Homage to Hernán Oliva (1913 - 1988)

Earlier this month there was a homage to violinist Hernán Oliva in Argentina celebrating the Centennial of his birth. Members of the string swing conjunto Hot Club de Boedo lead by guitarist Waldo Fonseca took part in the arranged live performance. A sequence of the performance has been uploaded at YouTube and is inserted below. Musicians are Noberto Quinteros (sb), Ramiro Miranda (violin) Waldo Fonseca (lead g) and Facundo López Goitía (rhythm g), the music played is "Out of Nowhere" and "Minor Swing"

 

Guillermo Hernán Oliva was born 4. of July 1913 in Valpariso, Chile. He was a self-taught musician and played popular music in Chile before moving in 1935 to Argentina. In Argentina he was a member of René Cospito's orchestra (1935-40), and during the following years he worked with Enrique Villegas (1940), Oscar Alemán (1941-43) and in 1944-46 he performed and recorded as a soloist in a group led by Louis Vola emulating the original QHCF. Later he worked as a sideman with Ahmed Ratip y sus Cotton Pickers (1946-55), as a freelance (to 1967), and as a leader of a string swing quintet that made several recordings in the 1970s for the Redondel label. He continued to perform into the 1980s and passed away June 17th, 1988.

 

As mentioned, Hernán Oliva was a leader of a string swing quintet in the 1970s, besides the leader himself the quintet consisted of the excellent lead guitarist Eduardo Ravera, Carlos Zaragoza, Adrian Macri on rhythm guitar and Claudio Rapoport on string bass. This ensemble recorded for the Redondel label 1971-76, several tracks from this output have been uploaded at YouTube and a couple of examples are inserted below to contribute to the celebration of the Hernán Oliva Centennial. - Here is first an excellent reading of "St. Louis Blues"



To end this, here is Quinteto de Hernán Oliva playing "Bye Bye Blues" - enjoy!


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Jo