Ex Habana Abierta Member Drops New Disc

Madrid-based, singer/songwriter Borris Larramendi, a former member of the collective Habana Abierta and The Habana Blues Band, released his second solo album Libre, which he self-produced and is available on iTunes. I'll write a proper review once I've listened to the entire disc, though I'm sure that Larramendi serves up as much swing and funk as he did when he jammed with HA - and besides, Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez plays the trap set and percussion on the album and any project he's involved in, from experimental jazz to timba-funk, is top-notch, El negro doesn't mess around. As for the remaining members of HA, they will be performing in Miami on June 6th at the American Airlines Arena as the opening act for Cuban-American salsa singer Willy Chirino.

From Angola to Lisbon to the World Buraka Som Sistema Update Kuduro

Buraka Som Sistema's highly anticipated U.S. debut, Black Diamond, is finally here. The Lisbon-based trio makes a strain of kuduro music that's laced with the kind of urgent, raw lyrics that the music demands. Kuduro originally took root in Luanda, the capital of Angola, back in the late 80s, when African producers trying to make techno and house came up with a very different concoction. The African brew sampled traditional carnival music like zouk from the Caribbean, as well as semba and kilapanga from Angola. In its latest incarnation it gained traction in Europe via Angolan immigrants in Portugal where it morphed yet again, through the filter of European dance music. On Black Diamond, Buraka Som Sistema meld Angola's grimy electronic soundscapes and frenetic rhythms with other influences such as dubstep,  drum 'n bass, soca and baile funk. Club bangers abound and there's even a true diamond in the rough that outshines the rest in "General," a thumping house track that fuses with sparkling Afro-pop guitars.