Cachao López
Israel " Cachao " López ( born September 14, 1918 in Havana, Cuba, † March 22, 2008 in Coral Gables, Florida, United States) was a Cuban- American bassist and composer. He is considered one of the most important musicians of Cuba and ( along with his brother Orestes ) as the founder of Mambo. His best-known compositions are well Mambo (written for and later taken up by Arcano y sus Maravillas ), El social club de Buenavista and Pueblo nuevo ( listening to Buena Vista Social Club ).
Life
Cachao was the scion of a family of musicians ( it produced around 40 musicians, including many bass players, and his nephew, Orlando " Cachaíto " López was known as a contributor of the Buena Vista Social Club ). He first went through a training as a classical acoustic bassist. Even as a boy he played with the Havana Philharmonic Orchestra, partly under the direction of such famous guest conductors such as Herbert von Karajan and Igor Stravinsky.
Together with his brother, multi-instrumentalist Orestes López (1908-1991), he developed at the end of the 1930s, the " nuevo ritmo " ( new rhythm ), the traditional Danzon supplemented by African rhythms, which eventually led to the Mambo. The first, known as Mambo piece developed the two brothers 1937/1938.
"We attempted to introduce something new in our music, and out came a passage that we ' danzon mambo ' called [ ... ] It was effective and brought the people's blood boil. "
Already in the 1940s the mambo first came to the U.S., where Cachao was involved in much of the popularity of the mambo, mainly in New York reached its peak in the 1950s. Cachao was a master of mambo and Latin jazz jam sessions ( " descarga " ) known ( Cachao is a term for Latin Jazz ), but is also considered important Salsa Artist. Together with his brother Orestes López Israel had many musical successes, performed with many well-known musical colleagues such as Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Generoso Jimenez, Pedro Knight, Willy Chirino, Paquito D' Rivera, Willie Colon, Tito Rodriguez and Eddie Palmieri. On the soundtrack for the film The Birdcage and the computer game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, he can also be heard. The two brothers created a total of about 3000 pieces of music and influenced so decisively the Cuban music from the 1930s to the 1950s. Nevertheless, Cachao has to have even his life reaches the merit of the great success of Mambo in the 1950s, the ("# 5 Mambo ", etc.), assigned to the "King of the Mambo ", Damaso Perez Prado.
1962 Cachao left Cuba permanently and moved first to Madrid, one year later in the USA, where he mainly lived in New York and was naturalized. In the early '60s he was - next to Alfonso " El Panameno " Joseph ( bassist of the Cuban musician Arsenio Rodríguez Tres ) - one of the most sought after bass players in the clubs of New York.
After it had then been many years rather quiet around him, 1993, his life was filmed by the originating also from Cuba Hollywood actor Andy García, who with " Cachao ... Como Su Ritmo No Hay Dos " (Spanish, English title: Cachao ... Like His Rhythm There Is No Other .. German about: No rhythm is like his ) made his directorial debut.
Cachao received two Grammy Awards for his own productions: 1995 produced for Master Sessions Volume 1 and 2005 for his 2004 album Ahora Si! . More Grammy received productions in which he had participated; so for example won El arte del sabor from Bebo Valdés Trio with Israel " Cachao " López & Carlos " Patato " Valdes 2003 Latin Grammy for Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album. Also on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, he was a star dedicated (Address: 6554 Hollywood Boulevard).
Last looked Israel " Cachao " López appeared on 2007 album 90 Millas by Gloria and Emilio Estefan with. At the age of 89 years Cachao died on 22 March 2008 in the presence of his family in a hospital the consequences of renal failure.