Orlando "Maraca" Valle
Flutist, arranger, composer and bandleader from Havana: Orlando "Maraca" Valle played six years with Irakere and has led his own band, Maraca & Otra Visión, since the mid-1990s.
About
Orlando Jesús Valle Moleiro was born on 5 September 1966 in Havana. From the age of ten he studied flute, at the Manuel Saumell and Amadeo Roldán conservatories, and then at the Instituto Superior de Arte. At sixteen he was already playing flute in pianist Emiliano Salvador's group.
Irakere
He played six years with Irakere, as flutist, keyboardist and arranger, and left in 1994 to go solo.
Own work
- Pasaporte: an album by percussionists Tata Güines and Angá Díaz. Maraca produced it and wrote and arranged much of it.
- Maraca & Otra Visión: his twelve-piece band, founded as a tribute to Emiliano Salvador.
- Albums: among others Sonando (1998), Descarga total (2000), Tremenda rumba (2003), Soy yo (2005) and Lo que quiero es fiesta (2008).
- Awards: Descarga total won a Cubadisco award. Tremenda rumba was nominated for a Grammy.
- Collaborations: among others with Cesária Évora, the Afro-Cuban All Stars, Cubanismo and Jane Bunnett. He has played guest flute on more than forty albums.
📝 Sources
Rumba is the most African-rooted of all Cuban music and dance forms — born in the streets, courtyards, and docks of Havana and Matanzas in the late 19th century, with no European instruments, no salon setting, and no pretense of European propriety.
Lees meer >Cuban Dances Originating in Havana
Havana, the cultural heartbeat of Cuba, played a central role in the creation and evolution of several iconic Cuban dances. Some were born directly in the capital, while others were transformed there into the forms we know today.
Lees meer >The flute is the lead voice of the charanga, from Antonio Arcaño's wooden five-key flute to Orquesta Aragón. In timba it returns with bright melodies, call-and-response with the singers, and virtuoso solos that cut through the dense rhythm section.
Lees meer >A descarga ("discharge", "unloading") is an open, improvised part of the song: the band holds a simple, energetic groove and the soloists take over. Unlike presión, masacote or bomba it is not defined by which instruments drop out, but by its function: room to improvise and let off steam.
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