Mambo Pioneer Cachao Dies at 89
March 23, 2008
Israel "Cachao" Lopez, the Cuban bassist and composer who is credited with pioneering the mambo style of music, died Saturday. He was 89.
Known simply as Cachao, the Grammy-winning musician had fallen ill last week and died surrounded by family members at Coral Gables Hospital in Florida.
Cuban American actor Andy Garcia, who made a 1993 documentary about the bassist's career said his passing marked the end of an era.
Cachao and his late brother, Orestes "Macho" Lopez, are known for the creation in the late 1930s of the mambo, which emerged from their improvisational work in Cuba with the danzon, an elegant musical style that lends itself to slow dancing.
Cachao was born in Havana in 1918, the youngest of three children whose parents played and taught the bass.
He began working professionally at age 8, playing with the house orchestra of a movie theater, providing background music for silent films. As a teenager he performed with the Havana Philharmonic Orchestra.
Cachao left Cuba in 1962, relocating first to Spain, and soon afterward went to New York, where he was hired to perform at the Palladium nightclub with the leading Latin bands.
In the US, he collaborated with Latin music stars, including Tito Puente, Tito Rodriguez, Machito, Chico O'Farrill, Eddie Palmieri and Gloria Estefan.
He fell into obscurity during the 1980s after moving to Miami, where he ended up playing in small clubs and for weddings.
His career enjoyed a revival in the 1990s with the help of Garcia's documentary "Cachao... Como Su Ritmo No Hay Dos" (Like His Rhythm There Is No Other) and the release of several CDs, including the Grammy-winning album "Ahora Si!" in 2004.
Cachao, whose wife died in 2004, is survived by a daughter and a grandson.
"I'm a musician. That's what I do," Cachao told the Miami Herald. "I never had delusions of grandeur. I never expected to be famous or anything like that. I just played, and whatever happened happened."