Havana D'Primera

Havana D'Primera is a Cuban Timba band founded by Alexander Abreu in 2008. The band was formed by a collective of top musicians in the Cuban music scene, numbering 17 members in total. Since their inception they have gone on to find international success,[1] and even performed for Beyonce and Jay-Z when the couple visited Havana in 2013.[2] Bandleader and chief songwriter Abreu, a Latin Grammy Award-winning artist,[3] has been noted for his 'highly sophisticated melodic voice' and as a 'skilled instrumentalist who has made a career of fusing rhythms across salsa, jazz, funk and Afro-Cuban'.[4]

Since their inception, the band have gone on to release four studio albums and one live album.[5] Following the release of debut album Haciendo Historia on EGREM in 2009, their first release for the Páfata Productions record label - 2012's Pasaporte - was met with favourable reviews from the international press[6] and voted one of the top Latin alternative albums of the year by NPR listeners.[7]

They have since followed the success of Pasaporte with three further albums, all released via Páfata Productions. La vuelta al Mundo was released in 2015 and went on to be nominated for 'Best Salsa Album' at the Latin Grammys.[8] A live album, Haciendo Historia Live, arrived in 2016 before Cantor del Pueblo in early 2018. Later that year Cantor del Pueblo gave the band their second Latin Grammy nomination for 'Best Salsa Album'.[9]