Armando Borcelá

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He was born in Manzanillo, province of Granma.

He played percussion instruments. For a time he worked in upholstery.

An innovator within Cuban popular music; he sang with a peculiar style, close to the guaracha, within what has been called "descarga".

Known by the pseudonym Guapachá. He performed briefly on radio, television, theater and cabaret, also recording an excellent long-playing record with the combo of Jesús (Chucho) Valdés.

Chucho Valdés founded his combo in 1964 with a true all-stars: Paquito D'Rivera on saxophone, Carlos del Puerto on double bass, Carlos Emilio Morales on electric guitar, Papíto Núñez on percussion and on vocals a percussionist turned singer, Amado Borcelá.

This singer performed a very innovative style of guaracha which he called "Descarga", where he improvised with the most daring rubatos following the scat line. Although Francisco Fellove had already done this when he recorded some records in the nineteen-fifties, Borcelá created such a version of it that this style became known thereafter as "guapachá".

Amado Borcelá died prematurely from a collapse at the height of his artistic rise and was only able to leave one LP with Chucho Valdés' combo.