Alfredo Manuel De La Fé (born February 6, 1954)
is a
Cuban
Cuban may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Cuba, a country in the Caribbean
* Cubans, people from Cuba, or of Cuban descent
** Cuban exile, a person who left Cuba for political reasons, or a descendant thereof
* Cuban citizen, a perso ...
-born and New York-based violinist who lived in
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
for more than 16 years and is responsible for transforming the
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
into an important sound of Salsa and Latin music. The first solo violinist to perform with a Salsa orchestra, De La Fé has toured the world more than thirty times, appearing in concert and participating in more than one hundred albums by such top-ranked Latin artists as
Eddie Palmieri
Eddie Palmieri (born December 15, 1936) is an American Grammy Award-winning pianist, bandleader, musician, and composer of Puerto Rican ancestry. He is the founder of the bands La Perfecta, La Perfecta II, and Harlem River Drive.
Early life
Pal ...
,
Tito Puente
Ernest Anthony Puente Jr. (April 20, 1923 – June 1, 2000), commonly known as Tito Puente, was an American musician, songwriter, bandleader, and record producer of Puerto Rican descent. He is best known for dance-oriented mambo and Latin jazz c ...
,
Celia Cruz
Úrsula Hilaria Celia de la Caridad Cruz Alfonso (21 October 1925 – 16 July 2003), known as Celia Cruz, was a naturalized Cuban-American singer and one of the most popular Latin artists of the 20th century. Cruz rose to fame in Cuba during t ...
,
José Alberto "El Canario"
José Alberto Justiniano (born December 22, 1959, in Villa Consuelo, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic), better known by his stage name José Alberto "El Canario", is a salsa singer from the Dominican Republic. José Alberto moved to Puerto Ri ...
,
Cheo Feliciano
Cheo Feliciano (3 July 1935 – 17 April 2014) was a Puerto Rican singer and composer of salsa and bolero music. Feliciano was the owner of a recording company called "Coche Records". He was the first tropical singer to perform at the "Amira de ...
, The Fania All-Stars,
Santana
Santana may refer to:
Transportation
* Volkswagen Santana, an automobile
* Santana Cycles, manufacturer of tandem bicycles
* Santana Motors, a former Spanish automobile manufacturer
Boats
* Santana 20, an American sailboat design by W. D. Sch ...
and
Larry Harlow. His second solo album, Alfredo, released in 1979, received a Grammy nomination as "Best Latin album".
A child prodigy, Alfredo's father who was a singer (a tenor of opera) 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. , Cuba and sang on Cuban radio with Bienvenido León and Celia Cruz in the 1940s recognized his son's skills and encouraged his musical talent.
Early life
He 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. , Cuba,
to a family of musicians. De La Fé began studying violin at the Amadeo Roldán Conservatory in Havana in 1962.
In 1964, he received a scholarship to attend the
Warsaw Conservatory
The Chopin University of Music ( pl, Uniwersytet Muzyczny Fryderyka Chopina, UMFC) is a musical conservatorium and academy located in central Warsaw, Poland. It is the oldest and largest music school in Poland, and one of the largest in Europe. in Poland.
In 1965, he performed compositions by
Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositi ...
and
Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...
with the
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...
in
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...
.
A scholarship to
Juilliard
The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...
Arts enabled him to further his studies.
De La Fé launched his professional career, at the age of 12, when he switched from classical music to salsa and accepted an invitation to join charanga musician
José Fajardo's orchestra in 1966.
Career
In 1972, he joined
Eddie Palmieri
Eddie Palmieri (born December 15, 1936) is an American Grammy Award-winning pianist, bandleader, musician, and composer of Puerto Rican ancestry. He is the founder of the bands La Perfecta, La Perfecta II, and Harlem River Drive.
Early life
Pal ...
's orchestra.
He remained with the group for five years, moving temporarily to San Francisco where he joined Santana in 1976. Returning to New York, De La Fé joined
Típica 73
Típica 73 was an American charanga and salsa band in the 1970s and early 1980s, that was formed by musicians from Ray Barretto's band. "Típica" refers to the typical configuration of a Cuban chararanga while "73" refers to the year that group ...
in 1977.
Two years later, he released his debut solo album, ''Alfredo'',
and was nominated for three
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
s. His song, "Hot to Trot", appeared in the top 50 in the US.
In 1980, De La Fé signed with Sars All Stars, and produced thirty-two albums for the Latin record label. His second solo album, ''Charanga '80'', was released the same year. In 1981, De La Fé became musical director of
Tito Puente
Ernest Anthony Puente Jr. (April 20, 1923 – June 1, 2000), commonly known as Tito Puente, was an American musician, songwriter, bandleader, and record producer of Puerto Rican descent. He is best known for dance-oriented mambo and Latin jazz c ...
's Latin Percussion Jazz Ensemble. In 1981 he resumed his solo career, signing with Taboga, for whom he recorded the album ''Triunfo''.
Relocating to Colombia in 1983,
De La Fé signed with
Philips
Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...
and released three albums - ''Made in Colombia'', ''Dancing in the Tropics'' and ''Alfredo De La Fé Vallenato'' - by the end of the 1980s. In 1989, De La Fé switched to the Fuentes label. In 1991 he toured Europe playing in Geneva, Paris and Rome and met Eddie Palmieri. In 1991, he also participated in a Colombian soap opera ''Azucar''. Although he joined the Fania All-Stars in 1995, De La Fé continued to pursue a solo career. He signed with
Sony Music
Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...
in 1997. Two years later, he toured with his own band, appearing at festivals in Denmark, Holland, France, Turkey and Belgium, and reunited with Eddie Palmieri's Orchestra for a European tour.
In 2002, after several years in Europe, he moved back to New York and toured the US with his New York band,
led by pianist
Israel Tanenbaum
Israel Tanenbaum-Rivera is an American pianist, music producer, composer, arranger and audio engineer who has produced more than 50 albums and participated in over 100 recordings.
Salsa
Tanenbaum has performed with many of the classic salsa art ...
. Other musicians included bass player Maximo Rodriguez, percussionists Tony Escapa and Little Johnny Rivero, flute player Andrea Brachfeld.
Discography
Solo albums
*1979 : "Alfredo"
*1980 : "Alfredo De La Fé y la charanga 1980"
*1981 : "Para África con amor"
*1982 : "Triunfo"
*1984 : "Made in Colombia"
*1985 : "Alfredo De La Fé Vallenato"
*1990 : "Salsa"
*1990 : "Los violines de Alfredo De La Fé"
*1992 : "Los violines de Alfredo De La Fé vol. 2: Sentir de Cuba".
*1993 : "Con toda la salsa Alfredo De La Fé"
*1995 : "La Salsa de Los Dioses"
*2000 : "Latitudes"
*2006 : "Alfredo De La Fé y
Fruko (La Llave de Oro)"
Guest artist on other productions
*1973 : "The Sun Of Latin Music" by Eddie Palmieri & Friends Con Lalo Rodriguez
*1976 : "
De Ti Depende" by Hector Lavoe
*1977 : "Selecciones Clásicas" by José Fajardo
*1977 : "El Baquine de Angelitos Negros" by Willie Colon
*1978 : "
Comedia" by Hector Lavoe
*1979 : "Típica 73 en Cuba - Intercambio Cultural" by Típica 73
*1979 : "I Need You" by
Sylvester
*1980 : "Charangueando con la Típica 73" by Típica 73
*1980 : "Señor Charanga" by José Fajardo
*1982 : "On Broadway" by Tito Puento
*1997 : "Bravo" by Fania All-Stars
*2001 : "Diferente" by Jose Alberto (El Canario)
References
External links
Official websiteMentioned in the Latin Jazz Timeline at the Smithsonian Institution, the National Museum of American History.Jazz Music Archives Review and Brief BioMTV Biography page
{{DEFAULTSORT:De La Fe, Alfredo
1954 births
Living people
Cuban musicians
Cuban violinists
Male violinists
People from Havana
Naturalized citizens of Colombia
21st-century violinists
21st-century male musicians