The band

Carlos Garcia

The singer from the Canary Islands Carlos García discovered his passion for music at a very early age. He won his first piano concert competitions at the age of 8. After 15 years of music making, cofounder of the Band Cuba Libre Peter Schoz discovered his uncomparable voice, reminding him of that of the front singer of Buena Vista Social Club, Ibrahim Ferrer. García writes with Peter Scholz and Michael Niessner the songs of Cuba Libre and is the writer of all the lyrics. The lyrics reflect all the emotions and work of their members. García is also one of the main producers of the album bringing his influences from the electronic music to Cuba Libre.

Fabian Kampa

Fabian Kampa, born in Fulda, Germany, has been member of a variety of musical groups as a guitar player an singer. Throughout the last years he has worked as a music producer and engineer in different music productions and studios for Spotlight Musicals. His musical talent has been vivid since he started performing when he was 14 years old. Since then he has been performing a career in music and attends the University of Frankfurt pursuing a Major in Music.

Matthias Banse

Matthias Banse discovered his musical talent as a kid. After going through a variety of instruments, from drums through bass, he landed on his key instrument where he dedicated all his passion for music, “the keys”. The professional keyboarder plays in various formations like “More is More”. In 2021 he completed his musical studies in Osnabrück and now works on various projects as a professional musician, composer and arrangement engineer.

Michael Niessner

The guitar player from Frankfurt founded in 1999 with Carlos García and Peter Scholz the Band Cuba Libre . He’s a music teacher an wrote his final exam about Afro Cuban Music, for that he travelled to Cuba as a research for his work. In this process he developed his unconditional love for latin and cuban music and learned to play traditional cuban instruments like the tres, tiple , laúd and many more. This influences are mixed with his passion for the Rock of the 60s and 70s from Santana to the Beatles and Rollings Stones. Those influences are reflected in each of the songs of Cuba Libre and makes a unique and complex sound of many guitars, traditional and modern. Also some others have influeneced Niessner’s work. Some big names like Eliades Ochoa, Ry Cooder and Compay Segundo are some of them.

Nené Vásquez

From the age of 8 the Venezuelan percussionist has lived with Latin music. He has worked throughout Central and South America with big names of the Latin Music Industry as Alfredo de la Fé, Cheo Feliciano, Celia Cruz and Shakira. With the Buena Vista Social Club Band he even performed for the Royal Family in Monte Carlos, Mónaco. In Germany he works as a percussionist with well-known German musicians like Roger Cicero, WDR big Band, Laith Al-Deen, Max Mutzke and Mo’horizons.

Peter Scholz

The Bass an Guitar player Peter Scholz studied at the Kassel University and has performed a music career since then. He has worked as a professional musician for several bands in the last two decades. Throughout his career he has discovered and performed a great spectrum of styles from Funk and Soul through Jazz, classical music, Rock, pop. Since the foundation of Cuba Libre in 1999 Latin music has become one of his main emphasis in his music career. He works as a musical producer for well know musical productions like Robin Hood, with Chris de Burgh an Dennis Martin. With Michael Niessner and Carlos García he is the main producer of the album Revolución which is launched through his own Record Lable Boom Sound Records.

Stephan Emig

Stephan Emig combines in a unique way conventional and traditional drum sounds with electronic sounds and percussion. He is one of the highest demanded musicians in Germany due to his long time experience, his excellent sound contribution as an Ableton Live expert in live performances and his diversity in the percussions and drums’ field. Other than working on his own project Planting Robots and as a cofounder of the Cuba Libre Band, he also has worked for many TV productions and as a studio artist for many different German and International Stars like Hamid Baroudi, triosence, Klaus Lage, Gregor Meyle, The Voice of Germany in Concert, Stefanie Heinzmann, Luke Mockridge, Jazzkantine, Marquess, Arbeitsgruppe Zukunft and many more. He completed his Music Studies at the Los Angeles College of Music and is now also a demanded teacher and workshop leader for many projects. For more information visit www.stephanemig.de

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