Güines, Tata

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Tata Güines

1930-2008

Musician

Tata Güines was an internationally famous percussionist known in his native Cuba as "El rey de los tambores" (King of the Drums). His distinctive and innovative technique on the tumbadora, or conga drum, was a revelation to audiences, and over the course of six decades he played with many of the world's best-known musicians, including the trumpeter Miles Davis, the singers Josephine Baker and Frank Sinatra, and the pianist and bandleader Bebo Valdés.

Güines was born Federico Arístides Soto Alejo on June 30, 1930, in Güines, a poor town near Havana, Cuba's capital; he adopted the name of his birthplace when he began to play professionally. His family was poor but musically inclined. His father, Joseito Alejo, played the tres, a guitarlike instrument, in a well-known sextet called Partagás, and an uncle, Dionisio Martínez, was a bandleader who provided the young Güines with one of his first jobs as a musician. As a boy, Güines primarily played the bass, but the instrument's weight was a drawback, and he was increasingly drawn to the drums. Decades later, he liked to recall that his first drums were homemade bongos fashioned out of discarded food containers. Soon, however, he had moved on to the tumbadora, a tall drum brought to Cuba by West African slaves in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Like most Cuban musicians of his era, Güines had no formal musical training. He learned by watching and imitating others, notably a renowned conguero (conga player) named Chano Pozo. By his late teens, Güines had added his own innovations, and the sound from his drums became distinctly, even unmistakably, his own. These innovations were rooted in a novel technique that brought every part of his hands, famously including the fingernails, into contact with the drumheads.

By the early 1940s, Güines was working as a shoemaker and playing in bands at night, among them the Orquesta Estrellas Nacientes (Rising Stars Orchestra), a group run by his uncle Dionisio that included a number of family members. In 1946 (some sources say 1948) he moved to Havana, where he found irregular employment with Valdés, Guillermo Portabales, José Fajardo, and other rising bandleaders. His first full-time appointment came in 1952 with Fajardo's orchestra. The mid-1950s was a period of dramatic musical evolution in Cuba, as many of the nation's most talented musicians, Güines among them, began to turn away from American swing, a sound that dominated the tourist venues where they often worked, toward son montuno, a local fusion of Spanish and African elements. Underscoring the new emphasis on local sounds were several recording sessions in Havana in 1957 that were organized for the Panart label and led by Israel "Cachao" López, Güines's longtime friend and collaborator. The album that resulted from these recordings, Descargas en Miniatura (Jam Sessions in Miniature), contained some of the most influential songs in Cuban music.

That same year Güines traveled to New York, where he met and played with Davis, Baker, Sinatra, and other world-famous talents. At a concert in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, Güines astounded audiences with a virtuoso performance by playing five congas and singing simultaneously. Word of his abilities spread quickly, and he was in great demand for both concerts and recording sessions. Güines's political beliefs, however, made him uncomfortable in the United States. The late 1950s were difficult for all Cubans, as Fidel Castro's Communist rebels sought to topple the U.S.-backed regime of Fulgencio Batista. Even though Güines sent money from his U.S. earnings to the rebels, he still felt ill at ease in the country that was Batista's strongest supporter. American racism also seems to have been a factor in his decision to return home after three years of living abroad. According to Robin Denselow in London's Independent, Güines later said of his time in the United States, "Fame did not exist beyond the stage. Once you left the stage, it was like the signs said: ‘Whites Only.’" When Castro seized power in 1959, hundreds of musicians fled the country, many to the United States, where they benefited from the growing popularity of Cuban and Caribbean music. Güines, meanwhile, though he had done much to spark that popularity, was traveling the other way.

Even though Güines remained in high esteem with fellow musicians throughout his career, his popularity with the public declined somewhat in the 1960s and 1970s, as the descarga (jam) style at which he excelled gave way to the nueva canción (new song) style, which emphasized lyrics over instrumentals. In 1979, however, Egrem, the government-owned record label, released a series of recordings that revitalized the older style. Known as the Estrellas de Areito sessions, they prominently featured Güines and his congas. As the descarga revival continued into the 1980s and 1990s, a number of young musicians, many from abroad, sought out Güines for his expertise. These meetings often resulted in fertile collaborations, and several produced critically acclaimed albums, including Pasaporte (1995), with fellow conguero Miguel Angá Díaz; Cubanismo! (1996), with Jesús Alemañy; and Chamalongo (1998), with the Canadian saxophonist Jane Bunnett.

Egrem named Pasaporte its 1995 album of the year. Güines himself received a remarkable number of honors and awards toward the end of his life, including three prominent prizes from the Cuban government: the Alejo Carpentier Medal (2002), given to Cubans and foreigners who have enriched Cuban culture; the Orden Félix Varela (2004), given to those who have contributed in an extraordinary way to culture on the island and around the world; and the National Music Prize (2006), the country's highest award for musicians.

Tata Güines died of a kidney infection on February 4, 2008, in Havana. Surviving him was his son, Arturo. Javier Galeano of the Associated Press reported that "mourners sang, clapped and swayed" at a funeral service in Güines, his birthplace. In an interview with Cubarte shortly before his death, the man known for six decades as "King of the Drums" described his musical legacy: "I would like for everything that we have done to be preserved. My CDs are there. They are like books for anyone who wants to read them."

At a Glance …

Born Federico Arístides Soto Alejo on June 30 (some sources say July 18), 1930, in Güines, Cuba; died of a kidney infection on February 4, 2008, in Havana, Cuba; son of Joseito Alejo (a musician); children: Arturo. Politics: Cuban Socialist. Religion: Santeria.

Career: Concert and studio musician, 1940s-2008.

Awards: Alejo Carpentier Medal, Government of Cuba, 2002; Orden Félix Varela, Government of Cuba, 2004; National Music Prize, Government of Cuba, 2006.