Buena Vista Social Club

Orlando "Cachaito" Lopez, considered the "heartbeat" of Cuba's legendary Buena Vista Social Club for his internationally acclaimed bass playing, died Monday of complications from prostate surgery, fellow musicians said. He was 76. Lopez, a founding member of the band brought together in the 1990s by American guitarist and producer Ry Cooder, died in a Havana hospital several days after surgery, said Manuel Galban, a Cuban musician who played with Lopez for decades.

Halloween still is a few days off, but for the Cuban chanteuse Omara Portuondo, Friday night's concert at UCLA's Royce Hall was an occasion for marking an early Thanksgiving. Hip-swiveling her way onstage as if she were hoofing it up at Havana's Tropicana cabaret, circa 1945, Portuondo was visibly eager to share the blessings of a long and well-lived life in music. At nearly 79, she told her audience, she has abundant cause for gratitude. Indeed she does. Portuondo's contralto still registers as a formidably potent and emotionally limber instrument, telegraphing ruefulness or ecstasy, parental tenderness or swooning romantic fatalism.

Pio Leyva, 88, a leading figure in Cuban music who gained broader international recognition through his association with the Buena Vista Social Club, died of a heart attack Thursday in Havana. He had suffered a stroke March 19. Leyva was born Wilfredo Leiva Pascual in Cuba's Camaguey province and entered the world of music at a young age. He won a bongo contest at 6 and went on to sing with legends of Cuban music, including Bene More and Bebo Valdes.

Omara Portuondo, the sultry-voiced diva of the Buena Vista Social Club, has been granted permission to visit the U.S. for the first time since 2003 and hopes a dose of her sensuous sound can inspire both countries to improve frozen relations. The U.S. Treasury Department has granted Portuondo, who turns 79 this month, permission to perform at the San Francisco Jazz Festival on Oct. 20 and to give a concert three days later at UCLA. "Cuban music is the best medicine," Portuondo said recently.

Amid a growing critical chorus that the Buena Vista Social Club has run its course and has nothing left to offer, members of the celebrated Cuban collective countered with a mesmerizing performance on Sunday at the Hollywood Bowl.

Ibrahim Ferrer, the humble, soft-spoken Cuban singer who achieved long-delayed international fame only after he was recruited for the Grammy-winning Buena Vista Social Club, has died. He was 78. Ferrer died Saturday in Havana, the Montuno production company announced. No cause of death was given, but Ferrer had suffered from emphysema.

Ruben Gonzalez, the elegant Cuban pianist who charmed the world with his gentle manner and dazzling style during a remarkable late-career comeback with the Buena Vista Social Club, died Monday in Havana, the Cuban Music Institute confirmed. He was 84. The cause of death was not immediately known, but the diminutive musician had been in failing health in recent years, wracked by arthritis and suffering memory loss.

The most unexpected breakout group in recent world music history has to be the Buena Vista Social Club. The group's Ry Cooder-produced album on Nonesuch has now hit the million mark in international sales--an amazing feat, given the fact that the ensemble consists of aging Cuban musicians almost completely unknown to audiences outside the island nation.

Omara Portuondo, the sultry-voiced diva of the Buena Vista Social Club, has been granted permission to visit the U.S. for the first time since 2003 and hopes a dose of her sensuous sound can inspire both countries to improve frozen relations. The U.S. Treasury Department has granted Portuondo, who turns 79 this month, permission to perform at the San Francisco Jazz Festival on Oct. 20 and to give a concert three days later at UCLA. "Cuban music is the best medicine," Portuondo said recently.

Faustino Oramas, 95, a popular traditional singer and among the last original members of the Buena Vista Social Club, died of cancer Tuesday in Cuba. Oramas, known as El Guayabero, who was popular for the double meanings and ribald humor of his songs, was the oldest surviving member of the original Buena Vista group of elderly musicians who became international stars in the 1990s through exposure from compact discs and a documentary film.

Orlando "Cachaito" Lopez, considered the "heartbeat" of Cuba's legendary Buena Vista Social Club for his internationally acclaimed bass playing, died Monday of complications from prostate surgery, fellow musicians said. He was 76. Lopez, a founding member of the band brought together in the 1990s by American guitarist and producer Ry Cooder, died in a Havana hospital several days after surgery, said Manuel Galban, a Cuban musician who played with Lopez for decades.

The queen of Caribbean vocalists is on the phone from Poland, chatting about a subject much on her mind lately: gratitude. "I am thankful for many things," Omara Portuondo said in brisk, Cuban-accented Spanish, and at 78 she has good reason to be. For starters, the principal chanteuse of the Buena Vista Social Club this year is celebrating her sixth decade as an entertainer. Long before Fidel Castro became a Communist, Portuondo was hoofing up a storm as a dancer at the Tropicana Club in Havana.

THE ARTICLE about Ry Cooder producing Ersi Arvizu's new album ["Finding Her Voz Again," by Agustin Gurza, May 3] is very biased and vindictive. Why does Gurza find it relevant when he is writing about Ersi Arvizu's new record to then put down Ry Cooder's brilliant work on Buena Vista Social Club? He should thank Cooder for introducing us to another gifted artist from the past. Gurza missed the most important issue here. Few people in the record business today seek out truly gifted musicians with the intention to cross over cultural lines.

Faustino Oramas, 95, a popular traditional singer and among the last original members of the Buena Vista Social Club, died of cancer Tuesday in Cuba. Oramas, known as El Guayabero, who was popular for the double meanings and ribald humor of his songs, was the oldest surviving member of the original Buena Vista group of elderly musicians who became international stars in the 1990s through exposure from compact discs and a documentary film.

Pio Leyva, 88, a leading figure in Cuban music who gained broader international recognition through his association with the Buena Vista Social Club, died of a heart attack Thursday in Havana. He had suffered a stroke March 19. Leyva was born Wilfredo Leiva Pascual in Cuba's Camaguey province and entered the world of music at a young age. He won a bongo contest at 6 and went on to sing with legends of Cuban music, including Bene More and Bebo Valdes.

Dreamgirls Bill Condon ("Gods and Monsters," "Chicago") adapts and directs the Broadway hit about the turbulent rise of a 1960s female vocal trio. Jamie Foxx, Beyonce Knowles, Danny Glover, Jennifer Hudson, Anika Noni Rose and Eddie Murphy star. DreamWorks, Dec. 22 * Johanna An operatic reworking of "Jeanne d'Arc" in which a drug addict, on the verge of death after a bus accident, makes a miraculous recovery. With Orsi Toth and Zsolt Trill. Directed by Kornel Mundruczo.

The debut album by Cuba's Buena Vista Social Club, produced by Los Angeles-based guitarist Ry Cooder for World Circuit/Nonesuch Records, is the second best-selling Latin collection in the nation. The 1997 album won a Grammy in 1998 and reached No. 1 on the U.S. Latin charts last year, but this newest surge in sales marks the first time it has broken onto the mainstream pop chart, where it's now No. 97. Estimated U.S. sales to date: nearly 450,000.

Compay Segundo, the avuncular Cuban vocalist who was plucked from obscurity to become a nonagenarian recording star with the "Buena Vista Social Club," died Sunday night in Havana. He was 95 and the cause of death was kidney failure. Symbolizing Segundo's late-blooming status as senior ambassador of Cuban culture, a large floral bouquet sent by Cuban President Fidel Castro stood next to his casket during a viewing at a Havana funeral home Monday, wire services reported.

Ibrahim Ferrer, the humble, soft-spoken Cuban singer who achieved long-delayed international fame only after he was recruited for the Grammy-winning Buena Vista Social Club, has died. He was 78. Ferrer died Saturday in Havana, the Montuno production company announced. No cause of death was given, but Ferrer had suffered from emphysema.

Ruben Gonzalez, the elegant Cuban pianist who charmed the world with his gentle manner and dazzling style during a remarkable late-career comeback with the Buena Vista Social Club, died Monday in Havana, the Cuban Music Institute confirmed. He was 84. The cause of death was not immediately known, but the diminutive musician had been in failing health in recent years, wracked by arthritis and suffering memory loss.