{"id":5965,"date":"2020-07-15T00:00:29","date_gmt":"2020-07-15T04:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/?p=5965"},"modified":"2022-05-04T15:59:08","modified_gmt":"2022-05-04T19:59:08","slug":"fiesta-de-tambores-manos-de-seda-dando-la-nota-tata-guines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/fiesta-de-tambores-manos-de-seda-dando-la-nota-tata-guines\/","title":{"rendered":"Drum Party \/ Silk Hands"},"content":{"rendered":"

The year 1940 was the decisive moment for the conga as an instrument: it was the moment when one of the greatest Cuban musicians of all time, Arsenio Rodr\u00edguez, transformed the septet of sones as a whole by adding two trumpets, a piano and a conga. or tumbler. Until then, the conga was a low-class instrument in Cuban popular music and its natural environment was that of the rumba and the comparsas.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, when in 1948 Federico Ar\u00edstides Soto decided to emigrate to Havana to try his luck, transhumant years of life still awaited him: by day, a magazine vendor, shoe shine, and at night, with the conga in tow, from Luyan\u00f3 to Vedado earning 10 cents for a presentation on the radio or at most, a peso for playing dances in academies such as that of Mars and Belona. These were times when the congueros were not considered musicians.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the categorization of this instrument and for its performers to be considered as musicians of the same level as the rest, several factors influenced. One of them, very decisive, was the modification that the Vergara brothers introduced in its construction, at the end of the 40s. Before, the leathers were fixed by nailing them to the wooden structure made from wine barrels and they had to be refined. with candles every two or three numbers. This inconvenience ended when the brothers introduced the metal key system for both the tombs and the bongo. Another indisputable element was the legendary figure of Chano Pozo, who before emigrating to the United States was already a star of the <\/span>show<\/span><\/i> Tropicana, a fame that later increased after joining the Dizzy Gillespie orchestra in 1946 and on the recommendation of Mario Bauz\u00e1.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Son of the tresero Jose\u00edto Alejo, Federico Ar\u00edstides Soto Alejo was born in the municipality of G\u00fcines on June 30, 1930. From a very young age he constantly hit the desk of his school, and when he came out with his shoe shine drawer, he deviated towards the corner of Santa Barbara where the bemb\u00e9 was never missing. Interestingly, he started playing the bong\u00f3 and then learned the double bass with his uncle Dionisio Mart\u00ednez, who introduced him playing this instrument in his Ases del Ritmo ensemble. Later he would found his own ensemble: the Estrellas Nacientes. Before leaving his hometown, he had already become familiar with the jazz band format, where there was such a group: the Swing Casino.\nSince he arrived from his town they called him Tata G\u00fcines. That nickname had been given to him by Estela, the sister of Arsenio Rodr\u00edguez, in whose ensemble he played before his Havana period.<\/p>\n

Tata passed through many groups before becoming \u201chands of silk\u201d: J\u00f3venes del Cayo, Havana, Sport, the Orchestra Sensi\u00f3n, Gloria Matancera and the Rafael Ortega orchestra at the Sans Souci cabaret. Occasionally he ventured into other genres from his increasingly frequent radio performances, among others, he accompanied the group of Guillermo Portabales, acting alongside Celina Gonz\u00e1lez and Ram\u00f3n Veloz.<\/span><\/p>\n

Seeing how the directors of the groups themselves discriminated against the congueros to the point of paying them less than other musicians, Tata decides to become a virtuoso, listen to the recordings of the <\/span>jazz-band<\/span><\/i> North Americans who were on the radio, to assimilate the world of jazz, its rhythm, its accents and find a way to introduce the conga into that universe. He was trying to put into practice in Havana what his inspirer, Chano, had achieved in New York.<\/span>
\n<\/span>He has said about him\u00a0<\/span>Leo Brouwer<\/span>: "There is an element that we have not valued enough: he, with his nails, tips, fingers and hands, builds an orchestra of timbres that goes beyond the schematic role of percussion and rhythm...".\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Already the decade of the '50 marks a higher stage in his career. In 1952 he joined the Fajardo y sus Estrellas orchestra. In 1955 he traveled to Venezuela, Mexico, and in 1956 he arrived in New York. He decides to try his luck and settles in the Big Apple. He plays at the Palladium and there he coincides with Benny Mor\u00e9, who was doing a season with Machito and the Afrocubans, performing together for two weeks. He is hired at the Waldorf Astoria, a super luxurious hotel where he acquires solo status and alternates on the scene with Josephine Baker, Frank Sinatra and Los Chavales de Espa\u00f1a. Well paid, but discriminated against, he never adapts to that environment, the Englishman resists him and he decides to return in 1960.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, he knew how to take advantage of that New York stage: when he finished his performances at the Waldorf, he would come to the clubs in Harlem where he would meet in the early hours to jam ... no less than with Dizzy Gillespie, Maynard Ferguson and Chico Hamilton.<\/span><\/p>\n

The present anthology, a gift for collectors, offers an overview of Tata's career. Its author, Jorge Rodr\u00edguez, renowned figure in Cuban discography, has made a rigorous selection covering not only the stages through time, but also the different genres in which the talent of this singular musician has allowed him to shine with his own light.<\/span><\/p>\n