“El Gafa y Sus Ilustres"

"Los Ilustres", is a septet of popular and traditional Cuban music led by the renowned singer Jorge Rodriguez Penton known in the artistic guild as "El Gafa", which defends the most native of the cultural heritage of the island. Coming from different parts of the country, its members know the techniques of interpretation and style of our music. Jorgue Rodriguez Penton "El Gafa", of recognized artistic trajectory by our town, was one of the main voices of the famous group Bamboleo and at the moment leader of "Los Ilustres".

The son montuno, the cha-cha-cha, the guaracha and changüi are some of the genres that we will be able to find in the following album, which seeks to represent in a synthetic way, sonorities that are identical to those of Cuba. A large part of the repertoire included in this CD is unpublished, works by Clemente Hechavarría, one of the most prolific Cuban composers of recent times, who has achieved a wide catalog of works mainly in genres indigenous to our country. Santiaguero by birth, habanero by conviction, denotes in his works the exoticism of the Cuban East, the sting of our idiosyncrasy, without disdaining the love theme, this time from a more contemporary literary stance.

Alluding to the sonority of Sepeteto Tradicional Cubano, which integrates guitar, tres guitarre, bongos and small percussion, singers, double bass and trumpet, in this case, only 6 musicians replace the function of 7, some playing double roles within the group. This is the case of the percussionist Daniel Argüelles, who in some songs alternates the interpretation of the bongo with the congas, or the tresero and Guitarre player Clemente Hechavarría, who was also in charge of the musical arrangements. As a guest was the percussionist Alberto Marrón Pérez, a promising young Cuban artist who has won several composition contests organized by the Paulita Concepción Vocational School of Art in Havana.

This is an album that represents the roots of our culture, a journey from the East to the West, from the son to the ballad, and that tells through its arrangements, the story of how this music came to reach the most refined levels as far as popular music is concerned, and that's why today we can count on this album with titles like "Bilongo" by Guillermo Rodríguez Fiffe to "Preferi Perderte" by the great Benny More within the classics of Cuban music.

Adavis Marrero , musicologist
Havana / Cuba