It was founded on February 19th, 1932 by Concepción Castro Zaldarriaga and her sisters, being the first son female Sextet and expanded to the jazz band and typical charanga format in 1934 and projected onto the world from the famous “Aires libres of the Hotel Saratoga” at the Prado of Havana.
These talented women toured the entire length of America from north to south, the Caribbean and France between the 1940s and 1960s.
In Mexico, one of the most visited countries by the Orchestra at this stage, their images and sounds were recorded in some Mexican films, such as: “La noche es nuestra”, “No niego mi pasado” and “Mujeres de teatro” that they alternated with film and music artists from that country. At the same time, they recorded for the record label RCA Victor.
THE AGUIRRE
Sisters Georgia and Dora Aguirre, who have a strong background playing contrabass and saxophone and were new graduates from the “Amadeo Roldan” Conservatory, joined the Anacaona Orchestra with its founders from the 1983 under the direction of Alicia Castro, with whom they learned the most genuine genres of Cuban popular music, rigor and discipline in this profession.
3rd GENERATION
With the Castro sisters’ retirement in December 1987, Georgia Aguirre asumed the direction of the orchestra and continued the work of its founders with her sister and other young women graduates in music schools, consolidating a style that combines tradition with modernity in order to preserve and enlarge the history of Anacaona.
TOURS
At international level, they have traveled to more than 30 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, America and the Caribbean to perform at important festivals and multiple scenarios including: The 34-city tour in China; their participation in the theater play “The Tropical Bourgeois” under the direction of Gerome Sabarí and inspired by Moliere’s classic, “Le bourgeois gentilhomme”; the tour round some US cities in which they also had an emotional meeting with Graciela Pérez, singer and founder of Anacaona and the show “Sabor de la Habana” that opened the season of Cuban shows at the Cabaret of the Grand Casino Monte Carlo from the Principality of Monaco and other important jazz and summer festivals in Spain, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Holland, Canada, Jamaica, Aruba, Curaçao, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Lucia, Peru, Honduras, Venezuela, Mexico, among others.
TRAYECTORY
The orchestra has also participated in several films such as “La Bella de la Alhambra” by director Enrique Pineda Barnett, “Vidas Paralelas” by Pastor Vega, the Cuban-Swiss co-production, “Barrio Negro”, as well as the documentaries “La ruta del ritmo” by director Harry Belafonte, “Anacaona, 70 Años después” by director Jorge Aguirre and produced by Cuban Television, and the documentary “El mundo cantan el mundo baila” about the history of Cuban music produced by NHK from Japan.
LATEST NEWS
In recent years, they have recorded 8 albums with the labels PM Record, LUSAFRICA, BISMUSIC and COLIBRI and have been invited to productions from other labels such as DISMEDI-Spain in Volume ll of “Cuba le canta a Serrat” and with the English producer Kenny Young to perform two classic theme songs of Anglo-Saxon music set to Cuban rhythms.
In Cuba, it performs in popular dance music main stages, cultural events, national tours, festivals and Cuban radio and television programmes with a great gathering and the public and critical acceptance.
At present, it is integrated by 14 women who cultivate Cuban popular music, merging the most traditional rhythms with a contemporary sonorite. The musicians, also known as “Las Mulatísimas del Sabor”, have achieved a seal that distinguishes them and are appreciated by critics and dancers from all over Cuba and other countries.
ANACAONA, with more than 85 years of uninterrupted work, is among the top-level groups of Cuban popular music and considered “The Distinguised Cuban Female Orchestra”.
RAIDER TECHNICAL
– YAMAHA or Peavy Drum
(’10, ’12, ’14, ’22) with stool.
-Timbal LP (’14 and ’15) with stand.
-LP Congas (’12 and ’13) with stand.
-Bongó LP with stand.
-ROLAND RD 700 or ROLAND RD 500 piano with stand.
-Korg Trinity keyboard.
-Baby Bass, AMPEG or similar with stand.
-Peavy, Tracy Elliot bass amp, or similar for Baby 400w (minimum) Bass and Electric Bass.
-Digital mixing console with 32 channels for living room with splitter and connectors (Yamaha).
-MCL7, CL5, LS9, Soundcraf Expression Si3 or similar).
-7 Music stands.
MICROPHONICS
-1 Shure Beta 52 AKG 112 (Bass Drum)
-6 Shure SM 57 or similar (Brass)
-8 Senheiser 421 or SM 98 H or similar (Percussion)
-3 Condenser SM 81 (Over)
-6 Shure SM 58 or SM 87 (Vocals)
-6 Direct Box (Piano, Bass, Keyboard, Tres)
Each microphone with its stand and corresponding lines.
MONITORING
-1 Mixing console with 32 reference channels with 8 sends and splitter.
-5 floor monitors for vocals.
-2 Brass monitors.
-1 Tres and guitar monitor.
-1 Piano monitor.
-2 Drum monitors.
-1 Drum Field.
* Kilos of Power and Monitoring will be adjustable according to the to the conditions of the place, depending on whether they are indoor or outdoor stages.
ANACAONA THE CUBAN FEMALE ORCHESTRA
Director: Georgia Aguirre
Email: [email protected]
FB/Orchestra Anacaona II
Recruitment agency: Artex’s Clave Cubana
Email: [email protected]
Manager: Leonardo Sintes
Email: [email protected]
FB/Orquesta Anacaona II
Cell phone number: 5 35 289 82 26
Email: [email protected]
