Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club at London’s La Linea 2011 Festival

Following a series of hugely successful performances in recent years, the twelve-piece Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club which features a number of Buena Vista Social Club alumni make their eagerly awaited return to Europe in April 2011.

This Cuban musicians’ collective has played together for over half a century. Stylistically, they span the entire spectrum of Afro-Cuban music. Deliciously slow bolero ballads and majestic danzones feature the swell of strings, while background vocals conveying messages of romance hide behind arrestingly beautiful melodies.

Buena Vista Social Club’s most influential style is the exuberant, polyrhythmic music known as son, which gave birth to both Mambo and Salsa. These upbeat numbers are full of infectious guitar licks, multilayered Afro-Cuban rhythms, soaring vocal melodies, and brash, Big Band-style horn parts.

Joining this new and expanded lineup of Cuban players is vocalist Omara Portuondo, a member of the original Buena Vista Social Club, whose 2008 recording Gracias (World Village / Montuno) won a Latin Grammy and scored a Grammy nomination. The show features an interesting contrast as young vocalist Idania Valdes, who came to prominence in the last year as the singing voice of Rita in the animated film Chico & Rita, shares the stage with Omara.

Tuesday 19 April 7.30pm
Royal Albert Hall
Kensington Gore SW7 2AP
020 7589 8212
£37.50 – £22.50

Buena Vista Social Club recordings:

• In North America: Buena Vista Social Club At Carnegie Hall (2 CD), Buena Vista Social Club (original CD), Buena Vista Social Club Presents Ibrahim Ferrer, Buena Vista Social Club Presents Omara Portuondo, and Buena Vista Social Club Presents: Manuel Guajiro Mirabal

• In Europe: Buena< Vista Social Club at Carnegie Hall, Buena Vista Social Club (original CD), Buena Vista Social Club Presents Ibrahim Ferrer, and Buena Vista Social Club Presents Manuel Guajiro Mirabal