After 16 years thrilling audiences around the world, the Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club® is set to bid ‘Adios‘ with a farewell world tour.

The group – which has been touring the globe in different forms, guises and combinations since 1997 – will take to the road one final time in 2014/15 with a series of concerts and related cultural events that will celebrate the Orquesta’s storied journey as ambassadors for Cuban music.

“We wanted our traditional music to live on and to enchant the world and this is what our tours achieved. It has been an incredible part of my career and life.” Omara Portuondo

The Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club® grew out of the 1997 release of the Grammy-winning best-selling album Buena Vista Social Club™, and its line-up continues to include a number of the original artists featured on the landmark recording and film.

But that was only the starting point of an extraordinary journey. Over the years, there have been further acclaimed albums, GRAMMY® awards and a packed schedule of sold-out tours and concerts featuring artists such as Ibrahim Ferrer, Rubén Gonzalez, Cachaíto Lopez, Manuel Galbán, Omara Portuondo, Anga Díaz and Roberto Fonseca. The Adios Tour represents the distillation of more than a thousand shows over 16 years involving more than forty musicians. During that time the group has evolved into a customised, dynamic, multi-generational big band in which veterans and younger performers have combined to celebrate Cuban musical tradition with flair and élan.

Under the musical direction of band leader and trombonist Jesus Aguaje Ramos, the line-up for the “ADIOS TOUR” will feature several of those who played on the original Buena Vista Social Club™ album and film all those years ago, including the incomparable veteran diva Omara Portuondo, trumpeter Guajiro Mirabal and laud virtuoso Barbarito Torres.

They will be accompanied on stage by those who have joined the journey along the way, including dynamic veteran tres player Papi Oviedo; Havana’s young star pianist Rolando Luna; a superb rhythm section comprising double bass player Pedro Pablo and percussionists Andres Coayo (congas), Filiberto Sánchez (timbales) and Alberto ‘La Noche’ (bongos); a three-man trumpet section led by high note specialist Luis Allemany plus Havana’s celebrated son singer Carlos Calunga and singer Idania Valdéz.

From son and guajira to danzon and bolero, cha-cha-cha and rumba, Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club® “ADIOS TOUR” will showcase the classic styles and rhythms of Cuban music in a new stage presentation that will feature fresh songs and familiar numbers in new versions. The shows will reflect the Buena Vista experience past and present with tributes to many of the late, great musicians who contributed so richly to the story.

“Two hours in the company of the Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club® is a heart-warming, uplifting experience everyone should sample at least once”
Edinburgh Evening News****

“Taking the atmosphere up to a breathless level”
The Independent