Orlando Cachaito Lopez, Cuba. Cuba
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- Daily
- Destination: Cuba
Rating Orlando Cachaito Lopez
The López family is a veritable musical dynasty whose specialty is the bass—any kind of bass, upright or acoustic, classical or pop or jazz. Cachaito's father and uncle, Orestes and Israel (a.k.a. Cachaito, who earned international fame with a couple of amazing recordings in the early 90s), learned their craft from their father, don Pedro.
Orestes went on to assist Arsenio Rodríguez in the development of the mambo; Israel is credited with helping establish the descarga style, a kind of Afro-Cuban jazz jam. Cachaito himself has had an amazingly versatile career. At one point, he was a classical player with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional and moonlighted, with an electric bass, as an Afro-Cuban session man. In the 1960s, he was a key member of Irakere, a foundational Cuban experimental band that combined pop, classical, Cuban folk, African and jazz influences