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From here to Guajira >> Camera-friendly Cuban Eliades Ochoa
by RUPERT BOTTENBERG Photo by Anton Corjbin
In that film, a look at American guitarist Ry Cooder's Grammy-winning efforts in unearthing and preserving the all-but-lost treasures of Cuban traditional music, Eliades Ochoa delivers an electrifying performance as guitar-pluckin' guajira crooner par excellence. In other words, as himself. "I don't consider myself a movie star," says Ochoa. "In fact, I don't even consider myself a singer. If you say I'm a movie star, though, I'll believe you." As cheerfully humble as he is, Ochoa does voice some mild gripes about the film. "The work I did on Buena Vista Social Club, both the film and the albums, is not really reflected in the film. I did a lot more for both, but in the film I'm only featured briefly. My image was not exploited as much as the others. I don't know why--maybe I'm not as good an actor as you say I am."
Wanted: band leader At the risk of sounding morbid, I'm inclined to say that the focus on elder statesmen Compay Segundo, Ibrahim Ferrer and Rubén Gonzales was simply because they're a limited-time offer. Fact is, at 52, Ochoa was sort of the baby of the bunch. Not that he doesn't have a laudable musical history of his own. He made his auspicious debut at the age of 11, busking up pocket change on the streets of his hometown Santiago de Cuba, before serenading post-revolutionary Cuba as a member of El Quinteto Oriental and El Septeto Tipico. For the last 20 years, though, Ochoa has been the leader of El Cuarteto Patria, Santiago's preeminent purveyors of Cuban trad. "I was asked by the group's founder, 'Pancho' Cobas, to take over the leadership of the band because he was too old to keep it going. He'd already had enough, he didn't want to deal with it anymore. My only condition was that there be no limitations to the kind of repertoire we would perform. Cuarteto Patria, at the time, was concentrating on only boleros, mixed with some sons. Music that was already passé at the time. I asked that they do a more complete repertoire, including guarachas and changuis, to keep it very much alive. They said yes, I accepted, and the rest is history."
A tango with Dibango A rich history, leading up to their latest release, Sublime Ilusion. Guests include Cooder and his son Joachin, David Hidalgo of Los Lobos and mouth harp maestro Charlie Musselwhite. On their last release Cubafrica, though, it was Afro-funk legend Manu Dibango who joined them in the studio. Ochoa admits that Dibango's was an unfamiliar name upon their initial encounter. "We happened to run into him about three years ago at a music festival in France. When he showed up to play his gig and found out we were there, he got really excited, because he had both previous records. He was a huge fan, so he made arrangements for a meeting, and he told us that he listened to the CDs so much that he knew the songs by heart. "We started talking, and eventually I told him to come up on stage that night and jam with the band for one song. He ended up performing the whole set. It was as though he'd been a part of Cuarteto Patria for 20 years, because he knew the music down to every last detail."
Big on MTV With the success of BVSC, and trickle-down attention to the musicians involved, more and more people are getting to know the sounds of El Cuarteto Patria. Even the MTV brats, thanks to a fun video for the song Píntate los Labios Maria, in which all the characters are cartoons, except for one-man Greek chorus Ochoa, mugging and hamming it up like a man born for the camera. "Everything I do is natural," he confesses. "I've never had any instruction on how to act in front of a camera. They just explain the idea, say, 'This is what we're going to do.' And I just go in front of the camera and do it."
At le Medley on Thursday, September 9, 9pm, $23.50+taxes |
Get Spielberg on the horn--I got the next Robert DeNiro lined up here. He's ruggedly handsome, with a boyish twinkle in is eye. He's unmistakable in his trademark Guajiro cowboy hat and sassy little pinch beard. You know he's got the magic if you caught Wim Wender's gorgeous documentary Buena Vista Social Club.