ES / EN
- July 1, 2025 -
No Result
View All Result
OnCubaNews
  • World
  • Cuba
  • Cuba-USA
  • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Infographic
  • Culture
    • Billboard
  • Sports
  • Styles / Trends
  • Media
  • Special
  • Cuban Flavors
  • World
  • Cuba
  • Cuba-USA
  • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Infographic
  • Culture
    • Billboard
  • Sports
  • Styles / Trends
  • Media
  • Special
  • Cuban Flavors
OnCubaNews
ES / EN
Home Culture Music

Yissy García and Banda XX in Jazz Plaza

by
  • Leyda Machado
    Leyda Machado,
  • leyda.machado
    leyda.machado
December 19, 2016
in Music
0
Photo: Alejandro Ulloa

Photo: Alejandro Ulloa

Cuban drum virtuosa Yissy García changed her BandaAncha band for the Banda XX just for the 32nd edition of the Jazz Plaza Festival. It’s an only-women project – thus the play on words with the female chromosome – that perfomed past December 16 at 9 pm in the Mella Theater, when the outstanding saxophonist Christian McBride as well as The Family Low, from the United States, also performed.

Yissy’s influences come from Interactivo, Alexis Bosch, Yasek Manzano, Joaquín Betancourt and his Jazz Band, projects which she formed part of up to 2012, when she started working with her own group on a very particular jazz. Her style follows the routes of Latin Jazz mixed with rumba, Afro, funk and live electronic music based on DJ Jigue’s scratches.

With Jigue on the devices and Yissy García on drums, BandaAncha also comprises pianist Jorge Aragón, trumpet player Julio Rigal and Julio César González on the bass.

Design: Nelson Ponce.
Design: Nelson Ponce.

On the second night of the Jazz Plaza Festival, Yissy will appear with the musical production of Banda XX, a project that brings together a group of talented women of the Cuban scene like Dayme Arocena, Zule Guerra and Yissy herself. They will be accompanied by Maripaz in the conga drums and Tailín Marreri on the bass, Danae Olano on the piano, Enid Rosales on the tres, Olga Varona on the trumpet and the Obiní Batá group.

“With Banda XX we play two of my compositions, one by Dayne Arocena and another by Zule Guerra. Actually it is a very small concert because we only have 25 minutes and we are trying to summarize it into a very Cuban repertoire, where there is changüí, bolero, among others,” Yissy tells OnCuba.

Rehearsal of Banda XX, a women’s project in the 32nd edition of the Jazz Plaza Festival.
Rehearsal of Banda XX, a women’s project in the 32nd edition of the Jazz Plaza Festival.

This 2016 has been a good year for Yissy García. She was on tour with Canadian saxophonist Jane Bunnet and the Maqueque group; also with Carlos Varela and Dave Matthews, with whom she gave a concert on November 1 in the New York Lincoln Center. There she shared the stage with U.S. violinist Joshua Bell, the Havana Chamber Orchestra and pianist Aldo López Gavilán.

Related Posts

Cuban saxophonist and composer César López. Photo: Taken from his Instagram profile.

A sanctuary for jazz in Cuba: César López’s dream

June 29, 2025
Issac Delgado. Photo: Lied Lorain.

Issac Delgado: “Music only betrays you when you don’t believe in what you’re doing.”

June 17, 2025
Papushi. Photo: Taken from his Facebook profile.

Papushi: the Cuban king of Tex-Mex

May 5, 2025
Collage: Canva/OnCuba.

Ten albums to celebrate International Jazz Day

April 29, 2025
Concert at the New York Lincoln Center. Photo: Gabriel Guerra Bianchini.
Concert at the New York Lincoln Center. Photo: Gabriel Guerra Bianchini.

“In addition, I continue promoting with BandaAncha our first CD Ultima noticia, an independent production that will be ready by the end of this year or early the next and that we will possibly license with some Cuban record company,” she affirms.

This album, which materialized thanks to the initiative of crowdfunding, summarizes the work of the band in these four years. With 10 pieces among which “Mr. Miller,” the title of her first video clip, as well as “Cambios” and “Te cogió lo que anda,” a song they share with singer-songwriter Kevin Ochoa, especially stand out: “There our music can be quite appreciated. It is a fusion of jazz with Afro-Cuban elements, R&B, and we love to play with many genres, mixing everything and having fun with these functions,” says the leader of BandaAncha.

“Mr. Miller,” the group’s first video clip, is inspired on U.S. bass player Marcus Miller. Directed by Héctor David Rosales, it has two nominations for the Lucas Awards, in instrumental video and novel artist.

“We especially chose it because it has a very rich mixture of Afro-Cuban rhythms, we use Abakuá drums, mix them with reggae influences and every time we heard it we thought the public would like it. It is a simple video but actually very difficult to make. In the set design everything is white, the instruments, the walls and the wardrobe and afterwards it fills up with color, to give an idea of happiness, freedom, for the people to enjoy the music.”

What gets enthuses about this edition of Jazz Plaza?

Actually, this year all of us musicians are very happy because international artists are coming, like renowned ones like Christian McBride, Snarky Puppy and we are waiting for those concerts. For some years Chucho Valdés had not inaugurated the Jazz Plaza and Roberto Fonseca and other important musicians will also be present, then right now there’s a super interesting and active scene with the festival….

 

  • Leyda Machado
    Leyda Machado,
  • leyda.machado
    leyda.machado
Previous Post

Cuba-U.S. Relations in Trump’s Era: Reserved Forecast

Next Post

Cuba and the U.S.: A 24-month trip

Leyda Machado

Leyda Machado

leyda.machado

leyda.machado

Next Post
The flags of Cuba and the United States on the façade of La Moneda Cubana Restaurant in Havana. Photo: Foto: Yamil Lage / AFP / Getty Images.

Cuba and the U.S.: A 24-month trip

Photo: John Taggart / Bloomberg vía Getty Images.

The Art of the Deal

Jazz Plaza, from Havana to New Orleans

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

The conversation here is moderated according to OnCuba News discussion guidelines. Please read the Comment Policy before joining the discussion.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Most Read

  • The Enchanted Shrimp of the Cuban Dance

    3054 shares
    Share 1222 Tweet 764
  • Rachel Sánchez: the taste of Cuba on MasterChef USA

    11 shares
    Share 4 Tweet 3
  • Private sector and tourism in Cuba. Why not?

    10 shares
    Share 4 Tweet 3
  • CIA documents revealing attempts to assassinate Fidel and Raúl Castro declassified

    44 shares
    Share 18 Tweet 11
  • A sanctuary for jazz in Cuba: César López’s dream

    7 shares
    Share 3 Tweet 2

Most Commented

  • Photo: Kaloian.

    Private sector and tourism in Cuba. Why not?

    10 shares
    Share 4 Tweet 3
  • About us
  • Work with OnCuba
  • Terms of use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Moderation policy for comments
  • Contact us
  • Advertisement offers

OnCuba and the OnCuba logo are registered® trademarks of Fuego Enterprises, Inc., its subsidiaries or divisions.
OnCuba © by Fuego Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • World
  • Cuba
  • Cuba-USA
  • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Infographic
  • Culture
    • Billboard
  • Sports
  • Styles / Trends
  • Media
  • Special
  • Cuban Flavors

OnCuba and the OnCuba logo are registered® trademarks of Fuego Enterprises, Inc., its subsidiaries or divisions.
OnCuba © by Fuego Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Manage Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}