Cuba-based band plays at White House - a first in 50 years

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Cuba-based band plays at White House - a first in 50 years
Oct 15, 7:05 PM EDT
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The groovy sounds of a Cuba-based musical band wafted through the White House on Thursday for the first time in more than 50 years.

The Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club performed at a White House reception Thursday to mark Hispanic Heritage Month and the 25th anniversary of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics.

"It is wonderful to have you here. I was explaining to them that when the documentary about the Buena Vista Social Club came out, I was told it was around 1998, I bought a CD," said President Barack Obama, who asked the audience to "give it up" for the group.

The White House said Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club was the first Cuba-based musical act to perform under its roof in more than five decades. The appearance came amid warming relations between the U.S. and Cuba, Cold War foes whose leaders surprised the world nearly a year ago with the announcement that they were restoring diplomatic relations after more than a half-century of animosity.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBAMA_BUENA_VISTA_SOCIAL_CLUB?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-10-15-19-05-55

[Judi Lynn]

1. Band From Cuba Plays the White House With 1940s Havana Rhythms

Band From Cuba Plays the White House With 1940s Havana Rhythms
6:44 pm ET
By Julie Hirschfeld Davis

For a couple of hours on Thursday afternoon, the ornate East Room of the White House – normally the backdrop for buttoned-up presidential statements and protocol-steeped official events – pulsed with the rhythms of a 1940s Havana club.

The Orquestra Buena Vista Social Club, a descendant of the 1990s Cuban band that was many Americans’ first exposure to Cuban music of decades past, performed at a Hispanic Heritage Month celebration on Thursday, the first time a musical group from the island nation has appeared at the White House in more than half a century.

“We’re thrilled to have them here,” President Obama said. “For nearly two decades, this group has been a symbol of the strong bonds between the American and Cuban people – bonds of friendship and culture and, of course, music.”

It was the latest sign of the thaw that Mr. Obama and President Raùl Castro of Cuba set in motion in December when they agreed to normalize relations between Washington and Havana and restore diplomatic ties severed in 1961.

More:
http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/10/15/band-from-cuba-plays-the-white-house-with-1940s-havana-rhythms/

[mpcamb]

11. I'm a fan

Break down the barriers.
Those obsolete barriers.
I wanna go there.
Let them come here.
It's over.
Forget about the "Commie, Commie, Commie" 60s that dragged us thru a decade of killing Asians in their own country.
Cuba survived our embargo.
They gave us a vibrant Miami culture, despite the blockage and resistance of the US.
They sent medical help when it was needed in the hemisphere, often in multiples of what the US contributed.
Let's open Cuba to the US.
Let's just say it's over.

[forest444]

2. A gozar!

[Judi Lynn]

5. What a wonderful song. It gets in your mind, and it doesn't leave. That's good.

They sound wonderful, even now.

Wonderful chance to see the image of Compay Segundo and his hat! He auctioned one off every year during a fund-raising drive for a Cuban hospital. I have heard sometimes one went for a fantastic amound of money.

Omara Portuondo, too. Amazing.

They have more fans around the world than anyone could count.

Thank you for sharing this song on this day. So good!

[forest444]

7. Yeah - too bad I missed it!

It was at 3:45 pm, but making time for something this historic (and beautiful) would have been no problem at all!

http://www.nonesuch.com/journal/orquesta-buena-vista-social-club-perform-white-house-2015-10-15

I'm sure they'll re-air it, so I'm combing through the local Public Television schedule for it as we speak; if not, I'm sure it'll be on YouTube in a couple of days. What a treat!

[malokvale77]

3. I posted a response in the Latin America thread.

Thank you Judi Lynn.

[Judi Lynn]

6. It's a great day for Buena Vista Social Club fans. Hooray! Thank you, malokvale 77. n/t

[flamingdem]

4. Just one correction Irakere played in NY in 1979

during the Jimmy Carter days.

Interestingly they are kind of on tour again as Chucho Valdes is celebrating them on his current US tour. He was a member.

[Judi Lynn]

9. Didn't know that. Jimmy Carter was the President who was very much more decent toward Cuba then.

It's no wonder at all he was invited to Cuba, and spoke to the whole country live on tv and radio during the _{George W. Bush} occupancy of the White House.

Chucho Valdez was in Los Angeles for the Latin Grammies on September 11, then the attacks happened, and everything was cancelled. He and his group stayed in L.A. until they had all given blood for the Red Cross before going back home. I never forgot that act of friendship and concern.

Irakere is amazing. What a band. Who could not like them?

[MADem]

8. We ALL bought that CD! nt

[shanti]

10. they are retiring after this tour

i particularly miss ibrahim ferrer, RIP. what a great singer and he had such a twinkle in his eye. the documentary about BVSC was excellent.