When José Luis Cortés, aka "El Tosco," founded NG La Banda in 1988, he was creating a band that would make history and place Cuba...
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NG La Banda: The Symbol of Cuban Timba
By: Beatriz Fernández | Photos: Roberto Bello & Lourdes Nogueira
When José Luis Cortés, aka "El Tosco," founded NG La Banda in 1988, he was creating a band that would make history and place Cuban music back in charge of Salsa, the music that was almost taken over by musicians from New York and other parts of the Caribbean. Not only was the new sound distinctive but the name as well.
NG, meaning Nueva Generacion (New Generation), arrived with new concepts and a new way to charge up an audience. Like many new things, it was received with skepticism by some, rejection by others, but acceptance by many.
Destined to become the vanguard of Cuban salsa in the '90s, they had been preceded by Juan Formell's Los Van Van (founded in 1969) and their new sound; the virtuosity of Irakere (founded in 1973) with the great Chucho Valdes that could play both great salsa dance music and world class Latin jazz; and Adalberto Alvarez with Son 14. NG rescued popular Cuban music from oblivion and took it to places as faraway as Japan. The main architect of this awakening of popular Cuban music and the drive for international recognition in the late 20th century was the young Cortés.
Graduate of the flute at the prestigious National Arts School and a virtuoso of his instrument, he acquired all the skills for success
When José Luis Cortés, aka "El Tosco," founded NG La Banda in 1988, he was creating a band that would make history and place Cuban music back in charge of Salsa, the music that was almost taken over by musicians from New York and other parts of the Caribbean. Not only was the new sound distinctive but the name as well.
NG, meaning Nueva Generacion (New Generation), arrived with new concepts and a new way to charge up an audience. Like many new things, it was received with 
skepticism by some, rejection by others, but acceptance by many. 
oblivion and took it to places as faraway as Japan. The main architect of this awakening of popular Cuban music and the drive for international recognition in the late 20th century was the young Cortés.
