Kelvis Ochoa

Ochoa was born in Las Tunas, Cuba, in 1970.

Ochoa's father was a percussionist in his grandfather's band, and when he heard them perform it inspired him to pursue music. Ochoa started playing conga tunes in the streets with his friends, and had his first stage performance when he was 14. At the performance he sang a tune by Cuban Sucu Sucu player Mongo Rives at an inter-school festival. He started to take guitar lessons and write poetry and songs. He tended to avoid any form of classical music training.

His hometown had a substantial influence on his current music. La Isla de la Juventud is the cradle of the musical style known as sucu-sucu, where a soloist improvises in response to a repeated chorus, and is also accompanied by the instruments. This very traditional Cuban music became the trademark of Kelvis Ochoa; he mixes traditional Cuban rhythms (Sucu Sucu, Cha Cha Cha, Macuta, Songo, etc.) with modern music like funk, rock, and international pop.

After moving to Havana in 1992 and forming a rock band called Cuatro Gatos (Four Cats), a significant moment for Kelvis Ochoa arrived when he met the Cuban musician Pável Urkiza. Urkiza, who was part of the well-known Cuban duo "Gema y Pavel," was starting to make his name in the music production field and decided to produce Kelvis Ochoa on Habana Oculta. This was a July 1996 compilation of Cuban artists on the Madrid-based Nubenegra label. This record led to the formation of the band that would call itself Habana Abierta. They were rapidly met with success with the hit record Havana Abierta on the Spanish label BMG Ariola. After selling out concerts in Spain in the 1990s, they triumphantly returned to Cuba in 2003 for a show at La Tropical. A documentary was filmed about them, directed by Jorge Perugorría and Arturo Soto.

Kelvis Ochoa also started a solo career with his album Kelvis (BMG Ariola, 2001). Descemer Bueno, another Cuban musician, produced and co-wrote the album Amor y Música, released in 2009 on Cuba’s EGREM label.

Together, the two men won the 2006 Goya and the 2006 “Premio de la Musica of the best movie soundtrack” for Havana Blues.

In 2013-14, Swiss film-maker Beat Borter made a documentary: "Yo sé de un lugar - Música y vida de Kelvis Ochoa" (I Know of a Place - the music and life of Kelvis Ochoa): Musician, poet, cook, dreamer… The ongoing voyage of Kelvis Ochoa living his music. Places and personalities have marked his life, work, generation, and Cuban culture.