Mario ‘Mayito’ Rivera is, without a doubt, one of Cuba’s most outstanding contemporary singers.
For more than 20 years he was the distinctive voice and recognizable face of Cuba’s most famous musical group, Los Van Van.
Regardless of the musical genre he performs -rumba, son, salsa, bolero or timba, modern or traditional style, with strength and dynamism or with delicacy and tenderness, Mayito Rivera’s performances, with passages adorned with tremors and coloraturas, are always stellar.
Mario Enrique Rivera Godínez was born on January 19, 1966 in Pinar del Río, a province located in the westernmost part of Cuba and famous for its handmade Havana cigars.
It was there that ‘Mayito’ began his musical training as a child. Later, he moved to Havana, where he studied percussion at the renowned National School of Art (ENA), which he later extended with advanced studies at the Higher Institute of Art (ISA).
After completing his training, which lasted a total of 15 years, Mayito Rivera joined the musical ensemble of the well-known Cuban singer Albita Rodríguez.
Later, he played bass in the Moncada Group, a formation belonging to the Nueva Trova Cubana movement, whose renovating spirit is firmly rooted in traditional Cuban rhythms.
At the age of 26, Mayito was discovered by Juan Formell, the director of Los Van Van, an orchestra that by then had already become a legend. Initially hired to play bass and sing backing vocals, he soon established himself as the group’s lead vocalist.
Over the next 20 years, Mayito Rivera, more than any other musician, put his stamp on Los Van Van.
He burst onto the scene as the representative of a new generation of musicians, and his fresh style contributed to the group’s endurin Singer of the group’s countless salsa hits that were played in the discotheques, he has been nominated twice for a Grammy and won it once.
At the same time, he was also working on other projects: in 1999 he released his first solo album, Pa’ bachatear.
Chappotín, in which he transports the past to our days with a brilliant interpretation of traditional Conjunto Chappotín songs.
But Mayito Rivera is not only a singer and percussionist. In 2005, he released Negrito Bailador, his second solo album, produced by the Timba label of the German music publisher Termidor, in which he performs only songs of his own composition.
The music, with a rumbero tinge, is fresh, lively and of timeless quality. Subsequently, Negrito bailador was marketed in the United States under the title Llegó la hora and was immediately nominated for a Grammy in the Best Salsa Album of the Year category.
Mayito Rivera is probably the most requested special guest by other Cuban orchestras; so much so, that in recent years he has sung with almost all of Cuba’s star casts.
Nor has his career suffered any interruptions since he left Los Van Van in 2011: currently, Mayito Rivera tours the whole world relentlessly, giving concerts in countries as diverse as the United States, Canada, Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Argentina, France, Germany, Denmark, Spain and Italy.
The great popularity and multiple talents of this ‘poet of rumba’ are reflected in his performances as guest singer for salsa greats such as Oscar D’Leon, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Issac Delgado, Adalberto Alvarez, Mayimbe, Son Como Son, Timba Live, Pupy y Los que Son Son, Charanga Latina, Havana D’Primera, Tumbao Habana and Elio Reve Jr, to name just a few.
In 2012, Mayito Rivera established himself as a permanent member of Los Soneros de Verdad, the most successful orchestra of the moment dedicated to son and its related rhythms, led by singer Luis Frank Arias.
Two sold-out world tours of three months each in Europe, Asia, Russia and the United States attest to the high quality and great interest in this amalgam of traditional son and the vocal artistry of Cuba’s most dynamic rumbero.
In 2014, the superstar will be touring with his own orchestra. But before that, from June to September 2013, he will give a series of concerts with Los Soneros de Verdad performing songs from his as yet unreleased album Alma de Sonero.
During this project he will return to his musical roots: son and rumba, bolero and guaguancó, both in their traditional interpretation and in their more modern variants.
The album Alma de sonero includes 11 tracks and will be released in September 2013 worldwide success.
The musicians include Alexander Abreu (Havana D’Primera) on trumpet, San Miguel Pérez on tres and Luis A. Chacón ‘Aspirina’ Bruzón on bongos and cajón.
Website: Mayito Rivera
Read Also: Carlos “Patato” Valdés one of the best percussionists in the history of Latin Jazz.
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