Israel Lopez , often known just as "Cachao," was a Cuban mambo musician and composer, who helped bring mambo music to popularity in the United States of America in the early 1950s. Lopez played the acoustic bass with his late brother, multi-instrumentalist Orestes Lopez. The brothers composed literally thousands of songs together and were heavily influential on Cuban music from the 1930s to the 1950s. They introduced the ritmo nuevo in the late 1930s, which transformed the danzón by introducing African rhythms into Cuban music, which led to mambo. He fell into obscurity during the 1980s after moving to Miami, where he ended up playing in small clubs and for weddings. But his career enjoyed a revival in the 1990s with the help of Andy Garcia's documentary "Cachao...Como Su Ritmo No Hay Dos." Lopez has won several Grammy Awards for both his own work and his contributions on albums by Latin music stars, including Gloria Estefan. In 1995, he won a Grammy for Master Sessions Volume 1. In 2003, he won a Latin Grammy for Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album together with Bebo and Patato Valdes for El Arte Del Sabor. Lopez won a further Grammy in 2005, again for his own work, ¡Ahora Si!.
Israel Lopez , often known just as "Cachao," was a Cuban mambo musician and composer, who helped bring mambo music to popularity in the United States of America in the early 1950s. Lopez played the acoustic bass with his late brother, multi-instrumentalist Orestes Lopez. The brothers composed literally thousands of songs together and were heavily influential on Cuban music from the 1930s to the 1950s. They introduced the ritmo nuevo in the late 1930s, which transformed the danzón by introducing African rhythms into Cuban music, which led to mambo. He fell into obscurity during the 1980s after moving to Miami, where he ended up playing in small clubs and for weddings. But his career enjoyed a revival in the 1990s with the help of Andy Garcia's documentary "Cachao...Como Su Ritmo No Hay Dos." Lopez has won several Grammy Awards for both his own work and his contributions on albums by Latin music stars, including Gloria Estefan. In 1995, he won a Grammy for Master Sessions Volume 1. In 2003, he won a Latin Grammy for Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album together with Bebo and Patato Valdes for El Arte Del Sabor. Lopez won a further Grammy in 2005, again for his own work, ¡Ahora Si!.
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