Tiny Desk 2020!

Conjunto Kimbombó
A guitar and percussion-based blend of Cuban neo-folk music served up by Kevin Meehan (guitars, tres, melodica, harmony vocals), Jorge Milanés (percussion, lead vocals), Cecilia Rodríguez Milanés (percussion, vocals), and Victor Milanés (double bass).  We play originals and covers, mostly in Spanish, and we intersperse performances with explanatory remarks.  Imagine a musical meeting of Buena Vista Social Club, Polo Montanez and Jose Feliciano, with Bob Marley and Nicolás Guillén sitting in.  
 
We have performed originals and classic covers in casitas, bars, clubs, libraries, hospitals, senior citizen homes, churches, and fighting off smoke from la caja china. But what we like most of all is to take our musical message to school settings where we offer performance-lectures on the history of Cuban folk music and its connections to Cuban poetry, especially the poetry of Nicolás Guillén.
 
Conjunto Kimbombó Music and Video
We have released El Ministerio de Alegría, a full-length CD, Everyday Chica and More, a full-length CD of our music-text collaboration with Cecilia Rodríguez Milanés, and Cuban Suite, a DVD featuring a live performance with Cecilia Rodríguez Milanés.   We are currently at work on Navideño Guajiro, an EP with original Christmas tunes, and a full-length CD featuring original settings of poetry by Nicolás Guillén. 


Conjunto Kimbombó Testimonials  

Mira Tanna, Orange County Library System:  "Kimbombó took the audience on a musical journey to Cuba and was a perfect complement to the poetry read by Cecilia Rodríguez Milanés about her Cuban-American family. Their music reached across the generations, and got young people tapping their toes to the beat and older people teary with nostalgia. Kevin Meehan and Jorge Milanés are absolutely in sync with each other, and their joy is infectious!"