Irakere - Biography
Irakere’s contemporary Afro-Cuban jazz situated them at the vanguard of music in Latin America in the 1970s and 1980s. Founder and director Chucho Valdés assembled a group of talented and adventurous compatriots in 1973, drawing inspiration from Afro-Cuban folklore. The name Irakere means forest in the Yoruba language of West Africa. The core of the group included reedman Paquito D’Rivera, drummer Enrique Pla, guitarist Carlos Emilio Morales, and bassist Carlos Del Puerto, who all had worked together with Chucho since the mid-1960s as the Orquesta de Música Moderna. That ensemble recorded the soundtracks for virtually every Cuban film made during their seven-year tenure, and thus honed their skills with sight reading and working with symphonic arrangements.
Irakere’s debut, Teatro Amadeo Roldán - Rectical (1974 Egrem) achieved immediate success in Cuba, thanks to the wah-wah guitar driven “Bacalao con pan” with its catchy chorus about dried, salted fish and bread. The percussive onomatopoeia of “Taka taka ta” takes inspiration from its rhythmic drive. Their musical palette included shades of Afro-Cuban folklore, jazz, rock, funk, and classical. Although, Oscar Valdés fronted the band with vocals and percussion and Chucho Valdés directed from the piano stool, each musician was given space to be creative. Their next Cuban release, Irakere Con Leo Brouwer En Vivo - Teatro Karl Marx (1978 Egrem) was a collaboration with classical guitarist Leo Brouwer and includes an original take on Mozart as well as the ambitious 13 minute composition “Misa Negra” by Valdés.
From the start Irakere attracted international attention even though they operated in the isolated confines of communist Cuba. Dizzy Gillespie and Stan Getz visited the island in 1977 and were blown away by Irakere. With such prestigious advocates they were able to obtain permission to perform in the US at the Newport Jazz Festival of 1978. They also performed that same year at the Montreux Jazz Festival in France and Columbia Records recorded both concerts. Their 1979 self-titled debut on Columbia, Irakere (1979 Columbia), captures the explosive group live with synthesizers soaring and rhythm section pumping. Their remarkable visit to the US ultimately resulted in a Grammy in 1980 for their Columbia debut, the first ever for a Cuban group. Unfortunately, the U.S. still imposed an embargo on the island of Cuba and they were denied visas to pick up their award.
Their Columbia debut and follow-up album, Irakere II (1979 Columbia), capture a fusion frenzy that may be outdated to our ears but remains remarkable thanks to the virtuosic performance by Valdés on keyboard, the monstrous trumpet blaring by Arturo Sandoval, and the sinewy alto saxophone of D’Rivera. Irakere II featured “Xiomara,” a Cuban dance romp infused with hyper-jazz flights. Six Cuts from this release and four from the prior Columbia album were compiled and released in 1994 as The Best of Irakere (1994 Columbia).
Back in Cuba, Irakere’s next album, Irakere III (1980 Egrem), contained the songs “Camagüey” and “Xiomara Mayoral- Xiomara,” which were more rooted in Cuban dance traditions. D’Rivera got his last chance to stretch out with the band on the instrumental tunes “En Nostotros” and “Iyá.” While touring in Spain in May of 1980, D’Rivera decided to defect. He was the first prominent Cuban musician to do so. D’Rivera relocated to New York City where he became a pillar of the Latin jazz scene.
Irakere IV (1980 Egrem) gives us the funk-driven carnival theme of “La Comparsa” and the Santería inspired “Aguanile bonkó.” Their use of Afro-Cuban folkloric elements such as the two-headed batá drums in original compositions was ground breaking and opened the door for the use of sacred and complex Afro-Cuban elements in a Latin jazz format.
Para Bailar El Son (1981 Egrem) reprises the classic Arsenio Rodríguez song “Dile a Catalina” and introduced flautist José Luis Cortés as a new member of the group. Irakere VI (1982 Egrem) revamps some classical material and delivers such danceable ditties as “Que se sepa, yo soy de La Habana” (“Let it be known, I’m from Havana”). Calzada del Cerro (1983 Egrem), their seventh Cuban recording, further mines the Arsenio songbook with “La vida es un sueño” and “De una manera espantosa.”
In 1984, the group teamed up with a symphony for Irakere VIII (1984 Egrem), which featured an interesting “Homenaje a Charles Mingus.” Trumpeter Sandoval left the band to pursue a solo career and in 1990, while touring with Dizzy Gillespie, he defected to the US where he continued his success.
In 1985 they released what many consider to be their best studio recording, Irakere IX (1985 Egrem). They seemed to find the perfect balance between dance and jazz with a steady groove and tighter solos. Flautist Cortés’ composition “Rucu Rucu a Santa Clara” became very popular and “Boliviana” is perhaps their best slow, bolero tune. Their homage to the much-loved and hugely popular singer Beny Moré (who pre-dates the Cuban revolution), “Homenaje a Beny Moré,” is also the title cut of an excellent Irakere collection, Homenaje a Beny Moré (1989 Messidor), released by the German label Messidor in 1989. Irakere X (1986 Egrem) showcases the talents of new band member Miguel “Anga” Diaz on congas with “Tierra en Trance” and the tribute to a legendary Cuban drummer “A Chano Pozo.”
In 1985 Irakere began a tradition of playing for a week every year at the famous jazz club in London’s Soho district, Ronnie Scott’s. The Legendary Irakere Live in London (1995 Jazz House) captures one such stellar performance from 1987 and includes extended versions of the jazz standards “Stella by Starlight” and “The Duke.” They released the Cuban studio recording Irakere XI (1989 Egrem) in the late ‘80s. Several more excellent live recordings from Ronnie Scott’s were released in the ‘90s. Live at Ronnie Scott’s (1991 Capitol/World Pacific) includes the Valdés composition “Mr. Bruce” (in honor of Bruce Lundvall), while Exuberancia (1995 Jazz House) includes the participation of virtuoso flautist Orlando “Maraca” Valle. Felicidad (1995 Jazz House) captures another excellent set of tunes that stretch out over ten minutes.
In the ‘90s, Cuba saw the rise of a new, funked-up, salsa-esque style of music called Timba. At the forefront of this movement was Irakere alumni José Luis Cortés and his group NG La Banda. Irakere’s 1997 album Indestructible (1997 International Music) shows the Timba-craze influence as Valdés decided to make Irakere’s only straight-ahead salsa record. His sister Mayra Caridad Valdés does a remarkable job singing on a couple slower boleros and the new young band members perform well. Getting back to sacred themes, the band (as Chucho Valdés & Irakere) released Babalu Ayé (1998 Bembe Records), featuring the gravelly voiced singer of Afro-Cuban folklore, Lazaro Ros.
Irakere alumni, including Orlando “Maraca” Valle and Miguel “Anga” Diaz, went on to enjoy success as solo and studio musicians. Carlos Del Puerto joined Jesús Alemañy’s Cubanismo as the bass anchor. As Valdés’ fame and recognition grew he began an association with the fabled jazz label Blue Note. Billed as Irakere Featuring Chucho Valdés, the band released Yemayá (1998 Blue Note) in 1998, which includes the tune “Mister Bruce” and “San Francisco,” a paean to the city in California where Valdés was always treated like royalty.
Valdés, recognized as one of the most talented pianists in the world, effectively disbanded Irakere in 1998 and began his career as a solo artist. His first of many recordings for Blue Note, Bele Bele en La Habana (1998 Blue Note) documents his incendiary live performance at the Village Vanguard in New York City backed only by a rhythm section. The days of the wah-wah guitar, primitive synthesizers, and the Afro hairdo were long gone and Valdés moved on to the rarefied confines of the jazz world.
For more than twenty years, Irakere represented the progressive movement in Latin American music. They can be credited with modernizing Afro-Cuban jazz and expanding its possibilities. They brought Afro-Cuban folklore and Latin jazz to a world audience and showed that the Cuban revolution also produced great art (that you could dance to). Their music can even be heard in the popular video games Grand Theft Auto and Scarface: The World is Yours — a strange, yet undeniable, measure of market penetration.
