Old-ish and a goodie!

New Year Eve 2010!

Hey all! We are part of a cool NYE party this year at the Water Club. Never heard of it?
Neither have we. But that's exciting cuz it's not your typical "club night". We heard it's a fancy venue on the water on 163rd.
We would be honored to celebrate the culmination of an amazing year-and the beginning of a new one with you.
luv,
afrobeta

Our "Do You Party?" EP was named Best of 2010!

Thanks to everyone who made it out to our shows and made 2010 an unforgettable year!
Here's the article taken from The Broward New Times.
This year seemed to be the tipping point for Miami duo Afrobeta. Though the act has long been a favorite on the local party circuit, 2010 saw production mastermind Tony Smurphio and frontwoman Cuci Amador bust out to the big time. This meant a spot on a main stage at this past spring's Ultra Music Festival and a trip through Europe that included a gig in Ibiza alongside Booka Shade.

It also meant a deal with Do IT Music Group, which yielded the short but punchy EP, Do You Party? The group's earliest material often flirted with frothy freestyle. But these eight tracks (three of which are remixes of the five original songs therein) boast an added heft on the low-end, with Smurphio often beefing up his beats into electro-house territory. 

The disc also sees Amador even further stretching her vocal skills. "Play House," the opener, finds her rapping, singing, and even screaming over a track that would fit right in on Germany's Get Physical roster alongside Booka Shade and company. "Two Different Worlds," meanwhile, is a breathy ballad that swims through New Wave while threatening to bubble over into a banger. 

It's the kind of musical tension in which Afrobeta excels, and which propels the disc forward with zero dull moments. If this is just a taste, the full-length, due out next year, should fully propel the band into the international dance music stratosphere.
 Top Track: "Two Different Worlds"

Watch vid of Two Different Worlds live at Ultra Music Festival 2010
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HOLLERWEEN!

Hey!
We are psyched for the Halloween show! Does anyone know what they are going to be yet?
We been diggin' on Holy Ghost for a whiiillle now. Ever since their great single "Hold On".
So of course when Do IT was asking us if we wanted to do the show with them Djing as well as Depressed Buttons (dudes from the band The Faint), we were like "YEAH!"

Also we got some amaze peeps from our scene here and from NYC to play at the party as well.

Laura (of Miami) Nightdrive Tomas of Aquabooty DJ Hotpants Will Renaurt DJ Dennis Sebayan (NYC) & special guest DJ Bill Kelly We're also celebrating Charles Faibisch's & Jen Garcia's Birthday Angry Panda style! Woot!

We are working on making a limited ed-ish tee based on the flyer art by Kent Hernandez!
There are even rumors of glow-in-the-dark ink...
The show is Saturday October 30th  and there are advance tix on sale for $15 here
http://www.wantickets.com/EventDetail.aspx?e_id=130993


 Here are some sick vids from our special outta guests. 

Live Depressed Buttons Dj set looks like a party!
 

Holy Ghost classic track 

Now we brainstormin' costumes ideas! What you got?
luv, 
cuci

Fashion Week in NYC!

Gotta give a big shoutout to all our peeps that showed so much love at our shows in the city.
Rollcall!
Dennis, Mark (BM cutie), Vickie, Spencer, Christine of Girlie Action, Ella Lounge, Ricky Cassavan, Laura, Cristina Canton, Jamal, Manny, Orly, Vida, Eddie, JESP, Michael Rivera, Johnny and Virginia of
International Playground, Dan and Dan of Paperspaceship, Dori, Dakota, Dj Jess, Antonio and the dancers of Trash@Webster Hall, Jesus of MartinezFX, Missy, Skye and Melissa, Krelwear, Art of Shade, Roadie, Gretta and Jack of My Gold Mask and everyone else who changed our life this weekend.
Of course, our amazing team who we couldn't have done this w/out: Russell and Charlie Faibisch, Vivian Valdes and Rafa-delicks.

Afrobeta Celebration Situation!

This Friday August 27th at the Loft 168, we celebrate Afrobeta's 4th Bday and Smurph's bday as well!
We'd like to invite you to an intimate gathering of friends and a live performance of the songs on our upcoming debut album...
Hope to see you there!

Finishing the full-length and Burning Man!

photo by Kent Hernandez

We are in the midst of final recordings at our home studio and we are excited to be so close to finishing the album. This whole process has been a long time coming. We concentrated so much on playing live for the first 3 years as a band and now having the support to work on recording has been a real treat!
 

photo by Kargarphotography.com

Burning Man is two weeks away! We're going to be caravan-ing in with the Root Society Dome crew.  We played in the Dome at Ultra this year and the vibe in there was sick. It will also be cool to see it built before our very eyes before we play in it. Cheers to the West coast! See you soon!

Live vid @ Space Ibiza!

Heya! The website for "Come Together", the party we played at Space Ibiza, put up a vid of the night with some cool clips from the show. It's mostly an interview with cute DJ Daisy Heartbreaker, but wait for it! Afrobeta is in therrrre.... hugs! oh and HAPPY EP Release Day for us! "Do You Party" went viral today!

House of Fun!

Just got back last week from our fantastic voyage overseas to the UK, Amsterdam and Ibiza...and memories continue to filter in and out.

I figure if I write them down they will stick around.
We were trekking thru Shangri-La* at Glastonbury. Shangri-La is one of the built up "worlds" at Glasto. It reminded me of the slum in Total Recall, but upon further research it seems it was fashioned after Blade Runner.
As our crew was walking quickly by, one of the nanos caught my attention. The nano was really a 6x6 ft container that was all tricked out but shut in by a type of heavy shredded plastic "door" you would put aside in a commercial freezer.
I made my way in and Tony followed me. "WELCOME TO THE HOUSE OF FUN! LA LA LA LA!"
Whoa. We found a party of about 8 people crammed in there. Tony busted out his kazoo and started singing along. Tony and I had that song in our head the whole rest of Glasto. And ashamedly did not know it's origins.
Although I can't think of a better way to have been introduced to it.


*according to Wiki: Shangri-La is a fictional place described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by British author James Hilton. In the book, "Shangri-La" is a mystical, harmonious valley, gently guided from a lamasery, enclosed in the western end of the Kunlun Mountains. Shangri-La has become synonymous with any earthly paradise but particularly a mythical Himalayan utopia — a permanently happy land, isolated from the outside world. In the novel Lost Horizon, the people who live at Shangri-La are almost immortal, living years beyond the normal lifespan and only very slowly aging in appearance.
Dang those witty Brits! Love em!

Sights at Glastonbury!

Sweet Sayonara! Thank you MIAMI!

After the going-away show on June 5th at Grand Central, I really didn't know we could fit more excitement into this week before we jaunt across the pond for our European shows.
But then we got the heads up that we were named Best Band in Miami by Miami New Times!

Very nice to hear! We are BIG fans of our local music scene in MIA and we can't wait to share it with the WORLD!

Speaking of which, in a future post I will write my own "best of Miami" song list and make a playlist...

Hope you are having a lovely week, it is 1:16 am on Tuesday morning and we are workin on the set for Glastonbury!

p.s: Already bought my wellies!

Bon Voyage! Afrobeta goes across the pond!

We've been busy preparing the set for the Bon Voyage show at Grand Central!
Very excited as we've got a couple of new synths on hand for the job.
Been rehearsing, workin on a lil' surprise cover and just can't wait to take the stage in Miami again! We haven't played here since Ultra on March 26 and 27th. So the show is June 5th and it feels LONG overdue!

Also it's gonna be our first chance to premiere the set that we may play at Glastonbury!
We are playing on the Glade stage on Friday.

U2 was headlining that day but Bono hurt his back rehearsing for the tour and cancelled. ;(
Apparently they had even written on new song that they were going to premiere at the show. The Gorillaz are now taking up that slot.
Not a bad recovery if you ask me. Saw them this year on Sunday night at Coachella and their visual show is siiiick.

We can't wait till Saturday!
See you soon!
luv,
cuci, tony, suki -n- murray

8 days and counting..

I must say I'm feeling very excited about going to Coachella this year. The lineup is incredible. Thank you Do IT! Entertainment. I think Cuci is gonna get to perform the hit single Electromovimiento with Calle 13 on Friday.

"do you party?" pics

here are a some of my fave pics taken last friday at the afrobeta ep launch party. the crowd and vibe were great. it was loads of fun!  

cristy, i don't know how you did it in those shoes, but you made it seem effortless. 





<3, kar gar

Our EP Release Pre-Ultra Party!!!

Tickets available online and are only 10 bucks!!!
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/101273

just because...

<3, kar gar

Afrobeta live at the Freedom Tower feels monumental!

So this Thursday the 11th, we will be playing a party put on by the Miami New Times at the Freedom Tower!

This historic building means a lot to me and my family. When the Castro regime came into power and political refugees flooded South Florida looking for a new start, the tower was taken over by the U.S. government to provide services to the immigrants. It contained in-processing services, basic medical and dental services, records on relatives already in the U.S. and relief aid for those starting a new life with nothing. For many thousands of immigrants, the tower provided nothing less than their freedom from Castro and the hardships Cuba had come to give them. It rightly earned its name then of Freedom Tower.*

My mother and grandmother came on a flight from Cuba and arrived to the Freedom Tower on July 4th, 1966. Independence Day in the US and now for them as well.
They slept in a long corridor of bunk beds, similar to military barracks, at the tower for 2 weeks before moving to Puerto Rico where the rest of our family was and where I was later born.

Now the building has been restored to its former glory after having fallen into disrepair in the 70's and 80's. Fun Fact: The Freedom Tower was used as a sniper's post in "Hit List", a season one episode from Miami Vice, where a hit man attempted to kill Crockett.**

Needless to say, we are honored to have been invited to play. If you'd like to come, click here for the info.

hugstillweseeyouagain!
love,
cuci


*quoted from "History of the Freedom Tower"
**wiki

i have talented friends.

afrobeta has been in the studio for the past months working on what is going to be a killer album. i'm not saying this because they're my friends. honestly, this album is going to rock.

if you are a fan of their live shows and then go home humming tunes of their latest songs that you don't even know the words to, you will definitely love it when this cd is out and in your car on repeat. definite repeat.

i've been lucky to be able to watch their album develop and i guarantee it's going to be a fave of yours too.

i passed by their studio saturday night and had a blast. nothing better than watching your friends create history. it's moments like these i would love to freeze in time.

support the local arts,

kar gar

Ay Ya Yai!!! Afrobeta at Ultra! Miami

Been workin hard in the studio to get all our music ready for a release party on the 27th of February and now this! Amazing news to get all in a tizzy about!
Our show at Ultra has been announced with their release of the Phase 1 lineup, along with all the other really cool National and Intl. acts invited!
This is such an honor. It really feels like Miami repping for Miami. We feeling the love. And it's warm and fuzzy and cuddly. Like Suki under the covers during these cold Miami nights.
I'm so psyched! I can't wait to tell you more about the super duper release party on Feb. 27th too! But all the details aren't nailed down yet, so we'll be biting our nails till then!
Awoooowww!
ps: on a random note, I went to eat with Nabedi of The State Of tonight at Soyka and J-Lo was eating there too w. her babies and some girlfriends! cute!
Gotta say I have a soft spot in my pixel heart for "Waiting for Tonight".
Ha! Shout outs to Kentsoundz on that one....
Love ew!
c