Cuban music legend, Omara Portuondo (in picture) returns to Bucharest with Buena Vista Social Club Orchestra, on July 30, for a concert to be held at the Summer Theatre in Herastrau Park, Bucharest.

Omara Portuondo joined the dance group of the Cabaret Tropicana in 1950, following her elder sister, Haydee. She also danced in the Mulatas de Fuego in the theatre Radiocentro, and in other dance groups. From 1952–1953 she sang for the Orquesta Anacaona. In 1967 she started a solo career, and in the same year represented Cuba at the Sopot Festival in Poland. Alongside her solo work, in the 1970s she sang with the charanga Orquesta Aragón, and toured with them abroad.

In 2004 the International Red Cross appointed her International Ambassador, the first Cuban musician to hold this title, in Montreal. Omara Portuondo sang, duetting with Ibrahim Ferrer, on the album “Buena Vista Social Club” in 1996. Read more about the artist here.

During an international successful career, Buena Vista Social Club members have performed on major stages of the world. In London, the Royal Albert Hall, in New York at Carnegie Hall, or on scene at the Montreux Jazz Festival, the Buena Vista veterans have performed with leading Cuban musicians, such as Ibrahim Ferrer, Omara Portuondo and Compay Segundo. More about the orchestra, here.

Tickets can be purchased for prices between RON 70 and RON 140, from Music Box, French Bakery Lipscani, or online at www.bilete.ro.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com

(foto source: myspace.com/omaraportuondo)