Jorge Gomez and his musical compañeros were going to make timba music, despite what people told them about the challenges of finding audiences for the hybrid form among U.S. audiences.In 2000, Gomez found himself in Miami, reuniting with many friends from their days playing the clubs around Havana, Cuba. They had each had classical training alongside their cultural accumulation of Latin and Afro-Cuban musical styles like son, salsa and even santeria.">Jorge Gomez and his musical compañeros were going to make timba music, despite what people told them about the challenges of finding audiences for the hybrid form among U.S. audiences.In 2000, Gomez found himself in Miami, reuniting with many friends from their days playing the clubs around Havana, Cuba. They had each had classical training alongside their cultural accumulation of Latin and Afro-Cuban musical styles like son, salsa and even santeria.">

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Tiempo Libre to play the Lincoln Theatre

Jorge Gomez and his musical compañeros were going to make timba music, despite what people told them about the challenges of finding audiences for the hybrid form among U.S. audiences.

In 2000, Gomez found himself in Miami, reuniting with many friends from their days playing the clubs around Havana, Cuba. They had each had classical training alongside their cultural accumulation of Latin and Afro-Cuban musical styles like son, salsa and even santeria. And from Cuba, each had traveled with their families via a different geographical path to Miami - pianist/keyboardist Gomez first to Guatemala, others to far-flung places like Argentina, Italy and Spain.

The friends were making music separately, in supporting bands for a number of top acts, but decided "we had to play this music we left behind," Gomez told The Beat.

"The first thing that came into my mind was that (timba) was the only thing we could do," he added. "That or nothing."

Timba is a modern hybrid of traditional Cuban forms with Latin jazz, featuring instrumentation not typically found in Cuban music, resulting in something "a little deeper sounding and more energetic," Gomez explained.

The friends named their new band Tiempo Libre, or "free time," as it started out as a side project for each. Despite what they were told about their music's potential appeal to American audiences, Tiempo Libre didn't stay a side project for long.

"In 2004 we released our first album and got our first Grammy (Award) nomination. In 2006 we released our second album and got our second Grammy nomination," Gomez related, with a chuckle that indicated he was being less than self-aggrandizing.

Of course, those who told him it wouldn't work had to be saying "OK, OK. We get the point."

Tiempo Libre has since earned a third Grammy nomination, and timba has taken Gomez and mates around the world.

"U.S., Europe, Israel, Australia. We're always getting a lot of support," Gomez said. "It's like 'Wow, we know we're doing the right thing.'"

Source: www.thisweeknews.com/live/content/arts/stories/2011/

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