Compota de Manana
A big Barcelona band born of Erik Castillo's Havana years: Compota de Manana invented “Alternatimba”, where Cuban timba meets flamenco, hip hop and funk — a dance machine between Cuba and Barcelona.
Biography
It all starts in Cuba: Erik Castillo, a percussionist and singer born in Lleida, Catalonia, studied music in Havana for nearly a decade. Back in Europe, he met pianist C. Pardo and, with Manu Masaedo and Zeben Martín, explored fusing Cuban music with modern genres — the flamenco of his Spanish childhood, hip hop, rap, funk.
The band's formula rests on an insight: timba, born in Cuba in the 1990s, was itself a fusion of the sounds of its time. Theirs would be called “Alternatimba” — an alternative to traditional timba, danceable, joyful and full of sabrosura. The debut album, La Alternatimba, came out in 2018.
The project then paused for two years while Erik Castillo toured in Nathy Peluso's band on the world's major stages. Back in Barcelona, the orchestra — a dozen musicians who have played alongside Alain Pérez, Wynton Marsalis, Irakere and Paquito D'Rivera — released Cuestión de Tiempo, 16 tracks featuring Mayito Rivera and Alexander Abreu, and closed its summer 2026 tour in Barcelona.
Stages and milestones
2026 — Summer tour, closed in Barcelona (August 29, 2026) · Stages shared with musicians of Alain Pérez, Wynton Marsalis, Irakere, Paquito D'Rivera, Descemer Bueno
Upcoming dates
- Thursday November 19, 2026 — Vitrine officielle · Rythmes Nocturnes — Mundial Montréal 2026 — 22 h · Foufounes Électriques, Montréal (Canada) — Official page ↗
Public dates — collected from the artist's official channels on November 9, 2026.
Discography
Cuestión de Tiempo (album, 16 tracks — featuring Mayito Rivera and Alexander Abreu) · 2018 — La Alternatimba (debut album)
Calendar
- Thursday, November 19, 2026, 10:00 p.m. — Mundial Montréal (16th edition) — official “Rythmes Nocturnes” showcase — Foufounes Électriques, Montreal
Show formats
- Big band — brass, piano, percussion, drums and voices
- Dance-driven Alternatimba for major stages and festivals
On video — their Mundial Montréal 2026 showcase
The official presentation video of Compota de Manana for Mundial Montréal 2026: Thursday, November 19, 2026 · 10:00 p.m. · Foufounes Électriques, Montreal. Video © Mundial Montréal — provided to Festival TV in the festival's official media kit.