Cuban musician Israel “Cachao” Lopez, once a forgotten man in communist Cuba’s music scene, has remerged as one of the most important men in Latin music - as one of the founding fathers of the hypnotic sound of the mambo. In 1938 Cachao unleashed the mambo, and it became an instant hit. For the next twenty years the mambo's sound traveled the globe, played by musicians of all origins.

During the '80s Cachao was living in Miami and a call then came from Cuban actor Andy Garcia. Garcia, a long-time fan of Cachao, was interested in getting together with the musician for a documentary. The two artists collaborated and the end result was the highly acclaimed documentary, Cachao….Como Su Ritmo No Hay Dos in 1993. The film caused such a stir that Cachao was asked to perform at Radio City Music Hall in New York Cith that same year.

Today Cachao lives in Miami, and has been working with fellow Grammy nominee Emilio Estefan. In fact, his Grammy-nominated album Cuba Linda was produced by Estefan, and the mix engineer was the same man who gave Cachao new life, Andy Garcia.


ANDY GARCIA has established himself as one of today's most talented and versatile actors, producer, composer/musician, humanitarian and as a director in his own right. He has received major accalim for his work in The Godfather III and HBO's 2000 biopic For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story.

Garcia made his directorial debut and co-produced Cachao...Como Su Ritmo No Hay Dos (Like His Rhythm There Is No Other), a feature length documentary concert film about Mambo legend, Israel Lopez Cachao.

Garcia subsequently produced and performed on Volumes I and II of Cachao—Master Sessions, the first a 1994 Grammy Award winner and the latter a 1995 Grammy Award nominee. Cachao—Cuba Linda was the duo's third installment for Garcia's CineSon record label and was nominated for a 2001 Grammy and 2000 Latin Grammy Award. The pair re-teamed to record ¡Ahora Sí!, the fourth installment of Cachao's master sessions, again under the CineSon label. The CD will be sold in conjunction with a bonus DVD, containing an hour-long behind the scenes film of the recording sessions. The film, also titled ¡Ahora Sí!, was directed by Garcia.