Ogguere
TXT / PHOTO: RÓMULO SANS

Created in 1998, the group’s members come from the suburbs of El Cotorro and Santos Suárez and they are all part of the Cuban Rap Agency. One of the numbers from their first underground rough cut 100% original made with Orquesta Aragón, was nominated at the Grammys. In 2002 they took the name Ogguere, a Yoruba term that means “fertile ground” or “positive soul”. Their language projects a cultured, intellectual urbanity but with a strong injection of Cuban reality. Their inspiration comes from Black Eye Peas, Whitcleef Jean, Outkast and 1970s funk without losing any of the Afro Cuban rhythms of Irakere or Los Van Van, who collaborated on their latest project. This is their year. Their first album is taking the underground clubs by storm and they have gained the respect of the top names in Cuban and international music. Chucho Valdés admires them and many others have collaborated on El Alma de la Tierra (The Earth’s Soul): Ruy Adrián López Nussa (drums), Abel Calderón (keyboards), Eliel Linares (minor percussion), Ernesto Blanco (brother of David Blanco on guitar), Omar Salazar (bass player from Oscar Valdés’s group Diakara), Harvi Cuni (brass section of Klímax), Diana Fuente (singer with group Síntesis), Haydée Milanés (vocals), Maria Caridad Valdés (Chucho’s sister, vocals), Robertón of Los Van Van and Oscar Valdés and Julien Oviedo on vocals...

+ information pág. 174-177 The H Book 2007 08