Origins and Rise of International Popularity
Los Orishas began as Cuban rap group Amenaza in the early 1990s. Led by Joel Pando, Amenaza became the first rap group to address the issue of racial identity in Cuban society. In 1998, the members of Amenaza traveled to Paris to perform and accepted a record deal with a European label. The transition to Europe was critical in their musical career, as many rap groups in Cuba lacked the resources for professional recordings. In fact, of the hundreds of rappers in Cuba, Orishas is the only group that has achieved international acclaim As of 2006.
Their first album, A Lo Cubano, was released in Spain in May 1999 under the Orishas moniker. In the summer of 1999, Orishas began a two-year tour across Europe and the United States, which brought them international notice. In December 2000, Orishas returned to Cuba to perform two concerts, attracting tens-of-thousands of young Cubans. As one of Cuba's pioneer rap groups, Orishas garnered fame both at home and abroad.
In 2006 they guested on the Track "14Me" recorded in Cuba by occasional The Black Eyed Peas producer Poet Name Life. The track was eventually released on the album "The Revolution Presents: Revolution", (Studio !K7 & Rapster Records) a Cuban dance crossover album which also featured Norman Cook a.k.a. Fatboy Slim, Roisin Murphy and Rich File from UK Trip Hop pioneers Unkle.
As of October 2009, the members of the trio currently live in different European cities (Madrid, Milan, Paris), with the band based in France. Their incorporation of traditional Cuban beats like salsa and rumba into their rapping is an angle that brings appeal to older Cubans, while simultaneously driving some aspiring Cuban rappers to "look at them with both awe and disappointment" for "selling out to commercial pressures to evoke Cuban nostalgia." Roldan himself has a tendency towards traditional Cuban music, and purposely distances his music from some of the stereotypical characteristics of hip-hop, such as the degrading treatment of women and "everything you do in U.S. hip hop shows".
Read more about this topic: Orishas (band)
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