The Best of London Salsa Classes, Salsa Clubs, Salsa Events in London & the UK
Founder of the Official Fan Club for Latin Music & London’s Carnival de Cuba

We would like to apologise for any weird stuff you are experiencing currently as we are re-launching the site. Weird stuff off-site is your own affair.
Editor: 07979 280 283  editor@londonsalsascene.co.uk

Best of London Salsa: NEW COMPETITION 3 Dec 07

JOIN THE FAN CLUB FOR LATIN MUSIC

Win Your Own X-Mas Present

At London Salsa Scene, we’re passionate about the infectious, urgent, irrepressible rhythms of Latin and cutting edge cross over grooves out there.
     We want to share our passion with you. We’ve launched the LONDON SALSA SCENE FAN CLUB FOR LATIN MUSIC and we’ve got shedloads of great CDs to give away in our latest Christmas Competition! You can win:
     ANTIDIOTICO - the latest release from Orishas - masters of Cuban beats fused with Hip-hop
     REGGAETOSON - Cutting edge grooves from OUR HOT NEW DISCOVERY Cuba’s Sangre Latina in their debut album
     ROCKIT’s DEBUT ALBUM - Launching at the Groucho Club in London’s Soho recently, is a salute to heavy to hard rock, folk rock and pop.
   TO ENTER: Simply CLICK HERE to email us with the words NUEVO RITMOS Competition in the subject line. Please include your name, address, preferably a landline AND YOUR LOCAL CLUB***; 1 entry per person; competition closes 5th Jan 08.

Right: Rockit’s Justin Silver at the band’s launch at Soho’s Groucho Club recently, photographed by Miguel de Foto. More: text rockit + your email address to 07797801515; CLICK HERE to download the album. For musicians looking for new ways to get the word out there about their music, visit:  www.mobbits.com

BEST OF LONDON SALSA: Competition 3 December 07

Fan Club for Latin Music Competition

 The release of Ska Cubano’s latest album,
Ay Caramba,
 further secures this crew’s place as are one of the most inventive, mesmerising acts in contemporary Latin music.      Ska Cubano is an unlikely contraption of stomping Jamaican rhythms and fiesty Cuban brass, bringing you the sounds of the lost city of Havana-Kingston.
     Look out for their 1st UK tour from March 2008.
  Click HERE to buy tickets. London Salsa in Camden - Monday 3 Dec 2007
CLICK HERE to comment

We have copies of Ska Cubano’s 1st Album to giveaway in OUR WIN YOUR OWN CHRISTMAS PRESENT COMPETITION. CLICK HERE to email us with your entry, including the words NUEVO RIMOS COMPETITION in the subject box, with your name, address, preferably a landline and YOUR LOCAL CLUB****.
1 entry per person, competition closes 15th Jan 07. Ed.

Best of London Salsa: Big Gigs June 18, 2005

Champagne Salsa at the Cuban Music Awards

Showcasing the cream of new Cuban musical talent, the Cuban Music Awards at Battersea Park from Saturday through to Monday (June 18-20) is the most ambitious Latin shindig yet staged in the UK.
For the first time, the winners of the 2005 Cuban Music Awards – held in Havana on March 26 – will perform in London, on Saturday night (8.30pm-2.00am) and Sunday afternoon, (12.00 noon-9.00pm) at a special undercover arena in Battersea Park. The venue has its own dance floor, bars and a dining option, with a three course dinner available on Saturday night and Sunday brunch. On Monday night, the event culminates in a five-course dinner at Floridita, the Cuban inspired restaurant in London’s West End, with shows by award winners.
There are sets from award winning groups including: David Calzado’s Charanga Habanera – an 18 piece Timba-Salsa outfit, with an explosive sound ideal for dancers and one of Cuba’s most exciting contemporary jazz bands, Habana Sax. Making their debut in the UK, Buena Fe, Cuba’s biggest pop stars and Hip-hop crew Triangulo Oscuro.
On Saturday 18 June, tickets are £25 in advance (inc. complimentary Havana Club cocktail)+ booking fee; on Sunday 19 June, tickets are £15 in advance + booking fee (children under 12 free when accompanied by an adult). Book online at www.ticketweb.co.uk or call 0870 060 0100. To book dining packages, call 020 7314 4000.
To book tickets for the Award Winners Dinner at Floridita, 100 Wardour Street, London W1 Monday 20 June call 020 7314 4000 or book online at: www.cubanmusicawards.co.uk

Best of London Salsa: Salsa Celtica Review

SALSA CELTICA:
El Agua De La Vida

The first time I heard Salsa Celtica, they took the top of my head off. Mixing up Scottish folk music with Latin rhythms, they’ve created their own genre, an electrifying, tingling, hair standing on end, frenzied musical experience that just doesn’t let up.

         Next time they’re around, don’t miss your chance to catch the best noise that’s come out of Scotland....ever.
         If the thought of tartan crossed with hot chilli peppers makes you screw up your nose, think again. Their latest album - El Agua de la Vida – is an absolute must for any self-respecting Salsa lovers’ collection. Hot with sexy Salsa grooves, snazzy jazzy horns, foxy fiddle and wicked vocals, this is the kind of musical spark you need for a dance floor explosion.
       Salsa Celtica play honking Salsa with raw energy y mucho sabor, so much so you’ll never look at a bagpipe in the same way again. A spicy mix of Celtic and Latino musicians (Celtinos), Salsa Celtica is a stunning marriage of musical styles, exuberant soloing, Cuban Son, Cumbia, Rumba and Salsa, Scottish reels and ceilidh tunes.
       A fiery, addictive blend of Scottish whisky and Latino rum, these guys are great live. I saw them at Brighton’s Komedia Club - it was torture to be in a packed venue with only just enough room to twitch to the klave beat.
More from: www.salsaceltica.com  
Clave rating ,,,,,. You know when you’ve been Celtino-ed.  Lee Knights

What do you mean you’ve never heard of Paulito?

The climax of Carnival de Cuba (London Salsa post: June 4-5 2005) was a sell-out performance by one of Cuba’s most popular soneros, Paulito FG. Headlining at what turned out to be the biggest Cuban event yet staged in the UK – 30,000 people thronged the South Bank soaking up the Carnival vibe – Paulito’s soulful, natural magnetism was irresistible. With or without your pyjamas and toothbrush, you got spirited off to Havana for the night, grooving and gyrating alongside the biggest crowd of Cubans and Latinos I’ve seen at a gig in the capital.for ages. Photograph: Mike Payne

Cuban Eye Candy with Soul at the Floridita Awards

Charanga Habanera parachuted onto the stage at the Floridita Music Awards in Battersea Park this weekend (June 18-20) bringing in urgently needed supplies of Latin pheromones and beefcake to a starved female audience.
This is an outfit who know how to woo and wow with soulful Cuban sounds and rippling biceps, pecs and X-rated gyrating. Performing alongside Cuba’s hottest pop stars, Buena Fe among others, this was a celebration of the uniquely Cuban style of music making and entertainment. Fresh, spontaneous, OTT and damned good uninhibited fun. pic: Mike Payne.

ESPIRITU del CORAZON

Why I’ll Be at La Linea Festival

On the Salsa scene, we all love to dance. We go out on clubbing benders and dance ‘til we drop. We go on week-enders and do extreme Salsa, dancing non-stop for days and nights on end. But how many of us know more than one or two musicians or bands or who recorded our favourite Salsa tracks?

Havana’s finest - Los Van Van

And most telling of all, how many of us actually listen to the music when we dance? Salsa isn’t about executing move after move after move. It’s about connecting with our partner and the music, about feeling and interpreting the music and dancing lyrically.
This is what makes La Linea Latin Music Festival – a showcase for the best talent on the Latin music scene – so important for the Salsa community. Opening night is funky salsa dance party at the Coronet, New Kent Road, SE1, from 8.30pm-3.00am on Friday, 1 April. Headliners are Havana’s finest, Los Van Van, at the cutting edge of new Cuban music for the last thirty-five years.
This is a guaranteed unmissable treat for Salsa lovers and a real opportunity to discover and express our own sabor and our passion for the dance and its music. Editor
Tickets from 0870 382 8000, book online www.rfh.org.uk/lalinea

The protest movement met the bling-bling generation at London’s first Latin Hip-hop festival at Koko – the newly renovated Camden Palace – recently.

As Colombian Hip-hop crew Zonal Marginal belted their guts out, reclaiming the raw power of rap to expose human rights violations in the civil war, their audience kinda shuffled in appreciation. Backed by big guns like Amnesty International, the festival kinda shuffled too – between earnest and deeply felt politics and cool kids in Latin grunge unsure whether it was ok to enjoy themselves and listen to protest music at the same time.

It was hopeful and shaky but this was the first sign I’ve seen in ages of a genuine youth counter culture or a teen underground scene pumped up by hard, uncompromising Latin Hip-hop beats.

Just hope Zonal Marginal’s message of rap as ‘Revolucion Artistico Populaire’ is picked up as more than a temporary fashion accessory.

For more info or to buy the album contact: candelauk@hotmail.com

Best of London Salsa: June 06

Direct from Cuba - Sur Caribe
& Los Van Van’s Pedrito Calvo South Bank, 10-11 June 06

Carnival de Cuba 2006 has pulled Pedrito Calvo - lead singer and the soul of Los Van Van for 26 years - for this year’s event on the South Bank on 10-11 June.
   Latin music lovers also get the chance to hear two cutting edge crews that are rocking Cuba right now; Sur Caribe - Cuba’s No1 and the tropical and fresh flavas of Arnaldo y so Talisman, plus timba master Osvaldo Chacon. This adds up to what is likely to be the best Cuban line up to hit Europe this year.
   Spice the whole thing up with a major reggaeton showcase, the best dance performers around, plus dance workshops for grown ups and kids, cantinas and cocktails and you’ve got a great day out. The whole event is Free and in aid of five Latin American charities. more: www.carnival-de-cuba.com
   Salsoteca and Simply Salsa host the Carnival de Cuba After Party on Saturday June 10th 2006 @ Club Colosseum 1 Nine Elms Lane, Vauxhall SW8 5NQ Vauxhall BR & Tube (2 min walk)10 min drive from South Bank....Doors open 9.00pm - Club til 3am Entrance £10.00. More: www.salsoteca.com

©London Salsa Scene is an online, independent magazine guide covering salsa and the Latin lifestyle in London and beyond. The views published  are not necessarily those of the Editor. All rights reserved. London Salsa Scene retains Copyright over all the articles and photographs published on this website - it is an infringement of that right to use this material elsewhere without our written permission. Disclaimer: London Salsa Scene publishes information on behalf of promoters, organisers, dancers and others in good faith but is not responsible if these events are cancelled, altered or if performers and instructors billed not not appear; this is exclusive liability and responsibility of the event organiser.

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