NG La Banda

NG La Banda is a Cuban musical group founded by flutist José Luis "El Tosco" Cortés.

NG La Banda are one of the creators of timba (a term coined by Cortés), the most important popular dance and music genre of the past two decades.

The members were handpicked from the raging Cuban Jazz scene of the 80's and included such giants as Gonzálo Rubalcalba, Hernán López-Nussa, Horacio "El Negro" Hernández, Calixto Oviedo and most of the musicians who would later become NG La Banda .

Departing from the rumba-inspired percussion parts of the previous songo era, "La expresiva" uses typical salsa bell patterns creatively incorporated into a Cuban-style timbales/drum kit hybrid.

[5] "La expresiva" brought the clave-based, be-bop flavored horn lines pioneered by Irakere into mainstream Cuban popular dance music.

The Middle Period: classic timba songs as "Santa palabra" and "Echale limón", Calixto Oviedo took over for Piloto on drums.

[7] NG La Banda became known as the music of the people, emanating from the barrios and the poorest parts of Havana, yet many intellectuals deemed it too dirty and vulgar to be a valid art form.

Timba is not your father's, or your grandfather's, Cuban music; not the sweet traditional sounds of the international hit Buena Vista Social Club.

Timba is the sound of Cuba now, a rhythmically dense, relentlessly energetic music played by highly skilled musicians for a demanding dance-floor audience, with lyrics that draw from and become part of the language of the streets."