2009

La Excelencia is a young salsa band from New York founded by percussionists Jose Vazquez-Cofresi and Julián Silva in 2001. La Excelencia's first album: `Salsa Con Conciencia` was released in 2006, which quickly gained the orchestra respect in the salsa world. La Excelencia is known for both its danceable salsa dura sound, and speaking about social issues in every day life.

Oumou Sangare was born in 1968 in Bamako, the capital of Mali, her family, though, was from Wassoulou, in the southwestern region of Mali. Sangare is the leading female star of Mali. Wassoulou is typified by a strong Arabic feel along with the sound of the scraping karinyang, women play the fle, a calabash strung with cowrie shells, which they spin and throw into the air in time to the music.

When Seun Kuti, the youngest son of the Nigerian legend of Afrobeat and political protest Fela Kuti, comes to the Afro-Latino Festival, he'll be leading on to the stage his father's Egypt 80 band, veterans of a quarter-century of Afrobeat nights. The young Seun was only 8 when his famous father let him join his legendary Egypt 80 and after Fela's death in 1997, Seun became bandleader at the age of 15 ! So, it took a few years before he finished his first album "Many Things"... in 2008.

Robert Abigail - born and raised in Rotterdam (The Netherlands) - started his successful DJ-career at the tender age of 15 in different clubs. Within two hours he guarantees to give your dance floor the impulse that it needs! His sets are fresh, original and well thought in which he combines different styles like Latin House, Electro and Vocal House. The past few years the crowd enjoyed his music all over Europe. On production level Robert Abigail is well known for his Mojito song and Merengue.

Those who are familiar with Mehdi Haddab's eclectic track record to date will not bat an eyelid at the mention of his new project, Speed Caravan. Mehdi Haddab, a musician renowned on the French music scene for his pioneering work with a number of fusion projects, has now ventured out in a new direction, forming a "contemporary musical caravan" with bassist Pascal Teillet and electro musician Hermione Frank.

The Barcelona's hip hop flamenkillo collective play their only show in Belgium this summer at the Afro-Latino Festival and give the live premiere to tracks from their new album Aocaná. "Driven relentlessly by frenetic percussion this is music that can't fail to move you; live, the impressive presence of the dramatically coiffed Marina and her large band of musicians, video projections, a whirling light show and a beatboxer/flamenco dancer face-off make for an evening of passion and spectacle."