NG La Banda

NG La Banda is a Cuban musical group founded by flutist José Luis "El Tosco" Cortés. NG stands for nueva generación ('next generation'). NG La Banda are the creators of timba (a term coined by Cortés), the most important popular dance and music genre of the past two decades. Prior to founding NG La Banda, Cortés played in the Afro-Cuban jazz-fusion supergroup Irakere, and the seminal songo band Los Van Van.

Before leaving Irakere, El Tosco had begun what was to be an experimental side-project to "make a study of Cuban music and Jazz". It was known alternately as "Nueva Generación" and "Orquesta Todos Estrellas". The members were handpicked from the raging Cuban Jazz scene of the 80's and included such giants as Gonzálo Rubalcalba, Hernán López-Nussa, Horacio "El Negro" Hernández, Calixto Oviedo and most of the musicians who would later become NG La Banda . The group produced four vinyl records which have never been released on CD although some of the tracks can be found on compilations. Somewhere along the way, Tosco's vision for what would ultimately become NG La Banda began to materialize. As he told Jordan Levin of the Miami Herald, "I wanted to do something with the flavor of Van Van and the musical aggressiveness of Irakere...to give [popular music] the same artistic and aesthetic value that we give to other great forms of music"—Moore (2001).

The first timba album was NG's En la calle (1989). This was followed by No se puede tapar el sol (1990), and En la calle otra vez (1991). None of these phonorecords were released on CD in their entirety, but Ned Sublette's QBADisc label released a nine-track compilation in 1992. NG La Banda's horn section is affectionately known as “los metales del terror” or metals of terror. So important is the work of the horn section inside the timba format that this naming of the horn section itself has become common.

The track "La expresiva," featuring the lead vocals of Issac Delgado, is emblematic of the early timba innovations by NG La Banda. Departing from the rumba-inspired percussion parts of the previous songo era, "La expresiva" uses typical salsa bell patterns creatively incorporated into a Cuban-style timbales/drum kit hybrid. The tumbadora ('conga') plays elaborate variations on the son montuno-based tumbao, rather than in the songo style. The bass tumbaos of Feliciano Arango are busier than typically heard in salsa and Cuba dance music.

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