Billy Cobham & Asere

Born in Panama, Billy Cobham moved to New York with his parents at the age of three, and has become a musical legend with a large and faithful following world-wide. A hugely influential musician, Billy has put the pulse into everything from funk to soul to jazz and has played with a list of musicians that reads like a who's who of modern music, including Miles Davis, George Benson, Oscar Peterson, Jack Bruce, and Herbie Hancock.

Groundbreaking and contemporary, Asere recreate the passion and feeling of the music they heard around them growing up in Havana. Their superb interpretation of Cuba's musical traditions has produced a creative, pioneering repertoire, deeply respectful of their predecessors yet with an exciting contemporary edge, blessed with inventive song writing and a soulful groove. Put Billy and Asere together, and you have something very special indeed, a thrilling musical relationship fired by mutual respect, spontaneity and enjoyment. It's a hugely uplifting experience full of human warmth for both musicians and audience alike - one to cherish for a lifetime!

Billy and Asere first met at the WOMAD Festival, Reading in 2002. Following a recording session in Real World Studios and two further appearances at WOMAD Festivals in Singapore and Sri Lanka, their story remarkably came to Cardigan when Theatr Mwldan and Taliesin Arts Centre formed a partnership with Astar Music to co-produce Billy and Asere's first full collaboration and four date tour, which took place in Wales in March 2006. Two further tours have in October 2006 and May 2007 preceded the release of a DVD and CD boxset in July '07.