Imanol Ortiz
Imanol Ortiz Amuriza (1960–2011) was a Spanish musician and producer who lived in Cuba. He was a leading figure in Latin jazz and worked as a percussionist. He led the group Somos Amigos and helped organize and produce many musical events in Cuba and Spain, always connected to Cuban music. He was nominated for the Grammy Awards several times and won the Concha de Plata at the San Sebastian Jazz Festival.
He was born on June 15, 1960, in Bilbao, Spain. He studied at a jazz school in Barcelona and learned percussion in Havana, Cuba, where he graduated from PERCUBA in 1994. In 1984 he studied Latin rhythms in Venezuela and Colombia. From 1991 to 1993 he studied with Tata Güines and Changuito in Cuba. He played tumbadoras, bongos, timbales and other percussion instruments.
Ortiz began his career in 1981 with the group Dutch funky in Amsterdam. He also worked with the English reggae group Hondo in 1983. In 1985 he moved to Havana and joined the Tropicana Club percussion group. He founded the Latin-jazz sextet Sabana in Bilbao, which won first prize at the San Sebastian Jazz Festival in 1987. He worked with the salsa and Latin-jazz orchestra Experimental in Puerto Rico and collaborated with Omar Cuevas and Chunguito in Barcelona. In 1990 he did various projects in Barcelona with Jordi Bonell, Andreu Simón and others, including Gato Pérez.
Sabana won second place at the Guecho Jazz Festival. In 1992 he created the group Azúcar in Havana and earned a special mention at the Bananas festival in Ecuador, with success in Mexico. In 1995 he founded the instrumental sextet Somos Amigos and released the album Da Cappo in 1996. He played percussion on Diego el Cigala’s flamenco album Undebel (1998). In 1999 he released the Somos Amigos album Pa’ Gozar; in 2001 he recorded Somos Amigos in Havana, which was well received in the United States and Europe. Between 2001 and 2004 the group released Buscando el Rumbo, La Galea and Imaginate Cuba.
In 2005 he was Grammy-nominated for Aquellas Pequeñas Cosas, a song on the project Cuba le Canta a Serrat, which Ortiz produced, and he also worked on La Habana le canta a Sabina. The project featured many artists, including Pablo Milanés, Haydée Milanés, Carlos Varela, Amaury Pérez, Buena Fe, Carlos Kalunga, Jessica Rodríguez and Ivette Cepeda, plus Pancho Amat & El Cabildo del Son and pianist Frank Fernández.
In 2007 Pio Leyva’s group Sonsoneando joined Somos Amigos and they toured internationally. That year Ortiz also promoted Vive Cuba, a project that paid tribute to Compay Segundo and brought together 26 renowned Cuban artists. The show toured Spain, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Latin American countries, with participants including Compay Segundo’s group, Choco and Jorge Perugorría.
Imanol Ortiz died on August 19, 2011, in Havana.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 22:30 (CET).