Europe

Melissa Aldana Will Headline The Wellington Jazz Festival

The Most Acclaimed Latin Saxophonist On The International Jazz Scene

Melissa Aldana started playing the alto saxophone at the age of 6

Melissa Aldana is a Chilean saxophonist and composer nominated for the Grammy Awards (2020) for her skills with this wind instrument, she has six studio albums, and her fame has spread to all Jazz circuits around the world.

Aldana with his quartet will headline the Wellington Jazz Festival 2022 to present to the fans the debut album with the company Blue Note Records titled 12 Stars, and you cannot miss the opportunity to experience this exceptional live performance with flowing harmonic notes seasoned with feeling in the Wellington Opera House (111 – 113 Manners Street, Wellington, New Zealand) on Sunday, October 23^rd from 7PM to 8:30PM, and the ticket price is $69.

The Wellington Jazz Festival is an entry point into the Jazz music calendar for fans and the curious. This event will offer more than 100 magical concerts in bars, restaurants, and live music venues in the capital. This year the splendid festival will take place in mid-spring in Aotearoa (New Zealand’s Maori name), featuring some of the best international Grammy Award-winning and nominated artists, as well as renowned talent from this Oceanian country and the world.

On the other hand, Melissa Aldana was the first South American woman and instrumentalist to win the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Contest (Washington -USA) in 2013. This artist born in Santiago de Chile in 1988 is a graduate of the prestigious Berklee College of Music with a full music scholarship in 2009, moreover, she also comes from a musical family where her father and paternal grandfather played this instrument.

The discography of this tenor saxophonist goes back 12 years when, at only 22 years old, she came out on the music market with her debut album Free Fall (2010). It is followed by Second Cycle in 2012, Melissa Aldana & Crash Trio (2014), and Back Home in 2016. Her fifth studio album was Visions (2019), an album that earned her first Grammy nomination for Best Solo by Improvised Jazz in recognition of her impressive tenor solo on her composition Elsewhere.

12 Stars was composed in Harlem (New York - USA) in 2020 — 12 Stars was composed in Harlem (New York – USA) in 2020

Most recently her record production is 12 Stars, an anecdotal album that she wrote during the Covid-19 pandemic and the product of the struggles she went through due to the breakup of a long relationship. “This is a very important album for me. I felt like I had a lot to say because of all the experiences I had during 2020. After the personal process that I went through, I feel more connected to myself and my imperfections… Embrace everything I hear, everything I touch, including mistakes, is more significant than perfection”. Aldana exposed in her biography

12 Stars was recorded under the Blue Note label and released on the music market on March 4^th. “I feel super privileged, but I had a feeling that this had to happen at some point. I’ve been very consistent with my band and my projects for a long time. I am very motivated for what comes next”. Aldana expressed to an international digital medium.

Melissa will end her presentations in Europe this year with a tour during November that will take her to the capital of Spain on Friday, November 11^th (Teatro Fernán Gómez) and on Saturday 12^th, she will be in Badajoz (Teatro López De Ayala). While on Monday, November 14^th, she will perform at the Zig Zag Jazz Club (Berlin-Germany), and on Wednesday, November 16^th, she will have the same but this time at the Porgy & Bess in Vienna, Austria.

The Padova Jazz Club (Padua- Italy) will be handed over to Melissa Aldana on Friday, November 18^th, and a day later she will do so at the Teatro Lauro Rossi in Macerata, Italy.

Where To Go Dancing Salsa In Sydney?

Seductive Afro-Cuban music comes to life in the Australian capital every night of the week

You probably already knew that a lot of Salsa is heard and danced in Australia. But, have you ever wondered, which are the best places to go Salsa dancing in Sydney? Here, we’ve rounded up six of our favorites.

ESTABLISHMENT BAR

Salsa Tuesdays are back at the Establishment Bar! This iconic Sydney spot is unique and sophisticated. It has narrow spaces, a 42-meter-long marble bar, and columns lining the walls that recreate the style of ancient Greece.

Establishment Bar with its lush lighting offers its attendees Afro-Caribbean music on Tuesday nights with live bands, dance shows, DJ playing Salsa, Bachata, Merengue, Reggaeton & Bossa Nova until 3 AM, and live percussion. Weekly you will learn basic concepts in the free Salsa class starting at 8 PM, in addition, to enjoying cocktails ($10) and mojitos ($12) all night so you can enter an authentic Latin American Rumba.

This multi-award-winning bar is located on the Ground Floor, 252 George St, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia.

THE ARGYLE

Wednesday nights are from The Argyle! This two-floor club has been powering Sydney nightlife for fifteen years (2007).

This venue located at 18 Argyle St, Las Rocas, Sydney NSW 2000, has six bars, an iconic outdoor patio with spacious mini-environments to enjoy a Salsera night with the lineup of DJ Miro and his friends, as well as live bands in constant rotation.

These fun mid-week nights start at 7:30 PM to 1 AM and are $10 (includes a Salsa lesson). The dress code is casual, and minors are not allowed after 9 PM.

THE COLLAROY

Friday nights are Salseras at The Collaroy! Located right on the beachfront at 1064 Pittwater Road, Collaroy, New South Wales, Australia, this restaurant/bar with live entertainment and DJs downstairs on weekends stays open until 3 AM.

On Fridays from 8 PM to 9 PM, they offer Salsa classes (free) and from 10 PM the Latin party starts until 3 AM with live percussion and a DJ playing Afro-Cuban melodies, urban music, and Bossa Nova.

The Collaroy has an open-air terrace with a magnificent panoramic view of the peninsula’s north.

LATIN DANCING UNDER THE SAILS – BROADBEACH

Latin Dancing Under The Sails may change its date due to weather

Salsa takes over Saturdays at The Oasis Shopping Center! Every last Saturday of the month the LatinMania team brings the Latin Social Dance event outdoors at the Oasis shopping center located in Broadbeach Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia with music provided by DJs specialized in Salsa, Timba, Bachata, Merengue, and Salsaton from 7 PM to 10 PM.

The event is free and this month the theme will be Halloween. So don’t miss this opportunity to dance Salsa in Sydney with Colombian-born instructor Alejandro Barriga next Saturday, October 29th.

PLANT 4 BOWDEN

Every first Sunday of the month is Salsero at Plant 4 Bowden! This place is 100% green and adheres to international standards for green building design earning a 5-star rating for its operations.

Plant 4 Bowden, characterized by its environmental sustainability, presents its Salsa nights every first Sunday of the month from 4:30 PM to 10:30 PM with food, drink (local craft beer from barrel), Salsa, Bachata, and Kizomba along with wonderful musical shows on the ground floor. The ticket price is $20 at the box office, and it is located at 5 Third St, Bowden SA 5008, Australia.

The magic of Salsa in this space happens surrounded by greenery with ample indoor seating and outdoor areas.

SALSA IN THE PARK

There is no better time than now. Go out dancing Salsa today in the Park (Sydney – Australia)

The second Sunday of every month is a Salsa immersion in the Park! Salsa in the Park is a free event that offers 3 hours of Latin music and social dancing outdoors at El Pabellón del Norte, 95 Marine Parade, Broadwater Parklands, Southport next door to the revolving chapel adjacent to North/Smith Street.

The half-hour lesson starts at 3 PM, and then the Social Dance continues until 6 PM with music provided by top DJ’s mixing old and new Salsa, Bachata, Merengue, Cha Cha, and more.

Who can attend? The whole family and their pets. No experience is required. What are the benefits? Meet new friends, you’ll get fit, improve your mental health and coordination, and stay active. When? The next date is Sunday, October 9th.

Meet The Dates Of Havana D’ Primera – Europe Tour 2022

Alexander Abreu & Havana D’ Primera will begin their concert tour in Serbia celebrating their 15-year artistic career

cinco personas cantando — Alexander Abreu with the Van Van at Tempo Latino 2022

Alexander Abreu & Havana D’ Primera will visit Europe in September with their 2022 tour to celebrate their 15-year career with love and music, starting on Saturday, September 3rd in Belgrade (Serbia), and two days later they will step on the Bulgarian salsa stage (Monday, September 5th).

Subsequently, they will sing their repertoire in Spain (Seville, Madrid, Bilbao, and Barcelona) on September 8^th, 9^th, 23^rd, and 30^th, and will continue in France with two concerts: on Sunday 11^th, they will be on stage on the Cabaret Sauvage (Paris), while the Sunday, September 25^th, they will do so in the Patio de Camargue (Árles). In the same way, their tour of Germany (Hamburg) continues on Thursday, September 15^th, and the 16^th of this month, they will be in Finland, specifically in the capital city Helsinki.

The 2022 Tour continues in Italy (Florence and Naples) on September 17^th and 21^st. The latter will be in the Sweet Life concert hall located in the Somma Vesuviana municipality of the Neapolitan city.

On Thursday the 22^nd, they will do the same at the Cuban Latin Festival in the Netherlands (Amsterdam) and will end their 2022 Tour 400 miles from Europe in Tunisia in the Yasmine Hammamet neighborhood located in the north of the African continent on Saturday, October 1^st.

16 personas en un escenario — Ticket prices vary between £30 and £100.

Alexander Abreu spent his childhood in the city of Cienfuegos (Cuba) where he began playing the trumpet at the age of ten and has currently become one of the most versatile and acclaimed Cuban musicians of Afro-Cuban music. “I have always seen Havana D’Primera with 15 people on stage and everyone said that it was impossible, that it would be too expensive, too difficult to move… This is how we started: 14 or 15 of us and a lot of positive energy, now we are stronger than ever.” Abreu commente.

Havana D’ Primera (HDP) is a Cuban timba band founded by Alexander Abreu in 2007 and made up of 17 of the best Cuban musicians. The orchestra is led by the main composer Abreu, who has stood out for his melodic voice and ability to fuse genres through Salsa such as Jazz, Funk, and other Afro-Cuban rhythms.

“Since its inception, the band has released five studio albums and one live album. The debut album release was Making History with EGREM in 2009 and their first release for the Páfata Productions record label. 2012’s Pasaporte received favorable reviews from the international press and was voted one of the best Latin alternative albums of that year.

Since then, they have followed the success of “Pasaporte” with four more albums, released through Páfata Productions and the last one in co-production with the Cuban Producciones Abdala.

HDP released “La Vuelta al Mundo” in 2015 and “Haciendo Historia LIVE” arrived in 2016. “Cantor del Pueblo” in early 2018, earning the band a Latin Grammy nomination for Best Salsa album. We cannot forget “A Romper el Coco” with the participation of Mayito Rivera released in 2019, and the single Quiero Verte Otra Vez (2020) which won the Special Prize at the 2020 Lucas Awards gala and was also cataloged by the French newspaper “Le Monde” as one of the favorite songs of Latin music.

Finally, in 2021 the album “Será Que Se Acabó” was released, as a tribute to Cuban popular music of the 80s and 90s. Discography extracted from the Biography of Havana D’ Primera.

You can read: Where to go dancing Salsa in Paris?

Fasching Presents An Intimate Concert With Miriam Aïda

The only performance of the most influential Bossa Nova and Jazz singer in Sweden will be in September

Leyenda: Miriam Aïda sings in Portuguese, Spanish, English, and Swedish (her native language).

Miriam Aïda is one of Sweden’s most popular Jazz singers. She has an indisputable talent, a seductive and harmonic voice, and her outstanding appearances on stage always surprise the audience thanks to her impeccable fusion of Jazz and Latin rhythms.

On Thursday, September 29^th, it will be the only concert that the Swedish singer will give at the imposing club Fasching https://www.fasching.se/miriam-aida/#2022-09-29T20-00 from 8 PM, and tickets are available from 120 SEK (persons standing) to 200 SEK.

She will create this intimate and exceptional show with the feature of five prominent musicians from the Scandinavian Jazz music scene: Mats Andersson (Guitars), Johan Olsson (Accordion and Keyboards), Simon Peterson (Bass), Finn Björnulfson (Percussion), and Ola Bothzén on Drums.

Miriam will navigate the music of the American coast, stroll along the Caribbean Sea, and descend to the magnificent beaches of Brazil to present the rhythms that took root in the New World: Bolero, Cuban Rumba, Samba-Soul, and Jazz, among other genres that together to the colorful voice of Aïda, they will perform the songs from their most recent production Loving the Alien released in 2018, in addition to their greatest hits compiled on eight albums.

This singer, leader of Bossa Nova and Latin Jazz in Sweden, has taken her show to the main cities of Japan, the United Kingdom, Brazil, France, Spain, USA, Turkey, Russia, Italy, and Germany as a soloist as with the band A Bossa Elétrica, and has had the good fortune to have shared the stage with great Brazilian personalities such as Hermeto Pascoal, Badi Assad, and guitar master Marco Pereira.

She is the Director of the record label Connective Records and radio programs.

The extensive career of Miriam Aïda www.miriamaida.com goes from her first album Jan Lundgren Trio Presents Miriam Aida & Fredrik Kronkvist released in 2002. This record production together with her husband Fredrik Kronkvist, the pianist Jan Lundgren, and two very talented young soloists performed for the first time the Funky-Soul-Jazz rhythm and standards with an American and Swedish touch.

Who is Fredrik Kronkvist? https://fredrikkronkvist.wordpress.com/bio He is a master of the Alto Saxophone and one of the established stars of Swedish Jazz. He has nearly 9 million views on digital platforms for his ballad hits Theme for Ernie. This saxophonist with extensive knowledge of the instrument and Jazz is currently releasing a new album in early 2022 with ten original ballads and directs his band made up of four musicians from the vanguard of current Jazz.

Miriam after a year of this successful album releases her debut solo album My Kind of World (2003) with classics like “Big City” and passionate Bossa Nova ballads. She continues with A Bossa Elétrica – Eletrificacao (2004), and Miriam Aïda & Fredrik Kronkvist with Monday Night Big Band – Live at the Palladium (2005) recorded live. This CD features moving, direct Jazz and Bossa nova. With this powerful Big Band, they covered great songs like Horace Silver’s Senor Blues, Nat Adderley’s Fun, Right Here, and Right Now, to name a few.

She also participated in the album Joe Spinaci and the Brookolino Orchestra-Too Darn Hot (2005) and continued with her solo album Meu Brasil (2007). The material is mainly in Portuguese and compiles great composers from different eras such as Baden Powel, Nelson Cavaquinho, and Jorge Ben. It contains a new Bossa Nova written by Miriam with Swedish lyrics and incorporated Swedish poet Nils Ferlin’s interpretation of the poem in Portuguese.

It is followed by Come on Home (2008), Letras ao Brasil (2009), Visans Väsen (2011), É De Lei! (2014) recorded in Sweden and Rio de Janeiro in collaboration with the Brazilian arranger Jayme Vignoli and the voice of one of the best singers from Rio, Marcos Sacramento, and Quatro Janelas (2015).

Where To Go Dancing Salsa In Africa During September

Latest news from the Salsero movement in Morocco, Ghana, and Ivory Coast

In September, we came with more force and recharged. In this edition, we offer you the compilation of the best Salsa and Bachata events so that you don’t stay without being part of the Latin scene of the African continent during the last month of summer.

World Salsa Congress Marrakech 2022

Leyenda: James Torres (Organizer and DJ of World Salsa Congress Marrakech)

After the cessation of the event for a year due to the pandemic in Morocco, the World Salsa Congress Marrakech 2022 returns from Wednesday, August 31^st to Tuesday, September 6^th with four dance floors for the enjoyment of Salsa in the NY and LA style, Cuban Salsa, Bachata, and Kizomba.

A six-day event of Salsa parties, total relaxation, entertainment, workshops, and international live shows with the participation of 2,000 people from 48 countries around the world at the Palmeraie Resorts hotel located in Circuit de la Palmeraie 40000 Marrakesh, Morocco.

In this eighth edition, every day in the Atlas Room will be a pool party with special guests and international DJs. On Friday, September 2^nd, the shows will begin (10 PM – 11:30 PM), on Saturday, September 3^rd, five hours of lessons will be held at different levels simultaneously in five rooms (10:30 AM – 3:50 PM), and On Sunday, September 4^th, classes will begin at 11 AM and will end this day with the closing party at Nikki Beach with international DJs (Dress code: White).

The DJs that will be entertaining the World Salsa Congress Marrakech 2022 https://www.salsacongress-marrakech.com/programme.php?lang=en are DJ Tronky (Rome), DJ Mascalzone (Rome), DJ Mauri (Amsterdam), DJ Kamal “Salsa Dura” (NRW/Germany), DJ Juan (New York), DJ Babacar (Porto/London), DJ Marco Polo (Helsinki/Finland), DJ Miguel (Miami), DJ “El Loco” Hicham (Nantes/ France), DJ Giorgio Rod (Paris), DJ Ale “El Cubano” (Cuba), DJ Kito Et Jal’s (Rabat/Morocco), and DJ Myster’Youss (Montreal).

The secret party 1001 Night with international DJs will be on Monday, September 5^th starting at 9 PM. €10 must be paid for the cost of the transport service. The price of tickets for the six days of Salsa Immersion, Pool Parties, and 33° Sun is €260.

Salsa Dance Night

Leyenda: Salsa Dance Night (Wednesday 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th September)

The entertainment company Vienna City Limited offers Salsa every Wednesday night from 6 PM to 11:30 PM at the Vienna City Hotel located on Emmanuel Quist Rd, Tema, Ghana (West African country).

This business chain with more than 20 years of experience maintains the quality standard in Salsa dance nights with regular training.

This nightclub in the Vienna City Hotel https://viennacity.com.gh/ has established itself as one of the most influential in the seaside city of Tema over the years. Here, you can enjoy a variety of drinks and exotic cocktails, as well as resident and guest DJs that will keep you dancing the night away.

The Meridian Lounge Bar is the soul of the hotel. It has an elegant style and a beautiful panoramic view of the neighborhood. The lounge bar lounge is also dedicated to game nights, comedy, and live Jazz on the weekends. So, don’t miss the opportunity to enjoy Salsa in Ghana every Wednesday in September.

Baila Conmigo – Soirée Latino

Leyenda: Salsa, Kizomba, Bachata – (Free Entry)

On Friday, September 16^th, you can attend the 100% Latin evening (Salsa, Kizomba, and Bachata) with resident DJs at the Cacao Lounge located inside the Sofitel Abidjan Hôtel Ivoire https://www.facebook.com/SofitelAbidjan (5 stars) located at Boulevard Hassan II 08 Bp 01, Abidjan, Ivory Coast (country in West Africa) starting at 7 PM.

Admission is free, you must use the Mask at all times, and there will be a Hydroalcoholic Gel available.

And if you are a beginner, it does not matter because the professionals of Social Dance Abidjan will be there to support you in your immersion in the dance of Latin rhythms.

Unique Latin atmosphere, Tapas, DJ, and a majestic environment of water and vegetation you will find at the Sofitel Abidjan Hotel Ivoire, a combination of French luxury and African charm on the Ivory Coast.