Yerba Buena

The innovative Afro-Cuban/funk and hip-hop collective led by producer Andres Levin has been embraced as a new-found musical wonder by a wide array of live music fans throughout the country. It is said that in ancient times there was a curandera (healer) who collected all the earth's herbs with the most healing properties and with her magic turned them into one good herb that she later planted to grow as wild weeds.

If there was such an alchemist who could do that with music today, it'd be songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist bandleader Andres Levin. And his magic herb is Yerba Buena: a blend of African-rooted Latin music with hip-hop, Motown soul, Nigerian Afrobeat and a dash of Middle Eastern themes played by an international crew of star musicians that represent the new sounds of the New York City streets.

Putting his magic touch on a variety of music since he arrived in 1989 from his native Venezuela to become a "resident alien," Levin has written and/or produced for artists ranging from Chaka Khan and Tina Turner to David Byrne and Arto Lindsay. His most recent credits include D'Angelo, Macy Gray, Dead Prez, and Me'Shell Ndegeocello in his role as principal producer of the recent Red Hot + Riot Fela Kuti tribute (Top 10 in NY Times, Time, Rolling Stone & more).

For the past few years, Levin has been in high demand throughout the fast-growing world of Latin alternative music, producing albums for Aterciopelados, Los Amigos Invisibles, El Gran Silencio, Ely Guerra, Carlinhos Brown, and Jorge Moreno, as well as producing key tracks with Caetano Veloso and Marisa Monte.

For Yerba Buena, Levin was introduced to key players by Cuban music songwriter Ileana Padró. Seizing a moment where the purveyors of the sounds from Lagos, Havana and New York City were at his arms' reach, he brought them to his funhouse, The Fun Machine Studios in Manhattan, to create a distinct and innovative urban Latino sound only hinted at before by like-minded groups such as El Gran Silencio, Ozomatli and Manu Chao's Radio Bemba Sound System.

Like some of the great big bands of Cuba (think Benny Moré Machito), Levin set up Yerba Buena as an on-going workshop open to collaborations in studio and on stage with guest stars. The result is a dazzling and ravaging live show and a studio recording that has a character all its own. —Courtesy Calabash Music