Charanga Habanera Credit: Photo via David Calzado y su Charanga Habanera/YouTube (Screengrab by Creative Loafing Tampa Bay)
Some of the names that Havana-based timba group Charanga Habanera has played with will make some musicians question themselves.

Even Frank Sinatra approved of them, which is saying something, knowing how elitist ol’ blue eyes’ musical tastes seemed.

The lineup of the group—which plays Tampa on Saturday—almost always consists of the finest young musicians—about the age of 15—to come out of Cuba, in almost a Menudo fashion, changing members every few years or so. This weekend, the Latin Grammy-nominated band takes over Avalon Event Center (in a southwest Tampa strip mall), with help from salsa favorite Josimar y Su Yambu.

And if you need more Latin flavor in your life on Saturday, head to West Tampa’s Hefé Nightclub just seven miles away for a show by reggaeton favorite De La Ghetto.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=f9EVxikGEtw

This article appears in Jun 23-29, 2022.

Read his 2016 intro letter and disclosures from 2022 and 2021. Ray Roa started freelancing for Creative Loafing Tampa in January 2011 and was hired as music editor in August 2016. He became Editor-In-Chief...