Cuarteto Patria is one of the leading musical groups in Santiago de Cuba

Santiago de Cuba

Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city of Cuba and capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province in the south-eastern area of the island, some south-east of the Cuban capital of Havana....

. It was founded in 1939 by Francisco Cobas la O (Pancho Cobas), director, with Emilia Gracia, Rigoberto Hechaverría (Maduro) and Rey Caney

Rey Caney

Rey Caney is a Cuban singer, guitarist and tresero. He led Cuarteto Patría for some time: this famous group is now led by Eliades Ochoa. In the middle 1950s he took over Compay Segundo's place in the duo Los Compadres, the other partner being his elder brother Lorenzo Hierrezuelo...

 (Reinaldo Hierrezuelo la O). The original style was traditional trova

Trova

Trova is one of the great roots of the Cuban music tree. In the 19th century a group of itinerant musicians known as trovadores moved around Oriente, especially Santiago de Cuba, earning their living by singing and playing the guitar...

, with boleros and some música campesina (countryside music). In due course, the members and the music changed. By far the greatest change was the arrival of Eliades Ochoa

Eliades Ochoa

Eliades Ochoa is a Cuban guitarist and singer from Loma de la Avispa, Songo La Maya in the east of the country near Santiago de Cuba....

, who has proved to be an inspired choice.

Ochoa was invited by Cobas to become leader in 1978, and, before accepting, he got agreement to introduce new musical works into the repertoire. At that time Cobas continued with the group, and Hilario Cuadras and Amado Machado joined. Ochoa introduced the son as the staple diet of the group, and beefed up the percussion to balance the guajiro content with an African element. Even more important was his personal qualities. He is a truly outstanding acoustic guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

ist, with a warm singing style. For all that, it took a long time for music lovers outside Cuba to hear about the group. Here the Buena Vista

Buena Vista Social Club

The Buena Vista Social Club was a members club in Havana, Cuba that held dances and musical activities, becoming a popular location for musicians to meet and play during the 1940s...

 experience played a decisive part. In the series of CD albums that followed the film, Ochoa played an increasingly prominent part, and this was reflected in increased sales for the Cuarteto Patría albums, and in many foreign tours for the man and his group.

The group now consists of Eliades Ochoa (leader, vocals, guitar); Humberto Ochoa (second guitar, coro); Eglis Ochoa (maracas, güiro, coro); William Calderón (double bass); Roberto Torres (bongos, conga, coro). Others who have played on some albums include: former leader Franciso Cobas de la O (second guiter, coro); Aristóteles Limonta (d. bass, coro); Enrique Ochoa: (second guitar, coro); María Ochoa (voice); Aníbal Avila Pacheco (trumpet, claves); José Ángel Martínez (d. bass); ex-member of Cuarteto Patria, and tres

Tres

The tres is a 3-course, 6-string chordophone which was created in Cuba. A tres player is called a tresero in Cuba and a tresista in Puerto Rico.-Cuban tres:In Cuba, the son was created as a song and a salon dance genre...

ero Rey Cabrera. Famous old-timers have recorded with the group include: Faustino Oramas (El Guayabero); Compay Segundo

Compay Segundo

Compay Segundo was a Cuban trova guitarist, singer and composer.-Biography:...

 and Rey Caney

Rey Caney

Rey Caney is a Cuban singer, guitarist and tresero. He led Cuarteto Patría for some time: this famous group is now led by Eliades Ochoa. In the middle 1950s he took over Compay Segundo's place in the duo Los Compadres, the other partner being his elder brother Lorenzo Hierrezuelo...

, who led the group for a while in his younger days. The group is now dominated by the Ochoa family, and is expanded for recordings and tours as required.

The group has toured Guadeloupe

Guadeloupe

Guadeloupe is an archipelago located in the Leeward Islands, in the Lesser Antilles, with a land area of 1,628 square kilometres and a population of 400,000. It is the first overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. As with the other overseas departments, Guadeloupe...

, Martinique

Martinique

Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...

, Granada

Granada

Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, the Beiro, the Darro and the Genil. It sits at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...

, Curaçao

Curaçao

Curaçao is an island in the southern Caribbean Sea, off the Venezuelan coast. The Country of Curaçao , which includes the main island plus the small, uninhabited island of Klein Curaçao , is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands...

, Nicaragua

Nicaragua

Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...

, Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, Dominican Republic

Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...

, USA (Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....

 NY), Canada, Spain, France (Olympia de Paris), Holland, Italy and Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. In 2001 they were awarded the Premio de la música de la Sociedad General de Autores y Editores de España (SGAE) y la Asociación de Intérpretes y Ejecutantes de España (AIE) [Musical prize of the Spanish society of authors, editors and musical performers] for the best album of traditional music.

Discography

• A una coqueta - 1993 (Corason COCD106)
• The lion is loose - 1995 (Cubason CORA125)
• CubAfrica with Manu Dibango
  Manu Dibango
  -External links:*...
  
   - 1998 (Mélodie 79593.2)
• Sublime Ilusión - 1999 (Virgin DGVIR 85) which was nominated for a Grammy in 2000
• Tribute to the Cuarteto Patria - 2000 (Higher Octave)
• Estoy como nunca - 2002 (Higher Octave)
• A la Casa de la Trova - 2005 (Escondida/Ultra)
• La collección cubana: Eliades Ochoa - 2006 compilation (Nascente NSCD 114).