Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club to Perform at Merriam Theater, 10/9

For Buena Vista Social Club, 1997 was a monumental year for this band of Cuban legends who released their self-titled 'debut' album, which spiraled into a decades long fascination with Latin Jazz and the rhythmic sounds of Cuba's golden era in the 1940s and 1950s. Following a series of hugely successful performances in recent years, they have reunited as the 13-piece Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club, and arrive in Philadelphia on October 9 at 7:30 p.m. to perform in Merriam Theater. The band features several Buena Vista Social Club alumni including trumpeter Guajiro Mirabal,laúd virtuoso Barbarito Torres, trombonist Jesus 'Aguaje' Ramos, and vocalist Omara Portuondo.

Tickets are available for $37 to $65, and can be purchased by calling 215-893-1999, online at kimmelcenter.org, at the KimMel Center box office, Broad & Spruce streets (open daily 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.).

The Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club's live performances have been praised by the UK press for "taking the atmosphere up to a breathless level," (The Independent) and leaving audiences "awestruck" (Financial Times). The past few years have been tremendously successful for the orchestra, playing sellouts in renowned venues including the Paris Olympia, London's Royal Albert Hall, Barcelona's Liceu, the Konzerthaus in Vienna, Luna Park in Buenos Aires as well as prestigious festivals around the globe.

Buena Vista Social Club released its only studio album, produced by Ry Cooder, in 1997 and achieved instant success. The album, featuring a specially assembled group of veteran Cuban musicians, was further propelled by Wim Wenders' acclaimed film and later by a series of international tours and albums by many of the featured musicians. At the forefront of Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club are three musicians who will be recognized from the Buena Vista Social Club film: trumpeter Guajiro Mirabal, laud virtuoso Barbarito Torres and trombonist Jesus 'Aguaje' Ramos. A younger generation of Cuban musicians is represented by such talents as the vocalists Carlos Calunga and Idania Valdes, virtuoso pianist Rolando Luna and joining his grandfather on trumpet, Guajirito Mirabal.

Joining this 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. Portuondo has been singing and performing since she was a teenager in Cuba in the 1940s but, as The New York Times' review of Gracias noted, the years have done nothing to mitigate her vocal prowess: "Her voice is rich, shapely, dynamic and still sultry." The Los Angeles Times described her voice as "a formidably potent and emotionally limber instrument, noted that "her 100 minute set in San Francisco showed that she's an even bigger talent onstage."

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