A Secret Satellite, a Flying Piano, and a Cuban Maestro:
A New Era of Cuban Musical Performance in America
CALENDAR INFORMATION
WHAT:Juan de Marcos & Afro-Cuban All Stars
WHEN:Sunday, March 22, 2009 – 7:00 PM
WHERE:AronoffCenter for the Arts – Procter & Gamble Hall
PRICES:$38 • $32 • $25
INFO:Led by the legendary Juan de Marcos González of the Buena Vista Social Club, the powerhouse Afro-Cuban All Stars perform a variety of styles including classic son montuno, contemporary timba, swinging big band, Afro-Cuban jazz, and more. The exuberant 14-piece big band has sparked a worldwide infatuation with the diversity and vitality of Cuban culture. These stars will have you dancing in the aisles!
CINCINNATI, OH–A secret satellite. A flying piano. A Cuban maestro who combines the musical sixthsense of Quincy Jones with the international savvy of James Bond. These are the stories behind the U.S. return of Cuban music after half a decade, thanks to the Juan de Marcos & Afro-Cuban All-Stars national tour, which will bring Cuba's unique, addictive sounds to the AronoffCenter’s Procter & Gamble Hall for one night only on Sunday, March 22 at 7:00 PM.The acclaimed big-band will tour more than forty U.S. cities – including Chicago, Cincinnati , Dallas, Miami, Minneapolis, New York City, Seattle, Tampa, and WashingtonDC – after a six year hiatus from the states.
The man behind the Buena Vista Social Club, Cuban bandleader, producer, and impresario extraordinaire Juan de Marcos, has been forced to lay low on the American circuit since 2002, when politics slammed the door in the face of some of Latin music's most adored artists. "We used to perform in the U.S. every year starting in 1994, when I went for the first time with my group, Sierra Maestra. We toured the whole country. Then musicians from Buena Vista started to tour for many years with great success and with their own bands that we put together. But in 2003, everything stopped."
Yet nothing can stop de Marcos, or the vitality and power of his beloved country's music – the striking, catchy distillation of the island's seven distinct African and European cultures. That's why he has brought together the cream of Cuba's ex-patriot musicians, friends, and long-time collaborators who happen to live abroad and are not subject to the current INS restrictions for Cuban residents traveling to and performing in the U.S.
This isn't the first daunting hurdle de Marcos has cleared with consummate ease. De Marcos helped Ry Cooder turn a cancellation fiasco into the global musical triumph that became the Buena Vista Social Club phenomenon by gathering the finest neglected stars of Cuba’s bright yesteryear. During the first Buena Vista Social Club recording sessions, de Marcos discovered that talented Afro-Cuban veteran musician Rubén González had no piano to play, and had not had an instrument for years. Juan de Marcos had one flown in from London.
When de Marcos first approached singer Ibrahim Ferrer to record with Buena Vista, Ferrer kept him waiting a half hour while he finished polishing a batch of shoes, the work of his subsistence during the years his voice had been forgotten. After Buena Vista had become a worldwide household name and de Marcos got fed up with managing his international projects via the island's sluggish dial-up, he rigged up a satellite connection under the radar.
Now, he has set his sights on bringing a new generation of talented Cuban singers, instrumentalists, and composers into the world limelight, with America as a long-awaited first stop. Many of the musicians in the Afro-Cuban All Stars will be delightfully familiar to fans of artists like Ferrer or Omara Portuondo, as they formed the core of the unique ensembles that backed the Cuban music greats who the world rediscovered through de Marcos' efforts. Others, such as percussionist Calixto Oviedo, have backed international stars from James Brown to Sting. The band will be playing new songs, as well as a few carefully chosen, well-loved Cuban favorites.
In putting together the band, de Marcos has aimed to find not only stellar musicians with the right passports, but also just plain good people with the right energy. "The energy that moves around the band is very important because you physically transmit to the audience," de Marcos explains, drawing on his doctorate in engineering to explain the special dynamics of Cuban performance. "This isn't some mystical force; it's all about the electromagnetic waves that the brain transmits and receives through the pineal gland. When you have really good positive energy, the audience gets it."
The incarnation of the Afro-Cuban All Stars on this tour brings together top Cuban musicians from the Americas and Europe in what promises to be the opening salvo in a new era of U.S.-Cuban cultural exchange. "It won't be long before the new U.S. administration allows for more cultural exchange. This tour stands to be the first in a new period of openness and appreciation for Cuban music, and perhaps the beginning of the end of the embargo itself," de Marcos smiles.
Afro-Cuban All Stars Line-Up for 2009 U.S. Tour
As its name implies, the Juan de Marcos & Afro-Cuban All Stars is more of a project than a band. Like an expert chef, Juan de Marcos changes ingredients with the seasons and the dinner guests. "This band will sound and even behave exactly like one coming straight from Havana," says de Marcos with a laugh. "Cubans never change, and if you've been in Miami, you'd know what I mean; dominos, mojitos, pork, chicharrónes, and all!" The plat du jour for the 2009 tour includes the following band members culled from the cream of the Cuban diaspora around the globe:
Ignacio "Nachito" Herrera (Minnesota) – pianist and ex-musical director of Tropicana Orchestra and Cubanismo
Calixto Oviedo (Stockholm) – drummer, performed with Adalberto Alvarez, NG La Banda, Pacho Alonso, etc.
Yaure Muniz (Madrid), Igort Rivas (Curacao) and Miguel Valdes (Vancouver) – trumpeters, members of the Buena Vista Social Club, but also lead trumpet players with Paulo FG, Klimax, Tropicana Orchestra, etc.
Alberto "Molote" Martinez (Amsterdam) – trombonist, member of the original line up of Buena Vista Social Club, but also a featured member of Elio Reve's Orchestra, Cuban Symphonic Orchestra, etc.
"It's not just these six players; they are all important!" declares de Marcos of his 14-piece Afro-Cuban All Stars big-band.
Cincinnati Arts Association 2008-09 SEASON SPONSORS
2008-09 Season Sponsors:THE UNION CENTRAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY (Founding Season Sponsor), CADILLAC (Official Vehicle), DUKE ENERGY, The P&G FUNDof The Greater Cincinnati Foundation, LOCAL12 WKRC, FIFTH THIRD BANK (Lifetime Endowment Partner)
2008-09 PRESENTING SPONSORS:CityBeat, The Cincinnatian Hotel, Premier Pianos, Natorp’s
