The mayor of Cartagena, Noelia Arroyo, made the announcement and pointed out that the award is granted “to the brilliant guitarist and singer from Santiago, whose melodious voice has taken the authentic Cuban traditional music to the whole world”.
He will receive the award on Monday, July 22 and will perform that same day at the Paco Martin Auditorium in Torres Park.
“Founding member of the Buena Vista Social Club. Referent and icon of the Cuban traditional music, the one who is considered the best guitarist of his generation, is one of the most important soneros of all times (..)”, the mayor of Cartagena highlighted.
Previously, other musicians such as Omara Portuondo and Pablo Milanés received the same distinction.
Also, Rubén Blades, Youssou N’Dour, Salif Keita, Totó la Momposina, Oumou Sangaré, Susana Baca, Cheick Lô, Gino Paoli and Jorge Drexler.
Arroyo recalled that “Eliades Ochoa is a regular at our festival. He has visited it on numerous occasions. The first time he set foot in Cartagena was in 1998 when in La Mar de Músicas we organized a Cuba Special.
She added that the Cuban became well known in Spain thanks to the Buena Vista Social Club and years later, in 2010, “premiered in our festival the wonderful project Afro cubism, where the music of Cuba and Africa joined hands”.
The La Mar de Música Festival will be held from July 19 to 27 in Cartagena in its 29th edition, which will make the Mediterranean Islands Special.
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