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Omara Portuondo
October 29, 2023 @ 7:30 pm
Sunday, October 29
7:30 pm PDT
Town Hall Great Hall
In-person**
$12-65
Sponsored by SAMA (Seattle Sacred Music & Art). Welcomed by KNKX.
One of Cuba’s greatest and most celebrated vocalists Omara Portuondo and has been very popular since the day she started singing professionally in the late forties. She started her professional career at the Cabaret Tropicana in Havana in 1930. From 1950 through the late 1960s, she was Cuba’s top performer of songs in the filin style (the word is taken from the English word feeling, and describes music inspired by the performances of Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme, and Glenn Miller, among others). Along with one of her sisters, Portuondo was the founder of the highly successful singing group Cuarteto d’Aida. In the 1950’s she began her international career backing Nat King Cole. In the 1960’s Portuondo reinterpreted Lena Horne’s classic “Now” and made it famous across Cuba. Portuondo has collaborated with such artists as the famous Cuban pianist Chucho Valdés. At the height of her popularity, Portuondo sang with a number of different groups, always with great success.
In 1997, at the age of 67, Omara became The Diva of Buena Vista Social Club, crowning her fame after half a century of a huge national and international solo career. Omara won her first Latin Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Tropical Album along with a Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009. She received three Grammy Award nominations in 2019, and in 2021, Omara was awarded the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts by the Spanish Ministry of Culture and Sports, and then she won the prestigious Songlines Pioneer Award for her life long contribution to Cuban music and culture.
Portuondo’s most recent album VIDA (2023, One World Records) was composed during her confinement in Havana during the pandemic. Her son Ariel Jiminez helped organize the recordings at his home in Havana with the support of producer Pedro Pablo Cruz and sound engineer Orestes Aguila. On VIDA Omara Portuondo continues to collaborate with a stellar line up of legendary singers. Guatemalan singer, songwriter, and producer Gaby Moreno’s “Bolero a la Vida”, garnered them a Latin Grammy Nomination. Other collaborators include Mexican pop star Carlos Rivera, Puerto Rican vocalist Andy Montañez, Mexican artist Natalia Lafourcade, American bluesman Keb’ Mo’ and Panamanian star Rubén Blades among others. As much a tribute to Portuondo’s life and legacy the album also celebrates Cuban and Latin music. Her music transcends borders and speaks of her love for the enduring power of music to heal and spread immense joy.
*Earshot Jazz COVID-19 Policy: Earshot recommends that all ticket holders be vaccinated. Policy subject to change. Full COVID policy here.
Omara Portuondo photo courtesy of Addeo Music International