biography

BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB™ PRESENTS
CACHAITO LOPEZ, GUAJIRO MIRABAL,
JESUS ‘AGUAJE’ RAMOS, MANUEL GALBAN

MUSICIANS’ SHORT BIOGS

Cachaíto Lopez (Double Bass)

The ‘heartbeat of the Buena Vista Social Club', Cuban bass player Orlando 'Cachaíto' López is the only musician who has played on every track on every album in the World Circuit Buena Vista Social Club series. Cachaíto comes from one of Cuba’s foremost musical dynasties, including his father, Orestes López and uncle, Israel 'Cachao' López, two of Cuba’s greatest musicians. Cachaíto has an uncanny rapport with his fellow musicians – accompanying Ibrahim Ferrer and Rubén González on their world tours, playing alongside Omara Portuondo, and on his own groundbreaking debut album on World Circuit ‘Cachaíto’, which won a BBC Radio 3 Award for Word Music in 2002.

Manuel ‘Guajiro’ Mirabal (Trumpet)
Guajiro has been a key figure in the Cuban music scene for over 50 years and has played with just about every Cuban star you could care to mention. During World Circuit’s now legendary recording blitz in Havana in 1996, Guajiro featured on all three of these seminal albums: Afro-Cuban All Stars ‘A Toda Cuba Le Gusta’, ‘Buena Vista Social Club’, and ‘Introducing Rubén González’.
Having been an integral part of many albums in the Buena Vista series and a key member of Ibrahim Ferrer’s touring band, Guajiro released his debut solo album, the Latin Grammy nominated Buena Vista Social Club™ Presents Manuel Guajiro Mirabal in 2004.

Jesús ‘Aguaje’ Ramos (Trombone)

He was born in 1951 in Pinar del Rio where he began his musical studies in the National School of Arts. He started playing the trombone in local groups until 1979 when he moved to Havana and began playing with the great female quartet Los D’Aida. That same year he took part in the “Estrellas de Areito” recordings. Aguaje has played on the World Circuit recordings of the Buena Vista Social Club and Afro-Cuban All Stars, and the solo albums of Ibrahim Ferrer, Rubén González and Omara Portuondo. He was Rubén González’s musical director and he has been touring extensively since 1997 with the various Buena Vista Social Club projects.

Manuel Galbán (Guitar and Organ)

Manuel Galbán, electric guitarist, pianist, organist and arranger, is an institution in Cuban music. For many years, he was the musical director of the seminal Cuban doo-wop group Los Zafiros. With Galbán leading, the band created a distinctly Cuban sound, an eclectic mix of doo-wop, ballads and boleros, soul and samba, tumbas and twists.
In 1998, Nick Gold tracked down Galbán to play guitar on Ibrahim Ferrer’s debut album. Galbán’s rapport with Ry Cooder is striking. The duo’s recent album ‘Mambo Sinuendo’ won a Grammy in February 2004. He also contributed his unique guitar sound to Cachaíto López’s groundbreaking debut ‘Cachaíto’ and Ibrahim Ferrer’s Grammy winning ‘Buenos Hermanos’.