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Israel “Cachao” Lopez, 84 year old Cuban bass player who co-created the mambo over 60 years ago, received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame:
- [Cachao] received the walk’s 2,219th star Friday in front of the King King nightclub, where a Cuban band performed in his honor after the ceremony.
On hand for the star’s unveiling were actors Edward James Olmos and Andy Garcia. Garcia, who in Cuban-born, produced and directed a 1993 documentary on Lopez that helped revitalize his career.
“He is the greatest living example of music in that country,” Garcia said. “To me, he is a star in my life for the past 40 years.”
Lopez has won several Grammy Awards – including one this year – for his own work and his contributions on albums by Latin music stars including Gloria Estefan.
He and his late brother, Orestes, are credited with creating the mambo in 1939. The musical style, popularized by bandleader Damaso Perez Prado, inspired a worldwide dance craze in the 1950s.
Lopez also is considered a master of descarga, the influential Latin jam sessions. [AP]
Nothing cooler than old Cuban musician dudes.
