La Novia del Filin Shows Gratitude and Cuban Music Begins to Resurface in the U.S.

Lots of news on the Cuban music front. Last month the infinitely sultry doyenne of filin, Omara Portuondo, released her latest album Gracias, in commemoration of sixty years as a recording artist. On this collection of Portuondo's personal favorites, the female star of the Buena Vista Social Club is accompanied by musicians she greatly admires. Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca, the legendary Chucho Valdés, Brazilian singer/songwriter Chico Buarque and Cameroonian bassist Richard Bona are just some of the luminaries setting the mood. Now in her late seventies, Portuondo has much to be thankful for. She's lived a storied career, first as a dancer in Havana's premier Tropicana nightclub in the forties and then as a singer for the vocal group Quarteto Las D'Aida (the equivalent of the Supremes). Late in life, the success of the Buena Vista Social Club has brought her worldwide recognition, along with a new lease on her artistic life.

Just in time for the dawning of a new era in American politics, and in hopeful anticipation of a thawing of U.S.-Cuba relations, Juan de Marcos González's Afro-Cuban All-Stars launch a U.S. tour in February that will take the revolving collective to thirty plus cities across the nation. In reflecting the reality of a growing number of Cuban musicians who opt to live outside of the ever-restrictive island, the 2009 version of the Afro-Cuban All-Stars is comprised of A-list Cuban musicians who reside all over the world. From Minnesota to Amsterdam, González has assembled a group of expatriates who are at the top of their game. A combination CD/DVD titled Absolutely Live on Gonzalez's DM Ahora! Records (London) and GG & LL Records (Mexico) will be available exclusively during this tour at concerts and at select online retailers. The package includes DVD footage of a concert at Tokyo's Zepp, and CD audio and DVD of a previously unreleased concert at The Staaten Hall during The Hague's North Sea Jazz Festival. For a city near you visit www.rockpaperscissors.biz/go/cuba



Last but not least my friends at FUNDarte, in conjunction with the Miami Light Project, are putting on their most anticipated show of their performance season. Every year in February sand and sea become the backdrop for the Global Cuba Fest on the shores of Miami Beach. The series of concerts showcases the best contemporary live Cuban music that's accessible to Americans. This year non other than Cuban-Canadian rockero Alex Cuba makes his live Miami debut. I caught up with the afro-haired singer/songwriter over the summer in New York at the Latin Alternative Music Conference and he expressed some trepidation at the prospect of playing Miami for the first time. I assured him that times had changed and that for the most part music and art were no longer caught in the crosshairs of local Cuban-American politics as they had been in the past. Plus audiences in Miami, as in the rest of the U.S., are hungry for Cuban music in its many forms. Also on the bill are saxophonist Yosvany Terry, and Miami's own Grammy-winning Cuban diva, Albita. For details and dates visit http://www.fundarte.us/