La Gala - International Cultureprojects

WORLDMUSIC 2003 / 2004

last update: 09.08.04





LA GALA -International Cultureprojects



LA GALA specializes in artists primarily from Southeurope, Latin America and the Asia Minor. We manage and book extraordinary groups working in street theatre, world music, visual and musical comedy Europe and worldwide. Our own street theatre productions, e.g. in Africa (Togo 1994, featuring Amlima) and in Turkey (Istanbul, Bodrum 1996, featuring Sandimay), unusual gala concepts (La Folia organized for Radio NRW in 1992, Intergalactic Event in 1994) as well as entire festival programmes (Spanish Festival Stuttgart 1995, WORLD MUSIC CONCERTS COLOGNE, 1997) means for us a creative challenge we always love to accept. Annette Meisl, owner and founder of La Gala, is member of the IFEA (International Festivals and Events Association), Conference Manager and Member of the Programm Committee of the IFEA Europe Conference Bonn 2002 and member od the board of the IDKV, (National Association of the Event and Concertindustry in Germany). In December 1999 LA GALA opened a second office in in Bodrum at the Egean Cost (Turkey’s „Saint-Tropez“) which serves as a connection point for international music and theatre activities between Orient and Occident.







LATIN POP BAND “ALMA”



The excitement, the authenticity, their warm nature, the love and the 100 % commitment with which they win and inspire the audience can hardly be described in words. In the way the let the Spanish rhythm pulsate and how they create a unique atmosphere makes it a new experience every time.



ALMA are together since the three musicians met each other in 1992 at the Spanish cultural festival and started to beseech the Spanish nights with a musical firework. Since then ALMA stands for them also for friendship and family.



Already after their first meeting the boys started touring with an exciting programme with traditional and own songs. Shows at city festivals, television shows (RTL), fairs and exhibitions (IAA), sporting events in stadiums (DFB football game against Spain, Frankfurt Galaxy – Barcelona Dragons), the world exhibition in Hannover as well as After Partys such as Joaquin Cortés during his tour through Germany in 1998 and the “Ballett Christina Hoyos” in 2001 belonged suddenly to their every day life. This year a well-known jury of SWR3 nominated the ALMA Band to “SWR3 Rookie of the week”.



VIVA showed their video clip with their dance progject MOJITO to their single “EO EA! Que viva la noche” in their N1 Rotation. Further shows followed in all relevant television channels: ARD (Maus Club, Tigerenten Club, IFA 99, Immer wieder Sonntags (Always again every Sunday) – ZDF (Chart Attack) – VIVA (Interaktiv, World Tour 99, JAM) as well as RTL2 (Popkomm 99, Ibiza 99)







GYPSY PRINCES



Six young Spanish guitarists and singers and their band present the original repertoire of the Gypsy Kings, as well as their own modern rumbas, overwhelming not just with their talent, but their verve and love the music as well. The only Gypsy Kings cover band in Europe has just recorded their first CD, which will be released in a few months.



The band leaders of the group (in the ALMA formation) came in second at the Song Contest Festival de Benidorm 2002 (the pendant to San Remo in Italy), losing out on first place by only 2 points. They already can look back on long successful years together. Performances at major city festivals, TV performances, Fairs and Exhibitions (i.e. the International Automobile Fair IAA in Frankfurt), Sportevents (DFB soccer games for the season highlight Germany/Spain), the Expo in Hannover as well as many After Show Party’s, for example during the Joaquín Cortés 1998 Germany tour, and the „Ballett Christina Hoyos“ 2001 tour, to name only a select few.



Their video to their single „EO EA! Que viva la noche“ as a part of their dance music project MOJITO was broadcast on VIVA in the N1 Rotation. They’ve also performed on all the important broadcast stations: ARD (Maus Club, Tigerenten Club, IFA 99, Immer wieder Sonntags), ZDF (Chart Attack), VIVA (i.e. Interaktiv, World Tour 99, JAM) as well as RTL2 (Popkomm 99, Ibiza 99).







HAVANA OPEN “Damenquartett aus Havanna “

Traditional Cuban music, interpreted by a ladies quartet from Havanna.

The old masters of the “Buena Vista Social Club” were the ones who made it popular: the music of Cuba. The new now follows the old, to interpret the true history and poetry of Cuba in a musical way and to offer it to the European world.

The ladies quartet HAVANA OPEN exhibits an untiring engagement to keep the ancient tradition of Cuba alive.

Amparo Cesar, Majela Serrano, Ilena Iglesias Valera and Ana Lourdes Arias manage to enthusiate the audience with their musical talent.

HAVANA OPEN was founded, as one can tell by the name, in the capital of Cuba from the experienced musician Amparo Cesar. With her daughter Majela Serrano she was looking for women with the same experience to make the quartet the one it is today. She found that talent in Deisy Cana (Bongos/Song) and Teresa Thondike (Double bass/Song).

It is fascinating to see how coloured the tone and how complex the rhythm of such a small cast can be on stage: each of the musicians is able to play various national and international music rhythms: Son, Salsa, Guaracha, Rumba, Bolero, Mambo etc.; all four sing and accompany each other with their instruments.

It is therefore a pleasure to enjoy HAVANA OPEN on stage, where it does not matter whether they are in a cabaret, a bar, a nightclub, a restaurant or a big theatre.

The women of HAVANA OPEN manage to establish the Cuban way of life and create a deeply emotional situation without giving the feeling of artificiality or constriction. The situation can be described as very personal which is due in great part to these four women, who embody HAVANA OPEN.

Let them conjure you into a musical world, one which you will never forget!







IMAGINARY STANDARTS JAZZ TRIO



Matthias Mainz, Trumpet

Kees van Zomeren,Contrabass

Daniel Freundlieb, Drums



Imaginary Standarts is the jazz trio of the colonian trumpeter Matthias Mainz. Imaginary Standarts was more a playground than a group at the beginning. The musicians improvised together and played around with the greats of jazz history, fragments of popular jazz melodies, harmonic clichees that are sometimes the foundation, and sometimes the crowning of their music.



Even though this concert program contains many famous jazz and jazzy pieces, it doesn’t break scene with the idea of Imaginary Standarts:



The three young Colognians continue to play their music with unabated enthusiasm and wit.







The Latin-Pop Connection



A new kind of musical concept for your events:

With only one band you can combine traditional Southamerican music as well as the sound of modern pop-music.



Begin the evening with a Latin-show in the style of „Buena Vista Social Club“. The first-class originally Southamerican group “Si Señor!" entertains your guests with the authentic music of Cuba, Brazil, Spain and the complete Southamerican continent. Be enchanted by the magic of an old club in Havana, brought back to life by the charming singer Margarita Gonzales through her unbridled temperament and her sometimes smoky deep, sometimes fiery seducing voice .



Guide your guests, who are already in the best mood for party after the warm and joyfull Southamerican music, into a new atmosphere and let the audience celebrate the biggest pop-hits of the last 30 years.



The members of the Latin-Formation now join with further excellent pop musicians and get their guests moving to the groove of the best party-hits to the dancefloors of the live-clubs in London or New York.



But that is not all! The black rap artist Cecil Coston (Phoenix, Arizona) sets another explosive climax with his infectious performance. He easily casts a spell over his audience with the pulsating rhythms of the band, giving all he’s got.







M A D E R A L I M P I A



Dynamic – exciting - explosive: the rhythm of young Cuba!



MADERA LIMPIA is certainly not a band that fits European clichés of Cuba. Traditional Son and Salsa combines with modern HipHop and Rap: fast, hot and aggressive. The pulsating Changúi mixed with cool beats. This kind of music isn’t acquirable. These guys know how to do it! Grown up in the “Cuban Brooklyn” their music embodies the culture and the attitude to life of the young Cuba. Rum and passion as well as poverty, boredom and frustration are part of it. Buena Vista Social Club was yesterday, today it’s MADERA LIMPIA with their pertinent grooves.

"My priority in life is to live; while I live I can have illusions, dream of getting what I lack, and what I lack is everything. While I live, I can do it", says Yasel.



Not only the music but also the facts are convincing. In her impressing feature-film PARAISO Alina Teodorescu documents the story of the band. Mixing black-and-white images from music videos with the color of everyday life, this film is an amazingly authentic close-up of Cuban reality. The film just started and was already awarded the “Independente.doc” in Cadiz as well as the German Cinematography Award. The band’s debut album itself is nominated for the German Record Critics' Award. No surprise that the first pressing is not in stock anymore – without any promotion.



LA GALA is exclusively organizing the Worldtour 2005! Don’t hesitate to contact us concerning questions about booking or come and visit us at the WOMEX 04 in Essen, Germany – Stand 10.









SI SEÑOR!



SI SEÑOR! will take you on an unexpected trip to the warm and tropical weather of the Caribbean and Latin America, but not before stopping where it all began - Africa and Spain.



With a repertory that covers Caribbean rhythms, Brazilian samba and bossa novas, Argentine tangos and the rumba flamenca,you don't need to fly to Latin America, we bring you there.



Let yourself be seduced by the magic of the old clubs in Havana and the charm of the singer Margarita Gonzalez, with her "laid-back style and her deep, sometimes smoky, sometimes fiery voice". (Main Post, Wuerzburg)



Allow yourself on this trip the company of the percussion player Tomás Pérez, leader of Europe's number one latin-salsa-jazz band, CONEXION LATINA, who has long enjoyed an international reputation and whose knowledge of Latin rhythms raises the songs to their highest level.



Let the fast and meticulous fingers of the guitar player, Jorge Galbassini, cruise through the roads of your heart with his Argentine feeling and his vast background in Latin-romantic music. His virtuosity on Bandoneon will make you feel the authentic Argentine tango.



The musicians:

Margarita González (España) Singer, Guitar, Percussion

Tomás Pérez (Puerto Rico) Percussion (congas, bongos, Peruvian cajon) singer and bass.

Jorge Galbassini (Argentina) Guitar, Bandoneon, Vocals

Felipe Rengifo „Mandingo“ (Venezuela): Bass, Perc. Tres

Star-Percussionist from famous Conneccion Latina

Felipe Rengifo jr. „Chichi“ (Venezuela): Percussion



From the press:

"Good spirit, warm music and a lot of fun on stage...The communication is of a high caliber. Thanks to their own 'Niveau,' the group has achieved in a short period of time a fast growing fan club. The Jazz club was packed to the maximum." (Mainpost, Wuerzburg)



"The singer Margarita Gonzalez transmits with her crystal clear and warm voice, not only in the romantic songs like Gloria Estefan's "Con los Años" but also in the Argentinian tangos, a vocal master work". (Der Bote, Nuernberg)



"From one music extreme to another; from romantic and melodic songs to syncopated groovy Latin rhythm; the Spanish-Latin American trio SI SEÑOR! projected those feelings last Saturday evening to the audience of the "Kulturjahrmarkt". (Mainpost, Wuerzburg)







TROVA 5

Cuban Music



Whether Son, Cha Cha Cha or Guaracha - the traditional music styles from Cuba performed by what you could call masters: Trova 5. These musicians rely on the authentic instruments of the Son as there are bass, Tres, Claves, guitar, maracas, bongos and Guiro.



Son, the archetype of Salsa and other modern Cuban music, is chanted poetry and presents the Cuban music as no other style does. Mysterious about the Son is its rhythm which is dominated by two wooden sticks, the so called Claves.



Trova 5 follows Cuban bands of high reputation: “Buena Vista Social Club”, known from the homonymous film by Wim Wenders and “La Vieja Trova Santiaguera” from Santiago de Cuba, original home of the Son in the south of Cuba.



“We play what we feel and feel what we play”, says Diogenes Nodarse, director of the band. Trova 5 plays the authentic Son not only smooth and in a very pleasing way but also very emotive, evoking a feeling that is mostly forgotten in Europe. Diogenes: “We bring forward the fun we have and our spontaneity and the audience loves it!...”







WORLDMUSIC & HIP-HOP !





FANFARA DIN COZMESTI "Gypsy Brass Band" (Romania)

A Romanian gypsy-brass-band from Moldavia of 12 people. They play traditional, Romanian dances and in their native country they created the right atmosphere on birthdays, weddings and funerals with their quick tempi, complex rhythms and harmonies. For the first time they will come to Europe in the summer of 2002.





THE LATIN-POP CONNECTION „Latin- and Coverband“

Latin- and Coverband in one single group: this is the new project of the spanish allround singer Margarita Gonzalez. Salsa, Son, Merengue, Tango, Rumba and Bolero in an authentic way, as well as the most modern international coversongs. Great is for example the fusion of the evergreen „Guantanamera“ with hip-hop music, when rapper Cecil comes out. All musicians are members of highly recognized jazz and pop bands.







SULTAN TUNC “New Turkish Music“ (Turkey / Germany)

The 23 years old singer was born and grew up in Germany, but feels deeply involved into the culture and music of his origins in Istanbul, the melting pot of Byzantine, Christian and Islam culture. Being grown up with two languages and cultural standards, this dualism can be heard in his music that consists of individual European Hip Hop, chilloutraps, and elements of jazz, reggae, rockmusic, soul and dance beats with a touch of Orientalmusic.







YAIR DALAL & AL OL ENSEMBLE „Perfume Road“ (Israel)

Yair Dalal as a soloist, a fine composer, oud and violin player and with his ensemble AL OL, is a leading figure in Israeli music , playing also an important role within contemporary world music. His background as one of the latest representatives of Arab Jewish music from Iraq , has allowed him to develop this rare mix of traditional and modern, Jewish and Arab, Oriental and Western. Yair Dalal is also a strong advocate for peace in Israel and devotes his talent to abolishing the ideological barriers between people and in particular between Jews and Arabs.







LA GALA -International Cultureprojects

Office Germany: . Postfach 30 08 08 . D - 50778 Köln

Tel: +49 (0) 221.550 43 15 F:+49 (0) 221.955 35 08

Office Turkey:. PK 247, c/o Demir, TR - 48400 Bodrum-Mugla

info@lagala.de www.lagala.de