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Timberas/os,

does anybody know the rumbero in orange t-shirt that appears on this short documentary about rumba in prison? He can be seen at 3:05 playing quinto beautifully on that columbia. The anecdote he tells later is also priceless!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsjhiYxS7U8

Salud!

That is Leo Moré, a percussionist who played with Pello el Afrokan and lives in la Habana. He plays often at el Callejon de Hamel. The singer (who also produced the video) is the late great Alfredo Hernandez, son of the wonderful filmmaker the late Sara Gomez and one of the most prolific sound engineers in Cuba, the late Germinal Hernandez. Incredible family.
You seem to have good taste in rumba, so here is another columbia sung by Alfredo with great percussionists all around.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h91OgpktMRU

Hi Jorge, thanks for all the information!

Alfredo is an amazing singer indeed. I love columbia and am a big fan of Ricardo Gómez "Santa Cruz" and Miguel Ángel Mesa "Aspirina". I am always happy to find rumberos who can sing columbia so well!

I have just learnt that the expression "the late" means "deceased" in English. So Alfredo Hernández must have been quite young when he passed. I couldn't find any more information, unfortunately. May he rest in peace. Hopefully there are enough other young rumberos who keep the columbia tradition alive.

Yes he was young. He produced several films you can find on YouTube and carried on the Afrocuban intellectual tradition of his parents. The last film of his I have seen was his interview of Eloy Machado El Ambia (ibae) in 2012.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQJhEa-JpR4&t=3s

Singing rumba columbia is a very special art, rare outside the rumba community in Cuba. Here is one singer Maximo Valdes from Chile who sings a nice columbia, the third cut in this video, another batarumba columbia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM6sGn2fnsg

Yeah Jorge - segundero mayor! I will check YOU out!

Great singing by everybody, I must say.

Personally, I would not perform Egun songs in public folklore productions. But I'm no Roman Díaz. I'm not scolding anybody, I just wouldn't dare to do it myself. Then, someday, someone would do it anyway. This is an unstoppable process, and it is not only bad to have less restrictions

Dou you know whether this is perhaps the same Miguel Valdés who played with Emiliano Salvador in the 80's?

Thomas

Nice performance at Congahead. Glad to see that Juan Campos "Chan" was still kicking not so long ago. I especially like his Abakua recordings with Yoruba Andabo.

I will watch Alfredo's interview with Eloy Machado. I have a Clave y Guagancó record ("La rumba que no termina") that starts with an introduction by him. By the way, my favourite track on that record is a columbia sung by Amado Dedeu ("Ija mo dupe"), which I try to sing under the shower sometimes.

And great tres-dos playing! Congrats!

Nice videos, indeed. And I just discovered that the lyrics of this song I love are Eloy Machado's poetry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DA2sakL_FEc

Thanks. I was humbled and honored to be part of that recording.
Thomas to answer your question I am pretty sure Miguelo Valdes is the same Miguel Valdes that played with Emiliano Salvador but I never asked him. Here is Puerto Padre by Miguelo's group NY Cuban Boys played as a tribute to Emiliano. Miguelo is an outstanding percussionist and the band is great.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3_NxedXnB8

And yes, Soy Todo is a poem by Eloy Machado El Ambia, listen to him here with Yoruba Andabo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TNLGtQD1Pg