Irakere

Irakere (faux-Yoruba for "forest") is a Cuban band founded by pianist Chucho Valdés (son of Bebo Valdés) in 1973. They won the Grammy Award for Best Latin Recording in 1980 with their album Irakere. Irakere was innovative in Afro-Cuban jazz and Cuban popular dance music. The group used a wide array of percussion instruments, such as batá, abakuá and arará drums, chequerés, erikundis, maracas, claves, cencerros, bongó, tumbadoras (congas), and güiro.

==History== thumb|right|200px|Chucho Valdés thumb|right|200px|Arturo Sandoval in 1984. "Jazz bands" began forming in Cuba as early as the 1920s. These bands often included Cuban popular music, popular North American jazz, and show tunes in their repertoires. Despite this musical versatility, the movement of blending Afro-Cuban rhythms with jazz was not strong in Cuba for decades. As Leonardo Acosta observes: "Afro-Cuban jazz developed simultaneously in New York and Havana, with the difference that in Cuba it was a silent and almost natural process, practically imperceptible." (2003: 59). Cuba's significant contribution to the genre came relatively late; however, when it did arrive, the Cubans exhibited a level of Cuban-jazz integration that went far beyond most of what had come before. The first Cuban band of this new wave was Irakere.