The famous Cuban folk company, Yoruba Andabo, will tour several European countries in February 2008, after returning from successful presentations in ten Canadian cities.

The director of the group, Geovani del Pino, said to the press that during the tour in Europe, they will premiere new shows, in which they mix the rumba, the hip hop and other artistic expressions of the Afro-Cuban rhythms.

Yoruba Andabo won the Grammy award in 2001 for their record "La Rumba soy yo" and was nominated to that award in another three occasions. They have also won the Juno award in Canada in 1991.

About the presentation in Canada, del Pino declared that nevertheless the obstacles imposed by the US embargo "we were capable of taking our culture to the Canadians and they enjoyed a lot".

"Now we are working in our next record, titled Rumba en Tropicana, which will also include musical mix", he added.

Yoruba Andabo was born in 1961 in the Havana docks and was identified in its beginnings as a Harbor Maritime Guaguanco. Today the group is made by 17 artists, among whom there are singers, percussionist and dancers.

Their name is the combination of two voices of African dialects. Yoruba is called an extensive African southern territory, inhabited by people called the Yorubas and, therefore, their culture is called in the same way.

The voice Andabo, in carabali language, means friend, follower, and admirer. The combination Yoruba Andabo, means "friends and followers of the yoruba lands and their culture".

(Cubarte)