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Félix Reina
Félix Rafael Herrera Altuna (May 21, 1921 – February 10, 1998), better known as Félix Reina, was a Cuban violinist, arranger, music director and composer. Since the mid-1940s, he was a member of many popular charangas, including Arcaño y sus Maravillas, Orquesta América and Fajardo y sus Estrellas. In 1959, after Fajardo went into exile, he became the leader of his orchestra, the Estrellas Cubanas, which he directed until his death. A prolific composer, his most performed danzones include "Angoa", "Los jóvenes del silencio" and "El niche". In the 1950s, he primarily wrote chachachás and his bolero "Si te contara" became a standard of the genre. Life and career Born in Trinidad, Sancti SpÃritus, Cuba, Félix Reina began his musical studies with his father and with violin teacher Isidro Cintra. After playing in local orchestras for some time, he moved to Havana in 1946, joining the charanga directed by flutist José Antonio DÃaz. Soon, he joined Arcaño y sus Maravillas, w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trinidad, Cuba
Trinidad () is a town in the province of Sancti SpÃritus, central Cuba. Together with the nearby Valle de los Ingenios, it has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1988, because of its historical importance as a center of the sugar trade in the 18th and 19th centuries. Trinidad is one of the best-preserved cities in the Caribbean from the time when the sugar trade was the main industry in the region. History Trinidad was founded on December 23, 1514 by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar under the name Villa de la SantÃsima Trinidad. Hernán Cortés recruited men for his expedition from Juan de Grijalva's home in Trinidad, and Sancti SpÃritus, at the start of his 1518 expedition. This included Pedro de Alvarado and his five brothers. After ten days, Cortes sailed, the alcayde Francisco Verdugo failing to prevent Cortes from leaving, despite orders from Diego Velázquez.Diaz, B., 1963, The Conquest of New Spain, London: Penguin Books, The Narvaez Expedition landed at Trinida ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Enrique JorrÃn
Enrique JorrÃn ( Candelaria, Pinar del RÃo, December 25, 1926 - Havana, December 12, 1987) was a Cuban charanga violinist, composer and music director. He is considered the inventor of the '' cha-cha-chá'', a popular style of ballroom music derived from danzón. Biography At an early age, his family moved to the El Cerro neighborhood of Havana, where JorrÃn was to live for the rest of his life. At the age of 12, he began to show a particular interest in music and decided to learn the violin. He then pursued musical studies at the Municipal Conservatory of Havana. He started out as a violinist in the orchestra of Cuba's National Institute of Music, under the direction of González Mántici. In 1941, he became a member of the '' danzonera'' Hermanos Contreras. It was here that he became interested in popular music. Next, he joined the renowned '' charanga'' Antonio Arcaño y sus Maravillas. In the early 1950s, while a member of Ninón Mondéjar's Orquesta América, he cr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Latin Music (genre)
Latin music (Portuguese and es, música latina) is a term used by the music industry as a catch-all category for various styles of music from Ibero-America (including Spain and Portugal) and the Latino United States inspired by Latin American, Spanish and Portuguese music genres, as well as music that is sung in either Spanish and/or Portuguese. Terminology and categorization Because the majority of Latino immigrants living in New York City in the 1950s were of Puerto Rican or Cuban descent, "Latin music" had been stereotyped as music simply originating from the Spanish Caribbean. The popularization of bossa nova and Herb Alpert's Mexican-influenced sounds in the 1960s did little to change the perceived image of Latin music. Since then, the music industry classifies all music sung in Spanish or Portuguese as Latin music, including musics from Spain and Portugal. Following protests from Latinos in New York, a category for Latin music was created by National Recording Ac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territories, nine Minor Outlying Islands, and 326 Indian reservations. The United States is also in free association with three Pacific Island sovereign states: the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau. It is the world's third-largest country by both land and total area. It shares land borders with Canada to its north and with Mexico to its south and has maritime borders with the Bahamas, Cuba, Russia, and other nations. With a population of over 333 million, it is the most populous country in the Americas and the third most populous in the world. The national capital of the United States is Washington, D.C. and its most populous city and principal financial center is New York City. Paleo-Americ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Machito
Machito (born Francisco Raúl Gutiérrez Grillo, December 3, 1909 – April 15, 1984) was a Latin jazz musician who helped refine Afro-Cuban jazz and create both Cubop and salsa music. Ginell, Richard S. ''Biography''. Allmusic, 2011/ref> He was raised in Havana with the singer Graciela, his foster sister. In New York City, Machito formed the Afro-Cubans in 1940, and with Mario Bauzá as musical director, brought together Cuban rhythms and big band arrangements in one group. He made numerous recordings from the 1940s to the 1980s, many with Graciela as singer. Machito changed to a smaller ensemble format in 1975, touring Europe extensively. He brought his son and daughter into the band, and received a Grammy Award in 1983, one year before he died. Machito's music had an effect on the careers of many musicians who played in the Afro-Cubans over the years, and on those who were attracted to Latin jazz after hearing him. George Shearing, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and Stan K ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Radio Mil Diez
Radio Mil Diez (or Radio 1010) was a radio station broadcasting from Havana, Cuba, owned by the Popular Socialist Party (PSP). Radio Mil Diez broadcast for five years, between 1943-1948, and played an important role in shaping contemporary Cuban music. Emergence Following the entry of the Soviet Union in the war against Germany the Cuban communists re-emerged as a legal political party, the PSP. The party purchased Radio LavÃn and converted it into Radio Mil Diez in 1943. The first broadcast was made on April 1, 1943. The name reflected the dial sign (1010). Radio Mil Diez became an important propaganda weapon of the party, and one of the foremost communist media outlets in the Caribbean at the time. The slogans of the radio station were ''La emisora del pueblo'' ('The Broadcaster of the People') and ''Todo lo bueno al servicio del pueblo'' ('All the Best to Serve the People'). Frequency Radio Mil Diez had the most powerful shortwave radio transmitter in Havana. It broadcast on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Danzón-mambo
The danzón-mambo (also known as ''danzón de nuevo ritmo'') is a subgenre of Cuban dance music that marked the transition from the classical danzόn to the mambo and the cha-cha-chá. It was also in the context of the danzón-mambo that the Cuban dance band format called charanga reached its present form. Origins The danzón-mambo was created by the musicians and arrangers of Antonio Arcaño's charanga, Arcaño y sus Maravillas, which was founded in 1937 (Orovio 1981:324). According to Santos (1982), The main forces behind Arcano's mambo were the Lopez brothers, Orestes ... and Israel (the great "Cachao") ..., who did most of the composing and arranging for the group, and played the 'cello and the string bass, respectively. Characteristics Generally speaking, the ''danzón-mambo'' represents a further and stronger incorporation of elements of the ''son'' into the ''danzón''. The first sections, or ''danzones'', did not depart significantly from the traditional ''danzà ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ulpiano DÃaz
Ulpiano DÃaz (1900–1990) was a Cuban timbalero. He is considered an innovator of the timbales, being the first to add a small cowbell to the setup, and popularizing the abanico. He started his career playing güiro in Félix González's orquesta tÃpica, and rose to prominence as the timbales player of three important charangas: Orquesta de Tata Alfonso, Arcaño y sus Maravillas and Fajardo y sus Estrellas. Career DÃaz was born in Pinar del RÃo in the year 1900. He learned to play several percussion instruments by himself before joining the Septeto Cuba, based in Havana. He later became the güirist in Orquesta de Félix González. He then joined Tata Alfonso's charanga as the timbalero. He would become a master of the instrument, joining Fernando Collazo's La Maravilla del Siglo in 1936. Along with Antonio Arcaño and other members of this band, DÃaz founded La Maravilla de Arcaño in 1937. La Maravilla de Arcaño, later renamed Arcaño y sus Maravillas, would become C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orestes López
Orestes López Valdés (August 28, 1908 – January 26, 1991), nicknamed Macho, was a Cuban multi-instrumentalist, composer and bandleader. As a double bassist he was a founding member of the Havana Philharmonic Orchestra, and later a member of the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba. A long-time member of the charanga Arcaño y sus Maravillas, where he played cello and piano, he is considered the co-creator of the mambo, together with his brother Israel "Cachao" López, and one of the most prolific danzón composers of the 20th century. Biography Early life and career Orestes López was born in Old Havana on August 28, 1908, into a family of musicians. As a pre-teenager he studied piano, cello, violin and the five-key ebony flute. In 1924, at age 15, he became double bassist for the newly-founded Havana Philharmonic Orchestra directed by Pedro Sanjuán. A few years later, he was playing bass for Miguel "El Moro" Vázquez's charanga. According to his brother Cachao, in 1926 he wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cachao
Israel López Valdés (September 14, 1918 – March 22, 2008), better known as Cachao ( ), was a Cuban double bassist and composer. Cachao is widely known as the co-creator of the mambo and a master of the descarga (improvised jam sessions). Throughout his career he also performed and recorded in a variety of music styles ranging from classical music to salsa. An exile in the United States since the 1960s, he only achieved international fame following a career revival in the 1990s. Born into a family of musicians in Havana, Cachao and his older brother Orestes were the driving force behind one of Cuba's most prolific Charanga (Cuba), charangas, Arcaño y sus Maravillas. As members of the Maravillas, Cachao and Orestes pioneered a new form of ballroom music derived from the danzón, the danzón-mambo, which subsequently developed into an international genre, mambo. In the 1950s, Cachao became famous for popularizing improvised jam sessions known as descargas. He emigrated to Spa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sancti SpÃritus Province
Sancti SpÃritus () is one of the provinces of Cuba. Its capital is the identically named Sancti SpÃritus. Another major city is Trinidad. Geography The southern coast of the province is flat, but the western portion of Sancti SpÃritus province is mountainous. The southeast has numerous mangroves and swamps. The northern coast contains significant wetlands and protected areas such as the Bay of Buena Vista and the Caguanes National Park. The largest man made reservoir in Cuba, the Embalse Zaza, is in Sancti SpÃritus province. History During the 17th century, both Dutch and British pirates attempted to take control of what is today Sancti SpÃritus province, but with little success, as the Spanish garrison held them off. From 1660 to 1680, Trinidad was plagued by pirates from Jamaica and Tortuga, and on two occasions, pirates razed the city. The provinces of Cienfuegos, Sancti SpÃritus, and Villa Clara were once all part of the now defunct province of Las Villas. Economy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Standard (music)
In music, a standard is a musical composition of established popularity, considered part of the "standard repertoire" of one or several genres. Even though the standard repertoire of a given genre consists of a dynamic and partly subjective set of songs, these can be identified by having been performed or recorded by a variety of musical acts, often with different arrangements. In addition, standards are extensively quoted by other works and commonly serve as the basis for musical improvisation. Standards may " cross over" from one genre's repertoire to another's; for example, many jazz standards have entered the pop repertoire, and many blues standards have entered the rock repertoire. Standards exist in the classical, popular and folk music traditions of all cultures. In the context of Western classical music, the standard repertoire constitutes most of what is considered the "teaching canon", i.e. the compositions that students learn in their academic training. The standard r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
