By
Phil Leckman
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Buena Vista Social Club in concert at UA
Renowned Cuban jazz ensemble Buena Vista Social Club returns to Centennial Hall tonight and tomorrow with an all-new show starring singer Omara Portuondo and laud player Barbarito Torres.
Brought together in 1998 by American rock guitarist Ry Cooder, Buena Vista Social Club has become an international phenomenon. The group produced a self-titled, Grammy Award-winning album, been the subject of an Oscar-nominated documentary by director Wim Wenders, and helped spark an explosion of renewed interest in traditional Cuban music and culture.
UApresents communications director Mark Rasdorf said that last year's Buena Vista show was "the sleeper event of the season." The group's "ultra-hot" performance had sold-out Centennial Hall crowds dancing in the aisles, he said.
"You could feel the energy from the audience the moment you walked in the hall," Rasdorf said. "Once the band took the stage, it was an ecstatic celebration."
Rasdorf said he expects that this year's show will be no different. The current tour features a large supporting cast, including several of the musicians featured in the Wenders film. Each featured performer will be backed by a large band, with as many as 20 musicians on stage at a time.
Portuondo, this year's star performer, was one of the highlights of the Buena Vista Social Club album, on which she was the only female performer. With a career that has spanned more than half a century, she appeared in last year's show as a guest vocalist.
Portuondo was born in 1930 and began her life in show business at age 15, as a cabaret dancer in Havana. She soon turned to singing, recording several albums in both Cuba and the United States during the 1950s. The rise of Fidel Castro cut Portuondo off from her American audience, but she continued to be well-known throughout the Communist world.
Her new album, the third in a series of solo releases by Buena Vista artists, marks Portuondo's recorded return to the United States and Europe.
Opener Torres presents a contrast to Portuondo's sophisticated, diva-like presence. A master of the traditional Cuban laud, a double-stringed instrument similar to the lute, Torres has remained true to "musica guajira," the rural folk music often referred to as the "blues" of Cuba. Like Portuondo, he was unknown in the United States until the release of "Buena Vista Social Club." Since then, his fiery performances of traditional Cuban music have gained him an international following.
Rasdorf said that this is a must-see performance for all fans of jazz and Latin music.
"This is an opportunity to see musicians whose talent has been kept secret from the world for decades," he said.
Buena Vista performances feature "a tremendous rapport between the audience and the performers," Rasdorf said, and a "sense of appreciation and joy" that music fans will not want to miss.
Tickets for the UApresents event range from $30 to $42, with a 20 percent student discount for tonight's show only. The performances begin at 7:30 p.m. and will be the group's only Arizona appearances. Tickets for this event may be purchased at the Centennial Hall box office.
