Yissy & Bandancha Bring Their Afro-Cuban Funk to New York City’s SOBs (Billboard Magazine)
Yissy Garcia and her band Bandancha, hailing from the famously colorful and musical Havana, Yissy & Bandancha recently played at the legendary SOB’s (Sounds of Brazil) in New York, joining the ranks of some of their very own iconic predecessors, like Celia Cruz.
Born into a musical family headed by renowned Cuban percussionist Bernardo Garcia, Yissy helped put on a spectacular set of what the band calls “high-speed Cuban jazz,” which fuses street conga and rumba, plenty drums, bass and funk — all rhythms “carried in our blood,” as Yissy puts it.
Once a part of an all-women’s salsa orchestra that traveled throughout Cuba, Yissy has jazz genius Herbie Hancock to thank for what inspired her to start playing music she loves and deems important by establishing Bandancha, which also includes the globally acclaimed DJ Jigüe of AfroRazones.
Yissy has performed with well-known figures such as Dave Matthews, Omara Portuondo and Bobby Carcasses, and recently delivered a freshly minted debut album with her band titled Ultima Noticia that in part was created thanks to a successful crowdfunding initiative. No easy feat in a government-sanctioned country with little to no Internet.
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