Music for Corporate Events

Click below to see the video of Tentación Cubana - a dance spectacular we put together for the Nabs charity - have a look at the film and some of the stills from the event - then read below about how we organised this massive project

“Tentación Cubana”

YouTube Video
How we put together Tentación Cubana
It all started when we received a phone call from Alison Webb of Portfolio Creations and Zafer Associates, a well established corporate events and film company. They had been asked by NABS - a charity which looks after the well being of people in the advertising and media industries - to stage a fundraising annual dinner at Battersea Evolution - the huge events venue in Battersea Park. The evening had a Cuban theme. Comedy music group The Cuban Brothers, and Madness were already booked as the main entertainment, and Rob Brydon was booked as compere. Alison wanted to know if we could mount a 5-min music and dance spectacular to start the evening off, and provide Cuban themed live music for the guests as they arrived for the cocktails. She wasn’t sure exactly what form it would take, but we went to her offices in Marylebone to discuss the project.

The working idea to get started was to present a “history of Cuban dance” in just 5 minutes. We contacted Esther Alvero of the Cuban and Brasilian dance company Oi Brasil Shows, who we had worked with in the past and whom we knew to be totally professional and reliable. Esther suggested that we start with the folk dances of the Santeria religion, moving onto salsa, cha-cha-cha and carnival in full Tropicana outfits. After some discussion between all parties we put together a project involving 14 musicians, musical arrangers from our side - 16 dancers, a choreographer, dressers and make-up artists from the side of Oi Brasil.

Our side of the work consisted of choosing the music with Esther and the choreographer - no easy task because we had to ensure that every piece chosen would segue seamlessly into the next. We sifted through dozens and dozens of recordings until we found just the right songs. Then our timballero Nat Steele edited the songs into a 5-min medley. We sent this off to Alison for confirmation, and set to work painstakingly transcribing the music and arranging/scoring it for our extended band.

Once the score and parts were ready we organised rehearsals. Cuban music is very percussion based, so we had a special rehearsal for our four percussionists, followed by a full band rehearsal with the four brass instruments and three saxophones. The dancers and choreographer worked separately from us using our edited medley.

The music for the live entrance music had to be arranged separately. Most of this was transcribed from old Cuban records for our band Cafecito by its musical director - pianist Janet Sherbourne. You can get a flavour of what the guests saw and heard by checking out the photos below, and by listening to the demo audio tracks of the band either on this site or at Cafecito’s own site.

The final rehearsal of the dancers and musicians didn’t happen till the day of the performance. Fortunately everything fitted together perfectly, and you can see the result above!

The whole event was a great success, and you can get some more of a flavour of it by looking at the photos below.

And here’s what the client said about it!

“Nabs Bash was a huge success. The opening number was fabulous - great energy, colour and passion. It was so exciting for us after months of planning to have an injection of musical adrenalin! Thank you for all your organisation, creativity and professionalism. You totally delivered everything you undertook. Well done to you and your team.”
Nabs Bash was a huge success. The opening number was fabulous - great energy, colour and passion. It was so exciting for us after months of planning to have an injection of musical adrenalin! Thank you for all your organisation, creativity and professionalism. You totally delivered everything you undertook. Well done to you and your team.
Alison Webb from Zafer Associates/Portfolio Creations
Thanks again for your superb performance at the Omar Homes/Lulu gig - the chairman thanked us all for a splendid event, very tasteful and professional
Jack Sulman, Miltex Entertainment
Thanks so much for a fantastic evening...everybody had a wonderful time and we really didn't want you to stop
Hannah - Usborne Publishing
- thanking you for your terrific contribution towards the success of our very first Music in the Forest. The guest feedback has been all we could have hoped for and more
Heather, Entertainment Controller, CenterParcs Sherwood Forest
- thanks for the fantastic music you guys played it really helped get everyone going
Mervyn, Office Coordinator, Audley Travel
There was a real sense of team spirit which the musicians were very much a part of. Your music went down extremely well and created a lovely environment for guests as they arrived.
Abi, Rapport Events organising the Achievers Events for RBS
Thank you for providing the music at the One Night in Havana ball. The evening was a great success -
Luke Freeman, charity event for M F Freeman commercial contractors
Live Music for your Event
is much more exciting than just having recorded music. If you would like to read an account of how we put together a really big corporate entertainment project then go straight to the dance spectacular Tentación Cubana

Our bands have played at countless corporate and business events, from background music for drinks receptions, swing and salsa dance music for company parties, to a full stage show. We can help you choose the right ensemble for the occasion.

Over the past twelve years our clients have included some of the most prestigious venues, companies and events organisations in the UK, many of whom regularly rebook us. They include the cast of Mamma Mia for their pre international tour party at the Sage in Gateshead; Microsoft UK; the Harvey Nichols Restaurant at the Oxo Tower; The Royal Bank of Scotland; the Victoria & Albert Museum; The Cliveden Hotel; the National Portrait Gallery; House of Fraser; De Beers (for the birthday party of their chairman); Claridge’s of Mayfair; the Dorchester Hotel; Center Parcs; Vodafone; British Airports Authority at Gatwick Airport; Napp Pharmaceuticals; Blandy and Blandy Solicitors; Boyes - Turner Solicitors; Manches Solicitors; Compass Group; Audley Travel; Ernst and Young; Laithwaites Wines; Thames Valley Economic Partnership; and many other corporate and private clients.

Our Latin bands Jan y Su Salsa and Cafecito are perfect for Latin-American themed events, providing respectively intense salsa or the more mellow sounds of Old Havana. Both these ensembles can also be tailored to your needs. For example we expanded Jan y Su Salsa to a 13 piece ensemble to accompany 16 dancers in a music and dance spectacular at a Nabs Bash charity event in Battersea Park. See below our video Tentación Cubana.

Having live music at your events is definitely more exciting than having recorded music.

Our Latin bands Jan y Su Salsa and Cafecito are perfect for Latin-American themed events, providing respectively intense salsa or the more mellow sounds of Old Havana.
Some other Corporate Events for which we provided the entertainment

  • Played for an auction of Asian art at the Victoria & Albert Museum

  • Played for a series of award ceremonies for the Royal Bank of Scotland (our fee made them go bankrupt!)

  • Played at any number of company Christmas and Summer parties, including some with a Latin American Theme or a 20’s Theme. With these themes we often supply the salsa or swing dancers as well.

  • Played at the “topping out” ceremony for the new Marks & Spencers building in Paddington Basin. The topping out ceremony is for when a building has its structure in place, but no walls, or fittings - just a concrete frame waiting to be filled in. To perform at this event we had to put all our gear in the builders’ lifts, don our hard hats and get up to the top floor! It was dusty but it went well

  • For Nabs Bash - a charity for the advertising industry - we collaborated with a salsa dance company to produce the introductory cabaret on the theme of - “A History of Cuban Dance”. We arranged all the music, expanded our 9 piece band to a 13-piece, booked the dance company and coordinated with their choreographer and director, and put on a spectacular show with 16 dancers called Tentación Cubana for the event in Battersea Park

  • Played at Silverstone for corporate clients
Call us to discuss your project 07718 347 691
How we wrote and recorded the CD Strictly Latin and ended up playing in the Paul Whitehouse Aviva ads
After the NABS Bash event illustrated above, we decided to develop our 50’s Cuban band Cafecito a bit more. We recorded some demos and designed a website and started out playing a lot of background music events where the clients wanted something more than the ubiquitous jazz quartet, but not as energetic as a full salsa band. Through the site we were approached by the production music company LIFT Music to compose and record original music in that style for use by media, TV, adverts, training films etc. We composed some 20 odd songs, prepared the demos on our computers, scored the tunes for 15 musicians, booked the musicians, prepared all the parts recorded them all. This was a huge undertaking but it paid off, almost immediately several of the tunes were licensed to be used in a series of TV ads that Paul Whitehouse starred in for the Aviva insurance company. These songs continue to be used for all sorts of media all over the world. You can listen to the main tracks and some remixes from this album here, and you can see the two main adverts below.
The two Paul Whitehouse Aviva ads for which we provided the music

“Strictly Ballroom”

YouTube Video

“Strictly Spandex”

YouTube Video

Jazz and Salsa - Live Jazz and Latin Bands

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