Eliades Ochoa
Quick Facts
Biography
Eliades Ochoa (born 22 June 1946) is a Cuban guitarist and singer from Loma de la Avispa, Songo La Maya in the east of the country near Santiago de Cuba.
He began playing the guitar when he was six and in 1978 he was invited to join Cuarteto Patria, a group founded in 1939, as its leader. Although he looks like a guajiro, and he still wears his trademark cowboy hat, his roots are in the son, and he only agreed to take on the role of leader if he was allowed to introduce new elements to the repertoire. He plays the guitar, tres and also a variant of the guitar, with two additional strings. His involvement with the Buena Vista Social Club and the Wim Wenders film of the same name (1999), has led him to worldwide fame.
In 2010 he recorded an album with a number of Cuban and Malian musicians, including Toumani Diabaté, titled AfroCubism.
Discography
with Cuarteto Patria
- Estoy Como Nunca – 2002 (Higher Octave)
- Llega El Cuarteto Patria – 2002 (Egrem)
- Tribute to the Cuarteto Patria – 2000 (Higher Octave)
- Eliades Ochoa Y El Cuarteto Patria – 2000 (Egrem)
- Sublime Illusión – 1999 (Higher Octave, Virgin)
- A Una Coqueta – 1993
- Lion Is Loose – 1996 (Cubason, Melodie)
- CubAfrica with Manu Dibango – 1998 (Mélodie)
Solo recordings
- Chanchaneando – 1989 (Para)
- Cuidadito Compay Gallo – 1998 (Egrem)
- Son De Oriente – 1996 (Egrem)
- Son De Santiago – 2003 (Edenways)
- Ochoa Y Segundo – 2003 (Edenways)
- Se Soltó un León – 2006
- La collección cubana: Eliades Ochoa – 2006 Compilation (Nascente NSCD 114).
with BLØF
- Hemingway – 2006