You don't have to be Cuban to appreciate El Maestro | Sublime Ilusion

Miracles do exist!!! | Sublime Ilusion | Ry Cooder, David Hidalgo, ...

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	• Sublime Ilusion Ry Cooder, David Hidalgo, ... Higher Octave, 1999 average customer review:based on 27 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The Sound of Great Music

Its the best of the best! Eliades Ochoa has certainly outdone himself.Each song unique and far superior to his other CD's. I highly recommend this one to anyone that truly enjoys good Cuban Guijiro music.

You don't have to be Cuban to appreciate El Maestro

Over the past few years, Eliades Ochoa has quickly become one of my very favorite artists - - right alongside Radiohead and the Strokes, oddly enough. El Maestro is THE BEST guitar player in the Western Hemisphere and the music he creates is incredibly haunting as well as incredibly fun to sing along to. His music is of a nature that can be appreciated by people from any walk of life and any sort of background. I hope more people will discover the thrills of classic Cuban music in the years to come. My gratitude to Mr Ochoa!!

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Miracles do exist!!!

Okay, how to write a review about this very talented and gifted individual. Let me start by saying how I was introduced to the music. Believe it or not, I never saw Buena Vista Social Club. Heard of it but never gave it a thought. Also, I'd like to add that my main interest in music is Ska/Reggae, Alternative Rock, Metal, punk. So, yeah, this is a very weird but wonderful experience for me. I haven't felt my soul stir like this since first getting into Bob Marley, Peter Tosh etc.
I just happened to catch the film "Real Women Have Curves" on HBO just about a week ago. A wonderful film!! I suggest you watch it. I loved the soundtrack with the film and wanted to get it since there was one song I loved and wanted. A latin-ska number from who I don't know. I got the soundtrack the next day. Turns out the song I was looking for wasn't on the soundtrack. I was a little upset but decided to listen to the rest. There was one song on there I recognized from the film I liked but never fully listened since I was really concentrating on that one ska song. The song was "Si En Un Final" by someone named Eliades Ochoa.
I could not help but listen to the guitar ebb and flow through the song. Plus the mournful vocals give it a depth I've never heard before. I'm not too experienced in guanjero-style and I have listened to spanish guitar music also. But there was something in Eliades Ochoa's style of playing that I know has never been done before. It's hard for me to describe it. Especially since this is my first time being introduced to the traditional Cuban sounds.
So, my interest being piqued, I decided to look further into the artist's repetoire. I got two albums..."Sublime Illusion" and "A Tribute to Cuarteto Patria". WOW!!!! I can't stop playing these albums. His guitar playing is phenomenal!!! You can literally hear two..three notes at a time. Maybe even four. He's a virtuoso among Guanjero, Bolero style as Robert Johnson was to the Blues. He doesn't have much of a vocal range but it adds character and depth to his songs. You can also tell from his voice that this man has been through "Hell and back." He knows what it's like to suffer. Cuatro Patria, the band he leads, is also amazing. Very tight but yet gives energy and verve to Eliades' playing.
I know I haven't written the best review. All I can say is for you to get his discs and listen!! Especially listen for his guitar!! Just as I thought Bob Marley changed me...Eliades Ochoa has shown me another path to walk. Gracias, Senor Ochoa!!

Oh yeah, and that latin-ska song I was looking for. I think that can wait!!!

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The pinnacle of rythmic mastery

You want an authentic latin sound? You want to be enraptured by unpredictable, yet solid, rythms? Desire a little hot sauce for your life's soundtrack? ...... Get.... this .... recording.

cuban blues

Soulful but gritty songs and effortlessly expressive solo and rhythm guitar from the man who was the guitar drive behind (and upfront of) Buena Vista Social Club. Comparisons to Johnny Cash have already begun. Criticizing this man's work because of his natural singing voice (like one reviewer who spends a paragraph over-analyzing it...) is missing the point and akin to criticizing blues players for less than brilliant singing. Perfect pipes aren't everything - I'd rather listen to Billie Holiday than Whitney Houston anyday.

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Long known in Cuba as leader of the legendary group the Cuarteto Patria, guitarist Eliades Ochoa steps into the worldwide spotlight primed for him by his appearance on Buena Vista Social Club. He's joined here by guitarist Ry Cooder, Los Lobos' David Hidalgo, and blues harmonica player Charlie Musselwhite for an exercise in Cuban son, guaracha, and bolero classics. "Teje Que Teje" ("Weaving and Weaving"), on which both Hidalgo and Musselwhite play, brings a bit of attitude to the uplifting, traditional Cuban music dominating the album, and Cooder's appearance on "La Comparsa" brings a downright Hawaiian slack-key feel to the album's close. Still, Ochoa's tres dances lightly throughout the album in melodious songs that feature his wonderfully ripe voice while capturing the airy, relaxed spirit of eastern Cuban music. --Karen Karleski

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

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Tracks
Ay Papacito - Eliades Ochoa, Méndez, Carlos | Píntate los Labios María - Eliades Ochoa, Traditional | Cariño Falso - Eliades Ochoa, Ollerbide, Gilberto | Sublime Ilusion - Eliades Ochoa, Adams, Salvador | Volver (Return) - Eliades Ochoa, Gardel, Carlos | Saludo Compay - Eliades Ochoa, Repilado, Francisco | Qué Humanidad (What Humanity) - Eliades Ochoa, Traditional | Negrito en la Habana (Little Black Boy in Havana) | Mi Sueño Prohibido - Eliades Ochoa, Traditional | Mi Guajirita - Eliades Ochoa, Leiva, Eloy | Teje Que Teje (Weaving and Weaving) - Eliades Ochoa, Reginfo, Lino | El Trío y el Ciclón (The Trio and the Cyclone) - Eliades Ochoa, Matamoros, Miguel | Mi Magdalena - Eliades Ochoa, Gil, Chucho Martíne | Pedacito de Papel - Eliades Ochoa, Velasquez, Jose | La Comparsa - Eliades Ochoa, Lecuona, Ernerto

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