David Calzado y Charanga Habanera
Cuban musicians have been touring the United States since Moises Simon’s “El Manisero” (The Peanut Vendor) was sung in Manhattan in the late 1920s, sparking an international “Rhumba” craze. Now thanks to a thaw in cultural relations with Cuba by President Obama’s State Department, Cuban artists are once again touring the United States for the first time in nearly ten years.
David Calzado y Su Charanga Habanera, one of the hottest bands in Cuba with its mixture of Timba (modern Cuban dance pop music with elements of Salsa, Funk and Rock) and Reggaeton will play at Cafe Cocomo on Tuesday December 22nd and Wednesday December 23rd.
The 3-time Grammy nominated group includes 19 of Havana’s best conservatory-trained musicians and vocalists and has just returned from a recent tour of Western Europe and Scandinavia where by all accounts they played to ecstatic, sold-out crowds. The Café Cocomo shows will include special Afro-Cuban rumba performance by local Cuban dancers.
Locally, Charanga Habanera have been championed by DJs like the cool and collected WaltDigz, who specializes in modern Cuban dancefloor heat. Charanga Habanera’s addictive hit song “Gozando en La Habana” is currently something of an anthem at Little Baobab’s weekly Wednesday Timba night. Word at Baobab last Wednesday was that the next Cuban supergroup to tour San Pancho will be non other than Los Van Van, who have been blowing North American musicians away with their inventive arrangements since cassettes of their recordings were first smuggled into the US in the mid ‘80s.
Cafe Cocomo, San Francisco
Cafe Cocomo Bar Grill & Nightlife
www.cafecocomo.com
@ Mariposa and 19th St., near hwy 280
650 Indiana St., San Francisco, CA 94107
(415) 824-6910
