ELIADES OCHOA & the CUARTETO PATRIA

He's been called the "Cuban Johnny Cash;" and, like Cash, he's also a Grammy winner. He won his hardware from 1997's Buena Vista Social Club. In 1999, he was also nominated for his solo album, Sublime Ilusion in the category of "best traditional tropical and Latin performance" and he was later nominated in the same category for Estoy Como Nunca (Better Than Ever).

His trademark cowboy hat belies the fact that he is a 'Guajiro' (Cuban provincial) and his musical interests run along this traditional line. His repertoire includes 'son' (a quintessential Cuban sound with a shuffling accoustic beat punctuated by vocal chorus made up of a tres, bongos, claves, and maracas) guararcha (a rustic country style), bolero, changüi, and Afro-Cuban music (which is based on the clave rhythm: five notes stretched over two bars). And his tres (a type of guitar) has added D and G strings to get the tres's distinctive paired-string chime.

He was born in the rural mountain village of Songo La Maya (Santiago Province) on June 11, 1946. He was a child of his father's second marriage. One of six siblings, he was the oldest boy. His older sister, Maria, appears on "Tribute To The Cuarteto Patria" and is known in Santiago as "La Dame de la Musica Campesina." She has also recorded her own album, "Asi Quiero Vivir" (This is How I Want to Live). Eliades and Maria also have three much older half-siblings from their father's first marriage.

Growing up in a musical family where both his mother and father played the tres, Ochoa picked up his tres at the the tender age of 6. At the age of 11, his mother and father were out of work; so Ochoa began playing in the prostitution district in Santiago to help support his family. He has never had formal education except from the streets of Santiago.

In 1963, he was hired by a Sangiago radio station as a professional musician. There, he and Raul Valvalru started the Trinchera Agraria band for a radio show of the same name dedicated to the Cuban farmers. The Trinchera Agraria played the son, the guaracha, and the guajira. In 1970, he left the radio station for Troba where he started the quintet "La Troba." where he worked with Roberto Rosel. He went on to play with Quinteto Oriente and Septeto Típico. He contributed to the Trova Cubano (a movement of traditional Cuban music); and he became a regular at Santiago's Casa de la Trova.

Casa de la Trova was created in 1959 and was much bigger than it is today, attracting the biggest names in Cuban music. But it continues, nonetheless, as a cradle of tradiitonal music and shrine to the cultural heritage of Cuba's wild east. Today, the Cuban Ministry of culture acts as its patron and organizer. It opens everyday at 10:30 am and (except for a lunch siesta) continues until 1 or 2 in the morning, filled with performers. It is located at the intersection of José María Heredia and San Pedro streets.

In 1939, Francisco Coba La O founded his traditional son and bolero group, the Cuarteto Patria. In 1978, Emilia García and founder 'Pancho' Cobas handed it over to Eliades' direction; and Ochoa still heads the group, having added guarachas and changuis as well as some other styles to its reportoire. Most of his significant recordings have been made with the Cuarteto, which is now made up of Elíades on tres and lead vocals, Humberto Ochoa (his younger brother) on tres and backing vocals, Roberto Torres on percussion and backing vocals, and William Calderón on acoustic bass and backing vocals. Son Eglis Ochoa often joins in on maracas and backing vocals and another son, Enrique sometimes assists on tres. A biography of the Cuarteto Patria and Ochoa is planned for release, written by Griselle Figueredo.

In 1986, he and Compay Segundo (Francisco Repilado) recorded Chan Chan. Three years later in 1989, they traveled to the USA to perform in the Smithsonian Foklife Festival. They also toured Guadeloupe and the Dominican Republic together.

In 1997, they were reunited when both participated in the Buena Vista Social Club project, that Ry Cooder produced, bringing together some of the best performers of Cuban son. He is featured in the Buena Vista Social Club film of their concerts in Amsterdam and New York City.

Ochoa has toured over 40 countries. He has collaborated with Cameroon saxophonist Manu Dibango, Americans Bob Dylan and Charlie Musselwhite, and various Cuban legends. He is the winner of not only a Grammy and two other Grammy nominations, but also many Lucas awards, several Golden Records, and various other international prizes. Ochoa is noticably relaxed on stage. In fact, in Barbican, London when he returned for the encore, he forgot to bring his guitar. When a roadie finally located it, he was able to launch into the encore.

As Eliades says, "[it's] a very nice thing, how life turns out sometimes."

Below you can watch his music video "Pintate los Labios, Maria" by director Frank Padrón and a 2006 Spanish performance.