Nova Cuba Unbound
Nova Concerts Series brought Nova Cuba Unbound to Musikcaféen as part of Copenhagen Jazz Festival 2026: two nights of Cuban music in motion, contemporary, diasporic and alive with pulse. It was Cuban music in the present tense. Across two evenings, Nova Cuba Unbound opened a space for music shaped by movement, memory, rhythm and encounter. Music carried across cities, transformed by distance, and charged by the creative energy of the moment.
Night One: Tuesday, July 7th
Jay Kalo & New Cuban Jazz Experience
Four Cuban musicians. One night. A sound that belonged to no single city or scene.
On July 7, Jay Kalo, one of the most exciting young drummers to emerge from Havana in recent years, joined pianist Aismar Simón Carrillo, bassist Yasser Morejón Pino, and percussionist Eliel Lazo for an evening of original Cuban jazz shaped by Afro-Cuban rhythmic language, contemporary improvisation and the energy of the diaspora.
At the centre was Jay Kalo. Born in Havana, the 27-year-old drummer and composer played with the force and maturity of someone far beyond his years. Trained at Cuba's Escuela Nacional de Arte and a two-time winner of Cuba's International Drum Festival, he had already performed at Jazz at Lincoln Center alongside Wynton Marsalis at the age of 17.
Eliel Lazo brought the music into full motion. One of Copenhagen's most celebrated Cuban musicians and a Danish Music Award winner, his career had included collaborations with Chucho Valdés, Herbie Hancock and the Danish Radio Big Band.
It became a one-night constellation: four Cuban voices, one stage, and a sound moving freely between memory and the present.
Night Two: Saturday, July 11th
Eminente All Stars
Trio Eminente was born in Copenhagen in 2023, a trio of Cuban musicians carrying the deep roots of son cubano into everything they played. On July 11, they expanded into something bigger.
For one night at Musikcaféen, Trio Eminente became Eminente All Stars: an eight-piece ensemble that took the trio's original compositions into the territory of timba, Cuba's most rhythmically complex and physically irresistible urban sound. Two trombones, congas, timbales, piano, guitar, bass and voices. The foundation remained traditional. The energy was unmistakably contemporary.
Eminente All Stars:
Beni Henri · Tony Moreaux · Lisandro Bienes · Eliel Lazo · Yohanier Iznaga · Mia Engsager · Jakob Johansen · Rune Thorsteinsson
Two concerts. Two nights. A once-in-a-lifetime musical experience.
Date
July 7th & 11th, 2026, 9pm
Venue
Musikcaféen, Huset i Magstræde
The New Cuban Jazz Exp
Nova Cuba Unbound unfolded across two nights, each with its own character.
The first felt like stepping into a musical conversation still being invented. Jay Kalo brought a rhythmic language rooted in the Afro-Cuban tradition and open to influences from Africa, the Caribbean and the Middle East. Eliel Lazo met that vision with imagination, versatility and complete rhythmic freedom, while Aismar Simón brought clarity, melody and a deeply expressive lyricism to the piano. Yasser Morejón Pino held these elements together with quiet precision, moving naturally between the intricate rhythmic interplay and the piano’s lyrical voice.
The concert
What stayed with me most was the sense that I was witnessing something taking shape in real time. Although the musicians had shared only a few hours together before the performance, nothing felt tentative. Every musical gesture found its place with remarkable ease, as if the conversation had been unfolding long before they stepped onto the stage. By the end of the evening, they were no longer four exceptional musicians sharing a performance—they had become a single musical voice.
Eminente All Stars
The second night opened everything up.
With Eminente All Stars, the sound became larger, more physical and more collective. An eight-piece ensemble moved through timba, son and other forms of Cuban dance music, combining original compositions with a strong connection to the island’s musical language. The participation of Danish musicians and Copenhagen-based pianist Claudia Campagnol brought another dimension to the music, adding a clear jazz sensibility to the ensemble’s Cuban foundation.
The concert
The room was filled with movement. The audience came ready to listen, dance and take part in the experience. As the final Nova concert of Copenhagen Jazz Festival 2026, the evening carried the feeling of a closing celebration, without nostalgia. It felt generous, inclusive and open, bringing together musicians, cultures and audiences through the simple joy of live music.
