The Womad line-up just keeps getting bigger, with the announcement today that the incomparable Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club have been added to the 2015 line-up. The Cuban stars made famous by the 1997 Wim Wenders movie, Buena Vista Social Club are set to make their first New Zealand appearance at the Taranaki festival,being held from March 13 to 15 next year.
As Wenders' film captured beautifully back in 1997, local musicians were determined to revive a forgotten repertoire - son, bolero, danzan and guajiro - and they did so with such magic they became international stars.
Now after a hectic 16 years of touring the world, the Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club is set to bid adios with a farewell world tour.
The group has toured in different combinations since 1997, but the current line-up - under leader and original trombonist Jesus "Aguaje" Ramos - will feature stars from the original album and film, including the incomparable diva Omara Portuondo, trumpeter Guajiro Mirabal and laud virtuoso Barbarito Torres (who also played with the Afro-Cuban All Stars). They will be joined by veteran tres player Papi Oviedo; Havana's young star pianist Rolando Luna and double bassist Pedro Pablo and percussionists Andres Coayo, Filiberto Sanchez and Alberto La Noche. There's a three-man trumpet section led by high note specialist Luis Allemany, and celebrated singers Carlos Calunga and Idania Valdez.
The act we will be lucky enough to see represents the distillation of more than 1000 shows involving more than 40 musicians. They have forged a dynamic, multi-generational big band that celebrates Cuban musical tradition with great flair.
