Israel López (musician)

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Israel Lopez

Israel "Cachao" López (born September 14, 1918 in Havana , Cuba; † March 22, 2008 in Coral Gables , Florida, USA) was a Cuban-American bassist and composer . He is considered one of the most important musicians in Cuba and (together with his brother Orestes) the founder of the Mambo . His best-known compositions are probably Mambo (written for and later recorded by Arcaño y sus Maravillas ) and Pueblo nuevo (heard on Buena Vista Social Club ).

Life

Cachao was the offspring of a family of musicians (they produced around 40 musicians, including many bassists; his nephew Orlando "Cachaíto" López became known as a contributor to the Buena Vista Social Club ). He initially trained as a classical acoustic bassist. As a boy he played in the Havana Philharmonic Orchestra , sometimes under the direction of such famous guest conductors as Herbert von Karajan and Igor Stravinsky .

Together with his brother, the multi-instrumentalist Orestes López (1908–1991), he developed the “nuevo ritmo” (new rhythm) at the end of the 1930s , which supplemented the traditional danzón with African rhythms, which ultimately led to the mambo. The two brothers developed the first piece called Mambo in 1937/1938.

"We tried to bring something new into our music, and the result was a passage that we called 'danzon mambo' [...] It had an effect and got people's blood pumping."

- Israel "Cachao" López

The mambo first came to the USA in the 1940s, where Cachao played a key role in the popularity of the mambo, which reached its peak in the 1950s, especially in New York . Cachao was a master of mambo and Latin jazz - jam sessions ( "descarga") known ( Cachao is a term for Latin Jazz), but is also considered important Salsa Artist. Together with his brother Orestes, Israel López had many musical successes, performed with numerous well-known musicians, such as B. Tito Puente , Celia Cruz , Generoso Jimenez , Pedro Knight , Willy Chirino , Paquito D'Rivera , Willie Colón , Tito Rodríguez and Eddie Palmieri . He can also be heard on the soundtracks to the film The Birdcage and the computer game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City . The two brothers created a total of around 3,000 pieces of music and thus significantly influenced Cuban music from the 1930s to the 1950s. Nevertheless, throughout his life, Cachao himself assigned the merit of having achieved the great success of Mambo in the 1950s to the "King of Mambo", Dámaso Pérez Prado ( Mambo # 5 and others).

In 1962 Cachao left Cuba for good and first moved to Madrid , and a year later to the USA, where he lived mainly in New York and was naturalized . In the early 60s he was - alongside Alfonso "El Panameno" Joseph (the bassist of the Cuban Tres musician Arsenio Rodríguez ) - one of the most sought-after bassists in New York clubs.

After it had been quiet around him for many years, his life was filmed in 1993 by the film actor Andy García , also from Cuba , who with Cachao… Como Su Ritmo No Hay Dos (Spanish; English title: Cachao… Like His Rhythm There Is No Other .. , German for example: No rhythm is like his ) made his directorial debut.

Cachao received two Grammy Awards for his own productions: 1995 for Master Sessions Volume 1 and 2005 for his 2004 album Ahora Si! . Other Grammy awards received productions in which he had participated; so z. B. El arte del sabor from the Bebo Valdés Trio with Cachao & Carlos “Patato” Valdés won the 2003 Latin Grammy as the best traditional tropical Latin album. A star was also dedicated to him on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (address: 6554 Hollywood Boulevard ).

Last looked at Cachao 2007 released album 90 Millas by Gloria and Emilio Estefan with. On March 22, 2008, at the age of 89, he died of kidney failure in a hospital with his family .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Mambo pioneer «Cachao» Lopez has died , Associated Press agency report , quoted in NZZ Online , March 23, 2008