Omara Portuondo

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Omara Portuondo at the Tent Music Festival (2015)

Omara Portuondo Peláez (born October 29, 1930 in Havana ) is a Cuban singer.

Life

Omara Portuondo was born in Havana in the Cayo Hueso district in October 1930. Her father Bartolomé "Bartolo" Portuondo Alfaro (1893–1981) was a successful baseball player and one of the first to go to the USA. Her mother, Esperanza Peláez Hernández, came from a wealthy Spanish family, and it was a scandal at the time when she ran off with the black baseball player and married him. Portuondo has two sisters. The parents sang a lot, so Omara also started singing at an early age.

Portuondo started her career in 1945 in the famous Tropicana Club in Havana as a dancer. Together with her sister Haydee, who also danced there, Omara sang for a short time in Frank Emilio Flynn's band Loquibambla Swing . In 1952 the two sisters teamed up with the singers Elena Burke and Moraima Secada and the pianist Aida Diestro (1916–1973) and founded the band Cuarteto las d'Aida . The band had great success, touring the United States and playing with Nat King Cole .

In 1959 Omara Portuondo recorded her first solo album, Magia Negra . However, she stayed in her band, even when her sister Haydee left the band in 1961 to move to the USA.

It was not until 1967 that Omara left the band and began her solo career. She recorded numerous albums and was able to tour outside of Cuba.

She achieved her final international breakthrough with her singing on the record Buena Vista Social Club produced by Ry Cooder in 1997. She became known worldwide with the 1998 film of the same name by Wim Wenders . This was followed by the albums Buena Vista Social Club Presents Omara Portuondo (2000) and Flor de Amor (2004).

Political commitment

In 2014, in an interview in Mexico, she defended the Castro rule, stating that every country had its government and every people had its own rules for dealing with its government, and that this should be respected.

Awards and honors

Omara Portuondo was nominated four times for the Latin Grammy and received the award in 2009 for her album "Gracias" as the best contemporary tropical album (Best Contemporary Tropical Album). At that time, after ten years of the award, she was the first Cuban woman living on the island to appear on stage at the award ceremony. She also received the Premio Música Brasileira in 2008 and the Billboard Latin Music Award in 2005.

Discography

Studio albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US
2000 Buena Vista Social Club Presents Omara Portuondo DE57 (6 weeks)
DE 		AT4th
gold
gold

(51 weeks)AT 		CH13 (16 weeks)
CH 		- -
First published: April 21, 2000
2004 Flor De Amor - AT33 (3 weeks)
AT 		CH50 (4 weeks)
CH 		- -
First published: May 3, 2004
2006 Rhythms del Mundo - Cuba DE9
platinum
platinum

(35 weeks)DE 		AT55 (3 weeks)
AT 		- - -
First published: November 14, 2006
with Ibrahim Ferrer

Under his own name

  • 1958: Velvet . Republished as Magia negra
  • 1967: Omara Portuondo . Republished on 18 joyas ineditas
  • 196_: Esta es Omara Portuondo
  • 197_: ¡Omara! . Head: Juan Pablo Torres
  • 197_: Omara Portuondo
  • 198_: Y tal vez - Omara Portuondo . Partly re-released as La gran Omara Portuondo
  • 1987: ¡Omara Portuondo… con Adalberto y su son! . Also re-released as Roots of Buena Vista
  • 1996: Palabras
  • 1997: Omara Portuondo & Martin Rojas
  • 1997: Desafíos (with Chucho Valdés )
  • 2001: Pensamiento
  • 2001: La Sitiera
  • 2001: You
  • 2002: La Novia del Filin
  • 2002: Dos Gardenias
  • 2005: Lágrimas Negras
  • 2007: Omara Portuondo / Maria Bethânia
  • 2008: Gracias ( Latin Grammy 2009 )
  • 2010: Rompiendo la rutina. Tributo to “La emperatriz del danzonete”, Paulina Álvarez.
  • 2011: Reír y cantar (music for children)
  • 2012: Mis anhelos

With others (selection)

  • 1957: An Evening at the Sans Souci Cuarteto D'Aida con la orquesta de Chico O'Farrill
  • 1992: Soy la mulata Cuarteto D'Aida (sampler)
  • 1960: Seis voces y un sentimiento two pieces each by her and five other singers
  • 1997: Buena Vista Social Club
  • 1997: A Toda Cuba le Gusta (by the Afro-Cuban All Stars )
  • 1999: Buena Vista Social Club Presents Ibrahim Ferrer

Documentaries

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Omara Portuondo pide respeto al régimen de Fidel Castro, in: Noticieros Televisa of February 4, 2014, accessed on March 25, 2015 (Spanish)
  2. ↑ Omara Portuondo's 'Gracias' Wins the Latin Grammy (Best Contemporary Tropical), in: International Music Network of November 6, 2009, accessed on March 25, 2015 (English)
  3. ↑ Chart sources: DE AT CH
personal data
SURNAME Portuondo, Omara
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Portuondo Peláez, Omara (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Cuban musician
DATE OF BIRTH October 29, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH Havana