Born in the Uruguayan capital of Montevideo in 1943, composer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist Hugo Fattoruso has had a profound influence on every aspect of Latin American musical culture. From early beginnings, playing in his family band at street festivals around Uruguay, to fronting Los Shakers: South America’s answer to the Beatles, and one of the most successful rock and roll groups from the continent. At the end of the sixties Fattoruso was looking to broaden his musical horizons, and in 1969 he moved to New York where he formed Opa and went on to rub shoulders with the likes of Ron Carter and Creed Taylor.

Fusing Candombe (traditional rhythm of Uruguay) with rock, jazz, funk and other Latin American rhythms, Opa created a distinctive Afro-Uruguayan voice within the global jazz vernacular, influencing a generation of musicians throughout the seventies and beyond. During the eighties Fattoruso moved to Brazil, where he continued to work and record with Brazilian artists including Milton Nascimento, with whom he composed the World Music Grammy winning Nascimento album in 1997. Fattoruso also famously collaborated extensively with Airto Moreira, arranging and playing on a plethora of hit records including Fingers and I’m Fine, How Are You. More recently Fattoruso’s music has been sampled by the likes Flying Lotus and Madlib.

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