by John Oseid

As if you ever needed an excuse to head to Miami. Well, just in case, you'll have the perfect pretext tomorrow when a handful of groovy international artists pops into town for the Heineken Transatlantic Festival. The three-week extravaganza culminates on April 25 with maybe the oddest, and coolest, double bill I've ever heard of: The acclaimed, berobed-and-turbaned Tuareg band Tinariwen from Mali and vampy Cuban firecracker Cucu Diamantes.

Longtime front woman for the funky Latin urban collective Yerba Buena, CuCu just released her debut solo album Cuculand. She owned downtown New York at her recent launch party at the Bowery Ballroom, a carnivalesque affair complete with contortionists, a midget emcee, and a bold brass section.

In the above video--it's a movie, really--for the song "Mas Fuerte," you'll recognize the scrunched visage of the great Nuyorican character actor Luis Guzmán, who plays a bartender in CuCu's cabaret world. A melodica adds a touch of dolor to her tale of unrequited love. At the video's end she segues into dizzying rhymes from her song "Alguien." On the album itself, Yotuel from the seminal Cuban hip-hop ensemble Orishas joins her in the song, in which she lets fly plenty of "mamis," "papis," and sexy "ay que rrrrrrricooooooooos." Try this at high velocity at your next karaoke party:

Como quieres que te quiera si el que quiero que me quiera no me
quiere como el que quiero que me quiera.

You can't pin CuCu down, either stylistically--she squeezes everything from ska, tango, cumbia, boleros, flamenco, and samba into her act--or literally, as her towering gams stretch all over the stage. CuCu live is a hoot. CuCu in Miami will be crazy fun.

More music:
* Produced by the non-profit Rhythm Foundation, the Heineken Transatlantic Festival will take place at the North Beach Bandshell on Collins Avenue. Plenty of free DJed pre- and after-parties are on the lineup at the News Lounge
* Other top performers at the festival will include Latin rock guitarist Javier García, Brazilian musician Curumin, and the Colombian duo Aterciopelados (who appeared with CuCu in the Amnesty video we brought you in December)
* Check out more Boom Box, an unabashed gusto for music of the world