Maike Scheel • Booking • maike.scheel@arcor.de • +49 (0)179 1047840 • www.misolar.de

Mi Solar – salsa, timba & world music “Salsa is like the tides, and Mi Solar the moon that moves them!”

© Milena Schlösser

Band Data Mayelis Guyat (Cuba) – lead vocals, composition Damian Blanco (Cuba) – vocals Jotham Bleiberg – trumpet, composition, vocals Thibault Falk (Frankreich) – piano Maike Scheel – bass, composition Florian Schade – congas, percussion Walter Martinez (Cuba) – timbales, drums solar, (el) (m.): (Cuban) courtyard; a place of vibrant life, where people party and dance to salsa rhythms. On a gloomy day in November 2003, bass player Maike Scheel founded Mi Solar. The salsa bandʼs name was inspired by the popular »solar«, a Cuban courtyard in the residential districts of Havana - a place of vibrant life for its residence. It is crowded, hot and humid, and loud there. It is where people make music, dance, laugh, cry, argue, celebrate, and simply live. Mi Solar spans the broad spectrum from traditional to modern Cuban music. The band ventures to record innovative arrangements of Latin American classics and offers a surprise with dynamic original compositions: salsa and timba meet pop, funk, hip hop, and Latin jazz, melding it all into the bandʼs very own world music sound.

The bandʼs fabulous singer strides with grace and elegance over the thick red carpet that the virtuoso band casually rolls out! -Baila!!

Maike Scheel • Booking • maike.scheel@arcor.de • +49 (0)179 1047840 • www.misolar.de

Band Biography Mi Solar gave their first concert in March 2004 at a small club in ʻBrandenburg an der Havelʼ, near Berlin. Numerous gigs in Berlin clubs and salsa dancehalls followed quickly. A year later, Mi Solar performed at the world-renowned Montreux Jazz Festival. The audience was so enthusiastic that the band was invited to return in 2006. Today the band is made up of seven musicians from Germany, Cuba, and France. Mi Solar enjoys its steadily growing fan club within the salsa, jazz, dance, and music community.

CD Release

Audio CD: Havana Berlin (2011) Artsist: Mi Solar Label: skycap records (rough trade)

In November 2011 the band released their second album called „Havana Berlin“. This time Mi Solar distances itself more from a pure salsa sound - although the opening song “Para Mis Amigos” should strike directly into every limb of the body, putting any ʻsalseroʼ in motion. With a keen sense of the hybrid structures of Latin music Mi Solar integrate elements of rock, flamenco, pop-bolero, samba, cha cha, merengue, rap, and jazz into their compositions – all driven by fireworks of percussion, hot brass lines, and a captivating voice. danytimba.blogspot.com - Elwatusi.com (New York, NY, USA): This band, featuring the amazing singer Mayelis Guyat, continues to push the conventions of salsa and timba. Note the well crafted elements of rock ("La Musa") and the creative fusing of flamenco with sizzling salsa ("Mi Amor"). Timba fans will relish the sparkling "El Cazanguero." Mi Solar has jumped way high on my list of favorite contemporary salsa-timba bands, and they ought to be very well received on the world stage. Very Highly Recommended. Folker: ... this salsa band from Berlin exists seven years now and on their second album, they sound nicely matured – as if they have reached their destination… freundin DONNA: ... On their second album “Havana Berlin”, the seven member salsa-band just did it. Cuban rhythms combined with jazz, soul, and funk made in the streets of Germanyʼs capital? – Works superbly!

Maike Scheel • Booking • maike.scheel@arcor.de • +49 (0)179 1047840 • www.misolar.de

Audio CD: Amistad (2008) Artist: Mi Solar Label: skycap records (rough trade)

In March 2008 Mi Solar released their debut album “Amistad” with skycap records, presenting a mixture of new arrangements of Cuban classics and original compositions from traditional and modern Cuban music. blue rhythm/jazzthing: … the musicians with Cuban singer Mayelis Guyat evoke memories of Santiago's old glory even for first-time listeners… salsaholic: This band needn't fear any comparison with the big shots in the business—and the seven original compositions on this CD clearly offer more variety than some productions made by salsa superstars. aponaut: … Right from the first song Mi Solarʼs jaw-dropping fireworks sweep away any suspicions that it is just another boring German bandʼs conventional attempt at Caribbean music. … Not only is Mi Solar fit for world music festivals, it also shakes every dance floor and upcoming backyard party. So buy the CD and start celebrating!!!

Somewhere in Berlin, thereʼs a radio on top of a window sill. From it, Mi Solar is playing »Havana Berlin« for the neighbors - and in the courtyard

people are dancing as if Cuba just fell out of the sky.