Tiempo Libre Combined Press Files May 15

8

www.phillyburbs.com

Friday, May 8, 2009

www.phillyburbs.com

Friday, May 8, 2009

Courier Times / The Intelligencer

Courier Times / The Intelligencer

MOVIE CAPSULES about two former government operatives who were once romantically linked and both work as corporate spies. (125 minutes) Sexual content, language. AMC 309 (PG-13)

By LOU GAUL STAFF WRITER

OPENING TODAY

GOODBYE SOLO: See review Page 6

EARTH: (A-) This old-school Walt Disney nature documentary, narrated by James Earl Jones, transforms the environmentally friendly BBC series “Planet Earth” into a beautifully photographed theatrical experience. The wilderness documentary tells the story of three animal families and their challenging journeys. (90 minutes) Some intense moments for younger children. (G)

NEXT DAY AIR: (NP) During this broad comedy, starring Donald Faison (TV’s “Scrubs”), Mos Def and Mike Epps, some buddies accidentally receive a package of mob-owned cocaine. Soon after, they’re running for their lives. Benny Boom, who created music videos for performers such as 50 Cent, makes his big-screen directing debut. (88 minutes) Pervasive language, drug content, some violence, brief sensuality. (R) OUTRAGE: (B) With this timely documentary, director Kirby Dick (“This Film Is Not Yet Rated”) examines the careers of closeted politicians who have voted against gay issues. Those interviewed include former New Jersey Governor James McGreevey and his ex-wife, Dina Matos McGreevey. (95 minutes) Adult themes. Ritz Bourse (Unrated) STAR TREK: See review Page 10 TYSON: See review Page 3

RETURNING FILMS

ADVENTURELAND: (B+) This insightful and bittersweet coming-ofage tale stars Kristen Stewart, Jesse Eisenberg, Ryan Reynolds and “Saturday Night Live” regulars Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader. In the 1987-set comedy-drama, a meek guy just out college reluctantly takes a summer job at a run-down Pittsburgh amusement park. (107 minutes) Profanity, drug use, sexual references, adult themes. Doylestown County Theater, Frank Montgomeryville (R) AMERICAN VIOLET: (B+) During this unsettling and powerful fact-based drama, starring Alfre Woodard and Nicole Beharie, a young mother is falsely arrested during a drug sweep in a small Texas town and then must battle to prove her innocence. Tim

Omari Hardwick in “Next Day Air,” opening today. Disney directed. (103 minutes) Adult themes, violence, drug references, language. AMC Neshaminy, Ritz 5, Showcase at the Ritz (PG-13) ANVIL! THE STORY OF ANVIL: (B+) Filmmaker Sacha Gervasi directed this documentary on the members of a modestly successful Canadian metal band whose sound influenced popular groups such as Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax. The film follows the members, who are now in their 50s, as they reunite to record their 13th album. Ritz Bourse (90 minutes) (Unrated) BATTLE FOR TERRA 3D: (B-) During this computer-animated tale, which features impressive 3D imagery, the peaceful inhabitants of a beautiful planet come under attack from the last surviving members of humanity. Evan Rachel Wood, Ron Perlman, Danny Trejo, Chris Evans, Justin Long and Luke Wilson provide the voices. (85 minutes) Sci-fi action, some adult themes. AMC Plymouth Meeting, Frank Montgomeryville (PG)

FAST & FURIOUS: (C+) Vin Diesel and Paul Walker return from the original car-chase favorite, but they do little more than drive in circles during some crash-and-burn scenes. The stars look a little tired during this picture, which is the fourth in the street-racing franchise. Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster return from the original, and Justin Lin (“Tokyo Drift”) directed. (107 minutes) Intense sequences of violence and action, sexual content, language, drug references. (PG-13) FIGHTING: (C) In this action tale, starring Terrence Howard and Channing Tatum, an iron-fisted ticket scalper enters the world of underground street battles. Dito Montiel directed. (105 minutes) Intense fight sequences, sex scene, language. (PG-13) GHOSTS OF GIRLFRIENDS PAST: (C+) In this strained, Dickens-inspired romantic comedy, Matthew McConaughey plays a hard-core playboy/bachelor who uses and discards women, a misogynistic manner he questions after he’s visited

by the spirits of ladies from the past, present and future. Jennifer Garner co-stars. Mark Waters (“Mean Girls”) directed and inserts crass dialogue that often seems more suitable for an R-rated picture. (100 minutes) Sexual content throughout, some language, a drug reference. (PG-13)

IS ANYBODY THERE?: (C+) Michael Caine stars in this modest tale about an aging magician who lives in a retirement home and strikes up a friendship with the young son of the British couple who run the place. (95 minutes) Language, sexual reference, some disturbing images. (PG-13)

THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT: (B-) This atmospheric, mildly effective fright film is based on a true incident revolving around a mortuary and the evil spirits dwelling there. Virginia Madsen and Elias Koteas star. (92 minutes) Terror. AMC 309 (PG-13)

LEMON TREE: (A-) Israeli filmmaker Eran Riklis directed this import about a 45-year-old Palestinian widow who lives on the green line border between Israel and the West Bank. She must go to court to save her lemon grove when Israeli security forces declare that the woman’s trees pose a security risk. (106 minutes) Ritz 5 (Unrated)

I LOVE YOU, MAN: (B) In this broad and funny comedy, starring Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, Rashida Jones, Jaime Pressly, Andy Samburg, Jon Favreau and J.K. Simmons, an engaged guy has no close male friend to be best man at his wedding. He then embarks on a series of “man-dates” to find a buddy. (105 minutes) Pervasive language, including crude and sexual references. AMC 309, AMC Plymouth Meeting, AMC Hamilton (R)

LYMELIFE: (B) Alec Baldwin, Cynthia Nixon and Timothy Hutton star in this bittersweet tale about a disaffected teenager who’s surrounded by dysfunctional suburbanites in the late 1970s. Debuting director Derick Martini cowrote the screenplay with his brother, Steven. (93 minutes) Language, sexual content, violence and drugs. Ritz Bourse (R)

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Week in Music

13

TONIGHT

SATURDAY

TUESDAY

TUESDAY

The Killers

India.Arie

Leonard Cohen

Animal Collective

w/ Chairlift

w/ Laura Izibor

Academy of Music, 8 p.m.

w/ Grouper

Susquehanna Bank Center, 8 p.m.

Keswick Theatre, 8 p.m.

215-893-1999

Electric Factory, 8 p.m.

Ticketmaster: 215-336-2000

MUSIC SPOTLIGHT

Cuban ensemble brings Bach to the dance floor Russian-style conservatory, La ENA (La Escuela Nacional de Arte or the National School of Art). And for Gomez, such classical roots were even more deeply ingrained. “My father was a very prominent pianist in Cuba in the classic style,” he says. “Every day that I (woke) up, I was listening to my father playing Bach, Chopin, Liszt, everything. From the beginning of my life, I was in love with the music.”

By NAILA FRANCIS STAFF WRITER

If you’ve never thought of Bach as high-energy and ebullient, then Jorge Gomez and the guys of Tiempo Libre are here to change your mind. The Grammy-nominated Cuban ensemble turned to the German composer as a perhaps unlikely source of inspiration for its new CD, “Bach in Havana,” released Tuesday on Sony Masterworks. With Bach as a starting point, the disc spins an inventive range of Cuban music forms and rhythms from pieces such as Sonata in D Minor, Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, the C Minor Fugue and the Mass in B Minor. But with instruments that range from cowbells and congas to saxophones and timbales, the music takes on a joyful vibrancy, turning every staid expectation of orchestral music on its head. “You can dance with Johann Sebastian Bach now. It’s not going to be that serious,” says Gomez, who is both the musical director and a pianist with the Miami-based group. Since 2001, Tiempo Libre has been bringing audiences to their feet with its spirited polyphonic rhythms and pushing Cuba’s previously obscure timba tradition — a surging mix of Latin jazz and son, a strain of salsa that emerged from Cuba’s Oriente region in the late 19th century — into the mainstream. But merging Cuban rhythms with the classic sounds of Bach is not as farfetched as it seems. “We studied for 15 years classical music, and for us, one of the best composers in the world is Johann Sebastian Bach,” says Gomez. “This is the way to go back to our beginning.” The members of Tiempo Libre — which includes lead vocalist Joaquin “El Kid” Diaz, conga player Leandro Gonzalez, electric bassist Tebelio “Tony” Fonte, trumpeter Cristobal Ferrer Garcia, percussionist Hilario Bell and tenor saxophonist Luis “Rosca” Beltran Castillo — were all classically trained at Havana’s prestigious

Yet he admits to being more in love with jazz and Cuban rhythms. He and his classmates would in fact meet up at night after school to play timba and Latin jazz, also performing the rumba, which was forbidden at La ENA because of its AfroCuban roots, and joining in at tambores, the ceremonies associated with the Afro-Cuban religion, Santeria, in which sacred bata drums were played.

See TIEMPO, Page 14

Quakertown Senior High School presents Tiempo Libre, which performs tonight at the Kimmel Center, is known for popularizing timba music in America.

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www.phillyburbs.com

14 Friday, May 8, 2009

www.phillyburbs.com

Friday, May 8, 2009

Courier Times / The Intelligencer

Courier Times / The Intelligencer

in Philadelphia, the energy and emotion behind the music they play has always been paramount. Friends since they were 5, the guys all pursued separate music careers outside of Cuba before they reconnected in Miami, and decided, in the face of many naysayers, to form the first authentic all-Cuban timba band in the United States (the name Tiempo Libre comes from the “free time” in which they initially came together to play in between their own separate projects). “Maybe some bands were playing a few songs of timba, but mostly it was salsa, meringue, Bachata. … People told us we were crazy. It was not going to work, but this is not a business; it’s not a commercial thing where we have to do something to sell CDs,” says Gomez. “We play the music because we feel it.” Defying expectations from

Tiempo Continued from Page 13 “Now I have the possibility to mix both cultures. I feel like I’m playing with my father and my friends at the same time,” says Gomez, of the music on “Bach in Havana.” Though several tracks are spiritually informed, the CD is still more galvanizing than it is meditative. “Bach was a very religious person. At that time, everything was about religion. With this CD, we put in our Cuban religion and orishas (the deities of Santeria) … but at the end of the day, you’re going to hear music, not religion,” says Gomez. “You’re going to feel that you are transporting your soul to another dimension.” For Tiempo Libre, which performs tonight at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts Tiempo Libre performs tonight with the Conga Kings in Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, 260 S. Broad St., Philadelphia. Show time is 8 p.m. Tickets are $26 to $64. Information: 215-893-1999.

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translated into the theatrical production, “Miami Libre,” and collaborated with artists as diverse as Ireland’s legendary flutist Sir James Galway and the Minnesota Orchestra. The group’s goal, says Gomez, is to educate as much as

entertain. “We came here to teach how to play Cuban music, how to feel Cuban music, how to dance it,” he says. “Just move your body and feel no inhibition. Feel the moment. Feel the energy. And be you.”

FILM PROFILE

Director tackles hard-hitting topic in new doc ‘Outrage’ By LOU GAUL STAFF WRITER

In “Outrage,” Kirby Dick exposes closeted politicians who vote against gay issues, but he never makes fun of them. Although infuriated by the anti-gay politics of people like conservative Idaho Sen. Larry Craig, who was arrested after an incident in an airport men’s room, the 56-year-old director feels sorry for them. “I have a great deal of empathy for their situations, because they are also victims of homophobia,” Dick says during a Philadelphia visit to promote “Outrage,” which opens today at the Ritz at the Bourse. “They could choose to live their lives out (as gays), but they don’t because they fear they wouldn’t be elected. “In a number of cases, that may be true.” After the success of his previous documentary, “This Film Is Not Yet Rated,” an exposé on how the Motion Picture Association of America bestows motion-picture ratings, Dick could have tackled a number of subjects. He chose the unrated “Outrage” because of its hard look at closeted politicians and their votes against gay issues. “I think what happens is that gay people going into political careers in their early 20s often make the decision to stay in the closet,” he says. “They know that it (a person’s sexual orientation) isn’t looked at by the mainstream press, so they think

Openly gay congressman Barney Frank is among the people interviewed in “Outrage,” which exposes closeted politicians who vote against gay issues.

Kirby Dick

they will be able to remain closeted.” Former New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey, who in 2004 resigned from office, declared his homosexuality and admitted to an extramarital affair with a male adviser. According to Dick, McGreevey’s action was a wakeup call to other gay people considering political careers. “I am very grateful that Jim McGreevey was so candid about his experience,” Dick says. “I thought his insights about being closeted were good. “I really wanted to convey the personal agony of the closet, which is likewise shared with spouses such as Dina Matos McGreevey. There’s something very tragic about her statement in which she wonders what part of her life was a lie.” Dick believes McGreevey made the right decision. “After McGreevey came out of the closet, he went across the country (talking to groups).” the filmmaker says.

“He saw the positive impact he had (by telling the truth about his sexuality).” Dick feels the world will be better for gay Americans under President Obama. However, the passage of California’s Proposition 8, which changed the state constitution to restrict

demonize in order to get elected is reprehensible. “We still have a long way to go. I hope ‘Outrage’ promotes the struggle for gay rights, because this is the most important human rights issue in this country.”

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the definition of marriage to opposite-sex couples, shows that gays must continue to fight for equality. “The George W. Bush years were dark ones for gay rights,” he says. “For the government (under Bush) to pick out one portion (gays) of the public to

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All y Da

the start, they’ve shared stages with artists such as the late Celia Cruz and Aretha Franklin, earned two Grammy nominations (for a sophomore album, “Arroz Con Mango,” and its follow-up, “Lo Que Esperabas”), had their immigrant experience

7

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Information: 215.345.0210 www.mercermuseum. org

Posted on Mon, May. 11, 2009

A percussion explosion By Kevin L. Carter For The Inquirer You can tell a lot about a musician's personality by the instruments he or she plays. And so it is with congas. Friday night at the Kimmel Center, the Conga Kings' arrays told the story. Candido Camero had three drums, basic white with wide middles and small bottoms, propped on a stand. Francisco Aguabella had four natural-wood models. And Giovanni Hidalgo, the extrovert, brought six huge, bright, multicolored tambores to the meeting. The Master (Aguabella), the Grandfather/El Abuelo (Candido), and the Prodigy (Hidalgo) were enabled by a crack group of Latin jazz vets, including bassist Andy Gonzalez; singer Julio Salgado, who sounded like a Ruben Blades channeler; and akpuon/tres virtuoso David Oquendo. Playing a series of songs associated with Chano Pozo (with dated but rock-solid arrangements) in honor of the Cuban roughneck and jazz deity, the group set up a framework through which the two old congueros and one lion in his prime could contrast and combine their styles. The dapper Aguabella is known more for his mastery of Afro-Cuban religious music than Latin jazz or Cuban folk, but his style was shoulder-driven, tonal, communicative, and strong, harking further back to African ancestral origins. Hidalgo, hereby dubbed el Conga Man in honor of the old Fania All-Stars tune ("furioso, atacante, dueño"), demonstrated an arm-driven, pianistic style that was both wild and exact. While he enjoyed showing off his phenomenal technique and speed, Hidalgo also combined a high degree of musicality with his computer-like execution. Candido, who long before he turned 88 was a master of spectacular, theatrical solos, enjoyed playing snippets of tunes and chordal effects. His technical focus was on his huge, boxer-taped hands; Candido's fingers controlled his every move, and even the slap taps of fingers on skin were loud and definitive. Tiempo Libre, a band of much younger Cuban-born musicians based in Miami, played in a contemporary timba style while drawing powerfully from Cuba's strong folk, jazz, pop, and classical traditions. Leader Jorge Gomez's arrangements sent bassist Tony Fonte on schizophrenic rides (part guitar, part drum), and percussionists Hilario Bell and Leandro Gonzalez shed new light on old Afro-Cuban beats.

Find this article at:

http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/music/20090511_A_percussion_explosion.html

Posted on Fri, May. 8, 2009

Concert Previews Tiempo Libre/Conga Kings It's hard to imagine a more appropriate hot young Latin band than Tiempo Libre to spice up the home of the august Philadelphia Orchestra tonight. The Miamibased septet of conservatory-trained Cuban expats excels in the island's voracious timba style. Using complex Afro-Cuban rhythms as a base, this distinct salsa subgenre pulls in anything from streetwise folk-rap and timely hip-hop to rock, jazz - and, yes, classical. TL's new CD, Bach in Havana, dropped Tuesday. Precise musicianship creatively conforms to spellbinding grooves throughout, as in the baroque composer shout-out "Timbach." "You came," croons Joaquín "El Kid" Díaz in Spanish, "with your melody/ with your harmony/ polyphony." More classical gusto infuses the savory guaguancó adaptation "Clave in C minor." Serving up Cuban music's rich past will be the veteran nine-piece Conga Kings, featuring a pair of historically influential and prolific octogenarian congueros in Candido Camero (just turned 88!) and Francisco Aguabella (hailed by associate Dizzy Gillespie as "the John Coltrane of the conga drums"). North Philly's Johnny Cruz Latin Jazz Ensemble heats everything up for free outside the hall before the main show. - David R. Stampone Conga Kings and Tiempo Libre play at 8 tonight at Verizon Hall in the Kimmel Center, 260 S. Broad St. Tickets: $26-$64. The Johnny Cruz Latin Jazz Ensemble plays at 6:30 p.m. in the Commonwealth Plaza of the Kimmel Center. 215-790-5800; www.kimmelcenter.org.

Posted on Fri, May. 8, 2009

Who's playing music, where and when, this week Tiempo Libre: Miami-based but Cuban born and educated (at the top music school La ENA), this ensemble is cornering the classical-music-meets-Latin-jazz crossover market. First came "O'Reilly Street" (a collaboration with flutist James Galway), and this week they've released the self-explanatory "Bach in Havana," another appealing piece of work. A co-bill with Congo Kings. Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center, Broad and Spruce streets, 8 tonight, $24-$64, 215-893-1999, www.kimmelcenter.org.

Music in “broken English” for all people posted by Victor Manuel Ramos on Apr 27, 2009 6:21:41 PM

Guest Writer: Adriana Collado. Adriana Collado is copy editor for El Sentinel, the Spanish-language weekly that is a sister publication of the Orlando Sentinel. A group senior citizens in a remote theater of a small American town are not exactly your idea of an audience for a tropical music concert. But that was exactly what took place Thursday night at the Athens Theatre in DeLand when the seven members of the Grammy-nominated Cuban band Tiempo Libre performed for two hours in the recently renovated art deco theatre -- all part of the Daytona Beach International Festival. “When we saw the audience we were afraid that they would be bored with our music,” bass player “Tony” Fonte told me at the end of the concert. The audience ended the night standing to the contagious rhythm of the band. This was only one of many stereotypes that Tiempo Libre broke that night. The band has signed with Sony Music and has been praised by critics around the country from their take of timba, a genre very similar to salsa, with a more complex mix of musical influences: which includes anything from Cuba’s son and cha-cha to jazz, hip hop, R&B, rock and Afro-Cuban religious chants, supported by a classical education. The band will launch its CD “Bach in Havana” in May at the New York Lincoln Center. Fusion is commonplace in today’s music, as it has always being with Cuban music, but I had never listened such a perfectly blend of old and modern, tropical and American, Communism and exile. And if you don’t believe that’s possible, the audience in the Athens Theatre did.

While watching them and moving my body on the seat like everybody else, I couldn’t stop thinking that these Cubans are children of the Revolution. They learned the hits of American pop and rock by listening in secrecy. They grew up with the rhetoric against the USA, the lack of freedom of speech and under the embargo imposed on the island. They are educated in Cuba and now live in Miami. Their music is different from their Cuban-American counterparts. They sound is something apart from their traditional Cuban roots. They express themselves in a broken English. The lead singer Joaquín “el Kid” Díaz danced nonstop and sang in his updated “sonero” voice carrying the highly energetic music . The pianist and musical director Jorge Gómez said that it was “not a concert, but a Cuban party” -- That the United States is the greatest country in the world; that they love their homeland too. It was pure joy and chemistry. And a challenge to the stereotypes.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 2009

RADIO ALERT: "Azuquita Pa'l Cafe" Giveaway TODAY Today on my radio show AZUCAR y CANDELA I'm going to be giving away the new Tiempo Libre CD, Bach in Havana, AND a can of Café Bustelo! Courtesy of Sony Masterworks. Tune in to WXDU 88.7 FM today, Wednesday (5/13) between 6 and 8 pm to find out how to win! Read More about the Tiempo Libre Bustelo promotion here

Grammy-nominated Tiempo Libre's third major label CD, Bach in Havana fits right to Cuba's long history of mingling European classical music and Afro-Cuban popular music. The music of J.S. Bach is known for melodic purity and spiritual power. To that, Tiempo Libre has added Cuba's own sacred music (the batá drums and sacred songs of the Yoruba tradition), as well as its rambunctious timba dance rhythms, crafted together with classical reverence and a Latin jazz sensibility. Two of Cuba's finest saxophonists, Paquito D'Rivera and Yosvany Terry, take prominent guest spots. This album highlights fine keyboard work by pianist and musical director Jorge Gomez, who says he used to lie in bed at night and listen to his father, a classical pianist, play Bach. All the young members of Tiempo Libre studied classical music at strict, Russian-style conservatories in Cuba, where popular music was

taboo. However, they inhaled Afro-Cuban musical traditions, such as rumba, son, danzon, timba and Santería, just by growing up there, where music is in the air, in the streets, in private homes and nightclubs. You might say that Bach in Havana takes classical music from the salons out into the solares, the courtyards in poor, black neighborhoods in Cuba where the rumba was born. It's interesting to contemplate "Air on a G String" had it been written as a lovesong to a beautiful behind, if J.S. Bach could walk the streets of Miami Beach, sans powdered wig, waistcoat unbuttoned to mid-chest. Tiempo Libre doesn't only loosen up the classics, it breathes new life into them. This album might help a lot of people better understand Cuba's birthright and invention of a creole musical language. As North Americans, it's our birthright too. POSTED BY SYLVIA P. AT 2:10 PM LABELS: CDS, CLASSICAL, CUB A, GIVEAWAYS AND PROMOTIONS, RADIO, RUM BA, TIMBA

New Hampshire Public Radio: Word of Mouth

TIEMPO LIBRE: CLASSICAL TO CUBAN http://www.nhpr.org/node/24720 By Virginia Prescott on Thursday, May 7, 2009. LISTEN: WINDOWS MEDIA | MP3

Take the D Major Prelude to Bach’s "Well-Tempered Clavier, Book One," add to that a few hundred years, multiply that by hours of lessons at one of Cuba’s finest conservatories, divide that by the number of singers and drums at a typical rumba, then add the square root of the number of Beatles songs smuggled into Cuba in 1960s, and you might get something like Cuban band Tiempo Libre’s CD “Bach in Havana,” out this week. It’s a collection of songs inspired by Bach and taken in new directions with Cuban rythms, vocals, and enduring spirit. Jorge Gomez, pianist, bandleader and arranger for the Grammy-nominated band, took a break in the studio with us as Tiempo Libre prepares for its show at the Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord tonight.

(Photo by Crackerfarm)

La Revista del Diario Publicado el 04-30-2009 Bach baila conga y guaguancó Por Jesús Hernández

Hace unos meses comentábamos sobre Tiempo Libre y su disco O’Reilly Street. Entonces adelantábamos el homenaje que preparaban para Johann Sebastian Bach. Una producción discográfica que reinterpretaría los clásicos del músico alemán desde la perspectiva de la música popular cubana y lo pondría literalmente a bailar conga y guaguancó. Así surge Bach in Havana. Un disco hecho por el grupo afincado en Miami que lleva el nombre de la capital cubana. Tu conga Bach es el primer corte del disco. Un tema extremadamente contagioso, interpretado a golpe de clave y bongó, que responde a una de las fugas del músico barroco del siglo XVIII. Composición seguida por una Sonata en D menor en plan cha cha chá y una suite orquestal que suena a bolero con Paquito D´Rivera en el saxo. Combinación que apuesta igualmente por el son, la timba y el jazz latino. Un compuesto de sonidos muy bien planteados que solo la buena escuela es capaz de dar. De hecho, cada uno de los miembros de Tiempo Libre cuenta con formación académica. Bagaje musical que les permite hacer música popular desde una perspectiva más elaborada. “Tenemos en cuenta la técnica de la instrumentación, la enseñanza de la armonía y el interés por crear algo bueno”, afirmaba Jorge Gómez, director del grupo musical. Tiempo Libre surgió en Miami. Muchos de los miembros fueron compañeros de clases y formaron parte de otras agrupaciones en Cuba. Otros tres discos, Timbiando, Arroz con mango y Lo que esperabas forman parte de su carrera discográfica. Suma que incluye dos nominaciones al premio Grammy grande. El disco O’Reilly Street tuvo por fórmula la fusión de la música popular cubana con el jazz y la flauta del músico irlandés Sir James Galway. Anteriormente tuvieron Rumba Sinfónica junto al músico y compositor venezolano Ricardo Lorenz. Resumen que coloca al grupo en la vanguardia musical.

Back to Bach - Miami's Tiempo Libre Release New CD at Princeton NJ Concert

Back to Bach McCarter Theatre celebrates Latin rhythms and sounds with Tiempo Libre and the Conga Kings Wednesday, May 6, 2009 2:54 PM EDT By Megan Sullivan CentralJersey.com "BACH by day, Afro-Cuban music by night. The members of the Miami-based Cuban band Tiempo Libre led double lives while growing up in Havana. They studied classical

music at the city’s premiere conservatory, La Escuela Nacional de Arte, but risked expulsion if caught playing styles like timba. ”Every night, we played popular music in our homes,” says Jorge Gomez, pianist and musical director of Tiempo Libre. They would converge to perform Latin jazz, rumba and in tambores — religious ceremonies of the Afro-Cuban religion santería, which centered on playing the sacred batá drums. The next day: back to business with Bach. That’s not to say the group disliked Bach — they revered the composer for his musical genius. “The fact that he was composing works for his contemporaries as a ‘popular’ artist while also creating deeply religious compositions, and that he was fascinated with dance rhythms, makes him an even more powerful inspiration for me,” Mr. Gomez says in press materials."

SEE FULL ARTICLE AT: http://centraljersey.com/articles/2009/05/06/time_off/entertainment_news/doc4a01dcf366 abc622156604.txt Back to Bach Audio CD (May 5, 2009) Number of Discs: 1 Label: SONY CLASSICS ASIN: B001V732WY 1. Tu Conga Bach (Conga) (Inspired by the C Minor Fugue, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1) 2. Fuga (Cha-cha-chá) (Based on Sonata in D Minor, BWV 964, II. Fuga-Allegro) 3. Air on a G String (Bolero) (Based on Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major, BWV 1068: II. Air on a G String) 4. Clave in C Minor (Guaguancó) (Based on Prelude No. 2 in C minor, BWV 847) 5. Gavotte (Son) (Based on French Suite No. 5 in G Major, BWV 816: IV. Gavotte) 6. Mi Orisha (6/8 Batá) (Based on French Suite No. 2 in C Minor, BWV 813: Minuet) 7. Minuet in G (Guaguancó) 8. Olas de Yemayá (Batá) (Based on the C Major Prelude, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1) 9. Baqueteo con Bajo (Danzón) (Based on Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007) 10. Timbach (Timba) (Inspired by the D Major Prelude, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1) 11. Kyrie (Batá) (Inspired by Mass in B Minor, BWV 232: I. Kyrie)

Posted by Jazz Blues Florida JazzBluesFlorida.com .

From the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Un poco de cha-cha-cha, cumbia y algo de Bach Por Juan Carlos Pérez-Duthie ESPECIAL PARA EL SENTINEL 9 de mayo, 2009

En su tiempo libre, siete músicos cubanos radicados en Miami aprovechaban para reunirse y tocar las canciones y los ritmos que en Cuba les eran prohibidos. Ocho años atrás, formalizaron sus descargas y fundaron el grupo de timba, Tiempo Libre. Y aunque Miami tiene la reputación de ser una de las plazas artísticas más difíciles en este país, los integrantes de Tiempo Libre lo han logrado, y con creces: han sido postulados al Grammy en dos ocasiones; ahora se encuentran firmados a una discográfica multinacional; y su quinto y nuevo disco, Bach in Havana, es parte de una estrategia de mercadeo del Café Bustelo. El 5 de mayo Sony Masterworks lanzó Bach in Havana, producción de 11 temas en los que Tiempo Libre se remonta a sus raíces de músicos entrenados clásicamente, y combina esa experiencia con las composiciones de Johann Sebastian Bach. El resultado: combinación de ritmos afrocubanos con la majestuosidad de las composiciones imperecederas de Bach. "Todo empezó porque grabamos un disco con [el flautista] Sir James Galway, O'Reilly Street, y él pertenece a Sony también. A la compañía le gustó nuestro trabajo y nos dijeron 'vamos a hacer un disco' ", relata a el Sentinel Jorge Gómez, fundador y director musical de Tiempo Libre. Le acompañan sus colegas Joaquín Díaz (vocalista principal), Leandro González (congas, coro), Tebelio Fonte (bajo eléctrico, coro), Cristóbal Ferrer García (trompeta), Hilario Bell (percusión, timbales) y Luis Beltrán Castillo (saxofón). "Todos nosotros estudiamos por 15 años música clásica en la Escuela Nacional de Arte en Cuba, y obviamente uno de los compositores más prominentes es Bach. Y con este disco quisimos regresar a nuestros principios", afirma Gómez. "Estamos tocando la historia de la música cubana sobre la música clásica". Leandro González fue músico clásico con la Banda Nacional de Conciertos y la Sinfónica Nacional de Cuba, relata. Pero la atracción por lo popular resultaba irresistible. "El cubano siempre, desde la barriga de la madre de uno, está escuchando los tambores, y algo se mueve", dice entre risas González. "Uno siempre tuvo esa espinita, cualquiera de nosotros en la escuela, escondidos, porque no nos dejaban tocar música popular". Irónicamente, después se permitió y hasta se ensalzó la música popular cubana. Y el régimen que la había proscrito incluso quiso contratar al futuro director de la banda, Gómez, como maestro. Pero la pérdida para Cuba fue ganancia para Estados Unidos. "Aquí están respetando que uno pueda hacer algo, y no tiene límite para cumplir sus sueños", analiza el conguero González. "En realidad, el sueño de todos nosotros es hacer música. Más que timba, estamos haciendo la música que nos gusta", agrega. "Y si tiene un poco de timba, un poco de cumbia, un poco de cha cha chá, un poco de Bach, estamos bien contentos haciendo esto". Puede comunicarse con Juan Carlos Pérez-Duthie a [email protected] Copyright © 2009, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

EXAMINER.COM It's Afro-Cuban party time with “Bach in Havana” By Mona Molarsky May 12, 2:06 PM Jorge Gomez, pianist, composer & leader of Tiempo Libre

Jorge Gomez is hoping you’ll dance. In Cuba, that’s what people do to Afro-Cuban music, says the 37-yearold keyboardist, composer and leader of the Grammy-nominated band Tiempo Libre. Their new album, “Bach in Havana” was just released by Sony Masterworks and the group is now touring the U.S..They will perform at Dizzy’s Club in New York City on June 30th. Gomez grew up in Havana, studying classical music by day, playing party music by night. “Afro-Cuban was the music of my neighborhood,” he says. “Every weekend we had a fiesta. People would bring dominoes, food and instruments. We danced, danced, danced and had a great time!” When he’s not behind the keyboard—and even sometimes when he is—Gomez is still dancing. Rumba, son, cha-cha-chá and especially timba—the high-energy beat of young, urban Cubans, that Tiempo Libre specializes in playing. Their albums “Arroz con Mango” (2005) and “Lo Que Esperabas” (2006) won Grammy nominations for their aggressive, irreverent and technically impeccable take on 21st century Afro-Cuban style. Then last year, they headed in another direction, when they collaborated with classical flute virtuoso Sir James Gallway, to record “O’Reilly Street,” featuring Claude Bolling’s classic jazz suites. Their newest album “Bach in Havana,” takes yet another turn, fusing the melodies and figures of Johann Sebastian Bach with the rhythms of Cuba. It’s an inspired maneuver to bridge the worlds of popular and classical, all the while keeping the party going. “You can definitely dance to Bach!” Gomez says. Choreographer George Balanchine certainly agreed. The son of a top classical pianist, Gomez started piano when he was five, then attended Cuba’s prestigious La ENA (Escuela Nacional de Arte), where he met the musicians who would later—in a future life in Miami— come together to form the group Tiempo Libre. In those days, the Cuban government supported classical music but frowned on Afro-Cuban, with its roots in the Santería religion, which worships a pantheon of deities called the orishas. So Gomez and his musician friends led double lives and simultaneously perfected their skills in two distinct musical idioms. At parties in Havana during the 1980s and 90s, the old Afro-Cuban rhythms of the last generation were morphing into something new. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the USA’s continuing economic blockade caused intense hardship on the island. Those rough times shaped a generation of young people and their music. Often, it was the dancers who led the way. They combined traditional moves with elements of jazz, hip-hop and funk to create the aggressive, cutting- edge style that came to be known as timba. Vocalists rapped in street slang and made jokes about Castro: he was an over-ripe mango, waiting to fall, or a tough, stringy chicken…if you got their allusions. The instrumentalists also caught the subversive spirit, improvising modern figures, and rapid-fire syncopations that stuttered through the night. By the late 90s, Gomez and a number of his friends from La ENA had fled Cuba. Eventually, they met up in Miami and organized Tiempo Libre to show the world what a new generation of Cuban musicians could do. When they were chosen to open for Celia Cruz at the Ravinia Festival in 2002, and for Aretha Franklin the following year, they were off and running.

The new album ranges from carnival-style street music to spiritual reveries—all inspired, in one way or another, by Bach. In the infectious “Tu Conga” Gomez takes the theme from the “Fugue in C Minor” from the first book of The Well-Tempered Clavier and bends it into a Möbius strip of non-stop percussion and vocals. “Air on a G String,” a bolero featuring guest artist Paquito D’Rivera on alto sax, uses Bach’s “Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major,” to weave a lyrical fantasy that seems to hover like a gull over a gently rippling sea. Most audacious is the “Kyrie” which opens with Bach’s actual “Mass in B Minor,” then swivels into a jazzy meditation with piano, horns and percussion. Its backbone is a series of polyrhythms played on batá drums. The beautiful, two-headed batá is a sacred instrument in Santería ritual, used to call forth the religious spirit as just as Bach used the church choir. Yet in this “Kyrie,” Gomez seems less interested in prayer than fun. “Bach is one of the greatest composers in the history of the world,” he said, when I asked him about his intentions. “And Afro-Cuban music is a religion thing. But we just want to make music you can enjoy by dancing.” Let the party begin!

Tiempo Libre website (includes a list of some upcoming tour dates) Tiempo Libre on YouTube Dizzy's Club - Time Warner Center - Broadway & 60th St.

World music set in Philadelphia Published: Thursday, May 7, 2009 By DENNY DYROFF, Staff Writer Fans of world music are in for a treat this weekend. On Friday night, the Cuban band Tiempo Libre will play at the Kimmel Center. On Saturday night, the Painted Bride Art Center will present Sidi Goma, a musical group from India. Sidi Goma is different than most of the Indian musicians who tour America. Based in the northern state of Gujarat, Sidis are Muslim Sufis dedicated to Bava Gor, a black African saint. They migrated from Africa to India more than eight centuries ago. The tradition of this community of faqirs is to celebrate through music and dance the gifts brought to them by Bava Gor. Some of their instruments are tribal drums and the malunga, a one-stringed musical bow. Sidi Goma features four lead musicians (drummers and singers) and eight dancers. Their program offers an overview of the Sidi ritual performance - from the traditional muezzin call to prayer to a stage demonstration of a damal, which is described as ecstatic dancing to drums in praise of Bava Gor. Tiempo Libre also incites ecstatic dancing - by audience members. Now based in Miami, the group is the first authentic all-Cuban timba band in America. Timba combines elements of traditional Cuban music -- salsa, jazz, rock and hip hop. Since its formation in 2001, Tiempo Libre has been on a mission to spread the popularity of Cuban music. The band was formed by a number of former students at La ENA, which is Havana's premier music college. "We all went to La ENA, but not at the same time," said pianist/musical director Jorge Gomez during a recent phone interview. "Our first show was opening for Celia Cruz. The high moment for us so far is when we were nominated for a Grammy. "Timba is what you get when you mix salsa with jazz. Salsa is more acoustic, with piano and timbales, while timba features electric bass and keyboards and full drum sets. But the roots are in the traditional Cuban music style known as son." Tiempo Libre's new album, released on May 5, is also a blend of musical styles. "Bach in Havana " is a product of Gomez's musical background, which included listening to the music played by his classical pianist father. Tiempo Libre will perform at 8 p.m. Friday at the Kimmel Center ( 260 S. Broad St.,

Philadelphia, 215-893-1999). Tickets range from $26 to $64. Sidi Goma will perform at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Painted Bride (230 Vine St., Philadelphia, 215-925-9914). Tickets are $25.

Tiempo Libre - Bach In Havana - Sony Classical Their music mixes the high energy of Latin jazz with the rhythms of Cuban son, plus in this case the melodies of J.S. Bach. Published on May 06, 2009

Tiempo Libre - Bach In Havana - Sony Classical 88697-44701-2, 47.1 ***** [Release date: May 5, 09]: (Jorge Gomez - director, arranger, keyboards, B/G vox; Josquin El Kid Diaz - lead vocals, bata; Leandro Gonzalez - congas, B/G vox; Tebelio Tony Fonte - electric bass, B/G vox; Cristobal Ferrer Garcia, trumpet; Hilario Bell, percussion, timbales; Luis Rosca Beltran Castillo - tenor sax; guests: Paquito D’Rivera - alto sax & clarinet; Yosvany Terry - shekere & alto sax) All of Tiempo Libre’s members were trained in the classics at one of the top conservatories in Havana back when they could get into trouble listening to American songs on the radio. Based now in Miami, they are a hot Latin band which has twice had Grammy nominations. Their music mixes the high energy of Latin jazz with the rhythms of Cuban son, and on their first album for Sony they have brought together their Cuban-Latin musical world and that of J.S. Bach for an irresistible combination. Their septet is rounded out on a few of the 11 tracks by guest artists Paquito D’Rivera and Ysvany Terry on reeds. The latter - a fellow Cuban exile - is also heard on shekere on one track. There are translations in the included booklet for two of the vocal numbers. In the notes, leader Jorge Gomez speaks about his childhood in Havana listening to his

father - one of Cuba’s most prominent classical pianists - playing the Bach Preludes and Fugues of the Well-Tempered Clavier. He tried to emulate those memories in this album. The Bach themes - four from the WTC, two from the French Suites, one from the Cello Suite No. 1 among them - are combined with Cuban dance forms or music such as the bata drums. The familiar Air on a G String is combined with a romantic bolero - Paquito D’Rivera playing the melody. The cha-cha is imposed on a Bach fugue from the Sonata in D minor, and the uptempo timba form is combined with a Prelude in D Major from Book I of the WTC for the vocal number Timbach which is the band’s love song to Bach. The closing track uses the opening Kyrie from Bach’s Mass in B minor. Sonics are fine, especially the great variety of colorful percussion. This is an unusual and attractive album which should have a wide appeal. TrackList: 1. Tu Conga Bach (Conga) (Inspired by the C Minor Fugue, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1) 2. Fuga (Cha-cha-chá) (Based on Sonata in D Minor, BWV 964, II. Fuga-Allegro) 3. Air on a G String (Bolero) (Based on Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major, BWV 1068: II. Air on a G String) 4. Clave in C Minor (Guaguancó) (Based on Prelude No. 2 in C minor, BWV 847) 5. Gavotte (Son) (Based on French Suite No. 5 in G Major, BWV 816: IV. Gavotte) 6. Mi Orisha (6/8 Batá) (Based on French Suite No. 2 in C Minor, BWV 813: Minuet) 7. Minuet in G (Guaguancó) 8. Olas de Yemayá (Batá) (Based on the C Major Prelude, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1) 9. Baqueteo con Bajo (Danzón) (Based on Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007) 10. Timbach (Timba) (Inspired by the D Major Prelude, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 11. Kyrie (Inspired by the Kyrie of Mass in B minor) -- John Sunier

05.15.09 BLOGS

Tiempo Libre by Angie Romero | 05.12.2009 | 5:00pm | 0 Comments

Who would ever think that Johann Sebastian Bach and Celia Cruz could get along? Well, if you ask Cuban group Tiempo Libre, they get along beautifully, and always have. As students at Havana’s prestigious La ENA conservatory, aka the Juilliard of Cuba, Jorge Gomez (pianist, music director and arranger for Tiempo Libre) and the group's six other full-time members—vocalist Joaquin “El Kid” Diaz, percussionist Leandro Gonzalez, bassist Tebelio “Tony” Forte, drummer Hilario Bell, trumpeter Raul Rodriguez Hernandez and sax and flute player Luis Beltran Castillo—used to study classical music during the day and then sneak out at night to listen to American music.

They also experimented with timba, a seductive mix of Latin jazz, son and rumba that was banned at the school because of its Afro-Cuban roots. Now their unique brand of timba is celebrated around the world. They’ve played at top-level jazz festivals, had their own musical based on their experience since fleeing Cuba, been nominated for two Grammys and worked with legends such as Arturo Sandoval. Most recently, they’ve been signed to Sony Masterworks, which just released their new album, Bach in Havana, a celebration of that double life.

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Obama Raises Hopes For Revived Interest In Cuban Music May 15, 2009 - Touring By Judy Cantor-Navas, N.Y. As the annual Cuban music trade fair Cubadisco kicks off May 16 in Havana, promoters in the United States are hoping that a thaw in relations with Cuba could revive interest in the island's music. Encouraged by President Barack Obama's remarks in April that he's seeking a "new day" in relations with Cuba, U.S. promoters have quietly begun planning stateside concerts by Cuban artists for as early as June, pending their ability to secure permission from the U.S. Department of State to perform in this country. Washington, D.C., hasn't authorized such visits since 2003. The acappella group Vocal Sampling, an international festival favorite, and the Grammy Award-nominated traditional son ensemble Septeto Nacional have applied for U.S. visas. Los Van Van, the pioneering Castro-era dance group often referred to as the island's Rolling Stones, hopes to launch an extensive summer tour in the States. International Music Network, the Gloucester, Mass., booking agency that handled the Buena Vista Social Club's U.S. tour in the late '90s, is exploring the possibility of booking fall tour dates for some of the group's surviving members. Fuego Entertainment president Hugo Cancio, a Cuban-American promoter/label owner who presented some 80 concerts by various Cuban artists in the late '90s and early '00s, is awaiting a decision on the security clearances for Vocal Sampling's summer tour, which he plans to promote. "I don't know if people here have forgotten about Cuban music," Cancio says. "I also don't know if with this economy we will be able to put together the 17- or 18-gig tours the way we did before. I do know that the Cubans are continuing to make some of the best music in the world and that this is a natural market for those artists." The Obama administration hasn't yet made drastic shifts in U.S. policy toward Cuba, lifting restrictions on the ability of Cuban-Americans to travel and send money to Cuba but keeping in place the decades-old U.S. trade embargo. Still, the conciliatory tone

emanating from Washington has raised hopes of a further thaw. "We hope that the 'new day' Obama talked about will be here soon," says San Franciscobased immigration attorney Bill Martinez, who is working to secure travel visas on behalf of iconic singer/songwriter Silvio Rodríguez and other Cuban artists. Rodríguez had hoped to perform with Pete Seeger at his 90th-birthday celebration May 3 at New York's Madison Square Garden, but he didn't obtain a visa in time for the show. State Department spokesperson Heide Bronke Fulton said she couldn't comment on individual cases. Tao Rodríguez-Seeger, Seeger's grandson (and no relation to Silvio Rodríguez), says he still hopes the Cuban singer will be able to perform at the Clearwater Festival June 20-21 in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., an annual event benefiting Seeger's nonprofit environmental organization Hudson River Sloop Clearwater. "It would be a shame to waste this opportunity," Rodríguez-Seeger says. Cuban music enjoyed a boom in popularity in the United States after Washington exempted Cuban recordings and other "informational material" from the trade embargo in 1988 and later allowed Cuban artists to perform stateside, although under the condition that they receive no more than per diem payments. By 2000, hundreds of musicians from the island had performed in the States, most prominently the Buena Vista Social Club, whose 1997 Ry Cooder-produced album on Nonesuch went on to sell more than 1.8 million U.S. copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. "It became the opportunity to share a rich culture that was previously forbidden," says Scott Southard, director of International Music Network, who adds that his company may try to bring back some of the surviving members of Buena Vista Social Club for U.S. performances later this year. The George W. Bush administration subsequently reduced the number of Cuban artists allowed to perform stateside and stopped issuing such visas altogether after 2003. Still, promoters say politics wasn't the only reason for Cuban music's failure to live up to its commercial promise in the U.S. market. "The unfortunate side of Buena Vista Social Club and all of its spinoffs was that they saturated the market so heavily it got to a point that nobody wanted Cuban at all," IMG Artists managing director Elizabeth Sobol-Gómez says. Meanwhile, younger artists who perform the fast-paced dance rhythms of timba and other contemporary Cuban styles have had difficulty translating their popularity among Cuban émigrés and committed Cubaphiles into broader commercial success. Even Los Van Van, Cuba's most popular band of the last four decades, has failed to gain more than a cult following in the States. Its latest album, "Arrasando" (Sony International), has sold only 1,000 U.S. copies since its release in January, according to SoundScan. "Contemporary Cuban music is very virtuosic and interesting, but not well-known by the non-Cuban public," says Juan de Marcos González, the Cuban producer who brought the

Buena Vista Social Club artists together in the studio for the sessions with Cooder. "In general, for a lot of people the music is unintelligible and too explosive." Some Cuban artists have managed to carve out a career in the U.S., such as Tiempo Libre, a timba band whose members, like many other musicians of their generation, left Cuba in the '90s. From their base in Miami they tour theaters and concert halls for what IMG's Sobol-Gómez calls "the NPR crowd." The success of Tiempo Libre and a new wave of exciting New York-based Cuban jazz musicians could help prime the U.S. market for emerging young bands ready to bring a new sound from Cuba. Ramón Castán, who manages the Caribbean catalog at the Orchard, says the digital distributor has seen growing international demand for Cuban music during the last few years. Rumba and other traditional forms remain most popular in digital sales, Castán says, but timba and Cuban hip-hop have been gaining ground, particularly in Italy where Cubans tour consistently, and around London, where there is a large Cuban dance club scene. If Cuban groups can resume touring the U.S. in support of new albums, Castán says, "it would boost sales 100%."

Links referenced within this article Touring http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/touring.jsp