Havana Meets Kingston is a musical tour-de-force bringing together legends of Jamalcan and Cuban music for the first time in history. The project is the brainchild of Australian DJ & producer Mista Savona, who first travelled to Cuba in 2014 and imagined a musical meeting of the two islands. He invited his favourite musical collaborators from Jamaica to fly with him into Cuba In 2015, and in 2017 the first ‘Havana Meets Kingston album was released to widespread critical acclaim. The project features glants of the two musical scenes – Sly & Robbie, members of Buena Vista Soclal Club, Los Van Van, Irakere, Ernest Ranglin & many more greats.

Upon the success of the first album’s release, Savona began touring the group Internationally, with festival appearances Including Glastonbury (UK), WOMAD (UK / Aus / NZ), No Logo (France), Boomtown (UK), Paléo (Switzerland) and a fully televised headline concert at The Royal Albert Hall In London for the BBC Proms, after which the album went to #1 on the iTunes Charts for world music in the UK.

LIVE BOOKINGS – Full Band VS Soundsystem

To perform the music live, Havana Meets Kingston Tours as both a full band (9-12 plece) and a live soundsystem (4-7 piece). The live shows are incendiary, with the group boasting phenomenal players & musicianship. Key members are based in Cuba and Jamaica, and Include Brenda Navarrete (Interactivo), Julito Padrón (Irakere), Barbarito Torres &Rolando Luna (Buena Vista Social Club), Rodney Barreto (Cuba), Randy Valentine (UK/JA) & Mista Savona (Aus/ UK). The sound system show drops the live rhythm section bringing the full power of bass culture as you would expect from an outdoor sound system show in Jamaica, while the full band show adds the power of jazz, salsa, timbre and other incredible sounds from the streets of Havana.

Live Concert Reviews:

“Nothing Short Of Explosive” – The Times (UK), 2018

“It. Was. Amazing.” – BBC (UK), 2018

“Wow. Just wow… simply incredible…easily enters my Top 5 favourite experiences. Ever.” – Gareth Bryant, Scenestr (Aus), 2018