived of in 1996 to bring the foremost Cuban musicians and their Malian counterparts together on one recording. As it turned out the Malians couldn’t make it to Cuba so an exclusively Cuban album was recorded instead. This went on to be the multi-million selling Buena Vista Social Club.

14 years later the 13 piece all-star cast of musicians reconvened in Spain and recorded AfroCubism. Released in October 2010 the album has universally lived up to the high expectations which preceded it.

'An elegant, gently exquisite album' The Guardian

'A cross-cultural tour de force' The Times

More info@

http://liveweb.arte.tv/fr/video/Afrocubism_au_Bataclan/

http://www.sphericalimages.com

WOMAD Charlton Park 2011

WOMAD Charlton Park
Fri 29th - Sun 31st July 2011
Malmesbury, Wiltshire
United Kingdom

EARLY BIRD Tickets on sale now; Other details coming up...


More info@
http://www.womad.org/festivals/charlton-park

Portico Quartet + Ibrahim Maalouf

Portico Quartet + Ibrahim Maalouf

SAT 4 Dec 2010
ICA, The Mall, London
SW1Y 5AH, UK

Tube: Charing Cross

Ace Mercury-nominated post-jazz band with support from Lebanese Worldbeat trumpeter who adds a vibrant edge to blending jazz and classical Arabic Music.

Tel: 020 7930 3647

More info@
http://www.ica.org.uk

Chico & Rita Review

Chico & Rita

A Fim Review

A sizzling love story brews in this powerful film that depicts the evolution of America’s jazz scene from be-pop to Latin fusion with influences of Afro-Cuban jazz rhythms; to Cu-bop. The leading cast, characterisation (animation cameos by Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Chano Pozo, etc…) and a sumptuous soundtrack (from the great Bebo Valdes), are to die for.

Chico and Rita, as tempestuous lovers who can neither let go of nor fulfil their own desires and destinies, lead an impressive cast. Chico, with a penchant for the ladies and virtuosity on piano, reminiscent of many a jazz musician’s nomadic life, is smitten with Rita's sultry presence and husky voice that drives the pace of their romance. Ramon, as Chico’s sidekick is impressive too as the ambitious business man, whose greed leads to the betrayal and eventual deportation of Chico on trumped charges of drug dealing.

The film also shows a glimpse of the trials and tribulations of the 1940s American Jazz scene. Loyalty, politics, greed, corruption not to mention an allusion to the underworld’s presence; are themes that emerge and are beautifully interwoven by excellent film direction.

The end perfectly captures Chico’s popular re-emergence, whose musical “Indian summer” is filled with awards and sell-out performances; and the eventual re-unification with his soul mate (Rita), is one for the romantics – that true love conquers all. And perhaps, not coincidentally a similar anecdote of Buena Vista Social Club's Ibrahim Ferrer (shoe shiner), Ruben Gonzalez (who hadn't played a piano for years) and Compay Segundo (who apparently had a long "lost love").

This film is a cinematic triumph and surely, a strong contender for the 2011 Oscars. Place your bets now, as you may not find better animation this year.  - David Kayondo 

More info@
http://www.chicoandrita.co.uk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTWxB9hRjwI 

Benda Bilili!

Benda Bilili!

New film details coming up soon...

More info@
http://www.bendabilili.co.uk

Buena Vista Social Club - Chan Chan

Femi Kuti @ The Barbican

Femi Kuti & The Positive Force + Sound of Rum

28 November 2010 / 19:30
Barbican Hall

Tickets: £10 - 25
subject to availability

Details coming up...

AfroCubism @ The Barbican

AfroCubism

Sunday 21 Nov

The Barbican Hall

SOLD OUT!!!

Featuring Eliades Ochoa, Toumani Diabate, Bassekou Kouyate, Djelimady Tounkora, Kasse Mady Diabate.

The legendary ‘lost’ project that became Buena Vista Social Club© is finally realised. Some of the finest Cuban and Malian musicians collaborate In Nick Gold’s newest and most eagerly awaited project for years.

More info@

Barbican - AfroCubism

FREE STAGE,,, from 2pm

Omar Puente & Alex Wilson

Havana: ¡Vive El Verano!

¡Vive El Verano!
  Havana, Cuba
A Photographic Exhibition

Details coming up...

More info@
http://www.rps.org

Chucho Valdes @ The Barbican

Chucho Valdés & The Afro-Cuban Messengers + Ibrahim Maalouf

The Barbican
Thursday 18 November 2010
7.30pm

Cuba's legendary pianist is back in London with a brand new show!

A Cuban national treasure, and multi-grammy winning pianist - Chucho combines the influences of musicians such as Art Tatum, Bill Evans and McCoy Tyner with Afro-Cuban roots and a blazing technique that leaves audiences on the edge of their seat.

He's back at the Barbican as part of the London Jazz Festival in association with BBC Radio 3, this time with his Octet the Afro Cuban Messengers performing tracks from their eagerly anticipated new release, Chucho's Step (Harmoni Mundi)

"Valdés's octave span might even have frightened Rachmaninov, and his headlong keyboard exploits traversing most of jazz piano history -could burst open doors."’ The Guardian review on his last performance at Ronnie Scott's .

"A one-man piano whirlwind whipping up an Afro-Cuban jazz storm."’ Time Out

"High-pressure virtuosity, cliffhanging improvisation and party-time salsa."’ The Guardian

More info@

http://www.barbican.org.uk/music/event-detail.asp?ID=11037

Opening the evening is French/Lebanese trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf (Discovery of the Year at the 2010 French Jazz Music Awards), bringing his haunting mix of jazz and classical Arabic music to the UK for the first time.

Tickets from £15
Box Office: 020 7638 8891

LLAFF Launch Party

London Latin American Film Festival Launch
Wed 13 Nov 2010
Bolivar Hall
7pm

The opening night with Chico & Rita - feautures a sumptuous animated feature with an original soundtrack by the legendary Cuban bandleader and composer Bebo Valdés.

The story follows the tempestuous love affair between Chico, a talented piano player, and gorgeous, honey-voiced chanteuse Rita, as they pursue each other from the steamy nightclubs of pre-revolutionary Havana, through the Mambo and Jazz haunts of Harlem, to the glamorous world of Forties Hollywood and, finally, to a seedy motel in Las Vegas.

More info@
http://www.latinamericanfilmfestival.com/films/
http://www.chicoandrita.co.uk/

Festival Au Desert

Festival Au Desert 2011

Details coming up...

More info@
http://www.festival-au-desert.org

Ballet Nacional de Cuba

Ballet Nacional de Cuba

Details coming up...

More info@
http://www.balletcuba.cult.cu/

World Circuit Records

World Circuit Records

Details coming up...

More info@
http://www.worldcircuit.co.uk
http://www.livingstonstudios.co.uk/

¡Como No! Events

¡Como No! ~ Upcoming events...

ORQUESTA BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB®

Featuring Omara Portuondo
Royal Albert Hall | London
Tuesday 19 April. 7.30pm

Following a series of hugely successful performances in recent years, the twelve-piece Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club® which features a number of Buena Vista Social Club alumni make their eagerly awaited return to Europe. 

This Cuban musicians' collective has played together for over half a century. Stylistically, they span the entire spectrum of Afro-Cuban music. Deliciously slow bolero ballads and majestic danzones feature the swell of strings, while background vocals conveying messages of romance hide behind arrestingly beautiful melodies.

Buena Vista Social Club's most influential style is the exuberant, polyrhythmic music known as son, which gave birth to both Mambo and Salsa. These upbeat numbers are full of infectious guitar licks, multilayered Afro-Cuban rhythms, soaring vocal melodies, and brash, Big Band-style horn parts.

Joining this new and expanded lineup of Cuban players is vocalist Omara Portuondo, a member of the original Buena Vista Social Club, whose 2008 recording Gracias (World Village / Montuno) won a Latin Grammy and scored a Grammy nomination.

More info@
http://www.buenavistasocialclub.com

London Latin American Film Festival

20th London Latin American Film Festival

Details coming up...

More info@
http://www.latinamericanfilmfestival.com

AfroRomanzo presents... Pasion De Rumba!

Pasion de Rumba!

Calle Real Concert, London, May 2010

Aida Teshome

AIDA TESHOME
Ethio-Jazz, Soul, Funk


New band, details coming up...

Wara EP launch

WARA ~ "Somewhereland" ~ EP Launch

Rich Mix, London

Thursday 11 November

Video, photos, reviews: Details coming up...

Calle Real London Debut

Calle Real, London Debut 29 May 2010

Video, Photographs and reviews coming up...

Si le Gusta Repite by Maykel Blanco y Su Salsa Mayor

Tin Roots @ The Ritzy

Tin Roots ~ Coming to The Ritzy, Brixton...

Friday 3 Dec

More info@

www.tinroots.bandcamp.com
www.tinroots.blogspot.com
www.soundcloud.com/tinroots
www.myspace.com/tinroots

Mali Latino Album Launch

Mali Latino Album Launch

Tuesday 2 Nov 2010
Brighton Dome


And finally the wait is over for the eagerly awaited new music album production from Alex Wilson, a magnificent fusion of Cuban and Malian musical genres. In fact if you've missed the press... there are two such launches this month, with Nick Gold's "lost project" ~ AfroCubism ~ also making its UK debut at The Barbican Hall later this month, 21 November.

"Mali Latino" CD album is an exquisite music offering, and the brainchild of a trio of virtuoso musicians in Alex Wilson (UK's leading Salsa jazz pianist), Mamadou Diabate ( Kora player, 71st generation griot, and grandson of the legendary the Master Griot Amadu Bansang Jobarteh and brother to the renowned kora maestro Toumani Diabaté), and Ahmed Fofana (balafon player). They head up a sensational nine-piece band (including trumpets, trombone and full Latin percussion section).

Born out of an earlier encounter for the 2004 track Remercier les travailleurs and an Aldeburgh Music Composer residency, Mali Latino is a rare moment of musical alchemy: a collision of two distinct styles and traditions that a unique sound with fiery Latin percussion, mixed with the driving rhythms of Mali, the virtuosic kora and piano of Madou and Wilson’s intense combination of mandingue and Cuban vocals.

A rich mix of Latin dance patterns and driving West African rhythms make for a spectacular evening at Brighton Dome’s Corn Exchange on 2 November at 8pm. Details other dates of the their UK launch tour can be found at http://www.malilatino.com/shows/

Tickets: £15 | £12.5 concessions
Date: Tuesday 2 November 2010
Venue: Brighton Dome
Time: 8pm start (Doors 7.30pm)

A review of the Brighton concert will be coming soon...

More@
http://www.malilatino.com/
http://www.brightondome.org/events/Alex-Wilson's-Mali-Latino/3752

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mali-Latino/128408340527820?ref=search