1) After «The Shakers», a Beatles-esque group from Uruguay formed by the Fattoruso brothers, Hugo Fattoruso and Osvaldo Fattoruso were contacted by the bassist Ringo Thielmann to form a new band in the USA. After various years of touring with Airto Moreira, in 1974 they started to record their first songs under the name «Opa», a usual Uruguayan expression simply meaning «hi, how are you doing?» However, it's in 1976 when they are able to release their first proper studio album
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1) After «The Shakers», a Beatles-esque group from Uruguay formed by the Fattoruso brothers, Hugo Fattoruso and Osvaldo Fattoruso were contacted by the bassist Ringo Thielmann to form a new band in the USA. After various years of touring with Airto Moreira, in 1974 they started to record their first songs under the name «Opa», a usual Uruguayan expression simply meaning «hi, how are you doing?» However, it's in 1976 when they are able to release their first proper studio album, «Goldenwings» (not a translation), with the help of Hermeto Pascoal, already a famous eccentric Brazilian jazz/latin artist, and of David Amaro, handling the guitar duties. In 1977 they release their second and album entitled «Magic Time». The highly praised Uruguayan percussionist and vocalist, Ruben Rada, joins the band for this album as well as Flora Purim who hadn't participated in the debut. The band would record a third album under the pseudonym "Ortoshakers" in Argentina as a nod to their previous works, the album featured the same lineup as magic time along with similar sound and tone to the other two releases, closing off the bands chapter within the recording studio. After playing live in 1982 in Montevideo, Uruguay, they disbanded since they really had no commercial success besides a small cult-following. After the breakup both brothers collaborated with Milton Nascimento, Hermeto Pascoal, Djavan, Jaime Roos, Luis Spinetta, and still kept in touch with their old friend Ruben Rada. In 1987 the group reunites to play live and they release their first live album called «Opa en Vivo» (Opa Live) which is later reissued as «Opa en Vivo 87 & Rarities» that included bonus, as the title says, a couple of rarities from the early years of the band. In 2016 Hugo was contacted by FarOut records after a 20 year search to record a new album from Fattoruso and his team of world-class musicians, including the sensational Candombe drumming of the renowned Silva brothers .«Opa» is an exotic Latin jazz rock fusion band which incorporates Uruguay's own percussive genre, Candombe, as a special feature. Indeed an excellent band to check out if you're looking for soulful fusion.
