Cachao Lopez

Born into a family of musicians in Havana, Israel Lopez joined a children’s septet as a bongo player at the age of eight. In 1927, he turned to the bass, an instrument that has become something of a family tradition amongst the Lopez’ (there were around 40 at the time, and the tradition continues to be honoured today by Israel’s nephew Orlando “Cachaito” Lopez). At the time, Israel teamed up with a pianist who was later to become known worldwide as Bola de Nieve, and the two accompanied silent black-and-white films at the local cinema.

After several years training as a classical bassist, Israel joined the Orquesta Filarmonica de La Habana. In 1937, he began experimenting with his brother Orestes on the European contradance called the danzon. Essentially, it added African rhythms into a music that was originally devoted to slow dancing. The Lopez’ called it danzon mambo and it had an immediate impact on the local music scene. Orestes was an outstanding flute player and the two brothers composed thousands of songs together between the 1930s and 1950s.

In 1957, Cachao further transformed the dynamic Havana music scene by leading Latin jam sessions called “descargas” that improvised around Afro-Cuban genres, much in the same way as African American jazz sessions were doing further north. Five years later, Israel decided to leave Cuba, first for Spain, and then New York City. There, he worked with the likes of Eddie Palmieri, Tito Puente, Gloria Estefan and Machito. For years, he was one of the most in-demand bassists in the Big Apple, and was heard in venues as illustrious as The Birdland and the Palladium Ballroom.

However, a move to Miami in the Eighties coincided with a fall from grace and into obscurity. In Florida, he played at weddings and small clubs to eke out a living. It was only thanks to a documentary by Cuban American actor Andy Garcia in 1993 that Cachao’s career enjoyed the astonishing revival of his final two decades. “Cachao Como Su Ritmo No Hay Dos” was a commercial and critical success, as was his 1994 album Master Sessions Volume 1, which won a Grammy Award a year later. This was one of several Grammies the bassist was awarded in the twilight of his career. They included Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album for his collaboration with Bebo Valdez and Patato Valdes on El Arte Del Sabor (2003) , and his solo CD Ahora Si! , released in 2005.

Cachao played on into the very final year of his life. Complications resulting from kidney failure resulted in his death on the morning of March 22nd, 2008. By then, the acoustic bassist had come to represent one of the greatest figures of Cuban music on and off the island. On hearing of his death, Andy Garcia said his passing signalled the end of an era. Cachao, the actor said, “is revered by all who have come in contact with him and his music. Maestro, you have been my teacher and you took me in like a son.” A documentary-film on the birth of mambo, “La Epoca”, scheduled for release in September 2008, has lengthy sections on this consummate musician who was known as much for his dazzling descargas as for the off-the-cuff humour that never left his rotund and jovial figure.

March 25th 2008.

Daniel Brown

Yannis Ruel