International Salsa Magazine

Search Results for: Latin Jazz

Story of achievement and dedication of Yoshie Akiba

Yoshie Akiba, Life and Achievements

Yoshi’s has become one of the most famous and frequented places in the San Francisco Bay Area thanks to its delicious food and the quality of its shows demostrates the great work its owners and team do on making this a very special place for anyone who goes there. However, the idea of a place like this did not come up overnight and it was not an easy process. This is clear upon seeing the story of Yoshie Akiba.

Yoshie Akiba, who is one of the founders of Yoshi’s in Oakland and San Francisco

Interesting story of Yoshie Akiba

Yoshie Akiba, founder of Yoshi’s, is a native of Yokohama, Japan, where she lived in an orphanage during a childhood filled with shortcomings of every kind. According to Akiba in some interviews, there was a U.S. naval base very close to this orphanage where children were invited on special occasions such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, among others. Of course, including her.

In view of the bad quality of the food, little Yoshie felt in paradise whenever she was invited to the base, a place where there were always musical bands (some played Latin music) which performed to entertain those present. These days were engraved in the girl’s memory and she would remember them forever.

After growing up and receiving some training in singing and dancing at a very young age, she met a naval officer named Chris through a friend of hers, who offered to take her to the United States and pay for the dancing and music classes she needed to be a professional. This is how Yoshie and the young soldier traveled to the United States when she was 19 years old.

Yoshie grew up in an orphanage and went to the United States when she was 19 years old

Unfortunately, the union between both did not work, so they decided to go their separate ways and Yoshie went to Berkeley to continue studying dance on her own. Due to her complicated economic situation, she came to an agreement with some young people she met in that city to stay in a room in exchange for cooking and cleaning for them. This was until she got a job as a seamstress at the Andre Godet’s clothing store.

It was not long before Akiba, Kaz Kajimura and Hiro Hori founded Yoshi’s and opened their first place, which was very small and had only 20 tables. It became so popular among locals that they had to look for a place with much more space in order to meet the high demand from customers they were having. From the beginning, Yoshie knew she wanted much more than just a eating establisment, she also wanted a music club and was successful.

The new facilities they selected for Yoshi’s included a much larger restaurant area and a theater of sorts to perform bands. That’s how this place started to become a mandatory stop for anyone touring the West Coast. Today, it is one of the most famous clubs in and around the San Francisco Bay Area and features all kinds of artists and bands from all genres and nationalities although it was conceived as a venue specialized in jazz and Japanese culture at the same time.

Yoshie is a cultural icon in the San Francisco Bay Area

Acknowledgments to Yoshie Akiba for her social and cultural work (título 3)

Ms. Akiba has been recognized as a cultural and community activist who has made major contributions to music and culture in the Bay Area. So much so that the California State University has recognized her great work by granting her with an honorary doctorate in Fine Arts from this alma mater.

She has also contributed greatly to education thanks to his non-profit organization called 51 Oakland, through which she promotes opportunities for the young talents of the city in music and arts. In addition, Yoshi’s two headquarters provide large donations to help arts departments at schools and universities throughout the Bay Area.

For these things and many more is that Ms. Yoshie Akiba is a leading figure in the Berkeley and California music scene in general. Her work speaks for itself.

También lee: Orquesta La Moderna Tradición frontman Tregar Otton talked to us

 

 

 

 

 

The salsa artisan who made the best cowbells and or timbales and bongo bells

The percussion artisan passed away in New York on June 31, 2017, he was the creator of the “JCR” Calixto “Cali” Rivera bells,

Cali was born in Puerto Rico and came to the United States in 1958. He was first an auto mechanic and years later started in instrument making. He was also a percussionist (he excelled for many years performing with Yomo Toro) and his father made guitars.

One of JCR’s peculiarities was that his instruments were not mass-produced but “handmade”, which is why Rivera was recognized as a reputable percussion artisan, standing out especially for the manufacture of bells, which were “the specialty of the house”.

The cowbell is a percussion musical instrument, it has the shape of a bell and is struck with wooden drumsticks. These can be made of copper, steel or other alloys.

Its use in music is very widespread and we can hear it in the folk music of the North Alpine as well as in the academic music and even in the pop and Latin music of our times.

One of the best manufacturers of cowbells is Calixto “Cali” Rivera who for more than 40 years has forged the metal to manufacture in his small workshop in the Bronx (JCR Percussion), about 10 to 12 pieces per week.

Since its creation, his instruments became a vital part of the recordings of both Salsa Dura and Salsa Suave, from the 70’s until the day of his death.

In the Bronx, there is a man who builds instruments for the great Latin percussionists of the world: Tito Puente, Eddie Montalvo, Giovanni Hidalgo, Bobby Sanabria.

He had no signs, no storefronts, no advertising of any kind, but people from all over the world call him for work.

After all, nothing sounds like one of his handmade cowbells.

Calixto “Cali” Rivera’s father was a guitar maker, and his son picked up the tradition of the craft.

But Cali gravitated to drums – he’s a timbale – and made congas, bongos and other percussion instruments.

These days, he specializes in high-quality cowbells of all kinds.

He is in his late 70s, with only his wife for administrative support, yet he cranks out dozens a week.

Jazz Night In America recently visited Rivera in his JCR percussion workshop to discover how, for nearly 40 years, he transformed strong metal into strong bells.

The Cencerro. What It Is, Origin, Types, Characteristics And How To Play It.

The cowbell is a small instrument which belongs to the family of hand percussion instruments, it is used in various styles of music including salsa and rarely in other genres of popular music. The cowbell is similar to the bell historically used by shepherds to keep track of the whereabouts of cows, hence its name.

Origin

Although the cowbell is currently found in musical contexts, its origin comes from the tracking of animals that roamed freely in the countryside. Likewise, to help identify the herd to which these animals belonged, the shepherds placed these campaigns around the animal’s neck.

As the animals moved in different parts, the ringing of the bell could be heard, which made it easier to know their whereabouts. Although the bells were used on various types of animals, they are typically referred to as “cowbells” due to their extensive use on livestock.

Israel Kantor was an excellent bassist, arranger and composer who achieved great popularity in Cuba for his vocal technique and original “Sonear” style.

His real name was Wilfredo Israel Sardiñas Domínguez. 

He was born on October 16, 1949 in Alturas de Canasí, a town in western Cuba between Havana and Matanzas, and his parents registered him a couple of years later in Bacuranao (birth date October 16, 1954).  A bassist, arranger and composer, he achieved great popularity in Cuba for his technique and original “sonear” style.

Although he was not very well publicized or acclaimed as a sonero, he managed to make a good name for himself in exile.

His mother played the tres and seven of his nine siblings formed a group with guitar, tres and lute; he played both sones and punto guajiro.

They used as bass a box called marímbula, which consisted of a box with four straps to produce the bass sound.  He began to sing with his brothers at the age of eight.

Later he went to Havana to study at the Conservatory of Guanabacoa, where he started playing trova sonera.

israel kantor
HE BECOMES A PROFESSIONAL

Israel Sardiñas improvised on the sonos with astonishing ease, and he is not exactly what you would call an interpreter “by ear”, or empirical. 

In fact, he played the bass before singing, and it was precisely his condition of bassist and arranger that made Meme Solis discover him in 1975 and took him and his group to work in the shows he was then directing in tourist centers on the beaches east of Havana.

“One night, at the dance show they were doing at the Hotel Atlántico, in Santa María del Mar, Israel took the microphone, I think because the group’s singer was not there,” Meme Solís recalls now.  “I saw him and told him: ‘But how well you sing!’ When I put on another show I gave him two numbers, and from then on people began to follow him”.

“I began to study Carlos Embale, Miguelito Cuní, Raúl Planas, Roberto Faz and Beny Moré,” he said, referring to the time when he stopped playing bass to devote himself to singing.  “There is everything that is Cuban music: guaracha, son, rumba. What I did was to listen to them and transfer them to the staff to understand how they moved their voices.

The one I liked the most was Raúl Planas; he was the one who rubateaba the most, the one who broke the syncopation the most.

Cuní had a good timbre, but always in time. Planas had a deeper timbre, and the sonero’s timbre must be metallic”.

That was the beginning of his professional career, which in Cuba would take him to the groups Ireson, Neoson, Los Yakos and Los Reyes 73. In 1979, he joined the Cuban group Los Van Van, founded and directed by bassist and composer Juan Formell (Juan Clímaco Formell Cortina was born on August 2, 1942 in Havana, Cuba).  As vocalist of the famous group, Israel became popular in Cuba for his vocal technique and his “sonear” style, which aroused great interest in the musical media, especially in popular music.  With the Los Van Van Orchestra he participated in the recording of the albums “Juan Formell y Los Van Van” in 1981 and “El Baile Del Buey Cansa’o” in 1982, both in the Egrem label of Cuba.  It was with this group that the artist became known, and left his stamp on the interpretation of the song “Seis Semanas”.

From that time on, he began to make musical arrangements.

After several international tours with Los Van Van he decided to leave them in Mexico in 1983, in search of greater freedom and possibilities for his career.

A month later he was already in Miami after crossing the border.  “I wanted to go to Grupo Afrocuba, but the bureaucracy wouldn’t let me,” he said on one occasion. “Van Van is very good, but Afrocuba came with a very strong force. I also wrote, I made arrangements, I had other ideas, and Afrocuba suited me better, because it was more jazzy”.  In an interview for a news agency years ago, he said: “I had a great school before being with Los Van Van. After traveling a lot with them, I was very anxious to see the world and the third time we were in Mexico, I decided not to return to Cuba”.

SUCCESS IN EXILE

When he arrived in New York in April 1984, he was still Israel Sardiñas, but when Johny Pacheco, the legendary director of the Fania All Stars, took him to an anniversary party of the group at the Cheetah two months later, the late “singer of singers”, Héctor Lavoe, heard him improvising and stopped the orchestra: “I want to baptize him right now as Israel Cantor”, said Lavoe.  The only thing left to do was to change the c for the k, spend two months with Lavoe’s band, and in October create his own, which he called La Verdad.

Thus, in 1984, he released the album “Israel La Verdad” with the production of Larry Harlow, on the Bacán Records, Inc. label. All the numbers were written and composed by Israel Kantor.

As its name indicates, La Verdad was a constellation of excellent musicians: Sonny Bravo on piano, Salvador “Sal” Cuevas on bass, Tony Barrero and Pedro “Pouchi” Boulong on trumpets, Barry Rogers on trombone, Mario Rivera on saxophone, Karen Joseph on flute, Frankie Malabé on congas and Nicolás “Nicky” Marrero on bongo among others.  Justo Betancourt and Adalberto Santiago collaborated on backing vocals, with Justo doing a duet track: “Rumberos De Nueva York”.  Other numbers on the album that deserve attention are: “La Verdad”, “Tu Lindo Pasado”, “María Antonia” and “A Mis Idolos”.

That same year he is invited to sing on the album by Ñico Rojas y su Orquesta entitled “Paso La Vida Pensando: ‘En Tí'”, on the Kanayón Records label, three songs: “Juan Ramón (El Chichón)”, which was popularized by José “Cheo” Feliciano when he was part of Joe Cuba’s group, “Por Encima Del Nivel”, which had the arrangements and piano of Luis Quevedo, in which he performs a superb piano solo, and in “Lo Voy A Matar”, composition by Tony Pabón and arrangements by maestro Kenny Gómez.

In 1986, he is the lead vocalist of the group Salsa Latina in the album “De Aquí . . Pa’ Lante!”, on the Coa Records label, which was produced by Isidro Infante and Israel Kantor himself and in which he composed half of the eight songs that make up the album.  The most outstanding numbers are: “En Honor A La Verdad”, “Se Acabó El Material”, “Saca Aserrín, Mete Madera”, “A La Mitad Del Camino” and “El Palo De China” (Composition by Raúl Marrero).

He temporarily left Miami to try his luck in Puerto Rico, Mexico and Italy until 1996, when he settled permanently in Miami.  He performed on various stages of the music scene: he inaugurated the Mamá Rumba Club in the Mexican capital, made arrangements for the orchestra of the Sábado Gigante program on Channel 23 in Miami, participated in a Cuban Jam Session at the Lincoln Center in New York, among others.

For more than two decades Kantor was the protagonist of important musical projects both in Latin America and Europe.  He recorded eight solo albums and six guest albums with orchestras such as those of Johnny Pacheco and Juan Pablo Torres.  Among his recordings are “Un Señor Kantor” for the BMG record label; a tribute album to Los Van Van for Sony Music and “Llegó La Música Cubana”, an album that took him on tour in Europe.

In 2003 he collaborated in the solo work of arranger and composer Jesús “El Niño” Pérez with Orquesta Sensación (not to be confused with the former group of Cuban Abelardo Barroso) entitled “Cuba y Puerto Rico Son De Un Pájaro Las Dos Alas”, in which Israel Kantor’s voice stands out over those of the other two singers: Danny Rojo and Rogelio Rente, as well as demonstrating his abilities to improvise on the soneo, in the number “Pa’ Puerto Rico” (which Jesus “El Niño” Perez composed for the album, “La Amistad” by Johnny Polanco).

His last great work, in 2003, was a tribute to Benny Moré his permanent artistic inspiration- entitled “To ‘El Bárbaro Del Ritmo'”, a live recording with the Tropicana All Stars orchestra, produced by Regu Records, owned by Recaredo Gutiérrez. 

The orchestra, made up of 22 musicians, mostly Cubans living in Miami, led by Israel Kantor, was nominated for a Latin Grammy Award in the traditional music category in 2004, and two other nominations for an Anglo-American Grammy.

The project, which consisted of a live show, recorded on DVD and seven albums, led them to share the stage with legendary figures such as Paquito D’Rivera, Marco Antonio Muñiz and Generoso “El Tojo” Jiménez, among other glories.

The Tropicana All Stars orchestra was made up of a large number of extraordinary musicians, all of them renowned and of the highest quality: Paquito Echevarría on piano, Cuban musician who has collaborated for a number of important singers such as Gloria Estefan, Rey Ruiz among others; Venezuelan Ramses Colón on bass, a virtuoso musician and desired in any band, Adalberto “Trompetica” Lara on first trumpet, possessor of a very Cuban technique when playing and improvising, he has been a musician of Irakere, Super Cuban All Stars, NG La Banda among others; Kiwzo Fumero on the second trumpet, comes from the conservatory “Alejandro García Caturla” of Cuba, since his beginnings he expressed his great interest in the instrument to which he has dedicated part of his life, he dominates the high notes with mastery for which he has been recognized by great masters of the genre; Lenny Timor on the third trumpet, participated with Los Sobrinos Del Juez for 14 years; Mario Del Monte on fourth trumpet, has been a member of prestigious orchestras such as Roberto Faz, Pacho Alonso, Tito Gómez among others; Alfredo Salvador on baritone sax, has been present in recordings for Celia Cruz, Paquito D’Rivera and Arturo Sandoval; José “Pepe” Vera on tenor sax, his resume includes recordings with the Tropicana Orchestra, Benny Moré, among others, Manuel Valera on alto sax; Juan Carlos Ledón on tenor sax, he has played with Orquestas Cubanas, Roberto Torres, Willy Chirino, Andy Montañéz, among others; Bayron Ramos on trombone, he has been a musician with Albita Rodríguez’s band and Fania All Stars; Braily Ramos on trombone, he has recorded with Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine, Alejandro Sanz and others; Leonardo Timor Sr. on trombone; Leonardo García on timbales, has accompanied Luis Enrique, José Luis Rodríguez “El Puma”, Alexandre Pires, among others; Michael Gerald on percussion; Edwin Bonilla on congas, one of the best percussionists today who needs no further introduction; Juanito Márquez on arrangements, production and musical direction; Germán Piferrer is the musical director and arranger, and as very special guests Juan Pablo Torres, Roberto Torres, Generoso “Tojo” Jiménez, Carlos “Patato” Valdéz, Alfredo “Chocolate” Armenteros and Cándido Camero.

The vocal responsibility fell on Israel Kantor, who was emerging as one of the contemporary Cuban singers with the greatest international projection.  His voice can be heard in the twelve songs that made up the first musical volume: “Santa Isabel De Las Lajas”, “Oh! Vida”, “Maracaibo Oriental”, “Fiebre De Ti”, “Mata Siguaraya”, “Amor Fugaz”, “Bonito y Sabroso”, “Camarera Del Amor”, “Mucho Corazón”, “Yiri Yiri Bon”, “Perdón” and “Francisco Guayabal”, the cover was made by Cuban painter Andrés Puig.

Kantor’s love for his homeland turned his career into a constant homage to Cuban music.

“Over time, one assimilates growing up far from your homeland, not being able to return to stay connected to your roots, but time heals the wounds,” he said a short time ago.

“Inspiration is like a spring,” Kantor said, referring to the improvisations he made as a sonero singer.  “It’s born from the heart; ideas are constantly flowing to you. That’s why a sonero always sings the same song differently.

Cuban music is the continuity of what the singer generates: although the first thing is the vocal conditions, what you have to have is, above all, the clave; knowing how to play with the phrasing so as not to go against the clave”.

Kantor said, “You can train a vocalist to become a sonero, but if his relationship with the genre is not natural, from the heart, he will always end up giving clichés in his inspirations”.

He had no shortage of job offers, even though he was rarely heard on the radio in Miami.  When he was not performing with the Tropicana All Stars, he was performing with his group Havana Son -violin, flute, piano, bass, timbal and conga- in different stages both in the United States and internationally: at the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas; the Lincoln Center in New York (in 2003); at the Casa Cuba in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and on tours to the cities of Nicaragua, Lisbon, Oporto and Vigo, in Portugal and Spain, where he shared with other Cuban exiled stars like Willy Chirino and Albita Rodriguez.

Israel Kantor passed away on Saturday, July 1, 2006 at 11:00 p.m. at his residence in southwest Miami, victim of cancer, at the age of 57.  The artist, who had been suffering from liver problems for some time, had already undergone surgery in 2001 for colon cancer.  He is survived by his wife Rosalia Perez, aunts, uncles and cousins.  His body was laid to rest on Wednesday, July 5 at Caballero Rivero Funeral Home, 3344 SW 8th Street, in Miami, and buried the following day at Woodland Park Cemetery, located at 3260 SW 8th Street, in Miami.

“He always worked as if it was the first day,'” recounted his wife Rosalìa as she recalled the artist’s musical enthusiasm.  “He was never satisfied. He had a great hunger to play, to sing and to give people everything he had.”

REACCIONES POR SU MUERTE

 “Israel se hizo en Los Van Van. Tuvo una etapa muy brillante”, señaló Juan Formell, fundador de Los Van Van, ayer desde La Habana a El Nuevo Herald. “Está entre los cantantes más importantes con los que he trabajado. Para nosotros es una pena la pérdida de Israel”.

“Fue una de las voces más representativas de la música cubana de los últimos años”, dijo Adolfo Fernández, amigo personal y publicista de Kantor.  A su juicio, con la muerte del famoso sonero desaparece “una personalidad única y una manera de cantar irrepetible”. “El color de voz de Kantor era único”, destacó.

“Ha muerto uno de los mejores soneros que ha dado Cuba, y uno de los soneros auténticos, de los cuales no quedan muchos. Tenía una voz privilegiada, un ritmo y un sabor muy auténticos”, anotó la cantante Albita Rodríguez tras conocer la noticia de su deceso.

Fuente: herencialatina.com

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 8th, 9th, 23rd, and 30th, and will continue in France with two concerts: on Sunday 11th, they will be on stage on the Cabaret Sauvage (Paris), while the Sunday, September 25th, they will do so in the Patio de Camargue (Árles). In the same way, their tour of Germany (Hamburg) continues on Thursday, September 15th, and the 16th 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 17th and 21st. The latter will be in the Sweet Life concert hall located in the Somma Vesuviana municipality of the Neapolitan city.

On Thursday the 22nd, 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 1st.

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?

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 31st to Tuesday, September 6th 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 2nd, the shows will begin (10 PM – 11:30 PM), on Saturday, September 3rd, five hours of lessons will be held at different levels simultaneously in five rooms (10:30 AM – 3:50 PM), and On Sunday, September 4th, 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 5th 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 16th, 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.