Question: What do you get if you mix contemporary Cuban music with jazz? A relatively new genre called timba, says Jorge Gómez, the pianist and director of Tiempo Libre, a timba group he started in ...

Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily. It all started with a coat hanger: “If they catch you, you have to pay,” says Jorge ...

In 1995, life in Cuba was really getting to Jorge Gomez. “We didn’t have food or money or electricity. We didn’t have anything. I don’t know how we survived.” It was after the collapse of the Soviet ...

In 1960, New York became the melting pot for Afro-Cuban rhythms by default. Cut off from La Habana, La Gran Manzana became the birthplace of salsa. Meanwhile, far from stagnating, Cubans behind the ...

Bandleader and flutist Orlando “Maraca” Valle came from Cuba to Culver City on Friday to remind us what great salsa should sound like. His band’s dynamic performance at Sagebrush Cantina displayed all ...