Following a sell-out International smash hit tour, The Bar at Buena Vista – The Grandfathers of Cuban Music, are set to head to Twin Towns and will again have patrons dancing in the aisle and bring to us the musical magic that Cuba has to offer.
Written and Directed by Toby Gough, The Bar at Buena Vista – The Grandfathers of Cuban Music – pays homage to the Buena Vista neighborhood – the famous quarter of Havana and Cuba’s music legends, such as the late Compay Segundo and Ruben Gonzalez.
And according to Toby Gough – who has recently been back in Havana – it’s the only show with its own real working bar on stage.
The show is a dedication to the original spirit of the music of Cuba, the lifeblood of a people whose heritage is as rich as it is old. A cast of Cuba’s most notable and legendary musical greats has been drawn from the most renowned music quarter in the World, Barrio Buena Vista.
The Legendary Grandfathers of Cuban Music brings together four of these greats who continue to exude passion, romance, love and energy that is so legendary of these Cuban masters.
The celebrated cast is headed by the magic vocals of 94-year-old Reynaldo Creagh, who hails from Vieja Trova Santiagera – Reynaldo ignited the flame that started the whole Buena Vista Social Club phenomenon and today is probably the world’s oldest working singer, who is considered Cuba’s last remaining living legend.
He stars alongside 86-year-old legendary tres guitarist Maracaibo, a multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire from Vieja Trova Santiagera and is one of Cuba’s most celebrated composers. Both Reynaldo Creagh and Maracaibo grew up and played music with the late Ibrahim Ferrer and they are still the best of friends.
They are the last surviving guardians of this dignified music, aching with nostalgia. They are joined by the 85-year-old legend on piano Maestro Rubalcaba from the Afro-Cuban All Stars, who has been dubbed as Cuba’s finest pianist known as “The Hands of Gold”. Like Cuban rum, these guys just get better with age!
These three legendary Cuban masters all return together with Cuba’s original diva Siomara Avilla Valdes Lescay. The cast will also include dancing legend Eric Turro, the master of all traditional Cuban dance styles from the ’40s and the ’50s which is a hybrid mixture of Street and Salon styles of dance, who will also be returning to mesmerise audiences with his moves. Eric will be accompanied by his sensual, sexy dancers.
The Bar at Buena Vista – The Grandfathers of Cuban Music is a passport to another time, another place that takes audiences to the downtown bar of a Havana Club of the ’40s and ’50s – creating a festive cocktail of music and dance, in a night filled with raunchy salsa, rhythms of tropical jazz and Cuban folk music in a show that is as intoxicating as the rum served at the bar on stage.
WHO: The Bar at Buena Vista
WHERE: Twin Towns Service Club
WHEN: Friday, June 17
INTERESTED? Bookings 1800 014 014 www.twintowns.com.au
