Iraqis

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Irakere ( yoruba for vegetation) is a Cuban band founded in 1973 by the pianist Chucho Valdés . The band mainly plays Afro-Cuban jazz and traditional Cuban music with forays into classical, disco and fusion music.

history

The band had their first success in 1974 with the song "Bacalao con Pan" ("Cod with Bread"). Irakere soon went on an international tour: as early as 1978, the group performed at the Jazz Festival Montreux and the Newport Jazz Festival . The recording from Newport was released in 1979 under the name Irakere and won the Grammy Award for best Latin recording the following year ; that was the first Grammy for a group from Cuba. In 2007 the album received an additional honor by being inducted into the “Latin Grammy Hall of Fame”, which is reserved for selected historical recordings of lasting quality or special significance.

While there was great fluctuation in the wind section, the core of the rhythm section remained the same. From the very beginning, the pianist Chucho Valdés, the drummer Enrique Plá, the bassist Carlos del Puerto and the guitarist Carlos Emilio Morales stayed. Among the other members were well-known musicians such as the flautist José Luis Cortés, who later founded NG La Banda , the percussionist Miguel "Angá" Díaz , who later emigrated to France , the saxophonist Paquito D'Rivera, who left the band in 1980 during a tour of Spain and emigrated to the United States, and the trumpeter Arturo Sandoval , who left the group for a solo career in 1981 and went to the United States in 1990. Other members were the flautist Orlando “Maraca” Valle , the singer and percussionist Oscar Valdés, the saxophonists Carlos Averhoff, César López, Román Filiú , Irving Michel Acao and Javier Zalba, the trumpeters Jorge Varona, Basilio Márquez, Mario Morejon and Julio Padrón as well other musicians.

The group uses a wide range of percussion instruments such as Batá , Abakuá and Arará drums, Shékeres , Erikundis , Maracas , Claves , Cencerros , Bongó , Tumbadoras and Güiro .

Discographic notes

  • 1974 Teatro Amadeo Roldán - recital
  • 1976 Grupo Irakere
  • 1979 Chekere Son
  • 1979 Iraqis
  • 1979 Leo Brouwer / Irakere , republished as Great Moments / Grandes momentos con Chucho Valdés e Irakere
  • 1980 El Coco
  • 1980 Cuba Libre
  • 1981 Para Bailar Son
  • 1981 Live in Sweden
  • 1982 Vol. VI
  • 1983 Calzada del Cerro
  • 1983 Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional
  • 1985 Bailando Así
  • 1985 Quince Minutos
  • 1987 Live at Ronnie Scott's: The Legendary Irakere in London
  • 1989 Homenaje a Beny Moré
  • 1991 Felicidad
  • 1992 Misa Negra
  • 1995 Bailando Así
  • 1996 ¡Afrocubanismo Live! Chucho Valdés y Irakrere
  • 1997 Cantata a Babalú Ayé - with Lázaro Ros
  • 1999 Indestructible
  • 1999 Yemaya
  • 2001 Pare Cochero
  • 2004 30 years

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Latin GRAMMY Hall of Fame at GRAMMY.org , accessed October 28, 2013