September 30, 2003
Contact: Susan Gwynne
(805) 893-2098
e-mail: gwynne-s@sa.ucsb.edu
ArtAbounds
Boundary-breaking performances
co-presented by The Lobero and UCSB Arts & Lectures
UCSB Arts & Lectures, The Lobero and Sings Like Hell present the triumphant return of the Buena Vista Social Club to Santa Barbara
Summary Facts:
- Buena Vista Social Club Band and Omara Portuondo
- Stellar Cuban musicians featured in The Buena Vista Social Club film and CD
- World-class diva Omara Portuondo is the only female Buena Vista Social Club member
- Second of four ArtAbounds performances presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures and The Lobero in 2003-2004
- Monday, November 3
- 7:30 pm, Arlington Theatre, 1317 State Street, Santa Barbara
- General: $50 and $40, UCSB Students: $25 (limited availability)
- Additional $25 for post-concert salsa party at SoHo Restaurant and Music Club
- Tickets/information: UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535 and the Arlington Ticket Agency at (805) 963-4408
The dynamic and delightful Buena Vista Social Club Band, composed of many of Cuba’s most famous and talented musicians, will feature Omara Portuondo, its only female member, in a terrific concert on Monday, November 3 at 7:30 pm at the Arlington Theatre, 1317 State Street, Santa Barbara. This concert is an ArtAbounds performance, presented by The Lobero, UCSB Arts & Lectures and Sings Like Hell, in association with the Santa Barbara Mariachi Festival.
In 2002 the Buena Vista Social Club, led by Ibrahim Ferrer, blew away a sold-out Arlington crowd. Now this group of hot Cuban musicians returns led by Omara Portuondo, a glamorous world-class singer who has enchanted audiences for fifty years. Called Cuba’s Billie Holiday, Portuondo sings filin (feeling), the version of bossa nova she’s made her own with her richly expressive voice. After a recent concert the Seattle Post-Intelligencer called Portuondo “elegant and effervescent,” claiming she “brought the crowd to its feet with her vocal prowess ands oversize charm.”
The Buena Vista Social Club takes its name from an old members-only club situated in the hills near Havana. The initial stirrings of the group grew out of the Afro-Cuban All Stars, formed by record producer Nick Gold at the insistence of Juan de Marcos González, a Havana-based musician. Gold had hoped to record a union between Cuban musicians and West African guitarists with American guitar maestro Ry Cooder as the bridge between cultures, but the Africans could not get visas. Not wanting to waste the musical energy in the air, the group and Cooder recorded the tracks that would launch the Buena Vista phenomenon in 1997.
Coincidentally, Portuondo was in the Egrem studios during the Buena Vista sessions. Cooder immediately invited her to sing the bolero “Veinte Anos” with Compay Segundo, and it became one of the highlights of the album. Portuondo went on to tour with the group and appeared on the follow-up album Buena Vista Social Club presents...Ibrahim Ferrer. In 2000 Nonesuch Records placed her expressive voice center stage on its release Buena Vista Social Club Presents...Omara Portuondo. The SF Weekly hailed the album as “the pick of the [Buena Vista] lot,” asserting that Portuondo’s “gorgeously expressive voice seems to encapsulate the heartfelt and bittersweet nature of the traditional Cuban love songs she sings.”
Born in Havana in 1930, she was just 15 when she followed her older sister Haydee onto the stage of the famous Tropicana nightclub as a dancer. Omara and Haydee also sang, and in 1952 the two joined Cuarteto Las D’Aida, led by acclaimed pianist Aida Diestro. This group performed on stage with Nat King Cole when he visited pre-revolution Cuba and even toured America. Omara released a debut solo album in 1959 and maintained a spectacular career straddling Cuban music and American jazz. Unlike most of the other Buena Vista performers whose fame faded, Portuondo remained a vital force in Cuba through the 1990s, but it took the Buena Vista Social Club movie and CDs to return her to the spotlight in the States.
Omara Portuondo will take part in a Meet-the-Artist Reception on Monday, November 3 at 3:30 pm at the UCSB Women’s Center Lounge. This reception is free and open to the public; it is supported by the Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation SAGE program and sponsored by the UCSB Women’s Center.
On the evening of the performance patrons may enhance their experience by attending a scintillating salsa party at SoHo Restaurant and Music Club, 1221 State Street, upstairs in the Victoria Court immediately following the concert. Tickets for the party are $25 per person and include live music and drinks; these tickets may be purchased by calling the Arts & Lectures Ticket Office at 805-893-3535.
The concert by the Buena Vista Social Club Band and Omara Portuondo is the second of four ArtAbounds event of the 2003-2004 performing arts season. An innovative partnership between UCSB Arts & Lectures and The Lobero, ArtAbounds permits both presenters to bring to Santa Barbara international artists of the highest stature that neither could present on its own. This project is funded in part by the Audience Development and Marketing Grant Program using funds provided by the City of Santa Barbara in partnership with the Santa Barbara County Arts Commission. The remaining ArtAbounds performances will be: Savion Glover and Band, Sunday, November 16 and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Tuesday, March 2.
The performance by the Buena Vista Social Club Band and Omara Portuondo is supported by Michael Towbes and sponsored by the Santa Barbara News-Press, Tinta Latina, Univision and Borders.
Tickets are $50 and $40 for the general public and $25, but in limited availability, for UCSB students.
For tickets or more information,
call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535.
Editor: For photos, please call
Susan Gwynne at (805) 893-2098.