El nueve de octubre/October 9th
 |
| Bebo (front) and Chucho Valdés. Photo from elpais.com. Click HERE. |
Bebo Valdés (full name Dionisio Ramón Emilio Valdés Amaro), a Cuban musician and central figure in the Golden Age of Cuban music, started his career as a pianist in the nightclubs of Havana during the 1940s. Later on his orchestra, Sabor de Cuba, often performed at the Tropicana Cabaret. He was also an important figure in the nascent Afro-Cuban jazz scene in Cuba at the time. In 1960, due to the Cuban Revolution, Valdés defected to Mexico. He then spent time in the United States before moving to Stockholm, Sweden, where he lived for the rest of this life. Valdés won seven Grammy awards during his career, the last being in 2010, for a musical production recorded with his son Chucho, Bebo y Chucho Valdés: Juntos para siempre. The album won Best Latin Jazz Album. They also won a Latin Grammy. In 2011, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music. Bebo's son Chucho (full name Jesús Valdés Rodríguez), one of his five children, has also had an impressive career of more than 50 years (and his son, Chuchito, is also a pianist!). In 1973 he founded the group Irakere, one of Cuba's most beloved Latin jazz bands. He has won six Grammy awards and three Latin Grammy awards. Since 2010 he has performed with a backing band known as the Afro-Cuban Messengers. Chucho also spends time teaching younger musicians at the Havana National School in Cuba (he stayed and lived with his mother in Cuba when his father fled) and elsewhere. To see Bebo y Chucho perform, click HERE.
For resources for teaching Spanish, Level 1 through AP, CLICK HERE.
Other birthdays of note:
Guillermo del Toro Gómez (1964- ): Mexican film director, screenwriter, and producer who lives in California with his family. He is best known for his Academy Award winning films Pan's Labyrinth (2006) and The Shape of Water (2017).
Comments
Post a Comment