Good day dear blog readers, followers and listeners!
With over 55 years of an artistic career under his belt, 40 years since his first of over 50 albums was released, and over a dozen of national and international awards won (including Grammy, Latin Grammy, Cubadisco and Latin Billboard), Eliades Ochoa is without doubt one of the most well known and most beloved Cuban musicians worldwide, known for his unique voice, witty lyrics, virtuoso playing of several types of guitars, and of course, his iconic black hat!
Eliades Ochoa Bustamante was born on June 22nd 1946 in Songo la Maya, a small town near Santiago de Cuba.
He taught himself to play the guitar at 6 years of age, at by 12 was earning a living as a musician.
Eliades was a member of many groups and ensembles over the years;
During the early 1960 he joined the Oriental Quintet, and in 1963 first appeared on local radio and TV at Santiago.
By 1971 Eliades had joined Septeto Tipico Oriental. and earned his place as a “house performer” at the Casa de la Musica.
In 1978 Eliades joined Cuarteto Patria, as leader, manager, Tres player and lead vocal, assimilating the groups material and writing much of his own.
Eliades released many CDs with the cuarteto, and keeps performing as a part of it today.
In 1986 Eliades starting collaborating and performing with yet another pilar of Cuban music, Francisco Repilado, known as Compay Segundo, a union that would lead to Eliadese’s first international tour, and later on world fame as a part of the Buena Vista Social Club.
With the social club, Eliades went on to win the Grammy, the first but not last international music prize that found its way into his resume.
Further more, Eliades toured the world as a part of the Buena Vista, performing in many European, Asian and American countries such as Italy, Brazil, Canada, France, Spain and Japan.
Since then Eliades continues releasing new materials, performing worldwide, and has also appeared in several movies, winning the “best CD in the world” award of National Geographic for his part in the AfroCubism project in 2010.
The song we shall be enjoying today, my dear friends, is called “Yiri Yiri Bom”, and is a Son cover of a classic composition by Benny More.
…y no se olviden… ¡siguen disfrutando la musica Cubana!