Cuban Troubadour Eliades Ochoa to Perform at the Overture Center: Uplifting with Music
Cuban Guitarist Eliades Ochoa
by Jonathan Gramling
Eliades Ochoa, the Cuban guitarist who was introduced to the world through the Buena Vista Social Club recording and movie, has developed an international audience
“I’ve been called the Troubadour of Traditional Cuban Music and the Cuban Johnny Cash,” Ochoa said through an interpreter in a phone interview. “That’s how people normally recognize me. I am also called Mr. Chan Chan. Those are the names that people normally call me. I’m called the Cuban Johnny Cash because I wear a cowboy hat and black clothes, play the guitar and play country music. Johnny Cash played American country music and I play Cuban country music. We always play the guitar and always wear black. That’s why people recognize me as the Cuban Johnny Cash.”
Ochoa is still going strong at 78-years-old.
“Yes, I am always performing,” Ochoa emphasized. “It is the only thing that I have been doing. It is the only thing that keeps me healthy and keeps me alive. Yes we have to keep going and doing stuff that keeps us alive, things that motivate us every day. That’s how I see life and that is how I think people should do as well.”
His newest recording was, Guajiro, was released last year and now he is in the last leg of a European-United States tour that is featuring in his album.
“The Guajiro Tour started in Europe with 30 shows in the big cities in Europe,” Ochoa said. “So now we come here with the Guajiro Tour to the
United States. We have 10 shows. We started in Mesa, Arizona and the last one is in Miami.”
Guajiro means peasant in Spanish, which reflects Ochoa’s humble presence and his roots in the music of eastern Cuba, bolero and son. It is a music that he almost picked up at birth.
“I was about 6-7-years-old when I started playing the guitar,” Ochoa said. “The only thing you could listen to at night was my dad playing the guitar. That’s how I picked it up. No one taught me how to play the guitar. It was just me. I liked the guitar and then I started playing by ear. And that is how it was. No one taught me how to play the guitar.”
Ochoa has been performing professionally since 1969 and has been going strong, performing with artists from around the world.
“People are enjoying the album Guajiro,” Ochoa said. “There are beautiful songs. I performed with big stars on the album. There is Charlie Musslewhite. He is one of the legends of the group. Also there is Joan As Police Woman. She is an American singer. Rubén Blades also performed on the album. Some of these songs we will be playing when we perform in Madison.”
While staying firmly rooted in the music of his youth, Ochoa has also kept up with musical trends
“I just think that I’m holding my concerts for people who follow my music,” Ochoa said. “I feel that I am still a student who is learning fast through music. That’s how I feel. Yes I keep up with music trends. That’s why you see in my recent album Guajiro, you feel that it has more variety. The music that I play keeps me traveling all the time. I always play the type of music called bolero and son.”
When Ochoa performs at the Overture Center on March 7th, he will perform songs from his Guajiro album.
“I’m also going to play some of the memorable songs from Buena Vista Social Club,” Ochoa said. “It will be me and my band. We have sax, percussion, bass, trumpets and piano. For the U.S. tour, I don’t know if you are aware that the band is from Miami. It’s composed of Cuban musicians who have been in Miami for quite a long time. That way, we are engaged with our Latin community here. We give the opportunity to these musicians to be part of Guajiro as well.”
Ochoa promises that people will have a great time at the Overture concert.
“It will be a very lively performance,” Ochoa said. “We bring joy and happiness with our music and we expect the audience will enjoy the show like the audiences have enjoyed the others we have done.
We’re very excited. People have been getting up and dancing at all of the shows. We expect people in Madison to be dancing too. The music is to be enjoyed, but it is also meant to be danced to. We appreciate the people who are going to go to the show after reading this interview. We hope they will get engaged and go to the show and enjoy and be able to feel that people are alive when people are making music.”
While Ochoa doesn’t speak English, in his world, it really doesn’t matter.
“The music doesn’t have a language, so that is how we can communicate,” Ochoa said.
Eliades Ochoa and his band will perform at the Overture Center on Mqwarch 7th. Tickets can be purchased at www.overture.org.