Ernán López-Nussa, 60 years since his birth

September 12, 2018

The piano captivated him from his earliest years; he entered the Alejandro García Caturla Conservatory at a very young age. Music was intrinsic to him, as were dedication and love for what one does. A family of greats, of artists.

He listened to Count Basie, Miles Davis, King Olive, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Al Haig, Red Garland (one of his favorites) and Art Tatum, who in his opinion: "plays so much, so much, he has both impressive agility and a perfect touch, he is the great virtuoso, a simplicity, a swing, a sweetness, an honesty".

At 19 he began his professional life in the Afrocuba band, which made history for its artistic component: Cuban rhythms with jazz mixtures. Several countries in Latin America and Europe came to know of the fine art that this young group performed.

In 1980 the band disbanded for a year. However, this period was not in vain, as he came to know and work closely with Cuban singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez, who said that in Ernán the singular and the gregarious come together. "He is as capable of the most street-level exquisiteness as of the most elaborate everyday life".

Finalist in the "Teresa Carreño" International Piano Competition in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1982; First Prize in the Piano Competition of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba that same year; First Prize in the Piano Competition of Cuba's Higher Institute of Art in 1983, are among some of his awards.

Other groups counted on the talent of Ernán López-Nussa such as "Cuarto Espacio" and "Síntesis". Around 1993 he led the formation of a quartet made up of Inor Sotolongo, percussion and vocals; Jorge Alexander (Sagua), electric bass, and Ramsés Rodríguez, drums, with which he participated in the Jazz Plaza Festival that year.

In 1992 he founded CUBAN QUARTET, with which he returned to acoustic instruments to perform jazz music with a strong presence of Cuban popular music.

His work crosses borders, enchants, captivates not only Cuban audiences. In 1995 he is named Cultural Ambassador of Good Will for UNICEF.

In the early years of this century he founded and directed the artistic project HABANA REPORT, alongside legendary figures of Cuban popular music: Tata Güines, Changuito, Richard Egües, Jorge Reyes and Pancho Terry, among others; with a fundamental objective: the rescue of the most authentic aspects of Cuban music.

On this September 10th, exactly 60 years ago, Ernán López-Nussa was born, and Cuban culture stands to pay tribute to one of the most important figures of the arts on the Island and in the world.

Awards, recognitions and distinctions

Cubadisco 2000, for Delirium, the Award in the Latin Jazz category; at Cubadisco 2002,
Award in the Latin Jazz category, Award in Production and Grand Prize, From Habana to Río.
ALBA Recording Award 2012. For the first time it is awarded within the framework of the Cubadisco International Fair, conferred for his volume Twenty Pianos.
Grand Prize of the XVIII Cubadisco International Fair 2014 for the album Sacrilegio, a Colibrí production that takes a journey through classical and popular musical creation. The material won the award in the sections of Anthology of Versions, Recording, CD-DVD and Jazz[1]
Alejo Carpentier Medal 2004