Ernesto Lecuona

Probably the most important musician to be born in Cuba, Ernesto Lecuona was already playing piano at age 5. He obtained his master in piano with a gold medal at the National Conservatory when he was barely 17 years old. Among his teachers were Antonio Saavedra (a disciple of Ignacio Cervantes), Joaquin Nin and the Dutch composer Hubert de Blanck who resided in Havana. When his father died, young Lecuona was forced to work playing piano in silent-movie bistros in order to help the family finances. As he became known as a concert pianist he also started composing. In spite of being a classical pianist, early on Lecuona showed interest in popular music and composed "La Comparsita" and other dance pieces which defined Cuban music by uniting the Spanish-European musical tradition with African rhythms. In 1917 he made his first recordings in New York, where he settled for a while, but in 1918 he was back in Cuba to found the Instituto Musical de La Habana. He composed his first oper... [Details Intro]