Cuban born vocalist, guitarist, composer, arranger and band leader Luis Mario Ochoa, launched his 5th album Forever Lecuona on April 6, 2022 as a tribute to world renowned Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona – known as the Gershwin of Cuba. The album features ten of the legendary artist’s most beloved compositions, presented in a concert style format, that mirrors Lecuona’s ample array of styles.
Forever Lecuona evokes the free spirit of Cuba in the 1940s, with compositions such as La Mulata Chancletera, Como Arrullo de Palma, María La O, Siempre En Mi Corazón, Para Vigo Me Voy, La Rosa Blanca, Y La Negra Bailaba, La Comparsa, Danza Lucumí and Damisela Encantadora, all arranged with an Afro-Cuban jazzy touch.
The album features a cast of world-class Latin-Canadian musicians, that include Hilario Duran, Roberto Riveron, Louis Simao, Jonathan Amador, Jorge Torres ‘Papiosco’, Luis Orbegoso, Chendy Leon, Ahmed Mitchel and Reimundo Sosa, led by Luis Mario Ochoa on vocals and guitar.
Ochoa arrived in Toronto in 1990, the city that embraced him with the support and respect he never received in his captive homeland, allowing him to launch his musical career and new life as a free man, he has not gone back to Cuba ever since. Luis’ music reflects his love for first country and his first Album A La Cubana (1995) was one of the first Latin projects launched in Canada. Subsequently, he produced and released La Fiesta (2000), Cimarron (2005) and Momentos Cubanos (2008). He graduated from the Institute Superior of Arts with a Bachelor’s Degree in 1987, where he studied with maestro Rey Guerra. Luis Mario now resides in Miami, Florida.
