Search - Manuel Galban :: Blue Cha Cha

We began with a selection of about one thousand tunes, said Cuban guitar legend Manuel Galbán and the album s producers Juan Antonio Leyva and Magda Rosa Galbán. Indeed, Blue Cha Cha, recorded in 2010 and the first solo work to be released by the late guitarist in many years, had been hatched conscientiously. This was a characteristic adopted by Galbán throughout his career. He was a musician who liked to allow projects to mature for as long as necessary to ensure optimal results and was averse to embarking on unwarranted adventures.

Blue Cha Cha is a record that needed to be made, so it s a real gift, says Galbán s daughter, Magda Rosa. My father used to laugh a lot, and he would say that everything in life has to be given because you know, from up the sky, there are many clouds that you cannot see... With this album he could see his dreams come true, and I hope that God enjoys his music as much as we have here on earth.

When you first listen to Blue Cha Cha, what strikes you is the variety of styles that show us once again the very best of Galbán, the maestro who left the famed Los Zafiros, then astounded the world with Buena Vista Social ClubTM and, subsequently, with Ry Cooder on their sensational, #1 Latin Pop and GRAMMY® Award winning Pop Instrumental album, Mambo Sinuendo. After Galbán moved to Havana, he became one of the most active musicians on the Cuban music scene, a guitarist who was highly sought after by countless leading bands throughout his sixty-year career. Unquestionably, Blue Cha Cha is virtually a musical encyclopedia in which Galbán pooled the experience built on a lifelong career devoted to music. This knowledge assisted him throughout his entire life and helped transform him into a genuine benchmark of popular Cuban music. Blue Cha Cha is an ambitious and generous album.

At an early age, Galbán became one of the most innovative, creative and original musicians his native Cuba had ever seen, as well as an instrumentalist who achieved much worldwide acclaim. For this project, there was nothing better than going over his career and choosing all the music that always had meaning to him Afro-Cuban music, bolero, Latin American music, rhythm and blues and inviting some of the biggest names from these styles to perform on the album. Omara Portuondo, Rosa Passos, Trío Esperança, Eric Bibb, Sissoko Ballaké and Marcelo Mercadante, among others, all feature alongside Galbán. There are one-on-one arrangements with the aim of triumphing together rather than vying for the limelight, and they show how the sounds of Galbán s guitar preserve sensitivity and relevance.

However, Blue Cha Cha is not merely an album of encounters; rather, it is about reunions. Galbán revives a repertoire that formed part of his musical education, and he performs alongside colleagues with whom he had shared stages and studios on earlier occasions. It offers a memory of those who are no longer with us, as indeed one can detect a sense of sorrow in Duele, which Galbán performed with GRAMMY® Award winning singer Omara Portuondo. I feel very thankful and proud for being part of this album, says Portuondo. Manuel Galbán was an incredible musician and a great person who contributed immensely to Cuban music.