Friday, November 29, 2019

Our Latsest Single, El Son Convidando — Out Now!

 


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#pepitogomez #conjuntoguantanamo #salsa #nyc #cuban #cuba #barquisimeto #venezuela #cubanmusic #livemusic #dance #salsero #piano #キューバ音楽 #latinmusic #percussions #キューバ #timba #afro-cuban  #futbol #timessquare #ラテン #music #buenavistasocialclub #japan #サルサ #afrocuban #newyork #yamaha #latinpercussion #remo 


Wednesday, November 13, 2019

A big shout out to our friend Alastair Johnston of Muzikfan


A big shout out to our friend Alastair Johnston of Muzikfan for playing our upcoming single 'El Son Convidando' on Muzikfan's Podcast. Listen – http://bit.ly/33KeMAz

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#pepitogomez #conjuntoguantanamo #salsa #nyc #cuban #cuba #barquisimeto #venezuela #cubanmusic #livemusic #dance #salsero #piano #キューバ音楽 #latinmusic #percussions #キューバ #timba #duopharma  #futbol #timessquare #ラテン #music #mayitorivera #japan #サルサ #afrocuban #newyork #yamaha #AlastairJohnston #Muzikfan


Wednesday, November 6, 2019

News from the Richmond Folk Festival 2019 - November 6, 2019

Presave our third single titled ‘El Son Convidando’ before its release on November 29 and you could win some cool prizes while supporting us in a big way. The more Presaves we get for our single before it’s released, the more Spotify is likely to add our song to its own hugely popular curated playlists and that’s GOLD to an independent band like ours. Getting added to playlists helps us grow our fan base exponentially which is a tremendous benefit to Conjunto Guantanamo. Help us get our music to more fans by Presaving now!


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November 6, 2019

News from the Richmond Folk Festival 2019

A couple of weeks ago we played the Richmond Folk Festival in Virginia and we had such a great experience that I wanted to share it with our Tribe and tell you all the details. The festival was 3 days long and we played a total of six engagements of different sorts so here are some highlights. let’s start at the beginning.

On Friday...

Style Weekly
The first cool thing to happen for the Festival was that the local arts and entertainment publication in Virginia called Style Weekly published a nice article about us entitled Digging Deep and written by Peter McElhinney. It felt good to arrive in Richmond with a little fanfare being shared about us right before we got there.

“Conjunto Guantanamo(’s) musicians are veteran champions of Afro-Cuban music.”
– Peter McElhinney, Style Weekly, Richmond


Digging Deep Article in Style Weekly
Southhampton Elementary School Workshop
Friday started early with us arriving at Southhampton Elementary School for a school workshop that was arranged by the JAM Inc organization. Many thanks to them for inviting us to share our music with the next generation of future musicians. There were around 250 students with us in the school auditorium. It was very gratifying to see these kids enjoy the music so much. In spite of, in some cases, the music being over a century old it was amazing to see how relevant it still is even to third and fourth graders. We taught the kids about polyrhythms in Afro-Cuban music and showed them how it’s put together piece by piece until you have the basis for a song.





Interview on VPM’s The World Music Show with Ian Stewart
Another big bonus is that on Friday they also posted an interview I was invited to do with Ian Stewart of the Richmond NPR affiliate VPM for his program World Music Show. Ian did a Richmond Folk Festival Artist Profile on me and he asked me to explain the influence traditional Cuban music has had on contemporary popular music. The show is just over five and a half minutes long and some of you might be surprised where we find these influences.





First Concert at Dominion Energy Dance Pavillion
Our first performance was out of this world. The huge crowd was on FIRE and this made the band feel the love these festival-goers had for our music. There were thousands of people in the audience and it was a sea of people dancing right there in front of us. We were sure to put them through their paces for our hour-long set. We let them have it from the first note we played and that audience knew right away that we meant business! We left them asking for more once we finished. The crowd went wild for us that night. We loved it!




Immediately after us getting off stage the festival had arranged a portrait sitting for the whole band backstage with photographer Dean Whitbeck for his Folk Festival Portrait Project that will be unveiled online soon.

Check back here to see our Portrait sitting with Dean Whitbeck for the Folk Festival Portrait Project


On Saturday... 

Coverage of us on RVA Hub

on Saturday morning right after breakfast at the Downtown Hilton, where the festival put us up, we found out that some really great photos of us by photographer Richard Hayes had been posted on RVA Hub. Richard took some really amazing photos of us which we really loved. Here are a few of them.







Interview for Music Time in Africa on Voice of America with Heather Maxwell
The Festival had scheduled another cool interview for us. This time with Heather Maxwell who does the show Music Time in Africa. Unfortunately, her production team ran into some logistical issues and the interview didn’t happen but we are looking forward to sitting down with Heather soon and talking about some musicology together.





CD Signing at the Brown’s Island merch tent
Thanks to all the new fans that decided to meet us at the merch tent for a meet and great CD signing. The Brown’s Island tent was run by Plan 9 Records in Virginia and they did such a great job nearly selling out of our CDs. If you’d like your own copy of our actual CD, Plan 9 is carrying our CDs now right at their Richmond store.



Backstage and Behind the Scenes
As usual, the band had a great time off stage too. Being in a band is like being married to 5 other people. Thankfully in our case, not only do our band members get along really well. We actually party it up and have a total blast together behind the scenes. All the guys in the band have a great sense of humor and the witty jokes, pranks and shenanigans never cease. Our vibe is always professional and en point yet relaxed and full of fun moments.





Party at the Hotel and Open Jam
On Saturday night after dinner, the NCTA held a party for all the musicians playing the festival (there were 35 bands in total) and the festival’s staff. There was a stage and sound system set up and the musicians were invited to jam together on stage. There were quite a few that took turns jumping up on stage and jumping into the jam. The jam went on for a good few of hours and was still going when we left the party after around 1am.




On Sunday...




Altria Stage
Our last concert at the festival was on Sunday afternoon at the Altria stage. There were people there as far as the eye could see. A band had just finished playing there right before us and there were lots of people on the lawn laying on picnic blankets and such. Not that many people were sitting though by the time we started playing. We made sure to turn the energy up a notch on that crowd and halfway through the first song we had tons of people up and dancing. We played hard and they danced hard. It was a great combination. And the energy between the fans and the band was terrific! I think since the crowd knew this was the last show, they showed up in massive droves to hear us one more time and see us off.


Global Voices: Asia to the Americas at the Community Foundation Stage
Global Voices: Asia to the Americas at the Community Foundation Stage
The last event we participated in was Global Voices: Asia to the Americas as part of a panel of musicians from countries discussing and sharing their own respective vocal traditions. There where, among others, Tuvan throat singers, musicians from Aleppo, a choir from the Republic of Georgia and 3 members of CG as part of the panel. The audience that attended really seemed to enjoy what everyone had to share and we really enjoyed taking part in this workshop.




Recordings for the Library of Congress
The National Council for the Traditional Arts Collection
Our performances were recorded and will be included in The NCTA’s archive of original audio recordings which dates back to the 1930s. To date, over 6,000 hours of recordings in The NCTA Collection are now housed at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, where they are accessible to interested scholars and the public. It’s a great feeling to be immortalized in such an important national archive that will be available for so many future generations.


Thanks so much for reading this far. I hope you enjoyed the story. Stay tuned for lots more great music performances and goodies coming up soon. Remember to Presave ‘El Son Convidando’ on Spotify but first, go grab your dance shoes because you’re gonna need them!

And of course, we would like to say a very special thank you to our Artist Hosts who take the time to usher the band around the festival and help make things run smooth like buttuh! Carol, Diego, Julie and Alex, you were indispensable and we're glad to have you as our new friends!

Thanks also to Madeleine Remez, Blaine Waide and the rest of the festival staff who run that huge festival like a Formula 1 racecar! Your efforts are unreal! We love the NCTA!



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#pepitogomez #conjuntoguantanamo #salsa #nyc #cuban #cuba #barquisimeto #venezuela #cubanmusic #livemusic #dance #salsero #piano #キューバ音楽 #latinmusic #percussions #キューバ #timba #afro-cuban  #futbol #timessquare #ラテン #music #buenavistasocialclub #japan #サルサ #afrocuban #newyork #yamaha #latinpercussion #remo #richmondvirginia

Friday, February 1, 2019

‘Mamaita no Quiere’ is Available Now!

The second single off of our new album just dropped!

‘Mamaita no Quiere’ is available now!

Spotify users, here’s the Spotify link (and all the other streaming services too) to the song - add it to your library now. Click here.






Our new single, 'Mamaita No Quiere’ hits the ground running with an explosive energy created by what is essentially our six-man rhythm machine. From the first note, the trumpet and percussion beckon itchy feet to the dance floor with an upbeat melody that can lift any spirit. The Spanish lyrics spin the narrative of a party goer who can’t imagine why “Mamaíta” (Little Mama) won’t dance with him only to have him admit the ground will tremble if she does.

‘New York City’s Conjunto Guantánamo… celebrates Cuban folklore as the spirit breathing life into its sound.’  – The Lowell Sun

This second single from the upcoming album gives our tribe yet another teaser before the April 2019 full album release. Co-produced by Ulises Beato and Pepito Gomez, 'Moviendo Los Caracoles’ is a collection of some of the most beautiful and infectious Cuban songs ever written, masterfully refreshed in Carlos Mena’s contemporary arrangements at Brooklyn’s Nganga Records by Conjunto Guantánamo. The album will feature 10 addicting new tracks and never a dull moment. Look for 'Moviendo Los Caracoles’ wherever you get your music starting April 12th, 2019.  

We hope you enjoy our new track and play it in your car, at work, at parties, and share it with your friends. Help us spread our message of fun and infectious rhythm.

And, by all means, write us and tell us what you think of the music. We would really appreciate the feedback.

Until next time… Hasta la vista, baby!!

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#pepitogomez #conjuntoguantanamo #salsa #nyc #cuban #cuba #barquisimeto #venezuela #cubanmusic #livemusic #dance #salsero #piano #キューバ音楽 #latinmusic #percussions #キューバ #timba #afro-cuban  #futbol #timessquare #ラテン #music #buenavistasocialclub #japan #サルサ #afrocuban #newyork #yamaha #latinpercussion #remo