A Symphony Center debut for Cuban guitarist Eliades Ochoa

With his trademark black cowboy hat and his signature eight string Cuban Tres guitar slung high across his body, the 77-year-old Eliades Ochoa cuts a striking sensorial figure. On March 8 he makes his Symphony Center debut. And for fans of Cuban music, it will be a must see.

The music that will be front and center will be the infectious Son Cubano – of which Eliades is a master and one of that musical genre’s musical ambassadors. It’s a genre that originated in eastern Cuba. The music reveals Spanish and African influences. While it has an earthy campesino vibe, it also owns an urban feel. It is music made for dancing; salsa and Latin Jazz owe its origins to it.

On March 8, Ochoa will appear with his multi-piece band that includes guitar, trumpet, percussion and bass. The set list will be music from his latest album release “Guajiro”. 

For Ochoa fans “Guajiro” will be welcome musical territory. And his fans are many.

Ochoa gained most of his notoriety as part of the musical collective Buena Vista Social Club, which included the likes of vocalist Ibrahim Ferrer, trumpeter Manuel “Guajiro” Mirabal and singer-guitarist Compay Segundo, amongst others. The group earned a wide international audience after the 1997 release of the eponymous Buena Vista Social Club. Produced by Ry Cooder, the album’s popularity grew by word of mouth and thereafter was seeded by glowing reviews from music critics. It went on to win a Grammy in 1998 and has since sold more than 8 million copies. The audience grew even larger after German director Wim Wenders released the “Buena Vista Social Club” documentary in 1999. That film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary film.

As a result, it seemed, for a time, that the Buena Vista Social Club music was being played everywhere, and in places where the Cuban Son was rarely heard. A new generation was introduced to Cuban music.

Ochoa has come a long way since but has always stayed true to his musical roots. But with “Guajiro”, Ochoa created an album that shows that he’s not shy about trying new approaches.

“I see Guajiro as a contemporary album,” said Ochoa. “It includes the son, but there are other harmonies and sounds in it… and things I have not done in previous albums.”

On “Guajiro” Ochoa spreads his musical wings by collaborating with the likes of singer-composer Ruben Blades, blues harmonica player Charlie Musselwhite and soul singer Joan as Policewoman. The latter collaboration happens on “Creo en La Naturaleza,” (I Believe in Nature). It’s one of the more engaging songs on “Guajiro” and where Ochoa coaxes an almost Arabic melodic sound from his Tres guitar.

Music was a bonding aspect of the family when Eliades was growing up in Santiago de Cuba-the island nation’s second largest city located on the eastern side of Cuba. That city boasts serious musical mecca-cred as the home of the Cuban Son.

“I started playing the guitar at six years old,” said Eliades. “My mother and father were both musicians. Both played the Tres Cubano. I learned it from them.”

Ochoa and his Tres guitar are inseparable. The Cuban Tres is a string instrument that, at first, looks very much like the guitar. However, the Tres has three widely spaced pairs of strings, and its players use repeated finger-picked riffs to complement singer melodies.

But the Tres that Ochoa plays is truly unique and his own creation. When he was getting started, Ochoa got a luthier to add two more strings to the Tres. When complete he had an eight-stringed Tres.

“I was just looking for a different sound for the Tres Cubano,” said Ochoa. “Adding additional strings offered me more distinctive harmonies.“

He now has eight of them and the instrument is increasingly popular, especially with young fans of the Son Cubano, Ochoa said.