En Breve

CHAYANNE HITS THE ROAD

Puerto Rican pop star Chayanne has launched his 2007 tour early, with a series of concerts in Mexico. The nine dates, which kicked off Nov. 22 in Nuevo León, are the prelude to his official 2007 tour that starts Jan. 27 in Santiago, Chile.

The 2007 trek, which includes some 100 confirmed dates, will coincide with the release of his new album, set to street in March on Sony BMG.

Chayanne's Mexican dates are sponsored by Mexican bank Bancomer. The U.S. 2007 shows will be presented by Cárdenas Marketing Network.



CUBAN SONGS CASE SETTLED

A six-year, transcontinental legal battle involving 13 songs written by Cuban composers between 1930 and 1945 has been resolved. The ruling stemmed from a 2000 proceeding by Peer International, which sought a declaration that it was the copyright owner of the songs. In turn, Editora Musical de Cuba (EMC), the music publishing arm of the Cuban government, had fought to void peermusic's composer contracts and also accused Peer of fraud and misconduct in obtaining those contracts.

The 13 songs in question are part of a broad catalog of some 600 works acquired by peermusic prior to the Cuban revolution.

In his Nov. 16 judgment, Justice Lindsay said Peer could still have some rights to some of the songs, but dismissed Peer's wide declaration of ownership. But he also cleared peermusic of EMC's charges. In a statement, a Peer representative said Lindsay's ruling "vindicated our conduct and our reputation." Peermusic founder Ralph Peer spent much time in Cuba—as he did throughout Latin America between 1930 and 1950—and built up a broad and valuable catalog of Latin music. The success of Buena Vista Social Club in 1997 revived interest in the catalogs and sparked the case.