The Office of the Historian of Havana (OHCH) has now a new tourist destination: the Abdala Recording Studios. Tourists from everywhere come to this location accompanied by guides of San Cristobal tourist agency, and of Paradiso, that belongs to Cuban Ministry of Culture.
Hundreds of people who are interested in seeing where some of the most important discographic projects of the country are recorded, have been there, and the number of visitors is expected to increase after the signing this week of an exclusivity agreement between Studio 3 and Omara Portuondo Office (OP), of the Cuban Institute of Music.
"Our Office produces Omara´s discs, and also of her in collaboration with other artists – Orestes Avila, sound engineer, in charge of the project said- and we will also provide services to other recording labels such as EGREM and Colibrí, that’s why we needed to have a well-technologically-equipped studio to allow us to work without pressure and lower costs.”
The OP added a pretty advanced digital equipment, besides Abdala´s, that they almost reach the level of technological excellence; this can be verified on the next album of the seven Grammy awards winner, Chucho Valdés, from which we had a preview at the opening of Jazz Plaza 2012International Festival, and also through Omara´s latest CD with Colibrí, tentatively titled Magia Negra (Black Magic), and which is still in production.
Omara, the Diva of the Buena Vista Social Club, without wanting to anticipate many details, confessed this CD (Black Magic) was her first solo album, recorded in 1961 at Radio Progreso Studios. By then she was part of the quartet Las D’Aida and the phonogram was never released.
"Now we’ve recorded again under the musical direction of Juan Manuel Ceruto, said Omara, but accompanied by some of the great musicians we have today (drums, Rodney Barreto, kettledrums, Andrés Coayo, acoustic piano, Rolando Luna, acoustic bass, Angel Gaston, congas, El Panga). I want this album to be a tribute to those songs and musicians (Julio Gutierrez, Rolando Baró and Zenaida Manfugás among them) and also to technicians who, without today´s technology, did an excellent job and waited for me to finish my work with the quartet and just then we started recording. "
Among the songs included on this work is ¨No hagas caso¨ by Martha Valdes and Ogguere, and where are also involved the nonagenarian Luis Carbonell and rapper Misha.
The OP was created in 2010 to manage the recording music projects of Omara, who was granted with the National Prize of Cuban Music, while Abdala Recording Studios opened in 1998 as part of CIMEX Corporation. Since May 2012 OP belongs to the OHCH. It´s located in Miramar, Playa. For more information about its services and technological capacity you can access at www.abdala.cu.
Author
Yimel Díaz Malmierca
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