MisterBryans

La Crises - Roberto Linares Brown y Alberto Alberto

Cambio: Iran and Cuba

What a remarkable essay. Ernesto Hernandez Busto (editor of the Penúltimos Días blog) takes a schematic of the political system of Iran and lays it over top of Cuba - for some revealing results.

He even goes on to project a political crisis ('a hypothetical scenario') in Cuba much like what we are seeing in Iran these days.

Sure, there are lots of obvious differences between an Islamic theocracy and a one-party state, but I cant help but think that the Cuban government is casting a wary eye at present day Iran as an example of how things can easily get out of control.

Yoani Sanchez is taking note of the events in Iran for slightly different reasons. And I'm wondering if she knows the story of Hossein Derakhshan aka Hoder, the Iranian/Canadian who is considered the 'blogfather' of the Iranian blogging revolution. Who this very day sits in a jail somewhere in Iran in the custody of the Islamic Revolutionary Court.

Message From Samuel Formell

via Kevin Moore

PRIMERO QUE NADA ESTOY SUPER CONTENTO POR LA CONVERSACION QUE TUVE CON CONTIGO MI CUÑI.

EL ACCIDENTE OCURRIO DE ESTA FORMA COMO A LAS 3 DE LA TARDE DEL MIERCOLES PASADO DIA 17 DE JUNIO , ESTABA EN LA COCINA DE MI CASA COCINANDO VARIOS COMESTIBLES MARISCOS, Y PESCADO, TAMBIEN ESTABA COCINANDO UNAS PASTAS, CUANDO EL TIEMPO DE LA COCCION DE LAS PASTAS ESTABA LISTO, AGARRE LA CAZUELA QUE CONTENIA AGUA HIRVIENDO CON LAS PASTAS PARA ESCURRIRLAS EN EL FREGADERO Y HUBE DE RESBALAR PORQUE EL PISO ESTABA MOJADO Y AL CAER TIRE LA CAZUELA AL FREGADERO, Y DESGRACIADAMENTE DIO EN EL CANTO DE LA MESETA Y ME SALTO UN POCO DE AGUA A LA CARA.

GRACIAS A UNA BUENA EVOLUCION ESTOY TOTALMENTE RECUPERADO, SOLO LOS 3 PRIMEROS DIAS FUERON INOLVIDABLES POR EL ARDOR Y EL DOLOR, ADEMAS DE LA INFLAMACION EN LA CARA, AL 5 DIA ESTABA DESINFLAMADO Y CON CAPAS FINAS DE POSTILLAS, Y HE SOLTADO CASI TODAS LAS POSTILLAS Y SIN MARCAS NI NADA POR EL ESTILO, TENGO UNA CARA NUEVA Y MUY LISA.

POR TALES MOTIVOS TUVIMOS QUE CANCELAR LA GIRA DE VERANO EN EUROPA, DONDE TENIAMOS PRESENTACIONES EN EL FESTIVAL LATINOAMERICANDO DE MILANO, BARCELONA, MADRID, PARIS, LONDRES, ROMA, ENTRE OTRAS DENTRO DE ITALIA Y ESPAÑA.

LA SEMANA PROXIMA ESTAREMOS ENSAYANDO PARA LA PROXIMA PRESENTACION EL DIA 12 DE JULIO EN EL FESTIVAL DE JAZZ DE MONTREAL.

LOS QUIERE MUCHO,

SAMUEL.

Bottom line (for us North Americans) is that Van Van will be playing Montreal Jazz Festival as scheduled.

I hate all-caps.

Maracatu Nunca Antes at Pridefest

For those out and about on Sunday June 28th, Maracatu will start playing at Church And Hayden (one block South of Bloor) at 1:45pm - then march down to the Wellesley St stage for a double bill/trade-off with Samba Squad.

Willy Chirino in Toronto

Friday September 25 at The Sound Acadamy

I'm curious as to the last time Willy Chirino was in Canada, if ever. Anyone know?

Update: A commenter tells me that Telelatino brought Willy Chirino to Ontario Pliace in Toronto in 1999

Charanga Habanera's 'No Mires La Caratula'

Franz at Planet Timba has assembled all the videos for the new Charanga Habanera release into one place. The following is my current fave

The new album is now available on iTunes Canada. Search under David Calzado y su Charanga Habanera. If you prefer hardcopy, here's the Descarga link

Michael Jackson

This blog is not about American pop music, but i think it's worth noting something that I haven't heard in the avalanche of media that has followed his passing. Namely that Micheal Jackson was equally popular all over the world.

One can speculate why this happened (the reach of his videos, his race, etc) but it seems clear that people in Somalia, the Caribbean, the Philippines, latin America, all shared equally in that remarkable period in the 80's when Micheal Jackson transformed pop music forever.

Gilles Peterson in Havana

The legendary music producer spent 10 days in Havana recording a project

.......that will be part of a double CD I'm releasing on Brownswood in October called Havana Cultura - the other CD is a 16 track comp ranging from hip hop (Obsession, Aldeanos etc) Reggaeton (Gente de Zona, Free Hole Negro)
Spanish sung soul (Diana Fuentes, Danay, Yusa) Jazz (Harold Nusa Lopes) and a couple of descargas.

I'll be working on a couple of Havana Cultura live shows here in Canada in September. As soon as I know the details, I'll post them up. It could be exciting.

Pupy Pedroso In Toronto October 23

 Pupy Pedroso is bringing his band and Candido Fabre to Canada in October with a play in Toronto at the Phoenix Concert Hall on October 23.

I'm sure there will be other Canadian dates but they havent been announced yet.

Pupy's show last May at the Opera house was about 9 out of 10 on the awesome scale. He's bringing his new singers - so we'll get to see what that sounds like.

Update: DJ Melao is coming up from Florida to be part of the pupy tour.

Advance tix will be available in the next few weeks, check by Cubaintoronto.com for locations

Havana D'Primera News

It looks like the long wait for the release of Havana D'Primera's 'Haciendo Historia' is finally over.

Prodland USA, the mail-order company has it for sale.