Through the social media platform X, the president expressed his heartfelt condolences to the family, as well as to the musical community, and meant that Changuito was the founder of Van Van orchestra, and that he was the creator of the Songo musical genre.

On X, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero also expressed his deepest condolences and noted that Changuito’s passing leaves an irreparable void in the national culture.

‟For his virtuosity on the timbales and tumbadoras, he was considered one of the most important percussionists in the history of Cuban music. Our fraternal embrace to his family and friends,” he wrote on the platform.

The artist, born in 1948, developed an extraordinary talent for percussion from a very early age, and throughout his long and successful career, he collaborated with numerous national and international groups and artists.

According to the Cuban Music Institute, his greatest contribution to the music of the Caribbean nation materialized in 1970 when, together with maestro Juan Formell, he founded Los Van Van orchestra, where he developed the songo, an innovative rhythm that fused elements of Cuban musical tradition with contemporary sounds.

He was a member of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba and received, among other recognitions, the Alejo Carpentier Medal.

He won the Grammy Award three times: in 1998, with the phonogram Habana, by Chucho Valdes and Roy Hardgrove; In 2001, with La rumba soy yo, a compilation of various Cuban popular music groups, and in 2004, with Lagrimas Negras, an album by Spanish singer Diego El Cigala.

abo/jdt/ode/mks