Pavel Urkiza will release his “Decade” album:  FILIN PROGRESIVO 2004-2014 mid-March in Washington, DC. 

Filin Progressivo” is an evolutionary step from the classic Cuban style called “Filin” in which singers of the 50s and 60s crooned romantic boleros and the accompanying music was infused with jazz chords and elastic meters.  Urkiza’s album illustrates the New Cuban sound, characteristic of Cuban musicians in the diaspora as well as many living on the island.  While it respectfully recognizes the classics, it keeps pace with the pulse of the global music scene and, as is typical of Cuban musical creativity, continuously pushes the musical envelope towards new horizons.  This innovative tendency that is characteristic of all of Urkiza’s music is what makes every piece of his Decade Album fresh and enticing. 

At the heart of Filin Progresivo is Urkiza’s unique creativity. It is rooted in the spectrum of Cuban rhythms and melodic colors then infused with a distinctive Spanish flare, and it’s all held together by the artist’s signature harmonic progressions.  His original Afro-Cuban chants punctuate the songs Oyá and Imolé; Flamenco beats and voices adorn Alma y Luna; and Lavapies dances with the sounds and images of modern-day Madrid. Urkiza give us edgy fusion with Rock’n Mambo, an array of love songs, and in his musical poetry, the profound observations on life and society in the dynamic Spanish capital.

The album features a stellar selection of Madrid’s top Cuban and Spanish artists, including: Yosvany Terry; Iván “Melón” Lewis; Roberto Carcassés; Fernando Favier; Javier Ruibal; Saray Muñoz; Yadam Gonzalez; Alfredo Chacón; Julio Montalvo; Marina Lledó; Ángel Andrés Muñoz; Chelo Pantoja; and Arián Suárez; plus other emerging musicians, among the 30 featured artists.