• Submitted by: manso
• Arts and Culture
• 04 / 20 / 2011

---

2011.04.19 - 14:21:13 / radiorebelde.icrt.cu.HAVANA, CUBA.- Cuban pianists Chucho and Bebo Valdes will receive an honorary doctorate from the Berklee College of Music in Boston on May 7, according to information provided by the Spanish General Society of Authors and Editors (SGAE).

The names of the two artists will be added to the list of the group of personalities previously honored by Berklee, like Dizzy Gillespie, Sting, Aretha Franklin, Chick Corea, Ruben Blades, George Benson, Juan Luis Guerra, Duke Ellington, B.B. King, Herbie Hancock and Paco de Lucia.

This year, in addition to Bebo and Chucho Valdes, Berklee has given an honorary doctorate to Kenny Garrett, Mavis Staples and Michael McDonald.

The official ceremony will take place on May 7 at the Agganis Arena of the University of Boston, while the previous day a group of students of the Berklee College of Music will interpret some compositions by the artists receiving the title.

Born in Havana on October 9, 1918, Bebo Valdes is one of the most important Cuban living musicians. A pianist, an orchestra director, a composer and an arranger, he began his artistic career playing in ballrooms in the 1940’s, while being the pianist and arranger of maestro Ernesto Lecuona and singer Rita Montaner, among others.

Chucho Valdes was also born in Havana, on October 9, 1941, and he’s a pianist, a composer, a music professor, an arranger and a band leader. At three years of age, he already played on the piano -by ear, with both hands and in any key- melodies he listened on the radio.

A member of the SGAE like his father, he has 249 pieces registered. Among other acknowledgements, he has received four Grammy Awards and One Latin Grammy, as well as the island’s National Music Prize.

On 16 October 2006, Chucho Valdes was appointed Goodwill Ambassador of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). (ACN)