José Antonio “Maceo” Rodríguez was born on April 17, 1950 in Holguín, Cuba.
Famous sonero voice leader of the group Sierra Maestra, he began his career at the beginning of the eighties of the last century with the group Sierra Maestra, integrated by former students of the Polytechnic University José Antonio Echeverría, of Havana, with which he won a televised contest of new musicians.
He died at the age of 55 on November 6, 2005 in Copenhagen, Denmark, of a heart attack, after giving a concert with his group at the end of a tour of Europe.
He was born on April 17, 1950 in a modest country house in the vicinity of the Antonio Maceo Sugar Mill, in Cacocun, in the eastern province of Holguin.
Relatives and neighbors say that since he was a child he loved art, music, pirouettes and attracting attention.
October 20, 1976 in Havana, together with his classmates at the José Antonio Echevarría University Center, he founded the musical group Sierra Maestra, called at that time Grupo de Sones de la Facultad de Ingeniería Eléctrica.
Those young dreamers performed in the popular contest “Todo el Mundo Canta”, where they took off on a spiral of success in Cuba and the world.
They traveled to many countries promoting Cuban music. They participated in Festivals of international relevance in Australia, Bosnia, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, United Kingdom, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Macedonia, Mexico, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Slovenia, Turkey, Yugoslavia and the United States.
A faithful cultivator of Son, Rodríguez participated in the Afro Cuban All Stars project, nominated for a Grammy in 1998 and parallel to the Buena Vista Social Club.
His excellent voice, comparable according to critics to that of the great cultivators of the genre, was one of the emblematic of the current Cuban dance music scene.
She began recording in 1981 her first album, “Sierra Maestra Llegó con El Guanajo Relleno”, was a silver disc and received excellent reviews. He participated in the Afro Cuban All Stars project, and parallel to the Buena Vista Social Club.
The trumpet player José Alemañy, Cubanisimo, and Juan de Marcos González, founder of the Buena Vista Social Club, were his partners in the group for years, and together they undertook the task of recovering the tradition of famous sones and soneros, revitalizing the genre at a time when other musicians were opting for salsa and more commercial rhythms.
According to the Cuban composer, José Antonio Rodríguez not only possessed a very special voice, “he also had the courage and human qualities to remain faithful to that style, the son style, which is the mother of Cuban music”.
The repertoire of Rodriguez, known as Maceo among his friends and admirers, included, in addition to the great classics of traditional son, pieces that became very popular in his voice, such as Dame un traguito ahora or Esa mujer lo que quiere es que la miren.
Maceo, although small in stature, was an immense man, someone who could not conceive where to keep the torrent of voice he displayed without ostentation, so much musicality, intonation and love for Cuban music.
José Antonio was not only a great musician, he was a great person, very loved by his closest friends and in general by the people whose affection and admiration he won since the participation of Sierra Maestra in the Adolfo Guzmán contest and that thanks to his special way of interpreting the Cuban son, great musicians such as Ignacio Piñeiro’s Septeto were born again in the popular taste.
The singer died on November 6, 2005, just a few hours after finishing the European tour of Sierra Maestra with a concert at the Amager concert hall in Copenhagen.
With this presentation, the popular band put an end to the performance of all the Cuban artists who participated in the First International Latin Music Festival of that capital. The sonero’s remains were repatriated to Cuba, where he was buried.
