Habana Abierta information

Habana Abierta
Habana Abierta
Origin	Havana, Cuba
Genres	Nueva Trova
Years active	1996–present
Members	Vanito Brown; Jose Luis Medina; Luis Barbería; Alejandro Gutiérrez
Past members	Boris Larramendi; Kelvis Ochoa; Pepe del Valle; Andy Villalón
Website	http://myspace.com/habanaabierta

Habana Abierta is a Cuban band. They are a member of a generation of composers, musicians, sculptors, authors, actors, etc. which emerged in the early 90s with its own identity in Havana, even though some of their creations had already been well known for some years in the island's cultural circles.

The origins of Habana Abierta go back to a personal project of music duo Gema y Pável, who wanted to produce a compilation of everything they and their peers had been doing in Havana clubs with hardly any resources. Initially, Luis Alberto Barbería, Pepe del Valle, Carlos Santos, Boris Larramendi, Superavit, Andy Villalón, Kelvis Ochoa and José Luis Medina, backed by the NUBENEGRA recording label, gave us a first glimpse released under the name Habana Oculta. In July 1996 most of them travelled to Spain (except for Carlos Santos, Raúl Ciro and Alejandro Frómeta: Superávit) to showcase their music at several festivals and clubs, and very soon spurred interest among audiences and the media alike, and even well-known Spanish artists and musicians. Ana Belén and Víctor Manuel, along with Ketama, were the first to show an interest and to take the initiative in a gradual and rich exchange with our Habana Abierta, which whom they made music in Spain. BMG Ariola asked Gema y Pável to come up with a project bringing a group of highly different singer-songwriters together on the album, based on the individuality of each member yet with combined expression of the diverse unity of Cuban music. Then Vanito Brown and Alejandro Gutiérrez joined what was to become Habana Abierta, recording a new album under this name.

They played over 80 gigs throughout Spain in 1997, 50 of them in Madrid and in 1998 recorded am album with the line-up down to 6, as Andy and Barbería had left to branch out on their own. With 24 Horas, the second album with Habana Abierta, an eclectic line was followed with some tracks from previous recordings, with a more defined fusion between popular Cuban music and funk, reggae and hip-hop. Rock and Pop Cuban-style with national roots: Van Van by Juan Formell, Irakere by Chucho Valdés, or NG La Banda by José Luis Cortés, refrains attributed to Matamoros over Red Hot Chili Peppers or Rolling Stones riffs. Conga-funk, timba-rock, bolero-hop, chachacha-blues, son and pop.... In January 2003, after six years in Spain, they returned to Cuba for a series of sell-out individual shows, with a performance by the Habana Abierta full line-up at La Tropical, playing to with over 10,000 people. This gave rise to the Habana Abierta documentary directed by Jorge Perugorría and Arturo Soto, which was presented at several film festivals.

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