Alberto Tosca Sánchez

Composer and guitarist. Outstanding Cuban musician. Member of the New Song movement in Cuba belonging to the second generation of Nueva Trova.

He was born in Havana, Cuba on March 12, 1955. In 1978 he joined the Nueva Trova Movement. From a literary point of view, he was influenced by American Walt Whitman, Cuban José Martí, and Spanish Juan Ramón Jiménez. As for music, his work shows the influence of songs by Silvio Rodríguez, Joan Manuel Serrat, Amaury Pérez Vidal, Noel Nicola and Vicente Feliú, as well as beat, rock, rumba and the most important Cuban drummers, and in some of his works he used batá drums.

With singer Xiomara Laugart he worked on the Island of Youth, from whose stay he became acquainted with Sucu-sucu, music originating from that region of Cuba. He participated, along with the Manguaré Group and Rafael de la Torre, in the Berlin International Song Festival; he later toured Czechoslovakia.

He also performed at the International Festivals of Varadero, cinema and others with figures such as: Fito Páez, Tania Libertad, Amparo Ochoa, Sonia Silvestre, Daniel Viglietti, Alfredo Zitarrosa, María Betania, Chico Buarque, Inti – Illimani, Iyapu, César Portillo de la Luz, Pedro Luis Ferrer, Amaury Pérez, among others. Alberto Tosca belonged to the National Center for Concert Music, was a music producer and arranger and was classified by the National Technical Evaluation Commission with the level of first-rate artist-technician, first category.

He graduated in music and singing from the Ignacio Cervantes Professional Development Conservatory, where he studied voice, classical guitar, Cuban percussion, complementary piano, harmony, counterpoint and fugue. His authorial work exceeds seven hundred songs, which have been performed by artists such as: Tania Libertad, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Carlos Santana. He composed four-hand pieces with guitarist and composer Peter Frampton, current guitarist for former Beatle Ringo Star.

Among his most recognized songs are Paria (Song to an Old Troubadour), Sembrando para ti and Ni un ya no estás.

He died in Havana on August 14, 2018.

The language and customs of various countries did not prevent him from transmitting the frenetic Afro-Cuban rhythm and the magnificent lyricism of this singer-songwriter who moved and made audiences from the following places think and dance:

Germany
France
Holland
Belgium
Bulgaria
Nicaragua
Mexico
Russia
Curaçao
Venezuela
Finland
Canada
Spain

He was a member of the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc. (LARAS), Los Angeles, California.

Works
Abre ese jazmín
Amor de este tiempo
Aves dentro
Canción a un viejo trovador
Canción para despertar a mi amor
Cubanidad
Danzas
Espejito
Hada cubana
Hijo
Islas
Juventud panal y estrella
Loca estrella
Matamorina
Ni un ya no estás
No cabe desesperanza
Pineras, Prometeo
Sembrando para ti
Trovada
Yemayá

Source: Ecured