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• Get out and Dance:Spanish Harlem Orchestra, made up of top-notch salsa veterans, is one of the last working Latin big bands, humming with the precision of a beautifully built sports car, exploding with rhythmic energy and sheer celebration. It's what dance music was meant to be. Saturday at Gusman Center for the Performing Arts, Miami, presented by Miami Dade College's Cultura del Lobo.• Cuba, with a Modern Twist: The Global Cuba Festival will be a world tour (with a lot of Miami stops) of the many facets of Cuban music today, far from son and timba. Punk band Guajiro, multimedia experimentalists Arte Vivo, soulful trovadores Gema y Pavel, new generation rumberos Los Herederos, and more. Fridays in January and February, at the Spiegeltent, Collins Park at Collins Avenue between 21st and 22nd streets, Miami Beach. Presented by FUNDarte and the Miami Light Project.-- JORDAN LEVIN
There's a gamut of Latin and global sounds on tap this season -- and that's before the year has even really gotten rolling. Many concerts, from arena to small club shows, will be announced as the year rolls on. But for now, here's a look at what's coming up.
As usual, some of the biggest names in Latin pop music will visit South Florida. Perpetually popular Mexican pop-rockers Maná come back to the AmericanAirlines Arena on Oct. 12 for an encore to their sold-out two-night stand last March. Alejandro Sanz, the flamenco-influenced singer-songwriter, brings the show he canceled in June to the AAA on Dec. 8. And Spanish dance-pop singer David Bisbal, who got serious last year as he campaigned against the use of child soldiers, performs Nov. 17 at the James L. Knight Center.
You can throw down with some splendidly varied and danceable Cuban and Latin hip-hop at Musica Fresca on Oct. 6 at Bayfront Park Amphitheatre, with the hip-shaking and sarcastic reggaetoneros Calle 13, proudly Cuban and melodic hip-hop trio Orishas, hard-hitting Miami rapper Pitbull and brilliant funky Latin party band Yerba Buena.
The Rhythm Foundation brings two legendary world musicians: Brazil's perpetually surprising Caetano Veloso, touring behind his latest recording, Ce, a stark, rock-oriented, dark collection of songs featuring a new group of young musicians, at the Carnival Center's Knight Concert Hall on Nov. 24. Senegal's great Youssou N'Dour and his Super Etoile Band bring Afro-pop swing to the same venue on Oct. 16.
The small but determined presenter FUNDarte has its most ambitious season yet, mostly showcasing experimental new versions of Cuban music and culture. The highlights: the return of Habana Abierta, the Madrid-based Cuban-fusion-rock group who caused a post-revolutionary sensation at their March show at Dade County Auditorium, return there Oct. 27. And at the Global Cuba Festival, at the Spiegeltent on Miami Beach every Friday in January and February, you can hear sometimes radical variations on Cuban sounds, including Miami punk group Guajiro, Spain-based trova duo Gema y Pavel, multimedia ensemble Arte Vivo and rumberos Los Herederos.
Salsa lovers and those who love smart and vital music should not miss Spanish Harlem Orchestra, presented Saturday at the Gusman by Miami Dade College. Adored by critics and hardcore salsa dancers alike, Grammy-winning SHO is preserving classic salsa traditions with ace musicians, fine arrangements and the rip-roaring energy and silk-smooth unity of a great Latin dance orchestra. Latin jazz lovers won't want to miss Cuban saxophonist and composer Paquito D'Rivera, who plays the Gusman on Feb. 2.
From farther afield comes Musafir: Gypsies of Rajasthan, presenting music and dance from Rajasthan in western India and southeastern Pakistan, the region from which gypsies -- and their richly varied culture -- originated, at the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts' Studio Theater Nov. 2 and 3. And Calypso @ Dirty Jim's (named for a famous Trinidadian cabaret), on Nov. 10 at the Carnival Center, presents original calypso greats including The Mighty Sparrow for what promises to be a captivating Trini golden oldies show.
Jordan Levin is The Miami Herald's Latin music critic.
