Apr 18/07
Oscar Valdes y Diakara
In a post a couple weeks ago about my trip to Cuba I mentioned that I saw some good afrocuban jazz.
Percussionist Oscar Valdes has been on the Cuban jazz scene for a while. The Valdes family has been producing some of Cuba’s most famous musicians for years. Oscar is the son of bolerista Vicentico Valdés who produced a string of his in the 1930s-50s, gaining quite a lot of fame in the US as well as back home.
Along with Chucho Valdes, Oscar Valdes helped form Irakere who later went on to win a Grammy for best latin recording in 1980.
After several years with Irakere he formed a new band with his sons called Diakara. I was lucky enough to catch them at one of their regular gigs, La Zorra y el Cuelvo, a club in Havana’s Vedado neighbourhood.
Oscar Valdes y su grupo Diakara – Prisma
Tags: cuba
Merci Matt.
Superbe morceau! L’influence de Chucho Valdes et les années passées chez Irakere (quel groupe!!!) sont bien là. J’ai vu plusieurs fois Irakere à Paris (avec Oscar Valdes) et ça a toujours été de grands concerts.
A bientôt
Aduna
thank you, friend, for beautiful blog. i was posting on mulatu astatqé recently and one thing led tp another, which led me to your site. excellent work- straight up and unpretentious.
go d’éirigh an mbóthar leis, as one might say in native irish (may the roads rise with you)