Famed Cuban band Buena Vista Social Club will travel to Colombia on Tuesday to kick off their 2011 tour, reports French press agency AFP.
The legendary salsa band will follow its gig in Colombia with stops in the Dominican Republic, the United Kingdom and the United States.
“We’ll be on tour almost all year,” the band director and trombonist Jesus “Aguaje” Ramos told AFP.
“Our success is due to the fact that we make good music. After more than a decade of work we continue winning applause with the orchestra in different scenarios. People dance, they are excited, even those who don’t speak Spanish,” the singer of the band Omara Portuondo (80) told the press agency.
Named after a popular Cuban music club from the 1940s, the Buena Vista Social Club was created in 1966 by Cuban composer Juan de Marcos and American guitarist Ry Cooder. The band, which blends the popular sounds of salsa, bolero, son and guajira from Cuba, became an instant phenomenon, winning a Grammy award in 1998.
The group, which has seen members come and go since its creation, will be touring with Barbarito Torres (lute), Manuel Galban (guitar) and Manuel “Guajiro” Mirabal (trumpet) in addition to Portuondo and Ramos.
“Buena Vista Social Club will continue to live because we drink from the source, the essence of genres and sounds that distinguish the island, and these will last forever,” Ramos told AFP.
The first stop of their 2011 tour begins in Cartagena, Colombia on January 27 as part of the Hay Festival.