Buena Vista Social Club: Omara Portuondo

About the Event

The story of Buena Vista Social Club is the stuff of fairytale: The former musicians of a 1940s Havana social club reform a good half a century after it closed, releasing their first record.

The album is a huge global hit and the band has become a pin‐up for world music. The veteran Cuban musicians continue to perform all over the world, although their average age is falling due to the sad departure of one or two elderly musicians. Nevertheless, BVSO still remains an authentic guardian of the Cuban club scene of the 30s and 40s with many of its founding members continuing to perform in the band. They are often joined by the tireless sound of Omara Portuondo, a key contributor to their internationally celebrated first album.
The Cuban artist has been singing since she was a teenager. The New York Times wrote of Gracias, her latest album, that her timbre has lost nothing of its heroism, while the Los Angeles Times described her voice as “a formidably potent and emotionally limber instrument”.