Search Results for: Tito Puente

Argenis Carruyo is known in the music scene as “El Volcán de América” (The Volcano of America) due to the power of his voice

Carruyo He was born in Maracaibo on August 22, 1953 at the Chiquinquira Hospital in Maracaibo, located in the same sector where he grew up.

Argenis Carruyo he had the good fortune of being a neighbor of Los Blanco, who 12 years after his birth hired him as an instrument picker, an experience that served to awaken in him the love for music, a feeling that was nurtured when he discovered in him an unmistakable talent to make singing his life support.

“The Volcano of America” because the power of his voice makes the senses of those who have the opportunity to listen to him rumble; so sings Argenis Carruyo, from Zulia, who from a very young age began to demonstrate the vocal quality that characterizes him.

Argenis Carruyo is known in the music scene as "El Volcán de América" (The Volcano of America) due to the power of his voice — Argenis Carruyo is known in the music scene as “El Volcán de América” (The Volcano of America) due to the power of his voice

He has stood out as an interpreter of the gaita zuliana and during the 1970s and 1980s belonged to the Dimensión Latina.

The 80’s was a very busy decade for this multifaceted character; he sang with Orlando y su Combo, and did a duet with Ender Carruyo in the orchestra “Los Hermanos Carruyo” and then again with the Super Combo Los Tropicales, until 1985 when he decided to found his own group called “Argenis Carruyo y su Orquesta”.

He began his musical career with the youth group Los Larkings. Later, he was part of Los Juglares and Los Casinos.

In 1973, he joined the ranks of Súper Combo Los Tropicales and in 1977 he was recruited by Dimensión Latina, with whom he sang until 1981. Later he joined the group Los Melódicos.

During the 1980s he had an intense artistic activity in which he sang with Orlando y su Combo, duetted with Ender Carruyo in the orchestra Los Hermanos Carruyo, worked again with the Súper Combo Los Tropicales and, in 1985, formed his own group: Argenis Carruyo y su Orquesta.

Sabor a Gaita:

Apart from his work with rhythms such as guaracha and salsa, Carruyo has also performed the gaita zuliana.

The Volcano of America has not only stood out among the great interpreters of the Caribbean for playing rhythms such as the guaracha, he has also honored his land by making famous great gaita compositions.

During his time in the genre he worked with groups such as El Número Uno, Rincón Morales, Guaco, Los Morillo and Gaiteros de Pillopo.

He owes part of his fame to the gaita, because the Zulian melody accompanied him on stages and still accompanies him in his veins as it does to anyone who appreciates being a worthy Maracaibero.

During his artistic life he has received numerous recognitions, as well as the publication of a book with his biography.

In 1975 he won the Festival de Cantantes y Compositores Zulianos and has received the Mara de Oro (1993, 1994, 1995) and Gran Cacique de Oro awards as best singer, the Gran Aguila de Venezuela as best singer and dance orchestra (1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001), and the Catatumbo de Oro as best popular singer (1993) among others.

"The Volcano of America" — “The Volcano of America”

His orchestra received the Orden Ciudad de Maracaibo in its first class as best dance group.

He has performed in the most important nightclubs in Maracaibo, the country and abroad, alternating with the most recognized figures of the song, which is why he is considered one of the most genuine interpreters of tropical Caribbean genres in the Zulian region, such as salsa, guaracha, cumbia, merengue and bolero.

With a prolific career of more than twenty-five years that has served to demonstrate his talents as a vocalist and his own characteristic style, which gives him his most authentic identity.

Argenis Carruyo, with pride from Maracaibo, proclaims that he owes to Zulia the success and fortune that always accompanied him since he discovered the enormous talent he carried in his blood, his homeland became his main fan, to Maracaibo he owes his life and to its inhabitants the affection and the memory that will always keep him alive through his songs.

For 2023 Argenis was specially invited to participate in the excellent group Quintero’s Salsa Project – Tributo A La Dimension Latina directed by New York based percussionists Luisito Quintero and Robert Quintero.

Luisito Quintero grew up in the Latin and African percussion tradition. His father is as percussive as his uncle Carlos Nene Quintero and cousin Roberto Quintero. He became a member of the Venezuelan Symphony Orchestra, but soon joined ensembles such as Grupo Guaco and El Trabuco Venezolano and toured with Oscar D’León.

He then moved to New York, where he met Latin jazz musicians like Willie Colon, Eddie Palmieri, Tito Puente and Celia Cruz worked. He then turned to the fusion of jazz, funk, salsa and African music and played with George Benson, Herbie Hancock, Ravi Coltrane and Toshiko Akiyoshi, but also with pop musicians such as Gloria Estefan and Marc Anthony. Louie Vega produced his first album with him.

Quintero’s Salsa Project – Tribute To The Latin Dimension

Tracks: Ya Tu Lo Véras; Sin Tu Cariño; Cara de Guabina; Sigue Tu Camino; Irimo; Dulce Cantar; De Quintero a Dimensión; Ahi Nama; Te Conocí; Parampampam; Arroz Con Manteca; Frutas del Caney.

Musicians: Argenis Carruyo; Jimmy Bosch; Marcial Istúriz; Roberto Quintero, Luisito Quintero.

Record labels in which Argenis Carruyo has participated.

Top-Hit (TH), Maracaibo Record’s, Argenis Carruyo, Discos VRZ, SonoVen Records, L. G. Record’s C. A; iMusician | EDGARSARMIENTO, Palacio, among others.

Sources:

La Buena Musica: Argenis Carruyo

La Salsa es mi vida: Quintero´s Salsa Project – Tributo A La Dimension Latina

Also Read: Víctor Porfirio Baloa Díaz, more commonly known as Porfi Baloa

Humberto Ramírez

Latin America/ Puerto Rico / San Juan

Humberto Ramírez one of the most innovative musicians on the Island of Enchantment Puerto Rico

Recognized as one of the most innovative musicians of his generation, Humberto Ramírez grew up in a home where the music of Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Lee Morgan, Tito Puente, Tito Rodríguez, Cal Tjader and Machito was heard.

His father, who is a saxophonist and conductor, was the one who inspired him to play the flugelhorn at age 11.

By the age of 14, Humberto was performing professionally with his father’s orchestra and at the same time taking orchestration courses with bassist Inocencio “Chencho” Rivera.

At the age of 18, after graduating from the Escuela Libre de Música de San Juan, his interest in composing and arranging music motivated him to enroll at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts where he obtained his bachelor’s degree in music, then studied composition and orchestration for film and television at the Dick Grove School of Music in Los Angeles, California.

In 1985, and for a period of four years, Humberto worked with the Willie Rosario orchestra, one of the most popular bands in Puerto Rico.

In 1989 he became the musical director of Tony Vega.

His admirable ability as a producer and arranger led him to make important collaborations with great figures in music.

In 1999 he took over the musical direction of merengue and tropical music star Olga Tañón.

His work as a producer, arranger, composer and director for tropical music artists such as Willie Colón, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Marc Anthony, India, Domingo Quiñones, Lourdes Robles, Rubén Blades, Brenda K. Starr, Tito Nieves, Víctor Manuelle and others , has established him as one of the busiest arrangers and producers in the industry.

He has also had the responsibility of directing the concerts of important exponents of reggaeton such as Daddy Yankee, Tito El Bambino and Zion, which undeniably demonstrates his broad musical mastery in various genres.

His great dream was always to develop a career in Jazz. In 1992, Humberto Ramírez debuted as group leader in his first production for the Tropijazz label entitled “Jazz Project”.

Since then he has shared the stage with important jazz musicians such as Freddie Hubbard, Justo Almario, Alex Acuña, Chick Corea, McCoy Tyner, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Tito Puente, Hilton Ruiz, Michel Camilo, Herbie Hancock, Eddie Gómez, Michael Brecker, Paquito D ‘Rivera, Chucho Valdés, Ray Santos, Gato Barbieri, Terence Blanchard and Herb Alpert, with whom he recorded the album “Passion Dance”.

His music has received rave reviews from prestigious publications such as Down Beat, Jazz Times, Jazziz, Latin Beat, CD Review, Hispanic Magazine, New York Daily News, The Plain Dealer, Miami Herald, The Boston Globe, and Austin Chronicle.

From the launch of his first record proposal, Humberto Ramírez has established himself as the most important exponent and promoter of Jazz in Puerto Rico.

He has recorded 26 albums in which he has experimented with all kinds of formats: duets, trios, quartets, quintets, sextets, octets and “Big Bands”.

His collaborations with the group Rumbantela and with the queen of filin, Lucy Fabery have received great praise from specialized critics. In 2005 he founded his own record label, Nilpo Music and last year he began to present his own Jazz festival: Puerto Rico Jazz Jam, marking a new stage in his musical career.

This year 2011 celebrates its 20 years cultivating the difficult expression of Jazz, a career that began with its debut as a leader in the first edition of the Puerto Rico Heineken Jazz Fest in June 1991. This year 2016 celebrates its 25 years.

Humberto Ramírez has received 4 Grammy Award nominations as a producer. His first nomination was for the album “Nueva Cosecha” by Willie Rosario in 1985, then for “Hecho en Puerto Rico” by Willie Colón in 1993, “Tony Vega” in 1996 and “Olga Viva, Viva Olga” by Olga Tañón, which earned him the Grammy Award in 2000.

In 2013 he was nominated for a Latin Grammy for his album Sentimentales with Lucy Fabery.

Among the awards he has received are 6 Platinum records, 12 Gold records, 4 “Visionary Awards” and six “Tu Música” awards. He has received tributes from Ohio State Representative Dennis J. Kucinich and from the Senate of Puerto Rico.

In 1997 he had the honor of entertaining the inauguration of the President of the United States, Bill Clinton in Washington, D.C. In October 2009 he was invited to play at the White House for President Barack Obama.

After having received several awards and nominations, as well as having recorded his own record successes, Humberto Ramírez shows that his creative explosion is still in its infancy.

https://www.humbertoramirez.com/#home-section

https://www.facebook.com/Humberto-Ram%C3%ADrez-Jazz-Project-110525453672/

José Madera Niño & his 3rd his World

Latin América / Venezuela / Caracas

José Madera Niño “The records and the radio were my first teachers”

Soon he will premiere his second production entitled Matices, with the promotional song Canta Sonero.

A creator, a great human being, this is José Madera Niño, this Colombian-Venezuelan musician, self-taught, percussionist, composer and plastic artist; who after participating in different groups decides to form his own Orchestra, José Madera Niño & 3er Mundo, assures that his passion for music began when he was very young, following the example of his father, uncle and his older brothers, defines his songs as “simple and diaphanous”. He confesses that our salsa genre, “needs to feed on new things, unpublished songs, in short, proposals, and that the music lover is the one who decides if it is good or not”; As the chorus of one of their songs says, let them be the ones to speak and express their emotions.

His first record production De amor, desamor y rumba, contains 8 songs, of which 6 are his own, with the participation of leading Venezuelan musicians; in this work he presents us with an innovative style, where he sings to love, to spite and invites us to dance to the rhythm of the conga that is in fashion. In each composition, everyday life is reflected, the adventures and misadventures that music lovers make their own, a work made of guava trees and poetic joys.

Soon he will launch his second record production with a very striking name; Nuances, something that in his words “makes him very happy”, where there is no doubt, his gift as an artist will be present and a motley of musicians with a great career who will put the final touch on his new production.

How did you start in music?

“I remember that at the age of seven, I was drawing a lot, on paper, on the walls and on whatever came my way. My older brothers already showed an interest in music, so instruments began to arrive at the house. While I drew they practiced and when they went to school I took possession of a drum and a radio, I tried to accompany all the rhythms I heard on the stations”.

Was your training professional or are you a self-taught musician?

“Autodidact. I entered the school of plastic arts, to study drawing and painting, at the age of fourteen. There I saw nine subjects, also I started at the high school where I saw nine more subjects, so there was no space to study music. I listened to a lot, yes. Records and the radio were my first teachers”.

Tell us about your experience with Orlando Poleo?

“In a self-taught way, almost without realizing it, I began to play with different groups and orchestras, I was already in trouble, so on the fly, I decided to take theory and solfeggio classes at the headquarters of the Musical Association. On a Caracas night I was playing with La Orquesta Ideal and there I met Williams Hernández -Percussionist and manufacturer of Latin percussion instruments-. It was he who recommended that I attend the workshop in Sarria where the teacher Orlando Poleo taught. The experience there at the beginning was a bit traumatic because although I already had time playing congas, I didn’t have the ideal technique. I had to get rid of what I learned on my own and put new ways into practice. It was not easy but I am very grateful to have passed through the school of Grand Master Poleo”.

Where does your musical vein and passion for painting come from?

“My father was a bolero singer back in his native Colombia, my uncle was a guitarist. That’s where the taste for music comes from.”

What motivated you to make your first production, in a market so Competitive and often poorly supported by the media?

“I was motivated by a passion for music and by that need to contribute at least one point of view, a way of doing things. For example, I think that this genre that we love, called Salsa, needs to feed on new things, unpublished songs, in short, proposals and that it is the music lover who decides if it is good or not”.

What is the reason for the name of the group; 3rd world?

“That’s where we are, that’s where we come from. This is how they classified the countries of our region and we assumed them without complexes or pride. I think it’s just a title that doesn’t detract from our ability to do great things. Baptizing the band with that name was an act of rebellion, it shows a little that despite many limitations we are capable of making quality music”.

Why the name De Amor, Desamor y Rumba?

“There were many hours of recording, then editing, then came the art of the album and when we were already finalizing details, a doubt assailed me, I thought: Isn’t the selection going to be very rockolera? I started to review the production and I realized that it was balanced. We sing to spiteful love and I think it’s very danceable. From there the title was born: “Of love, lack of love and rumba”.

What inspired you to write 6 songs of your first production?

“The need to do unpublished things, on the other hand I didn’t know so many composers who wanted to risk their songs in a novel production. The language of my songs is simple and diaphanous”.

Which of the themes do you identify with, and why?

I like them all.

How would you define the 3rd world style and how do you get there?

“It’s just Salsa, without a “surname”, as it was before. It’s not erotic Salsa or hard Salsa or Nothing Salsa… Just dance music”.

Any relationship with the percussionist José Madera -the one from Tito Puente-?

“Only immense admiration for his work and the fact that like him I play percussion and have the same first and last name.”

Have you ever been interested in another musical style?

“I listen to almost everything and in my career I have had the opportunity to play other popular music rhythms such as merengue, cumbia, vallenato.”

An artist you admire?

“There are many whom I admire, it would be unfair to name just one.”

What inspires you to write a song about love or heartbreak?

“Both, in addition to the simple, everyday things.”

Define yourself in one sentence?

Creator

How does the soul see through painting or music?

The soul sees and manifests itself in the purest and most honest way through art. Call it painting, music or another related manifestation.

Tell us about your 2nd production, who participates in it?

This is something that makes me very happy because we are giving the last brushstrokes, soon, very soon my dear friends will know about this work. There are many guests.

Why nuances?

Precisely because of the variety of its guests.

Founder and owner of Guapacha Productions Gil Tower

Talk with Gil Tower

From this platform, we have had to interview many famous Latinos who have left their countries and Latin culture in general on high, but today is the turn of a very special one. We are talking about the talented Venezuelan musical director and multi-instrumentalist Gilberto Torres, better known as Gil Tower in the artistic environment.

Thanks to a mutual friend, we have managed to make contact with Gil Tower, who from the beginning has been very accessible and willing to share everything related to his work in the music industry and his contribution to the Latin cultural scene, so we are very grateful to him for giving us the opportunity to hear his great story.

Below, we share the topics covered in a conversation that was as enjoyable as it was enlightening.

Gil talked with us — Talented musical director and multi-instrumentalist Gil Tower kindly talked with us

Musical beginnings in his home country

Gil Tower always knew that he wanted to devote himself to the world of music. When he was about five years old, he began watching television programs related to classical music and zarzuela. Several of his aunts were zarzuela teachers and took him to see zarzuela orchestras, which was great for him. In fact, several of those musicians he got to see play on these occasions ended up teaching him when he began preparing to become an artist.

One of the most important institutions in the training of Gil is the National System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras and Choirs of Venezuela (El Sistema), where he was trained directly by maestro José Antonio Abreu, a fundamental part in the path which this young musician would take later in his career.

He joined the children’s orchestra, advanced all the way to the youth orchestra and finally reached a more professional level in the national orchestra. At about this time, Gil recalls that ”maestro Abreu always said that we were rich because we had an instrument in hand and could change the world through music. As a child, I didn’t understand what he was getting at. Now I do understand and I think he was absolutely right.

”Abreu was a unique influence on me because he transformed me as a person and musician. He also made me become a leader, as he had always wanted me to be,” he continued.

Learning from the groups he was in

As to the learning acquired in the many groups he worked with, Gil singled out Carlos Rojas, who was a musician and jazz lover. Carlos took the initiative to give a workshop in La Pastora (a very important area of the city of Caracas, Venezuela).

Gil with his flute — Gil Tower with his flute

As a teenager, Gil used to go to La Pastora to learn to improvise with Carlos in salsa, as he liked this genre so much ever since. This is how he started learning about harmonies and taking his first steps as a composer.

When given the chance to play with the group Los Morrillos, he learned a lot about gaitas and other Venezuelan rhythms from the western region of the country. In the case of the group Madera, he learned (and keeps learning) a lot about Afro-Venezuelan music in general.

After that, he met Jesús ”Chucho” García, who is an intellectual, activist and author of several books on Afro-Venezuelanity. Together they formed a group called Cimarrón, with which they represented Venezuela at the International Jazz Plaza Festival in 1989. To date, they are still very good friends and continue to learn about this great musical branch from one another.

Why move to Germany?

His initial plan was to move to the United States to continue his studies in Berkeley, but he was unable to obtain the required visa at the time. However, that would not be the end of his dream.

It turns out that some friends of his from the group Madera went on a Germany tour and stayed to live there. Then, one of them, Felipe ”Mandingo” Rengifo offered him to join them to work in that country and try to be admitted in one of their conservatories. At the time, Gil only had a saving of $1,000, with which he took a gamble.

Although he had to play in the streets and wash bathrooms at the beginning, he achieved his goal of entering a conservatory, an institution that gave him the opportunity to fix his papers to have a legal status in Germany. Having solved this inconvenience, he was able to focus his attention on his musical project Guapacha (name in honor of a great Cuban drummer who lived in the parish of San Agustin del Sur, Caracas).

All this experience was preparing him for when he could finally achieve his goal of going to the United States.

Gil and Guapacha — His project Guapacha was named after a great Cuban drummer who lives in Caracas

Arrival in the United States

While still in Germany, Gil was invited to participate in a jazz festival in the United States, specifically in Montana. He did so well that he amazed many musicians with whom he shared the stage that day and exchanged contact information for future events.

Later, he managed to play in San Diego and Boston, where he had the opportunity to share the stage with the Boston Power Orchestra and meet Danilo Pérez, Dizzy Gillespie’s pianist. The latter, in turn, recommended him to maestro Tito Puente, whom he met shortly thereafter.

This was how the artist managed to build a very respectable reputation in the industry through his talent. This is how he ended up playing with ”half the world” and building a great prestige as a musician and composer.

In addition to singing and playing multiple instruments, Gil has also taught low-income youth in order to spread the knowledge he has gained throughout his career. He even created an orchestra composed of children whose parents have no resources or documents in order to help them learn music and provide them with better work-study opportunities in the future. Some have even got into college and obtained scholarships thanks to this knowledge.

Parallel to these activities, he began composing and making arrangements for other artists who began to require his services.

Guapacha Productions

On the subject of Guapacha Productions, Gil says that the idea came when he began researching on the music industry, licensing, distribution and other things.

The musician saw an opportunity to achieve his dreams during the pandemic, which is when he noticed that many artists had no idea how to register a composition and how other necessary licenses to collect their royalties from their music works.

Gil, Guapacha, and major labels — Guapacha was created for the purpose of becoming independent from major labels

Noticing the ignorance of many young talents about the industry, he created the company Guapacha Productions, which is responsible for the musical production and arrangements for artists signed to this label.

When asked how the economic issue was handled for artists who do not have the resources to launch their career as it should be, he explained that there are three types of music distributors: major labels, labels created by the artists themselves and independent companies like Guapacha Productions. We are a group of independent artists who created our own label and we are trying to have our own distribution, so we would not be obliged to negotiate with any big distribution company” explained Gil.

Along with that, it is Guapacha Productions that will make agreements with Spotify, iTunes and other digital platforms to distribute the music of its artists without intermediaries.

The company has been so successful in these efforts that its name will soon be part of the Latin Grammys, which means that the talents signed to the label will have the chance to stand out and be finalists in the various categories.

Cheo Valenzuela’s ”Salsa Buena” Tour

With respect to the important issue of Cheo Valenzuela’s ”Salsa Buena” tour (artist signed to Guapacha Productions) in Europe, there are negotiations with some event producers in France, Spain and England so that Cheo Valenzuela can perform at various venues in those countries. There are also talks of taking the artist to Central America and the United States, specifically to San Francisco, where Gil lives.

In addition to that, Valenzuela is working on an EP with five songs by other artists and another one with five compositions created by himself. Being already a singer with a long-standing career, this last work would also become him a consacrated composer before the world. Once all this material has been released, his name is going to be considered for a Grammy nomination, which Gil has a lot of faith that he will win due to his great talent.

At the time of doing this interview, Valenzuela is taking a few days off due to the death of his mother, so we send our condolences and solidarity to him and his family at such a difficult time.

The void left by Felix ”Pupi” Legarreta

Pupi’s life

Cuba has given the world a large number of artists who have left the name of the country very high, so it is always a good moment to talk about them. Such is the case of arranger, composer, singer and musician Felix ”Pupi” Legarreta, who sadly left this world last month.

Given that this great exponent of Cuban music and the charanga genre is no longer with us, we think it is a great opportunity to remember a little of his career and all the way to becoming the great artist he was.

Pupi playing the violin — Pupi Legarreta playing the violin on stage

Pupi’s childhood

Felix Legarreta was born in 1940 in the city of Cienfuegos, Cuba, and from the very early age, his father nicknamed him ”pupi”, as he would be called for the rest of his artistic life. ‘’Puppy in Spanish means ”cachorro” (a very young dog), so this pronunciation was very interesting to Americans.

Around this same time, Pupi was not really interested in music as a profession, as his thing was carpentry at the time. However, he began being affected by severe asthma attacks due to the dust used in his daily work, so it was recommended to his father to take him away and make him dedicate himself to something else that would not damage his health.

This is how the young boy decided to become a barber and met a friend with whom he started taking music lessons, which could be considered as the first contact he would have with music.

The first instrument Pupi played was the violin. He admits it was not easy to learn how to play it, but with effort and dedication, he managed to become really good at music. However, he was faced with another challenge that would complicate the realization of his new dream: lack of money.

Like the majority of families in Cuba at that time, Pupi’s was also going through a complex economic situation, so buying everything he needed for his musical training was very difficult. However, it did not stop his father from getting down to work and raising the money necessary to buy his son his first violin.

In a 2010 interview, Pupi revealed that it took his father more than two years to raise 60 pesos to buy a used violin at a pawn shop, as it was the only way he could afford the instrument for the young boy.

Pupi playing a flute — Pupi Legarreta playing a flute in a studio

Formal beginnings in music

When he decided to travel to Havana, he was given the opportunity to play Orquesta Sensación, with which he earned about eight pesos a month to cover some of his basic expenses. It was very difficult for him to live with that little, but music helped him to support himself.

However, little by little he worked his way up and earned the respect of his fellow musicians, who consider him for their own projects.

In 1959, music also allowed him to travel to the United States, specifically to the state of California, but it would not be too long before he decided to try his luck in New York. Once there, he collaborated with artists such as Mongo Santamaría, Charlie Palmieri, Johnny Pacheco, Machito, Tito Puente and many more.

Fania All Stars

In 1964, he started collaborating with the Fania All Stars, which had more than 24 instruments, including trumpets, pianos, basses, singers and more. Pupi was so shocked that he could not refuse to work with the world-famous orchestra, as this number of musicians was something he had never seen before.

In total, he recorded between five to seven albums with La Fania on which Pupi was taken into account when issuing opinions about his work. If the artist considered something was not quite right and wanted to change it, the orchestra did whatever was necessary to satisfy him with the results of the recordings.

The only criticism that the Cuban issued towards the orchestra is regarding the excessive focus on the Puerto Rican market, in fact, the vast majority of musicians were Puerto Rican. This caused them to neglect other markets that may be useful for Fania. However, this does not exclude all the positive things that came for those involved during the time this union lasted.

When his time in the orchestra ended, he was working for an electricity company in New Jersey, but his family was in Philadelphia, so he decided to move permanently to this city, where he remained till the day he died.

Album cover for Pupi — Album cover for ”Pupi Legarreta Y Su Charanga”

Death

In the afternoon of July 3, 2023, Félix ”Pupi” Legarreta’s relatives issued a statement giving the deplorable news of the artist’s death the day before at the age of 83.

His daughter Frances Legarreta posted the following on her social networks on the already mentioned day: “I announce with great sadness the death of my father, Pupi Legarreta, on July 2, 2023, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is survived by his wife Frances, his son Michael, his grandchildren, great-grandchildren and his daughter Otie in Puerto Rico”.

In addition to the above, he revealed that his father expressed his desire to be cremated and not to be veiled in a memorial service. She also asked that her entire family’s privacy to be respected in view of the pain that its members were going through.