October 27, 2006

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	Israel "Cachao" Lopez
	Photo by Allen Spatz

Berklee College of Music President Roger H. Brown will award highly acclaimed Cuban bassist/composer Israel "Cachao" Lopez, known as the co-creator of Mambo, during a tribute concert to him on Tuesday, November 7, at 8:15 p.m., as part of the college's Latin Culture Celebration. The concert will feature a full 22-piece band of student vocalists, strings, and more; Venezuelan composer/arranger, and faculty member Bernardo Hernandez playing the Cuban Tres and conducting; and Colombian folk music/jazz fusion harpist Edmar Castañeda. The show will be produced by Peruvian bass professor Oscar Stagnaro, coordinated by Chilean student Natalia Bernal. The evening will bring to life songs from the Mambo Maestro's GRAMMY-winning and nominated Master Sessions Volumes I and II, with original transcriptions from Berklee's talented Latino students, within the walls of Berklee's Performance Center, 136 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, MA. Tickets are $5.00 and can be purchased at the Berklee box office (venue wheelchair accessible). Call 617-266-7455.

Berklee's Latin Culture Celebration is a showcase of musical expressions and customs from the Latin world. Berklee's Latino student population, representative of 14 Latin countries,  will immerse the community in clinics, lectures, and performances from their homelands that include Panama, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic. Among the other artists slated for the 2006 celebration are Latin jazz pianist Angel David Mattos and drummer Hector Mattos with faculty member Dan Moretti on tenor saxophone Tuesday, November 7; percussionist Ricardo Monzon (Guatemala) on Wednesday, November 8; saxophone player Oscar Feldman (Argentina) Wednesday, November 8; and saxophone player Patricia Zarate (Chile) on Thursday, November 9. 

Cachao will come to Berklee to be recognized for his contributions to Latin music over the past 70 years as one of the greatest bass players ever, and as a composer along with his brother Orestes Lopez, of more than 2,000 danzones, and as the inventor of the genre ritmo nuevo (new rhythm from the 1930s), that later on came to be the roots of the Mambo. The "grandfather of Salsa" has distinguished himself not only as a musician, but also as a pioneer and innovator of Cuban popular music. Before leaving Cuba, Cachao established himself as a prominent sideman whose specialty was Afro-Cuban dance music, and as the creator of the Latin jam style descarga. In the classical area he was a member of the La Habana Philarmonic founded by the great piano/composer Ernesto Lecuona. He has garnered four Grammys overall, has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and has won both the National Endowment for the Arts and Hispanic Heritage awards. 

Actor Andy Garcia produced a documentary about the famed Cuban musician titled Cachao . . . Como Su Ritmo No Hay Dos ("With A Rhythm Like No Other") and says of him, "He is the greatest living example of music in that country."

For editorial information or digital photos, the media may contact:

Mitzi Dorbu
Office of Public Information
(617) 747-2750
mdorbu@berklee.edu