Alfredo Boloña Jiménez (December 24, 1890 – 1964) was a Cuban guitarist who played a role in the early development of the

son A son is a male offspring; a boy or a man in relation to his parents. The female counterpart is a daughter. From a biological perspective, a son constitutes a first degree relative. Social issues In pre-industrial societies and some current c ...

as director of the Sexteto Boloña.

Career

Boloña was born in

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

on December 24, 1890. Boloña played the

marímbula The marímbula () is a plucked box musical instrument of the Caribbean. In Cuba it is common in the changüí genre, as well as old styles of son. In Mexico, where it is known as marimbol is played in son jarocho; in the Dominican Republic, w ...

, the

bongó Bongos ( es, bongó) are an Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. They are struck with both hands, most commonly in an eight-stroke pattern called ''martillo'' (hammer). The ...

and the

tres Tres may refer to: * Tres (instrument), a Cuban musical instrument * Tres, Trentino, municipality in Italy * "Tres" (song) by Juanes * "Tres", a song by Líbido from their album ''Hembra'' * TrES, the ''Trans-Atlantic Exoplanet Survey'' * Templi R ...

at different times and, despite his physical limitations (

dwarfism Dwarfism is a condition wherein an organism is exceptionally small, and mostly occurs in the animal kingdom. In humans, it is sometimes defined as an adult height of less than , regardless of sex; the average adult height among people with dw ...

), he was a force in Cuban music for half a century. In 1910 he was already a figure of note in Havana, a member of the Los Apaches choral group and of the Trío Oriental, with Guillermo Castillo (guitar) and Carlos Godínez (tres). In 1915 Boloña formed a son group in Havana called Agrupación Boloña, with Hortensia Valerón (vocalist), Manuel Menocal (tres), Manuel Corona (guitar), Victoriano Lopéz (

maracas A maraca (), sometimes called shaker or chac-chac, is a rattle which appears in many genres of Caribbean and Latin music. It is shaken by a handle and usually played as part of a pair. Maracas (from Guaraní ), also known as tamaracas, were r ...

) and Joaquín Velásquez (bongó). In October 1926 his Sexteto Boloña recorded in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

a set of numbers for

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

, which were made available on CD in the 1990s. The lineup in these recordings included prolific singer

Abelardo Barroso Abelardo Barroso Dargeles (21 September 1905 – 27 September 1972) was a Cuban bandleader and singer, the first sonero mayor (lead singer of the Son (music), son) to be recognized as such by the Cuban public. Born in Havana, Cuba, he was the ...

. The group split up in 1935. Boloña's compositions included "Güagüina yirabo", "Riquieza en flor", "A la permanente", "Aurora en Pekín", "Dame un besito" and "Te esperaré en la retreta".Rodríguez, Ezequiel 1967. ''Obras del repertorio del Septeto Bologña''. La Habana.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boloña, Alfredo 1890 births 1964 deaths Son cubano musicians Cuban bandleaders Cuban composers Cuban male composers Cuban guitarists Cuban male guitarists Entertainers with dwarfism Cuban people with disabilities 20th-century composers 20th-century guitarists 20th-century male musicians Cuban male musicians