Search Results for: dance

Ricardo Vega and Karen Forcano

Latin America / Argentina /

Ricardo Vega and Karen Forcano. Salsa dancers and instructors of Latin dances.

Karen Forcano is originally from Argentina and took her first steps into the dance world at an early age, largely due to the influence of her mother, who was a ballet dancer. At 6 years of age, she began with ballet lessons and then at age 7 she was introduced to the exciting world of salsa and merengue, which would now be known as the start of her professional career.

Ricardo Vega is from Chile and began dancing ballet when he was only 7 years old. Although much of his influence came from his grandparents, who were tango dancers, Ricardo’s experience in dance included the styles of ballet, contemporary, jazz, as well as many others.

Karen and Ricardo met when they were 9 years old but their start in the professional/competitive world of salsa began in 2009. Since that time, they have been conquering championships as a couple, both on and off the dance floor.

Jorge Duran

Europe / Germany

Interview to Jorge Duran & his Jalea de Mambo

Now settled in Europe, venezuelan vibraphonist Jorge Duran is leading Jalea de Mambo band which mix musicians from different nationalities recovering the swing and mambo of the 50s with the smart flavor of the New York Palladium, the famous Broadway dance-hall, and the color of the best Latin Jazz that can be heard in Europe right now. Its characteristic vibraphone sound makes this band a unique and raw example in the current music panorama.

Recently documentary “We Like It Like That” has been released worldwide http://latinboogaloo.com/ emphasizing that cultural revolution where boogaloo, mambo, among other genres, were considered the so-called “Latin Soul” creating that cultural movement which day by day takes more strength everywhere.

1) Jorge, tell us a little bit about your background, your roots, and your musical influences.

Well, I started playing Latin American percussion in Venezuela (Caracas) having the chance to share with great musicians beside studying with amazing percussion players but my degree was focus in composition. Then I begun to play jazz vibraphone and it took me a few years to play again Latin American Music although here I am ready to give my very best.

2) How did you come to the idea of Jalea de Mambo?

The idea of Jalea de Mambo came to me long time ago (10 years ago or more) when I first heard the album Cal Tjader Modern Mambo Quintet, quite old album indeed (1955). That record change everything for me and blew my mind up focus then on mambo, latin jazz and what so called “Latin Soul”.

3) Mambo, Boogaloo, what many people called “Latin Soul” was a revolution during the 50s. Do you think that nowadays these genres could reach something similar?

I really think everything is possible if you work hard, I’m not trying to make a revolution my idea is that every single person come to see us playing, enjoying magic music, having a great time. Obviously that “revolution” happened once but its essence has come along the years in all musicians who play caribbean rhythms. Nowadays, this genre is getting popular again but honestly I believe it has never lost validation.

Photo of Jorge Durán and his band members in the music world

4) What are your feelings coming from Venezuela performing in Europe and worldwide? Is the musical movement opened and active enough over there?

My feeling is that in Europe we, musicians, have more opportunities to show our culture and most of the people here are opened enough to hear or see our projects.

Beyond Europe is quite the same because I have Heard about concerts with more tan 100.000 audiences in Arab Countries, for instance. It simply means that latin and caribbean music “hook” people hearts so they enjoy it full.

5) Now that you are settled in Europe tell us a bit more about your projects and expectations.

I’m living in Germany now and it is a huge challenge for me as it is a real different culture and language but my idea is to spread the Latin American culture and music not only in Europe but worldwide. We are living very tough moments at this very moment and firmly believe that músic and culture are more needed than ever because music tame the beasts, as people usually say, and that’s what we need now, I mean, peace, calm and mainly love.

Photo of Jorge Durán and his team at the live concert

6) Looking for these goals, are you working on your own or you are supported by a company, agency or similar.

Now I have the great pleasure to say that I’m not alone in this business because Cat 7 Production is my new family and they are really focused in spreading my music to reach more people. I think this is the idea, music is a language we need to be heard as I said before.

7) Finally Jorge, let’s share a message for all your fans beside colleagues who work hard to achieve similar goals you are looking for.

Well, I’m always very grateful when some one takes time to send emails or messages after watching us in a concert, I love it and love fans who give me strenght to keep doing what my heart says. My humbly advice to all musicians who have an idea or project is that never stop making music because everything is possible in life and the real power is inside us. This is one of more beautiful and hard profession but sure worth it!

Europe / February 2026

Karina Bernales present	February 2026	FESTIVALS
FRANCE		Freedom Romantic Festival Feb 20 / 22, 2026 Espace Christian Le Maoût 67 Rue de Montfort L’Hermitage 35590, France € 170
GERMANY		Cologne Salsa Marathon Feb 27 / Mar 01, 12026 Tanzschule tanzraum Köln Zentrum Salierring 33, 50677 Köln, Germany € 120
HUNGARY		Arrebatate Cuban Salsa Festival Feb 20 / 23, 2026 Lurdy Haz Könyves Kálmán krt. 12-14 Budapest 1097, Hungary € 149
HUNGARY		All Stars Budapest Bachata Fest Feb 20 / 22, 2026 Verdi Aquincum Hotel Árpád fejedelem útja 94 Budapest 1036, Hungary € 150
IRELAND		Latin Queen Weekend Feb 21 / 22, 2026 St. Vincent’s GAA Club Malahide Road DO3YXO8 Dublin 3, Ireland € 99
NETHERLANDS		Amsterdam International Salsa Festival Feb 19 / 22, 2026 De Koning Isolatorweg 29, 1014 AS Amsterdam, Netherlands € 215
PORTUGAL		Sway Dance Festival Feb 20 / 21, 2026 GALP GAIA Avenida Vasco da Gama Oliveira do Douro Vila Nova de Gaia Porto 4430-247, Portugal € 129
SPAIN		Dame Festival Feb 6 / 8, 2026 Avinguda de Pérez Galdós 8, Extramurs Valencia 46007, Spain € 99
		Love Dance Festival XIII Feb 13/15, 2006 Carrer del Pla de la Torre 14 08398 Santa Susanna Barcelona 08398, Spain € 109
		Mallorca Latin Paradise Feb 13/15, 2026 Hotel Occidental Playa de Palma Avinguda de Fra Joan Llabrés, 16 Platja de Palma, 07600 Illes Balears, Spain € 130
		SoulDance Bachata & Salsa Festival Feb 20 / 21. 2026 Hotel Olympic Resort Camí de l’Àngel, Lloret de Mar la Selva Catalonia, 17310, Spain € 130
		Dominican Flow Festival Feb 20 / 23, 2026 Hotel Cullera Holiday Av. el Racó, 27, 46400 Cullera Valencia, Spain € 125
		Más que Cubano Festival BILBAO Feb 20 / 22, 2026 Hotel Seminario Aeropuerto Bilbao. Larrauri Kalea,1C Bilbo Bizkaia, España € 100

Directory of European nightclubs
CZECHIA
	La Macumba Štefánikova 230/7 150 00 Prague, Czech Republic
FRANCE
Canela Club Latino Paris 77 Rue du Faubourg du temple 75010 Paris, France	Cuba Compagnie Café 48 BD Beaumarchais 75011 Paris, France	Cubana Café 47 rue Vavin 75006 Paris, France
La Pachanga Officiel 8, rue vandamme 75014 Paris, France	La Peña Saint Germain 3 passage de la Petite Boucherie 75006 Paris, France	Le Balajo 9 rue de Lappe 75011 Paris, France
Pachamama PARIS 46 rue du Faubourg Saint Antoine 75012 Paris, France	Salseroparis 9 Rue du Petit Pont, 75005 Paris, France
GERMANY
Cascadas Ferdinandstr. 12 20095 Hamburg-Mitte, Germany	Havanna Berlin Hauptstr. 30 10827 Berlin-Schöneberg, Germany	La Macumba – The Real Latin Club in Hamburgs Adenauerallee 3 20097 Hamburg, Germany
Latin Palace Changó Münchener Strasse 57 60329 Frankfurt, Germany	Soda Club Berlin Schönhauser Allee 36 10435 Berlin, Germany
MALTA
	Barrio Latino Malta Ghar il Lembi Street SLM1562 Sliema Central Region, Malta
POLAND
	Teatro Cubano Warsaw ul. Aleksandra Fredry 6 00-097 /> Warsaw, Poland
SPAIN
ACM CitY Carrer Can Pallarès 2, Cerdanyola del Vallès 08290 Barcelona, Spain	Antilla Barcelona C/ d’Aragó, 141 08015 Barcelona, Spain	Azúcar SalsaDisco Calle de Atocha, 107 28012 Madrid, Spain
Cuba Live Ramón y cajal número 2 07011 Palma de Mallorca, Spain	Discoteca El Son C. de la Victoria, 6 28012 Madrid, Spain	Discoteca Prisma C. de Alcalá, 192 28028 Madrid, Spain
El Edén Boliviano Carrer Gremi de Tintorers, 49A 07009 Palma, Illes Balears, Spain	Mojito Club Rosselló, 217 08008 Barcelona, Spain	Morena Barcelona calle 11 num.29 08860 Castelldefels, Spain

Qué Chimba Av. del Vallès, 117 08223 Terrassa, Barcelona, Spain	Sala Olvido C/ Olvido 15 28026 Madrid, Spain	Seven Dance (Dio Club) Carrer del Perill 10 08012 Barcelona, Spain
	The Host C/ Ferraz nº 38 28008 Madrid, Spain +34 918 05 36 48
UNITED KINGDOM
Bar Salsa Soho 96 Charing Cross Rd WC2H 0JG London, UK	Bar Salsa Temple Victoria Embankment, Temple WC2R 2PH London, UK	JUJU’s Bar & Stage Ely’s Yard 15 Hanbury Street E1 6QR London, UK
Revolucion de Cuba Leeds 64-68 Call Lane LS1 6DT Leeds, UK	The LightHouse Bar & Club 62 Rivington Street EC2A 3AY London, UK

Leader of K’ndela Salsa Band Eric Cabanilla and all his entertainment company has to offer

We are very pleased to be able to talk to the leader of K’ndela Salsa Band, a salsa group which has been gaining ground in New Jersey despite the great competition it faces.

Eric Cabanilla is a talented musician who, in addition to founding a successful band, has also managed to build an entertainment company with a solid team that has put its talents at the service of large audiences eager to enjoy a quality show. The artist has told us some of the most important details of his career, and we bring them here for all of you.

Eric Cabanilla posing for the amera — Leader of K’ndela Salsa Band Eric Cabanilla posing for the camera at an event

How Eric started to like music

Eric started his story saying that he and his siblings listened to the music their mother played as she cleaned the house and her children helped her with household duties. Back then, there were many romantic artists and groups such as Los Iracundos and La Sonora Matancera. These melodies helped him understand his love for salsa today.

One important thing to mention is that there were no musicians in his family to teach him about the professional part of this craft, so it can be said that he was the first to make this his way of life till today. His first impulse in this regard was to start writing poems at school, and he even won some poetry contests, which awoke in him the taste for putting words together to create pleasant sounds for others.

It was his great friend and musician Mike Pérez who encouraged him to put these compositions to songs, so he took those poems and rhymes he had created and added music to them. He worked alongside Mike for about seven years singing backup for the Orquesta Swing Combo until his sudden passing, which led to the dissolution of the group. Fortunately, the musicians were not left unprotected and could get a job in a new orchestra with new sound.

During this time, he had the opportunity to learn a lot about how the music biz works, as his responsibilities included institutionalizing the orchestra and formalizing its schedule through emails, business cards, written contracts, and that sort of thing.

Angel Peguero, Eric Cabanilla, and Stephany Moore — Dancer Angel Peguero, Eric Cabanilla, and dancer Stephany Moore

Thanks to all this acquired knowledge, once Swing Combo broke up, Eric already had an accurate idea of what to do when creating his own orchestra and how to manage it, so he jumped into action from there.

K’ndela Salsa Band

After all the experience he had gained, Eric finally decided to build something of his own, as he felt ready to take on such a challenge.

One of the first people he counted on was maestro Jimmy Bosch, “El Trombón Criollo,” who has a 50-year career and his own orchestra, Salsa Masters. He is always traveling the world with his orchestra, but whenever he is required to play with Eric and K’ndela Salsa Band, he makes an appearance without hesitation. He describes Bosch as a very professional man, to the point that he is the first to arrive and the last to leave at any rehearsal.

Together with Eric and Bosch, K’ndela also leverages the talent of other great musicians like bassist Edgar “Danny” Rosado, pianist Ray “El Loco” Cabrera, Xabi “El Chamo” Estrada, Eric Pizza, Brian ‘Tibiri’ Pozo, Jimmy “El Nene” Feliciano, and Daniel “El Gato” Arboleda.

This orchestra project was his first professional goal, but once he made it, he did not want to be confined to that. He also wanted to offer a complete package that offers more comprehensive entertainment than just playing and singing. That is when he took advantage of their closeness to a dance school where he sometimes performed to be in touch with dancers who wanted to join their shows.

Eric and the rest of the band — From left to right Ray “El Loco” Cabrera, Danny Rosado, Eric Cabanilla, Xavi “El Chamo” Estrada, Erik Piza, Brian “Tibiri” Pozo, Jimmy “El Nene” Feliciano, Daniel “El Gato” Arboleda and Jimmy “El Trombón Criollo” Bosch

Additionally, he hired a relative who worked as a mariachi, who in turn introduced him to other artists who did the same thing so he could hire them. Over time, he also included DJs who would liven up all kinds of events with their diverse mixes.

Something Eric wanted to clear up is that all these professionals are permanent workers in his company. He has a very good relationship with many dance schools in New Jersey, to which he offers his packages, and there is always a very generous group of its dancers that accepts the proposal. Whenever Eric is involved in a festival or private event, he never has any problem finding talent in the field of dance to accompany him thanks to his reliability, professionalism, and great respect for the work of others.

Read also: The Cajón throughout history

Musician and entrepreneur of Latin origin Jorge Torres talks about his band and his company

American multi-instrumentalist and entrepreneur of Puerto Rican descent Jorge Torres had a conversation recently with us about his musical origins, his company Jimmy Jorge Entertainment, his band, and his work with music today. In International Salsa Magazine, we are more than happy to interview him and learn what he has to tell us.

Jorge Torres and his conga — Musician and entrepreneur Jorge Torres next to his conga

Jorge’s beginnings in music in his native Chicago

Jorge said that when he was very young, his mother got a large stereo system that included a record player and radio where she listened to all kinds of music. His brother had a copy album “Che Che Cole” by Willie Colon and a cowbell he used to play constantly, making it the first instrument he heard in his childhood.

In the fifth grade in Philadelphia, he became interested in learning to play the guitar, but at that time his school did not offer guitar programs, but violin. So he decided to try the violin, but only played it during that year. In the eighth grade, he returned to Chicago to live with his father following the death of his mother, and his interest turned to steel drums, which he also referred to as Caribbean drums.

He spent another year playing this instrument until he reached high school and moved back to Philadelphia to live with his brother, which is when he changed his mind again and started loving the trumpet and the conga. He was so passionate about the latter that he bought his own conga, which he still has to this day. Then, other musician friends taught him how to play it, and the rest is history.

Early professional career

His learning to play the conga was the beginning of his life as a professional musician, and he played for various groups such as La Orquesta Cupey, Orquesta La Precaución, and Orquesta La Opinión, among others. During this time, Jorge learned to play many other instruments such as bongos and timbales. His teacher was Mikie Rivera, renowned Puerto Rican singer-songwriter and trova and jazz guitarist, who met with the young man and other musicians in the cellar of a friend’s house to mentor them and work with them.

These meetings aroused in him the idea of creating his own band in the future because of all that Rivera taught him about the music biz, and he wanted to put that knowledge into practice as soon as possible.

Jimmy Jorge and The Latin Jazz Expenses

Jorge’s band started as a small jazz group, but he did not want to settle for that. At some point, he was interested in having an orchestra with four wind instruments, three singers, piano, bass, bongos, timbales, and congas. That is how Jimmy Jorge and The Latin Jazz Express project arose.

This project started as a six-member Latin jazz band in 1995, but has managed to grow to the point that it has about 12 members and plays many other musical genres, although salsa is still very present in its repertoire.

Jorge Torres and the band — Jorge Torres and the rest of Jimmy Jorge and The Latin Express

Through hard work, Jimmy Jorge and The Latin Jazz Express have managed to position itself in the industry until they became the house band on the radio station called “La Mega 1310 AM” for some time and have played at all kinds of events such as The Puerto Rican Parade, La Feria del Barrio, Penn’s Landing’s Hispanic Fest, among others.

Some of the current members of the band are Peruvian singer Joseito Rivera, Puerto Rican singer Lia Montalvo, Dominican singer Hugo Tavares, conguero Edwin “Papo Buda,” percussionist Orlando Santana, and trombonist Edgar Salias.

Jimmy Jorge Entertainment

When Jorge began performing with American orchestras, he noticed that some of them, in addition to their musicians, also had dancers and DJs who were part of the orchestra and the show. The inclusion of these professionals in concerts seemed like a phenomenal idea to him and wanted to put it into practice for his own project, so he took advantage of the contact he had made with singers, DJs, photographers, dancers, and dance teachers to recruit them for his own shows in the future.

So, he began asking for phone numbers in order to build a network of artists he could count on in case he needed their services. Today, he has a large catalog of options for every type of show, making Jimmy Jorge Entertainment one of the most important Latin entertainment companies in Philadelphia today.

Search Results for: dance

Ricardo Vega and Karen Forcano. Salsa dancers and instructors of Latin dances.

Interview to Jorge Duran & his Jalea de Mambo

1) Jorge, tell us a little bit about your background, your roots, and your musical influences.

2) How did you come to the idea of Jalea de Mambo?

3) Mambo, Boogaloo, what many people called “Latin Soul” was a revolution during the 50s. Do you think that nowadays these genres could reach something similar?

4) What are your feelings coming from Venezuela performing in Europe and worldwide? Is the musical movement opened and active enough over there?

5) Now that you are settled in Europe tell us a bit more about your projects and expectations.

6) Looking for these goals, are you working on your own or you are supported by a company, agency or similar.

7) Finally Jorge, let’s share a message for all your fans beside colleagues who work hard to achieve similar goals you are looking for.

Freedom Romantic Festival

Cologne Salsa Marathon

Arrebatate Cuban Salsa Festival

All Stars Budapest Bachata Fest

Latin Queen Weekend

Amsterdam International Salsa Festival

Sway Dance Festival

Dame Festival

Love Dance Festival XIII

Mallorca Latin Paradise

SoulDance Bachata & Salsa Festival

Dominican Flow Festival

Más que Cubano Festival BILBAO

Directory of European nightclubs