Buena Vista Social Club Tours Europe

Havana, April 18 (acn) Great Britain has been the first leg of a new European Tour begun last Monday by The Cuban Band Buena Vista Social Club (BVSC), which delighted the European audience a decade ago with traditional Cuban tunes played by musicians that first became stars in the 1950's. The band is made up by 13 musicians, among them bassist "Cachaito" Lopez and trumpeter Manuel "Guajiro" Mirabal, both in their 70s and survivors of the original group that under Cuba's EGREM label recorded in 1996 the album that would win a Grammy in the Tropical Music category the following year. Talented 26 year-old singer Idania Valdes, who joined BVSC six years ago, is one of the band's new acquisitions, Granma newspaper reported. BVSC founder and lute player Barbarito Torres, 53, told AFP that London is the cradle of this musical project, and that Great Britain is the nation where the band has performed the most. And we should recognize that it was Cuban Juan de Marcos Gonzalez who came up with this idea in Havana, which later on received support from US guitarist Ry Cooder (World Circuit Records) and English producer Nick Gold. Another success of BVSC came three years later, when notable German film-maker Win Wenders made a documentary named after the group, which was nominated for an Oscar award in 2000. Brilliant drummer Amadito Valdes told the press: "There's great expectation for these concerts and someone told me that tickets are sold out. It's incredible that, 11 years after the beginning of our first international tours, a single country, like Great Britain, schedules 32 concerts for us. It's really amazing." During this tour there will be, of course, moments of nostalgia. Stars like Compay Segundo, Ruben Gonzalez, Ibrahim Ferrer, and Pio Leyva won't be present (Compay and Ruben died in 2003, and Ibrahim and Pio in 2005 and 2006), but the band has not lost the slightest bit of its authenticity. Recently, Argentina's La Razon newspaper commented: "This reissue of Buena Vista Social Club -the album that was a landmark in Cuban music and that is back at record stores on the Random Records label-, is good news." But the reissue is double; since it's accompanied by Buena Vista Social Club presents Ibrahim Ferrer -the first CD of this talented musician as a soloist. "I'm satisfied with my name appearing on the cover," said Ferrer at the time.

Cuban News News posted on 4/24/2008 2:07:21 PM

Culture Brigades in Support of Pinar del Rio

Havana, 4 September, - A large group of Cuban musicians, writers, actors, painters and comedians convoked by the Ministry of Culture will form seven artistic brigades that in the coming days will make presentations in communities of Pinar del Rio affected by Hurricane Gustav. At the send ...

New Cuban DVD-CD by Los Papines

Havana. - A new DVD-CD by the Cuban percussion quartet Los Papines is due to be launched soon. It includes presentations and interviews with other well-known Cuban artists, who have worked with Los Papines, among them Omara Portuondo, Rosita Fornes and Luis Carbonell. Entitled .Nunca es...

Cuban Robles Loses in Grand Prix

HAVANA, Cuba, Sept 3, - Cuban Dayron Robles, 110 meters hurdles Olympic champion and world record holder, lost his race this Tuesday in a Grand Prix athletics meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland to American David Oliver. Robles, 21, crossed the finish line in 13.17 seconds by Oliver's 13.02....

More Cuba Holiday News »