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Los Ciegos Del Barrio spent two weeks in Havana, Cuba from February 12 through February 26 for a series of concerts around the City as part of the 20th Annual Book Fair. These events are organized by Cuba's Ministry of Culture and include many performances of all types, including poetry readings and concerts.

Some of the highlights included some shows at "La Casa de Alba," which is an organization for Latin-American solidarity in Cuba, a show at "El Pavillon de Cuba," which drew a huge following of fans that we had won over during the days leading up to that show including passers-by and even members of the blind community in Havana; and finally, the main event - a nationally televised major concert at "La Plaza San Fransisco" for a crowd of thousands. We opened the show and by the end, the audience went absolutely nuts, asking for more music. We gave way to the home band, "Still Band," who was actually kind enough to let Machete, Alvin and Derek make a surprise appearance with them much to the delight of the loud, enthusiastic crowd as we sang Bob Marley's "No Woman No Cry." We later found out that we are the first ever American band to perform at this yearly event.

Thanks to the efforts of our dear friend, Yannis Lobaina Gonzalez, who works for the Cuban Ministry of Culture, we were heavily publicized on the radio, TV and newspapers. Within a week's time, we were recognized in the streets of Havana and greeted by its excited citizens, who constantly asked us when our next show would be.

We want to thank Eliot Osborne, our former music teacher, mentor and best friend, who is the co-founder of Project Troubador, for setting this all up for us. This was the third collective trip for the Ciegos' core members as we have also been to Russia and the Dominican Republic.

Great time at Seles Manor in Manhattan as we played for Erica's first birthday party. A great time was had by kids and adults alike.

it was nice seeing our faithful members of the blind community who continuously support us as we continue to take the nation by storm one party at a time. Thanks go out to Jimmy, Ramon and Mayrobi for setting this up. Thanks to Braulio Thorne, an original member of Los Ciegos del Barrio, who lent us his timbales and even sat in on a couple of songs. Great job by Joana Diaz, who was also a guest performer as she sang "Que Tontos Que Locos" by Monchi y Alexandra. We'll be back soon.

We had a great time playing for 3 of the cutest kids in New York. Our thanks to Nina for setting this up and for making us feel at home. she's an excellent cook and a wonderful person. Shouts to her family as well. Maybe when the kids get older, we can play for their weddings.

This is the highest we've ever been, but we're not done yet. Help us keep the momentum going. Thank you all for making this happen.

Paste this into your browser and enjoy:

www.reverbnation.com/losciegosdelbarrio

Great time at the Strand Theater tonight. Thanks to the great staff there as well as Ron, Fran, Cari, Bridges and the video crew who filmed the performance. Shout out to Xol Azul Band who also played with us.

We even got to play a few Christmas songs with the same Ciegos flavor that you all know and love. Video to be released soon.

“Los Ciegos Del Barrio” Hope to be New Latino Sensation
By Shaira Frias

Published November 09, 2010
| Fox News Latino

The Latino band version of Stevie Wonder has arrived - and while they can’t see they can certainly make people groove.

“Los Ciegos del Barrio,” a group with five blind band members, has been entertaining thousands with a multi-genre blend of merengue, bachata, salsa, cumbia, reggaeton, and even rock.

They say they never let their disability get in the way of their musical spirit.

“We can do the same things anybody else can,” said band director, Alvin Suarez. “Luckily, to play music we only need our ears and not our eyes.”

As with a sancocho, the diversity of the band cannot be missed.

Suarez, who was born and raised in Harlem, and is of Guatemalan, Puerto Rican and Cuban descent, shares the stage with his twin brother Derek. Joining them are Dominican cousins Arnaldo “Machete” Vargas and Jaime Diaz and Puerto Rican Jimmy Fontanez.

In 2000, “Los Ciegos del Barrio” released their first album, “No lo dude.” The record included beats from instruments the band shares a common passion for, including the drums, keyboard, accordion, rhythm guitar and bass. Since then, they have released three albums.

Alvin Suarez remains hopeful the band will be a success. “The music industry can take it or leave it, but they can’t take the love of music we have,” Suarez said.

The band’s recent single, “Buscando la luz,” was released earlier this year. Derek Suarez, who composed the song, says it is “about being legally blind yet finding a positive outlook in life.”

“We may be legally blind but it doesn’t take away how we can represent you in a positive manner,” he added.

Thanks to New York City-based Project Troubador, a non-profit that dedicates itself to sending musicians to third world countries, band members have been able to tour Russia and Dominican Republic. They are also planning a concert in Cuba next year.

“When we went to the Dominican Republic in 2006, we did a two-week tour,” Alvin Suarez said. “This gave us a chance to give back to the community that we represent since we played at a school for the blind.”

In December, “Los Ciegos del Barrio” will be performing a Christmas show in Lakewood,

Great time at the school. There were some Latin dance lessons given to the students who attended, raffles, prizes, great food and well...us.

Shout out to our Guatemalan American paisano, Mario, who hooked us up to no end. Let's do it again.

Republican - American October 20th 2010
By Ruth Epstein


“Los Ciegos Del Barrio” or “The Blind Guys from the Neighborhood” played during the recent beer fest at the Salisbury ski jumps to raise money for the Jane Lloyd Cancer Fund and the Salisbury Winter Sports Association.

Los Ciegos Del Barrio band (Loosely translated; The Blind guys from the Hood) had those attending the recent beer fest at the Salisbury Ski Jumps moving to its fast-paced rhythms. But along with the praises and compliments from the listeners came surprise to learn the band’s name is not just a catchy choice: Most of the members are legally blind noted musician Eliot Osborn, who along with his wife, Louise Lindenmeir, created Project Troubador, which seeks to send entertainers to countries throughout the world to work with local community leaders in support of a variety of issues.
The couple and George Potts also comprise the “Joint Chiefs”, a popular local band. But back in the late ‘80’s, when songwriter Osborn was trying to support himself, he took a job teaching music at the New York Institute for Special Education, which serves students with disabilities.
Osborn helped then, 15 and 16 year olds establish a band and find places for it to play. “They played the Village Gate for a month and Project Troubador took them to Russia,”he said. “Some of them have played in South America and Africa. I started out as their mentor and ended up as a roadie.”
The band has a special relationship to the Northwest corner because of Osborn and has played in area towns on many occasions.
Osborn talked about the men’s disability, nothing about being blind doesn’t make one musical. “It’s not a help unless there is talent. You’re special if you have both. This band is unique. They listen to each other. After all, you don’t see music, you hear it.”
Band leader Alvin Suarez said Osborn “Taught us to be professional musicians.” The three main band members, including Suarez’s twin brother Derek, are legally blind and while they had enough sight to read music as youngsters, they couldn’t do it fast enough. “So we learned it by ear. We’re always teaching each other.” Suarez said more than their disabilities making them unique, is that they are a multi genre group. “And we’re also bilingual.”
He talked about the wonderful trips they had throughout Project Troubador. The band will be traveling to Cuba in February. “We basically play 2 to 5 free shows a day in such venues as schools and parks. We’re ambassadors of good will for the people.”
While they would love for the music to be their full-time profession, that hasn’t yet happened. They all have other jobs to pay the bills. The New Yorkers enjoy coming up to the Northwest corner, usually playing in the area about 5 times a year.
“This is the real deal,” said Jay Bradley, a drummer and music teacher at Webutuck High School in Amenia, NY., who was listening to the band at the beer fest.

Los Ciegos celebrated the music of the Dominican Republic as part of Hispanic Heritage month. We played in front of a highly energetic crowd of young high school students - a total of two separate shows at the Manhattan Comprehensive High School in Manhattan.

the students were just awesome. The atmosphere reminded us of some of the gigs we played in the Dominican Republic. A great time was had by all.

It was an honor and priveledge to perform for the good folks from DTCC in downtown Manhattan. We got to educate the audience as well as entertain. We served up some Salsa, Bachata, Merengue and Cumbia to a very lively and receptive audience.

Kudos to Elizabeth Baez for making this happen and to the sound guy for helping us sound so good. The food was great, especially the fried bacalao, chicken and the chuletas. Thank you all for supporting us as we sold out all of our CD stash for the day.

Great job to the singer who gave us a stirring rendition of Gloria Estefan's "Mi Tierra." Keep up the great work. We hope to do it again.

It was long overdue, but Los Ciegos Del Barrio finally came back to where it all began - the New York Institue for the Blind in the Bronx, NY. As students, Alvin, Derek, Jimmy and Machete all played together as pupils of Eliot Osborne, who to this day, is still the best teacher the school ever had.

We got to play two sets for the student residents and the staff. We reunited with some of the staff who made a huge difference in our lives growing up, including Titi Maria.

It was an absolute thrill to see the next generation and to exchange stories of how things were back in the day when we were students. Our thanks to Alessandra, Roz, David and Earl for making this happen. Our compliments to all of the chefs who whipped up some serious Latino cuisine from different countries. Most of all, thanks all around to all of the students and staff who received us graciously. Hopefully, we'll get a chance to play at this year's prom.

By the way, did you know that we played at the first ever prom? We won't tell you the year, but we sang songs like Bobby Brown's "My Perrogative," New Kids on the Block's "The Right Stuff" and even Milli Vanilli's "Girl You Know It's True." We didn't even have to lip-synch it. Just don't tell anyone that we sang those songs.

Great time at the inaugural Salisbury Beer Fest today. We also heard that we'll be back next year. Yay! Awesome beer, awesome food, awesome people, awesome event equals an awesome time. Thanks, Joe, Dylan, Slade, Eliot, Kyrsten and everyone else who supported us and made this day great. Free beer. A musician's dream. See you next year.

Great time at Janeth's wedding in Connecticut. Congratulations to you and your new husband. Many years of happiness and success. Much love to you and our amigas de Colombia.

Nice time at the Patio of Kean University over in Union, New Jersey. The students are really cool and supportive. It was our second time playing for them and we hope to do it again soon. Make it a great school year.

Great time at the Medical Center as we got to show off our musical diversity. Thanks to Bridges for helping us sound so great and for not making fun of us more than twice between each song. Let's do it again.

Wow! We still haven't even been on Facebook for a year yet, but we've already reached 2000 fans (6,000 overall). You don't know how much this means to us. To celebrate, you can go to our Facebook page for a free download. Limited Time Only. Thank you for all of your continued support. We're not even famous, but you are helping us climb that ladder. We love you all. Are you ready world? CiegoMania is just beginning!

We had an awesome time playing in front of an outdoor crowd of better than 600, possibly 700 people at the Rotary Outdoor Amphitheatre.

We weren't able to bring the entire group, but we held it down and got some of the best crowd response of the year. Alvin and Derek were also thrilled to be reunited with their dad, Marco Suarez, who was also an accomplished musician and their original musical inspiration. Marco was joined by his mom, Rosa, two of his younger sons, David and Daniel; and David's girlfriend, Trisha. All live in the Madison, Wisconsin area.

People of all races danced at the packed amphitheatre and we even sold all but 4 of the CD's that we brought. We had to hide the last few as we had promised to give them to Marco and the family.

Our thanks go out to Cindy, Dan, Mike, Mark, Wiscraft & the Visionary Media Company. There's some talk about doing this again next year. We'll be ready, willing and able. Shout-outs to George Washington (Yes, that's his real name), Brenda and Jasmine at the airport. We hope Jasmine got home to Denver safely. Thanks also go out to the good folks at Moe's Irish Pub who took care of us. Great burgers!

We will take a breather for a couple of weeks before heading out to North Bergen, NJ on the 25th.

After a long, grueling drive from New York to Pittsburgh, we played at the Cabaret in Theater Square on Penn Avenue. After a half-hour dance lesson given by Joe Figueroa from Philly, the crowd got to test some of their new moves to the sounds of our usual mixture of salsa, bachata, bolero and merengue.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to enjoy the sights and sounds of Pittsburgh as we quickly had to travel back to New York the next morning. Nonetheless, it was a fun gig and we were treated very nicely.

Our thanks to the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust for making us the first out-of-town Latin band to play at the club. Additional thanks to everyone at the club for such a great turnout.

Great time in Amherst today. Thanks to Tommy, Dave, Joan, Lorianne and all the other great talent at the show. We barely beat the pouring rain, lol. Also thanks, Slade for your help. Next stop Pittsburgh PA. Hope you're ready PA!

The weather didn’t cooperate, and the ice cream never arrived. But everyone who moved inside the Community Theatre lobby for tonight’s “Party on the Plaza” with Los Ciegos Del Barrio were well pleased.

Great time in Morristown NJ tonight. Thanks to Ed, Lynn and Kevin. Footage to follow. Next stop, Amherst MA on July 24th. We know a huge chunk of our fanbase is from Massachusetts and Connecticut...we're coming back! See you soon.