Cuba’s Buena Vista Social Club has begun the North American leg of its farewell tour, which runs until November, concluding with a huge concert at the Beacon Theater in New York.
The Adiós Tour of the legendary group, made up of mostly veteran musicians of traditional Cuban rhythms, kicked off in the U.S. on August 12.
Having already performed in Los Angeles, the orchestra is set to feature at the Humphreys Concerts by the Bay and the Denver Botanic Gardens on August 20 and 22 respectively.
In late August, the tour will continue in Canada, before returning to the U.S. and later travel to Puerto Rico, to perform at the San Juan stadium.
As champions of the son, bolero, danzón and salsa genres, the Buena Vista project has brought together prestigious exponents of Cuban traditional music since 1996, especially the stars of the 1930s-1950s.
Under the leadershipof guitaristand producerRyCooder, they recorded analbum whichearneda Grammy Award,as well as adocumentarynominatedfor an Oscarin 2000.
The current incarnation of the group includes a new generation of musicians such as Luis “Guajirito” Mirabal, who at just 21 shares the spotlight with his grandfather Luis Manuel “Guajiro” Mirabal, now aged 82.
Among the original stars are vocalist Omara Portuondo, guitarist Eliades Ochoa, trombonist and conductor Jesús “Aguaje” Ramos and lute player Barbarito Torres.
The Adiós Tour, which began in 2014 and will continue throughout this year, hopes to see some 1,000 live concerts worldwide, according to organizers.
Although the project is bidding farewell with this tour, we want our music to endure over time and continue delighting everyone, Omara said in Havana before setting off to tour the world.
