Cuban musicians pay Afro-Cuba jazz tribute to Hurricane Katrina victims

[Mika]

Cuban musicians pay Afro-Cuba jazz tribute to Hurricane Katrina victims
http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/special4/article.adp?id=20051205095709990006

HAVANA (AP) - With blaring horns and pounding African drums, Grammy-winning pianist Chucho Valdes and other Cuban performers wrapped up an international music festival with an Afro-Cuban tribute to Hurricane Katrina-ravaged New Orleans, birthplace of American jazz.

The Sunday night tribute concert ended Cuba's annual international jazz festival, Jazz Plaza 2005, and featured a new Valdes composition called "Canto a Dios" ("Song to God"), which Valdes dedicated to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

"This is a song of love, a song of peace, a song to humanity," Valdes told the largely Cuban audience at a Havana theater. "It's a tribute to New Orleans, an homage to the history of music, of blues, of ragtime, of the history of jazz."

Valdes said the piece was also an homage to American jazz musicians, including the late Louis Armstrong and the brothers Wynton and Bradford Marsalis, who are New Orleans natives.

More at,
http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/special4/article.adp?id=20051205095709990006

Don't you wish that our own American government would allow us to just go to Cuba to see such events?

Very strange that Americans just sit back and allow themselves to be dictated to in this way.

[goclark]

1. Valdes is awesome! I would gladly go to Cuba to see him

I saw him on a PBS special and I was glued to my set.

I have never seen anyone play the piano that way ~ he is well into his 80's.

[Judi Lynn]

2. It would be so memorable to be able to hear this guy in person....

_Bush has had him refused entry twice to go to the Latin Grammies to receive his award. He was in Los Angeles on September 11th to attend that Latin Grammies when the disaster occured on the East Coast.

Chucho Valdes stayed in town, even though the event was cancelled, with his group and they all gave blood for the victems before returning to Cuba.

Here are some song samples:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/recs/radio/krex/-/track/B0000C3I8G001007/ref=pd_krex_dp_t/102-6045853-2243355

You can also listen to song samples from the albums at the bottom of the page. Very, very interesting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chucho started his first jazz trio at the age of 16 and founded Irakere in 1972 while playing with the Orquesta Cubana de Musica Moderna. An incredibly inventive and fluid pianist, Chucho combines the influences of musicians such as Art Tatum, Bill Evans and McCoy Tyner with Afro-Cuban roots and a blazing technique that leaves one breathless and amazed. He writes most of the band's compositions and arrangements and has released dozens of albums, both with Irakere and as a solo performer.

Chucho is revered as a national treasure in Cuba, the Duke Ellington of his country. He receives the admiration and thanks of his people in a way that the Duke never did in his lifetime. When you hear current Cuban jazz or popular music, whether Gonzalo Rubalcaba, N.G. La Banda or Charanga Habanera, you hear the influence of Chucho Valdés and Irakere.
(snip)

http://www.afrocubaweb.com/chucho.htm

[Judi Lynn]

3. Just found some photos of the guy with his father, pianist Bebo Valdes!

http://www.drjazz.com/conf/spain03/03ss-4.htm

Click on thumbnails for large versions.

Interesting song samples of Bebo Valdes:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/recs/radio/krex/-/album/B0001EKZOQ/ref=pd_krex_l_sims/102-6045853-2243355

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/recs/radio/krex/-/album/B0000A4GAE/ref=pd_krex_l_sims/102-6045853-2243355



The father's no amateur.

On edit, adding educational map:

[Mika]

4. Thanks for the pics. Nice educational map too!

:rofl:

:hi:

[Dogmudgeon]

5. Canto a Dios ... ?

I thought Cuba was so godless that if you were even heard saying the "G" word, Fidel would have you flayed alive.

At least that's what I learned by reading NewSmax.com

--p!