HAR Late: A Night in Havana

Sambroso Sambroso, the beating heart of London’s Cuban community and flourishing music scene brings his ‘all star’ group of Cuban musicians for a sensational night in the heart of Leeds. World-class music, salsa dance class, frozen mojitos, and a DJ playing the best Cuban vinyl taking you to midnight – a taste of Havana without the 9-hour flight!

Cuban DJ Yersin Rivas will keep us all dancing before and after the live music playing past and present Cuban music including salsa, son Cubano, timba and rumba. And early doors, Yersin (who is also a world class Cuban dance teacher) and his dance partner Nina Cio return to take a Cuban salsa dance class – open to experienced dancers and beginners alike.

The sensational Sambroso Allstars will take to the stage for the headline set, to celebrate the music of Buena Vista Social Club. Is there a more iconic Cuban album than Buena Vista Social Club’s eponymous debut? Winning the Grammy for Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album, it remains a high watermark not just for Cuban music but world music as a whole, having been only one of two non-English speaking albums to be included in Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Doing this album any sort of justice is no easy task, but there isn’t anyone better than Sambroso Sambroso. The 7-piece all star band promise to mesmerize the crowd with a magical mix of Cuban Son, Latin Jazz and Rumba, from Cuba’s Golden era.

Oreste Noda, one of the UK’s premier percussionists, and the man behind Sambroso Sambroso, was born and raised in Matanzas, Cuba. Having started his musical life as a trombone player he found his calling in the congas, where his unique abilities saw him established as the go-to conguero for a wealth of Cuban acts including the Buena Vista Social Club’s Ibrahim Ferrer and other top-notch bands gracing the swanky hotels of beachside Varadero.

As word of his talents spread, Noda was snapped up for a combined 2004 UK tour by South African jazz icon Hugh Masekela and the redoubtable Jazz Jamaica All Stars, which featured such luminaries as Gary Crosby, Denys Baptiste and the Mercury-nominated Soweto Kinch. Co-opted as a salient member of award-winning rude boys Ska Cubano, Noda proceeded to tour the world for the next eight years, soaking up influences, cooking up ideas and winning new friends along the way.

“We’re a tribe of Cuban musicians in London representing live music,” he says in his good-natured way. “From the roots of rumba to salsa, timba or any Cuban fusion. We’re about giving energy and happiness through music, to those who want to join us on our journey.”

DJ Lubi Presents.