# Lucía Huergo Guitián **Date of birth:** November 17, 1951 **Date of death:** May 1, 2015 **Categories:** Arts, Music, female composer, Musician, Society Cuban composer, producer, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist (soprano saxophone, flute, and keyboards) expert in working with new technologies. A musician of broad spectrum and recognized virtuosity. An outstanding instrumental performer who moved fundamentally in the world of Havana jazz from the 1970s until her death. Her solo work did not occupy space in national media, which is why she was identified accompanying her professional colleagues. She studied orchestration with Leo Brouwer and Federico Smith. More associated with the soprano saxophone and flute, Lucía Huergo also mastered the clarinet, oboe, and electronic keyboards. And the world of computing and programming, in addition to the difficult task of orchestrating musical scores. In her work appear songs with a lyrical style inherited from nueva trova alongside exercises in melodic jazz and also ventures into the mentioned fusion that some call "afro-rock". She joined Grupo Síntesis in the 1980s and after joining the band directed by Carlos Alfonso, she wrote several of its most memorable pages, something captured in landmark recordings of the lineup such as Hilo directo (1986) and Ancestros (1987), in which appear anthology pieces of her authorship such as Asoyín and Meregguo, which radically enriched the discourse of the lineup, a crossroads between African tradition, rock, and elements of electronics. Lucía Huergo was exquisite in recording sessions, and served as arranger, producer, or performer. Her role in recordings by Teresita Fernández (Mi gatico Vinagrito), Liuba María Hevia (Travesía mágica, Ilumíname, Secretos cantados); or with Yusa (Yusa), with Marta Campos or with Heidi Igualada, among others, identify her as a selective collaborator, but one who made herself felt in multiple details. She was a member of the orchestra of Octavio Sánchez Olaguive (Cotán), the groups of Franco Laganá, Sonido Contemporáneo, among many others. Her trajectory stood out particularly through her work with troubadours Sara González and Amaury Pérez, with whom she established a close and fruitful creative exchange. Through Lucero Records, both established and emerging artists also passed. She preferred the tranquility of the recording studio more than the strain of live performance and the inevitable stress of a concert. Like producers and instrumentalists of pedigree, she left her mark irrefutably written in each group or project in which she participated. Just as in Síntesis, she contributed notably to the sonic language of Mezcla, the group led by guitarist Pablo Menéndez, with which she recorded the albums Cantos (1992) and Fronteras de sueños (1994) and showed her mastery bringing together Afro-Cuban rhythms, popular music and rock, and also allowed her to teach again in the realm of jazz, one of her great passions. Her solo work did not occupy space in national media. Hence many only identified her accompanying in the creative adventure of her professional colleagues. But as a soloist she shaped several albums constructed with detailed sonic architecture, such as Sinfonía Hemingway, Lucía and Zona azul, three albums in which diverse periods of her personal and creative life are summarized and reveal her as an artist who never made pacts with the most common sonic formulas and with a transcendent interior world full of enigmas to decipher that found its best means of expression through music. Death She passed away on May 1, 2015 in Havana, Cuba, victim of lung carcinoma, at the age of 63. Tours She toured Martinique, Dominican Republic, Panama, Argentina, Venezuela, Nicaragua, United States, Spain, Germany. She shared stages with figures such as Fito Páez, Denis de Kalaf, Eduardo Capetillo, and José Feliciano. She gave demonstrations of computer music at the headquarters of the SGAE in Spain in New York. In 1993 she created her studio for recording her music using the MIDI system. Critics and musicologists highlight her work as an orchestrator where the sonic adaptation of the demands of the aesthetic message to the peculiarities of each musical work can be appreciated. Discography The recordings with Grupo Síntesis stand out, Hilo Directo and Ancestros (as composer and performer). CD Sinfonía Hemingway (as composer and performer of MIDI music), BIS MUSIC, 1998. CD by Amaury Pérez on verses by Dulce María Loynaz (arranger and orchestrator). CD Serenata, Heidi Igualada (musical direction and arrangements), UNICORNIO, 2002. And other recording works with Teresita Fernández, Marta Valdés, Miriam Ramos, Xiomara Laugart, Sara González, Elena Burke, Lázaro Ross, Kiki Corona, and Gonzalo Rubalcaba. Works Asoyín Atmósfera loca Bajo tu sombra Barasuayo Con la luz de la mañana Echubelekeo Entre el tal vez y el quizás Eyeleo, De vuelta La rumba loca Mereguo Mi vieja Habana Mientras espero Mirando tus ojos No puede ser lo que quisieras Pasaje al cielo (la mamá) Tema para Yusa. Incidental Music Canto a Matanzas Las huérfanas de la Obra-Pía Mujer transparente Peter Pan, by filmmaker Estela Bravo Quién dijo que esto no es amor. Awards and Honors She received the following awards as a composer and recording producer: EGREM Gold Record Award for the CD Ancestros, 1984. Best Music Award at the International Theater Festival, 1989. Production Award, Ireno García album, CUBADISCO International Fair 1999. Her rich legacy will keep her alive in the most authentic identity of Cubans. Lucía Huergo was inserted in the elite of creators who impact through their inexhaustible sonic abundance and their capacity to beautify and exalt all the music that touched their ingenuity and their hands.