The Association For Independent Music handed out its 2003 Indie Awards March 18 at a luncheon during its convention at the Orlando World Center Marriott. The AFIM confab was held in conjunction with the National Assn. of Recording Merchandisers convention.
And the winners are:
ACOUSTIC BLUES: Precious Bryant, "Fool Me Good" (Terminus)
ACOUSTIC INSTRUMENTAL: Alison Brown Quartet, "Replay" (Compass)
AMERICANA: Flatlanders, "Now Again" (New West)
BLUEGRASS: Alison Krauss, "Union Station Live" (Rounder)
CELTIC/BRITISH ISLES: Niamh Parsons, "Heart's Desire" (Green Linnet)
CHILDREN'S MUSIC & STORYTELLING: Billy Jonas, "What Kind of Cat Are You" (Bang A Bucket)
CLASSICAL: David Holzman, "Stefan Wolpe: Compositions for Piano" (Bridge)
CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN: Old Time Gospel Hour Quartet, "The Return" (Daywind)
CONTEMPORARY FOLK: Guy Clark, "The Dark" (Sugar Hill)
CONTEMPORARY JAZZ: Pieces Of A Dream, "Love's Silhouette" (Heads Up)
CONTEMPORARY WORLD: Hassan Hakmoun, "The Gift" (Triloka)
COUNTRY: Heather Myles, "Sweet Talk and Good Lies" (Rounder)
DANCE ALBUM: Felix Da Housecat, "Kittenz and Thee Glitz" (Emperor Norton)
ELECTRIC BLUES: Susan Tedeschi, "Wait For Me" (Tone Cool/Artemis)
ELECTRONIC INSTRUMENTAL/AMBIENT: Alias Zone, "Lucid Dreams" (Valley Entertainment)
ELECTRONICA: DZhivan & Kamien, "Gran Riserva" (Six Degrees)
EXTREME ROCK: In Flames, "Reroute to Remain" (Nuclear Blast)
GOSPEL: Various artists, "Recorded Live at the Second Annual Sacred Steel Convention" (Arhoolie)
HIP-HOP: RJD2, "Dead Ringer" (Definitive Jux)
HISTORICAL: Golden Gate Quartet & Josh White, "Freedom" (Bridge)
JAZZ AND CABARET VOCALS: Karrin Allyson, "In Blue" (Concord)
LATIN: Nati Cano's Mariachi Los Camperos, "Viva El Mariachi!" (Smithsonian Folkways)
MAINSTREAM JAZZ: Billy Bang, "Vietnam — The Aftermath" (Justin Time)
NEW AGE: Steve Gorn, "Colors of the Mind" (Dharma Moon)
NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE MUSIC: Mary Youngblood, "Beneath the Raven Moon" (Silver Wave)
OLDIES: The Byrds, "The Preflyte Sessions" (Sundazed)
POP: Swan Dive, "June" (Compass)
R&B: Sugarman 3, "Pure Cane Sugar" (Daptone)
RAP: Mr. Life, "I, Phantom" (Definitive Jux)
REGGAE: Culture, "Live in Africa" (RAS)
ROCK: Slobberbone, "Slippage" (New West)
ROCK ALTERNATIVE: J Mascis & the Fog, "Free So Free" (Ultimatum)
SEASONAL: moe., "Season's Greetings From moe." (Fatboy)
SINGLE: Blue Six, "Music and Wine" (Naked)
SOUNDTRACK/CAST RECORDING: Bea Arthur, "Bea Arthur on Broadway" (DRG)
SPOKEN WORD: Frank McCourt/Roma Downey, "Castles of Gold" (Green Linnet)
TRADITIONAL FOLK: Doc Watson & David Holt, "Legacy" (High Windy Audio)
TRADITIONAL WORLD: Shoghaken Ensemble, "Armenia Anthology" (Traditional Crossroads)
Mambo Legend Gets Star on Walk of Fame
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Israel Lopez, better known as "Cachao," the Cuban bass player credited with helping to create the mambo, was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The 84-year-old Grammy winner received the walk's 2,219th star Friday in front of King King, a nightclub. In his honor, a Cuban band performed at the nightclub after the ceremony.
"I am very proud," he said in Spanish, according to Ana Martinez-Holler of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.
On hand for the star's unveiling were Lopez's wife, dozens of fans, actor Edward James Olmos and Andy Garcia, who produced and directed a 1993 documentary on Lopez that helped revitalize his career.
After the documentary was released, Lopez played to a sold-out crowd at New York's Radio City Music Hall.
"He is the greatest living example of music in that country (Cuba)," said Garcia, who is Cuban-born. "One thing that is very important for Cachao is that he wants to preserve the roots of Cuban music.
"To me, he is a star in my life for the past 40 years."
Lopez has won several Grammy Awards — including one this year — for his own work and his contributions on albums by such Latin music stars as Gloria Estefan.
Lopez was born in Havana on Sept. 14, 1918, to a family of musicians. His parents, brother and sister all played bass. At 8 he was playing bongo and at 9 he was playing bass. He got a job with a band that provided music to accompany silent films.
From about 13 to 44 he was a member of the Havana Philharmonic Orchestra.
He also performed with jazz orchestras, utilizing Afro-Cuban rhythms. He and his late brother, Orestes, are credited with creating the mambo in 1939. The musical style, popularized by bandleader Damaso Perez Prado, inspired a dance craze that swept the world in the 1950s.
Lopez and his brother also wrote more than 3,000 danzones or Cuban ballroom dance tunes — sometimes creating more than two dozen in a week.
Lopez also is considered a master of descarga, the influential Latin jam sessions.
Lopez left Cuba in 1962 and settled in New York, later moving to Miami.
