Photo: Prensa Latina

Havana, May 5 (RHC)-- The Mexican newspaper La Jornada today highlights in a long article the new album by Cuban tres player Eliades Ochoa, which will be available on digital platforms on May 26 under the title Guajiro.

Its first single is Se soltó un león, according to the newspaper, and adds that the album features collaborations with Rubén Blades, Joan As Police Woman and Charlie Musselwhite.

"Guajiro speaks of my youthful memories, of when I started with the first notes on the guitar, of when I listened to the little old men in the Casa de la Trova making songs of quality and beauty", relates the chronicler quoting the author, who adds:

"That was a school for me, because there, they allowed me to arrive and take some of their guitars and do some of the things I had already practiced on the road. I am self-taught. I have never been to a music school, but I do everything with all the love and respect in the world for the public to whom I owe myself".

Eliades Ochoa, says the journalist, thanks nature for having been born in the countryside and for having started listening to music from there, with the Cuban tres and playing the conga on a drum, or the clave with two spoons. That is why there is a lot of him in his new album, because it is what he has carried with him from his childhood.

He says that the album includes the classic Latin American folk song Los ejes de mi carreta, by Atahualpa Yupanqui, and argues that he chose it because "it has so many true things that anyone would like to play it.

There are pieces that are in a corner that only need to be dusted off, shaken and polished to become the true songs they are, he reflects.

Eliades Ochoa's style is unique: the one that speaks of the Cuban countryside, the anecdotes he listened to, the peasant guateques and other elements that marked him and gave rise to the artist he is today, describes the author when giving details of his musical career and as a creator with highlights with the stars of Buena Vista Social Club, among others.

Eliades did not confirm if he will come to Mexico to present the album, but as it is one of his favorite places, there is a lot of hope that he will, the reporter says more as a joke or a wish than a statement, while revealing why a song of the Panamanian in the album.

"Blades, whom I respect and admire, we have known for decades and he always talks about my music. To justify my words, he did not think for a second to participate in the album and he will do it with a song of my authorship", concluded the Cuban singer-songwriter, leaving in a suspense like those of Agatha Christie the title that will be interpreted by the singer-songwriter from Isthmus.