Eliades Ochoa, a founding member of the ensemble Buena Vista Social Club, is scheduled to perform at this year's Transilvania International Film Festival (TIFF).

Ochoa will perform with his band Grupo Patria on June 24, at Iulius Park Open Air.

Ochoa, a founding member of the Buena Vista Social Club, has been described as "one of the best guitarists of his generation" (The Guardian) and an iconic figure in Latin American music. 

The composer and performer of songs such as Píntate Los Labios Maria, Chan Chan or El Cuarto de Tula, Ochoa is the winner of numerous Latin Grammy Awards and one of the main characters in the 1999 Oscar-nominated documentary Buena Vista Social Club, directed by Wim Wenders. The film will have a special screening at TIFF 2022 to mark the artist's presence in Cluj.

Also known as a 'Cuban Johnny Cash' because of his cowboy hat, Ochoa was born near Santiago de Cuba, the second-largest city in the country after Havana, to which he is extremely attached. "I would not give Santiago to any other city in the world. I have never changed my rhythms and music, I am just a child from the country who sings today as he learned from his parents."

Throughout his decades-long career, he has worked with many Latin American artists, including Omara Portuondo, trumpeter Manuel "Guajiro" Mirabal and trombonist Jesús "Aguaje" Ramos. He was the leader of the Cuarteto Patria group. 

Ochoa's discography includes more than 25 of his own albums and hundreds of collaborations that have sold millions of copies worldwide. Some of his latest albums are AfroCubism (2010), El Eliades Que Soy (2014) and, most recently, Vamos a bailar un son (2020).

In 2018, the musician's life and career were the subject of the documentary Eliades Ochoa: from Cuba to the World, directed by Cynthia Biestek. The film was part of the official selection of the Miami Film Festival.

In Cluj-Napoca, Eliades Ochoa will perform songs from the Buena Vista Social Club period but also from his latest albums.

Tickets are on sale online. During the pre-sale period, until June 10, the price of a ticket is RON 70.

(Photo courtesy of TIFF)

simona@romania-insider.com