Afternoon workshops with Leo Henriques (Cubashe) & the Suave Salsa tutors offering a varied and exciting menu of classes and with Jesus Cutinors & Son de Cuba playing classic Cuban numbers & his own acclaimed tracks on Sunday 6th March at an excellent new venue, L'esperance, Surbiton with spacious wooden floor with charismatic charm. 
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Over 100 people attended the launch night of Suave Salsa's 'A Taste of Havana'. Outside it was wet and rainy, inside the club rocked like a 'Casa de la Musica' in Central Havana. 'La Cuba Ritmo' brought the house down with a mixture of Cuban classics and their own songs. We are in discussion with them to bring them to you on a regular basis and should have more news soon.
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Weds Oct 7th sees the launch of Suavesalsa at Isha bar kingston and what better way than starting with La Cuba Ritmo. If you've seen them before you will know why they were voted runners up in 2008 as best UK Salsa band category.  This will definately bring a taste of Cuba to Kingston. See their web-site for their pedigree from the very best Music acadamies in Cuban and their experience of playing with such bands as Los Van Van. See classes for more information on the evening. Tickets on the door
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Interview with Patricio Sobrado of Calle Real this week I got to speak with the Composer/Songwriter of Calle Real (that's the band that most of you say to me during the class/club 'hey I really like that track') Patricio Sobrado. In the conversation you will find out about their unique heritage, who has a very famous father, who escaped as a political refugee and yes they have a Polish member there too. There's references to Suave Salsa and our dance team and if you haven't already done so you can download their latest album 'Me lo Gane' from i-tunes or Amazon.co.uk  

Will: Patricio, I can't remember an album so eagerly anticipated as 'Me lo Gane' by Suave Salsa's dance teachers and student's alike. I get more requests to play Calle Real tracks (Con Fuerza or Me Lo Gane) than even Los Van Van or Manolito tracks.  Are you starting to notice a ground swell of support for the Calle Real 'sound' too?  


Patricio: Wow, this is amazing. It means first of all that the news travelled fast and secondly that we must have made a big impression. This is indeed great news for us. Being from Sweden and playing Timba we are not used to being acclaimed as popular so for us it is very pleasant to hear this. As a matter of fact there are several influential people that have said something similar about our sound. It feels great that others are interested in what we are doing.

Will: It may come as a surprise to many people who enjoy Cuban music, that whilst your strong Timba sound feels like it is born from the streets of Havana and it's music schools that the vast majority of your band members are not Cuban. Can you tell us about your own music heritage, that of Rikard Valdes and some other members of Calle Real

Patricio: Well this is true. We are not Cubans. Most of the members were born in Sweden, except  Rikard Valdes-the one closest to being Cuban, since his father is the mighty Bebo Valdes; Jacek Onuszkiewicz one of the trumpeters was born in Poland and I was born in Chile. Thomas Eby, the lead singer is completely Swedish, although most people find this hard to believe.

I see myself as an auto-didactic (self-taught) musician since I did not attend any musical school when young. My mother was an instructor of Chilean folklore dance and my Father's cousin was with the protest rock band Los Javias from Chile, pretty well known during the Pinochet years. I started playing the guitar when I was 8- both my parents knew how to play some tunes so the guitar was always there- and I was always interested in writing my own songs, so I suppose that was my drive. As my family came to Europe as political refugees I listened to left-wing music from the 70's and 80's and was inspired by Silvio Rodriquez, from who's songs I actually learned to play. But also mainstream music that kids my age listened to in Europe such as The Beetles, Abba, B Gees, and later on Madonna and Michael Jackson. I discovered Soul and R&B when grown up and it took me completely by surprise. I started playing the Tres after one visit to the Island of Cuba.

Will: What are some of the major disadvantages to having a Band in Stockholm/Sweden? Is there considerable pressure for your talented musicians to play other genres of music. Whilst on a much smaller scale, it must be somewhat like our Cuban dance performers who dance other styles, as sometimes ahead of performances whilst there rhythm is there, the feel and syncopation takes some practice to return. Is that similar for your Calle Real members ahead of your performances?     

Patricio:The major disadvantage would be that there is not a wide audience to follow the genre and thus the concert opportunities are infrequent compared to other genres. We have succeeded in trespassing the intial obstacle in regards to marketing and building ourselves a name but still it is impossible to make a living out of Timba at least in Sweden. So all my talented musicians are engaged in other projects. To learn playing the style it took some years of rehearsal but maybe we made it easier for us since we started playing traditional Cuban Son. But in the end it is a matter of sincereity. This is what it takes to make it all the way, to be honest with what you are doing and to be yourself. 

Will: Are there any advantages to being outside of Cuba? Whilst the demand in Cuba is for the major artists to produce albums that mix Timba with Reggaeton, Salsaton, Son, Cha Cha Bolero, perhaps you are not so bound by this requirement and can focus on Timba? 

Patricio: I think that being outside of Cuba gives us new influences that we can pour into Timba that we probably wouldn't receive if we were there. But mainly, since we cannot make a living from Timba, this project Calle Real is really driven by commitment since it wouldn't work otherwise. So when we have the time to meet we really do what we like most with no other consideration than our own taste 

Will: Lastly Patricio, if Timba was a relay race which began with Los Van Van and NG La Banda and the baton was passed to Charanga Habanera and then to Manolito, do you think that 'Me lo Gane' has now snatched the baton from them and is now running with it?

Patricio: Wow, I've never heard anything like this before and I really don't know what to say. I'm blushing. It is a great honour to be named in the presence of these four eminences in the genre, but I really am the wrong person to comment. For now let us see what the future has to bring and hope for many good music years to come.        
      
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