Omara Portuondo

• country:
  Cuba
• region:
  Cuba-Puerto Rico
• style(s):
  Cuban Traditional
• label:
  World Circuit
• artist submitted by:
  Montuno Producciones

Omara Portuondo was born in Havana in October 1930. Her mother came from a rich Spanish family and was expected to marry into another 'society' family. Instead she ran off with the man she loved, a baseball player from the Cuban national team. Moreover, he was black and in those days mixed race marriages were still frowned upon in Cuba.

As in any Cuban household there was music. There wasn't a gramophone, but there were the voices of Omara's parents, singing as they went about their daily lives.

Her older sister Haydee became a dancer at the famous cabaret Tropicana. One day in 1945, a dancer dropped out two days before an important premiere. Omara had watched her sister rehearse so often that she knew all the steps and was asked to stand in. "I was very shy and I was ashamed to show my legs." Her mother told her that she couldn't let them down and thus began a career as a dancer; in 1961 Omara actually worked as a popular dances teacher at Art Instructors' School.

THE FIANCEE OF FEELING

At weekends Omara and Haydee would sing American jazz standards with a group of friends which included Cesar Portillo de la Luz, Jose Antonio Mendez and the blind pianist Frank Emilio Flynn. They became known as 'Los Loquibambia' and the style they played - a Cubanised version of the bossa nova with American jazz influences - became known as 'feeling' or 'filin'. On their radio debut Omara was introduced as 'Miss Omara Brown, the fiancee of filin.' She is still known by many Cubans as 'la novia del filin'.

By 1952 Omara and Haydee had formed a female vocal quartet with Elena Bourke and Moraima Secada, led by the pianist Aida Diestro. They were to become one of the most important groups in Cuban musical history and Omara was to remain with the Cuarteto Las D'Aida for 15 years. "We were acclaimed everywhere and when Nat King Cole played the Tropicana we sang on stage with him," Omara recalls.

THE SOLO CAREER

Her debut solo album, 'Magia Negra', appeared in 1959 and included versions of 'That Old Black Magic' and Duke Ellington's 'Caravan'.

After the release of her solo album she continued with Las D'Aida until 1967 when she left to pursue her solo career. Omara would represent Cuba performing at international festivals around the world and keep a high profile at home.

The Seventies found her singing with the Orquesta Aragon and travelling widely. Omara made many recordings over the next two decades, among her best were 'Palabras' and 'Desafios' with Chucho Valdes).

BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB

In 1996, during the recording of World Circuit's Buena Vista Social Club sessions Omara was invited to sing a bolero and she chose 'Veinte anos'. She sang it together with Compay Segundo, and it became one of the highlights of the album.

There's a profound moment in Wim Wenders' film 'Buena Vista Social Club' when Omara Portuondo and Ibrahim Ferrer have just finished singing the heartbreakingly beautiful 'Silencio.' As they take the applause, a tear forms in Omara's eye. Ibrahim removes his handkerchief from his pocket and gently wipes away the tear. It is Wenders' favourite scene for the way it captures the romance of Cuban music in a single frame. Often dubbed Cuba's very own Edith Piaf, Omara Portuondo has been thrilling different audiences in the cabarets and night spots of Havana. The passionate and moving honesty of her voice made her beloved figure in Cuban music. Yet she had to wait until the Buena Vista album to enjoy wider international recognition.

Omara went on to become part of the legendary Buena Vista performances in Amsterdam and at New York's Carnegie Hall.

A NEW ERA

In 2000 World Circuit released 'Buena Vista Social Club presents... Omara Portuondo', an album which finally places her expressive voice centre stage where it belongs. Omara recorded with a dream backing band which included Ruben Gonzalez, Orlando 'Cachaito' Lopez, Manuel 'Guajiro' Mirabal and Jesus 'Aguaje' Ramos, Eliades Ochoa, Compay Segundo, Manuel Galban and Ibrahim Ferrer.

Omara then embarked on a world tour in 2000-2001 with fellow Buena Vista stars Ruben Gonzalez and Ibrahim Ferrer, giving a whole new generation of fans the opportunity to see this illustrious trio in concert.

2002 saw Omara playing across North America and Europe. That autumn she played the Jazz Festival in Japan. In 2003 her European summer festival dates included an amazing headlining appearance at the One World stage of the legendary Glastonbury Festival in the UK. She then went on to tour in Canada and the USA in the Autumn of 2003.

THE FUTURE

In September 2003 Omara recorded her second solo album. Nick Gold is joined on production duties by Ale Siqueira, a Brazilian whose work with Carlhinos Brown, Caetano Veloso, and the Latin Grammy winning Tribalistas, has earned him the reputation as one his country's hottest producers.

'Flor De Amor' marks a change in direction for Omara Portuondo, as it reveals a more richly textured and subtle side to Omara's sound. She is backed by the renowned 'A' team of Cuban musicians who, combined with a selection of excellent Brazilian musicians, give the album its distinctive style.

Omara is sounding truly majestic, with these new tracks exhibiting a richness and maturity of a performer at ease with her amazing talent. Album shows a more introspective side to Omara's character The songs featured are new interpretations of classic repertoire, a collection of wonderful vignettes, with each track uniquely special.

Still sounding as good as ever, she is in her element while performing live, and has won over international audiences with her gloriously infectious stage presence, crisscrossing continents as an ambassadress of Cuban culture.

Before 2004 had come to a close, Omara received two great surprises: in Montreaux, the International Red Cross appointed her International Ambassador, making her the first Cuban artist to achieve such a distinction; and Flor de amor was nominated for a GrammyTM in the Best Traditional Tropical Record category. This was not, however, the only accolade that the record was to receive. In the 16th edition of the Billboard Latin Music Awards, in 2005, Flor de amor obtained the Tropical Record of the Year award in the female category.

And, while in 2006 she was able to work with two figures of the Spanish music scene, 2007 was the year in which she joined forces with one of the legends of Brazilian music, the singer Maria Bethania. The two of them worked on recordings in Rio de Janeiro, with both Cuban and Brazilian musicians such as pianist Roberto Fonseca and the Brazilians Carlos Baia and Jorge Helder, and under the close attention of producers Swami Jr (Omara's current musical director) and Jaime Alem (Bethania's current music director).

In 2008, Omara started the year with the tour alongside Bethania and continued with Gracias (Montuno Producciones), the record that marks her sixtieth year in the music business. Recorded in Havana and produced by the Brazilians Ale Siquiera (who also produced her last record) and Swami Jr, what better way to celebrate such an auspicious occasion than to recruit a first-class quintet? Indeed, Omara's career is one full of exceptional talent and the careers of the musicians that took part in this celebration are no less impressive: the three musicians that Omara has worked with in the past pianist Roberto Fonseca, guitarist and musical director Swami Jr and percussionist Andres Coayo and the two musicians who debuted alongside "the girlfriend of feeling", the Israeli double bassist Avishai Cohen and the Hindu percussionist Trilok Gurtu.
With Gracias, Omara's aim is to relive the numbers that she has found most moving and to work with the songwriters she most admires, such as Silvio Rodriguez, Pablo Milanes and Jorge Drexler, the latter being the composer of the record's title-song, specially dedicated to Omara. These are not, however, the only star guests at this event. If the list were not already impressive enough, other great names also are present: Chucho Valdes, who performs a number composed by Omara's son; the brilliant African musician, Richard Bona; and the Brazilian maestro, Chico Buarque.

Omara will be performing Gracias on stage in a series of concerts in which she reviews her singing career, accompanied by six musicians.

Links

• Omara Portuondo Website
• Omara Portuondo Myspace
• Omara Portuondo E-Card