Presented by Kew the Music
Sun 10th July 2011 / 7:00pm / £35
Book tickets online or call the Box Office on 0844 847 2318

Following a series of hugely successful performances in recent years, where they played with to a full house, 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. 

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 and the pianist Chucho Valdés, the most celebrated Cuban jazz pianist today. Both of these artistic legends enjoy triumphant careers and are two of the finest ambassadors for Cuban culture around the world.

VENUE

Kew the Music – Outdoors Concerts at Kew Gardens
Royal Botanic Gardens
Kew
Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AB