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Francisco Aguabella “El Tamborero de Cuba” Bravo and Virtuoso Percussionist of Afro-Cuban Ritual Music
Aguabella was born on October 10, 1925 and grew up in the drumming tradition of Matanzas in Cuba.
On May 8, 2010, Francisco Aguabella “El Tamborero de Cuba” passed away in Los Angeles, United States. Bravo and virtuoso percussionist of Afro-Cuban ritual music, Latin/jazz and jazz.
Of remembered links to Tito Puente’s band, Mongo Santamaría, Cachao López, Eddie Palmieri, Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Sinatra, Jorge Santana’s group “Malo” and his own “Latin Jazz Emsemble”.
In 1953 he emigrated to the United States and settled in California as an olu batá (bata drummer).
Batá drumming is a ceremonial musical style that plays an integral role in the African-derived Santeria religion practiced in Cuba, Puerto Rico and since the 1950s in the United States.
No other music of the Americas bears a more striking similarity to West African music than the batá. Its set of three double cone drums reproduces the Nigerian Yoruba drum set of the same name.
Many of the rhythms closely resemble their African prototypes, and the Afro-Cuban language of Lucumí, in which Aguabella sings, is clearly a derivation of Yoruba.
Prior to 1980, Aguabella and Julito Collazo were the only olu batá in the United States who had been initiated into a secret society of drummers designated to perform a very sacred type of batá known as batá fundamento .
The batá fundamento is an integral part of Santeria ceremonies in which an individual’s initiation into the religion cannot be consecrated unless he or she has been presented before this sacred ensemble.
Each year Aguabella builds a shrine for his patron saint, Santa Barbara (Changó), and plays music at a birthday party held in her honor.
It’s an all-day celebration for invited friends who are primarily but, not exclusively members of the Santeria sect “Santa Barbara knows it’s her birthday,” Aguabella said, “I know how she feels.
She feels happy if I honor her, I feel bad if I don’t so on St. Barbara’s day every December 4 whatever work I am doing today I don’t do for anyone, I love this saint very much and I promised her I was going to have a party every year.
Although Aguabella is widely respected for his sacred drumming he is also known for his virtuosity in the secular forms of Afro-Cuban music.
Choreographer Katherine Dunham was so impressed with Aguabella’s drumming that she invited him to join her company for tours of South America and Europe.
The most influential of Aguabella’s secular styles is rumba, a complex of several musical genres that evolved in Cuba in the early 20th century.
Rumba was the basis for much of the Cuban dance hall music that in turn helped shape American popular music through dance bands based throughout the United States.
However Afro-Cuban rumba bears little resemblance to the ballroom dance rumba that inspired Francisco. Rumba as Aguabella said is part of daily life for many Afro-Cubans, it doesn’t have to be a special day to play rumba, we could start a rumba here without a drum.
You could play it here or there on the wall, in Cuba rumba is 24 hours a day, we gather in a corner and have a glass of rum…. And someone says: Why don’t we play a little rumba? Some people touch the wall and someone else plays a bottle and maybe takes a cap off the bottle and ‘ca ca ca ca ca ca ca ca ca’ and the Rumba.”
Aguabella’s goal has long been to maintain the integrity of the tradition he so respects, while incorporating it into “crossover” music aimed at a wider audience.
It was his superior musical ability and commitment to tradition that led musicians such as Mongo Santamaria, Malo and Carlos Santana to bring him into their groups.
Aguabella lived in Los Angeles; where he continued to performand exert a great influence on Latin American music.
Read Also: Tata Güines known as Manos de Oro, Cuban rumbero and percussionist
The legacy of Leopoldo Pineda, the ambassador of the trombone in La Maquinaria Fania All Stars
The Dominican trombonist was part of Las Estrellas de Fania and stood out for his virtuosity on his instrument, as commented by musicians Joe de Jesús and Willie Álvarez.
Leopoldo Pineda, “Palma Sola” was born on May 8, 1939 in a small batey called Palma Sola, in Barahona, southern province, Dominican Republic.
He passed away on June 27, 2019 in New York City. Due to his solvency on the instrument, Leopoldo was a participant in hundreds of salsa recordings for more than three decades.
At 80 years of age, Leopoldo Pineda, the Dominican trombonist who earned the respect of his colleagues in the most courageous years of salsa, has passed away.
A case of diabetes had undermined his health in recent years and the fatal outcome came on Thursday, June 27 in New York City.
In recent years, Pineda had been retired from musical activity, due to health problems and diabetes.
He began at a very young age to seek out musical instruments. In his hometown, Pineda would often visit a neighbor’s house to watch him rehearse different instruments.
There he began his first lessons, learning to play trumpet and tambora.
He studied music at school for compulsory education and there he developed certain tropical rhythms.
In Barahona, there was a music school where Leopoldo graduated and later, because of his talent, he was referred to the National Conservatory of Music in Santo Domingo.
As he grew in knowledge, musically speaking, he learned to play several instruments, among them, the Saxophone and the Trombone, the latter being his weapon of choice for the rest of his life.
In his native Barahona, he was known as “Chanchito”, but it was at the Conservatory where the nickname “Palma Sola” was born, identifying him to his classmates by the name of the town where he was born.
After participating in various groups in the Republic, Leopoldo went to New York City and there he started playing with Tito Rodriguez’s orchestra in the 60’s.
He also recorded with Los Cachimbimbitos and Los Cachimbales.
He also recorded with Ismael Rivera’s Los Cachimbos and was producer of one of Milly Quesada’s first albums.
Musician Jimmy Bosch used to include Leopoldo Pineda in the select group of trombonists from whom he learned. Willie Colón, el Malo del Bronx, had emotional words for don Leo. Indeed, the Dominican Pineda is part of the glorious history of the best salsa, the one that was born in the neighborhood and that has deeply penetrated in this part of South America.
Alfredo de la Fe posted on his Facebook account: “Leopoldo Pineda, great musician, we played together with Típica 73 and Fania All Stars.
Then he began to walk the best paths of Salsa, being part of orchestras such as Típica 73, Orquesta Harlow, Willie Colón, Fania All Stars, Sar All Stars, Jose Mangual Jr, La Conquistadora, Jose Alberto “El Canario”, Rubén Blades, Orlando Watussi, Laba Sosseh, Monguito El Único and Héctor Lavoe, among others.
Read Also: Orestes Vilató is one of the most influential figures in the world of Latin percussion.
Mayito Rivera “El Poeta de la Rumba” was the distinctive voice of Los Van Van de Cuba
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.
Stelio Bosch Cabrujas a remarkable musician, but completely forgotten by the new generations
One of the greatest Venezuelan arrangers that Venezuela’s tropical music could have had passed away on May 5, 1979, 44 years without Stelio Bosch Cabrujas.
Bosch Cabrujas was the arranger and assistant director of both Billos and Los Melódicos and was the architect of the success of both orchestras in the 60’s and 70’s.
A remarkable musician, but completely forgotten by the new generations.
Stelio deserves to have his place of honor in the tropical music of the Caribbean. Stelio, a native of the State of Bolivar, from a very young age, entered the musical field as a musician and arranger.
His musical beginnings date back to the 40’s, when he performed “Campesino” for the then Billo’s, where he was recorded by Victor Perez.
Stelio’s musical baggage at the beginning was as a tres player for La Sonora Caracas, he worked with Pedro J. Belisario’s orchestra in the 50’s. He arranged a lot for the radio programs in the musical shows that they presented under the auspices of various commercial brands.
History of Sonora Caracas
Surrounded by an aura of mystery, elusive discography, and a special attraction as a pioneer of the son groups in Caracas. For a long time it was the musical platform for many local tours and recordings of Caribbean music luminaries, when they visited us in the golden age of radio and incipient television. Backed by more than a hundred immortal recordings, ranging from some of the first acetate recordings of Celia Cruz, to Daniel Santos and his theme forbidden by the always conservative Catholic Church.
Contrary to what some critics thought at the time, it was not a bad copy of its namesake matancera, they began under the structure of a septet, and later in their golden age they abstained from using the nasal choirs, they managed a structure of three trumpets, a clear hammer of the bongo accompanied by the congas, in a group with its own personality and that served as a school for some of the most important orchestra directors of the coming decades in our country.
The first Sonora Caracas
In September 1933, our capital was musically shaken by the visit of the Trio Matamoros, famous movie and record stars, who during their twenty continuous days at the prestigious Teatro Ayacucho, stirred up a bucolic Caracas with their sones and boleros, and when they traveled to the west of our country1, they sowed the seeds of the first son groups in Venezuela.
He was in the quintet Los Modernos, who on several occasions accompanied Felipe Pirela on TV. He was the pianist.
He worked for Los Guaracheros de Manolo (when he left Billo’s) and also worked with the Orquesta Sans Sousi.
He worked for a short time in Carlos Guerra’s orchestra and from there he made the leap to Renato Capriles’ Melodicos, recommended by Freddy Coronado when he was the director of LM.
When Coronado left the direction of LM, Stelio took over the musical direction and catapulted them to the fat and unequaled sound of lm in the 60’s, which represented a sonority like few others.
When Stelio left lm, Manolo Monterrey’s orchestra joined the harmonies, and he suggested to Manolo that he return to lm, which the Antillean cyclone accepted and returned triumphantly to Renato’s organization.
At the beginning of the 70’s Stelio goes to work with the most popular band in Venezuela and there Stelio’s arrangement work gives another big hit, his contribution is immense and Billo’s goes on to live one of the greatest decades that Billo Frómeta’s group has ever had.
The contribution of Stelio Bosch Cabrujas to tropical music is worthy of study and review, to be included in university courses so that the new generations of arrangers and musicians understand the legacy of a musician who is threatened to be forgotten, it is up to us to make sure that this does not happen and it is mandatory to keep his memory alive.
Sources:
Newspaper library of the popular music of Venezuela.
Gherson Maldonado
Read Also: Renato Capriles, the man who imposed the rhythm with “Los Melodicos”