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One of Cuba's most famous musicians, Eliades Ochoa, is performing at the Bassline. His soulful sounds will be rounded out by musicians from India and South Africa, making for some fine world music concerts.
Cuban Eliades Ochoa to perform at the Bassline
THE living legend that is Eliades Ochoa is expected to mesmerise fans of authentic Cuban music at two concerts at the Bassline in Newtown.
The singer, renowned for his connection to the Buena Vista Social Club - a popular club in Havana, Cuba brought to worldwide attention by an album and documentary - will share the stage with Dr Subramaniun of India and South Africa's Azah and Camagwini.
Dr Subramaniun and Azah are the support acts at the first of the two concerts, on Friday, 26 September. On the following day, the colourful Camagwini will share the stage with Ochoa.
Born in Songo La Maya, Cuba, Ochoa learned to play the guitar and tres at a young age, performing a range of traditional Cuban music styles such as sones, guarachas, guajiras and boleros.
A tres is a chordophone created in Cuba. It is a fusion of a guitar, tiple and bandola, and has three courses, or groups, of two strings each. A chordophone is any musical instrument which produces sound primarily by way of a vibrating string or strings stretched between two points - what most Westerners call string, such as violins, guitars, lyres and harps.
Ochoa's professional career started in the 1960s with Oriental Quintet; he later joined the Típico Septet. In the past 40-odd years, Ochoa has worked with many musicians and bands and has performed in some 40 countries. In 1978, he became the leader of the Cuban folk band, Cuarteto Patria.
In 1986, he recorded with the luminary Cuban singer Francisco Repilado; along with Compay Segundo, they performed in Washington, Guadalupe and Dominican Republic.
Ochoa became an international figure when he performed on the album Buena Vista Social Club in 1997, which sold more than 1,5-million copies. The album won a Grammy Award and inspired a documentary movie, directed by Wim Wenders. It also brought Cuban music, with its haunting rhythms and soulful lyrics, to the world's attention.
The most popular of the supporting acts, Camagwini, is hailed as one of the most influential Xhosa musicians in the country, despite being a relative newcomer to the industry.
Camagwini grew up in the township of New Brighton in Port Elizabeth and rose to prominence when she released her debut album, Zivile, for which she was nominated for Best Adult Contemporary Album and Best Newcomer in the 2008 South African Music Awards.
Listing Siphokazi Arosi, Tu Nokwe and Dorothy Masuku as some of her inspirations, she fuses Afro-traditional with folk songs usually performed by elderly women in rural Eastern Cape. Zivile, which smacks of maskandi, Afro-soul and jazz, reveals her imbongi, or praise singer, and story-telling abilities.
Ochoa will be performing at the Bassline in Newtown on 26 and 27 September. Entrance to both shows is R115 at the door. For more information, contact Bassline on 011 838 9145.
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