Omara Portuondo & Chucho Valdés
"For a long time now we wanted to work together again on a recording, but due to our packed agendas it hasn't been at all easy to find the right moment", Omara Portuondo explains. It is no mean feat to bring together two highly renowned and sought-after musicians like the Cuban songstress and the pianist Chucho Valdés on the same project. On their own merits, these two artists have become a shining example of Cuban music and two of the finest ambassadors of Cuban culture around the world.
"We wanted to work together again…" and this privilege stems from the fact that they already worked together in 1997 when Omara suggested that Chucho should join her in the studio to record the songs that would comprise the album Desafíos, where both artists explored the intimacy of a duo arrangement by recording a handful of Cuban and Latin American classics. Now, like 13 years ago, this new joint venture is chiefly the result of a common desire, the will to continue unravelling the thread of their first joint project. This new venture was triggered by a studio encounter from two years ago when Chucho accompanied Omara Portuondo on "Nuestro gran amor" for the Cuban singer's most recent solo album Gracias. According to Valdés, this encounter was "a decisive factor in re-launching our venture".
Alone in the studio with no safety net, Omara and Chucho are transformed into accomplices and they resume the journey they left behind 13 years ago, one on which they will also benefit from the accompaniment of a rhythm section formed by double bass and drums for live performances. They place their trust in one another without giving it a second thought and devote themselves to their repertoire in a solemn, respectful fashion in full awareness of the risk posed by the fact that this is one of the most demanding arrangements. Even so, they approach the project knowing that this risk is precisely what will allow them to bring music to their milieu, to transform every one of these well-known songs into a new chapter of a story written by them in a way that no one else could. Omara and Chucho take advantage of music to engage in dialogue, to add a little something to what the other has said, to underline feelings, and so on.
This is a project with a goal, to demonstrate an aspect, which despite being an unquestionable truth, often escapes us: the fact that good music knows no genre. Omara Portuondo and Chucho Valdés are musicians with an extensive track record, highly seasoned performers who have experienced everything because, as these tracks demonstrate, everything counts.
