Bárbaro Alberto Torres Delgado

He was born in the city of Matanzas.

He has worked in all genres of Cuban popular music and especially in rural folk music, of which he is an excellent connoisseur and a genuine bearer of these traditions.

He has been playing this instrument since the age of 10. He received his first lessons from his godfather, the distinguished Matanzas lute player Luciano Monet, and by age 14 he became a professional.

In 1973 he entered the military and joined the military band and jazz-band style orchestra, later playing in different groups such as:

Serenata Yumurina
The Traditional Matanzas Quartet, of which he was the director

The Yaraví Ensemble
The Campo Alegre ensemble.

In 1998 he became part of the Manguaré group, one of the most representative groupings of Cuban popular music, being the first to link this characteristic instrument in rural folk music to a contemporary popular music ensemble until he decided to settle in Havana.

Torres was already known among the best Cuban lute players and as such became a permanent member of the Cuban String Orchestra. His services are requested by radio, television, filmmakers and recording studios that include him in recordings of groups as popular as Elio Revé, Sierra Maestra and Albita Rodríguez.

Among the fundamental traits of his playing style stand out his high technical level—he is a virtuoso on the instrument—his high level of improvisation and his great sense and harmonic development, being capable of taking this instrument to perform any genre of Cuban or international music.

Throughout his professional life he has conducted various concert tours both nationally and internationally, radio and television programs in Cuba and abroad, music recordings for albums, incidental music for Cuban and international films and documentaries. He belongs to the Afro Cuban All Star, a group that recorded the CD Buena Vista Social Club which won the Grammy Award in Tropical Music in 1997, produced by Ray Cooder. He holds the Order for National Culture.

He has participated as a guest invited by maestros Leo Brouwer and Jesús Ortega at the International Guitar Festivals of Havana since 1986.

He was appointed full professor of the Chair of Popular Music at [Instituto Superior de Arte]], and is a member of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba.
He has shared stages with musicians of the caliber of Leo Brouwer, Chucho Valdés, Niño Rivera, National Folklore Ensemble, Celina González, Tata Guines, Compay Segundo, Rubén González, Ibrahím Ferrer, Amadito Valdés, Pío Leiva, Omara Portuondo, Eliades Ochoa, José Luis Cortez (el tosco), Adalberto Alvarez, Ray Cooder, Oscar de León, Papo Luca, flamenco guitarist José A. Rodríguez, Santiago Auseron (Juan Perro), Cesaria Evora, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Willy Colón, Juan Formell, Neil Young, Richie Ray and Bobby Cruz, Chichi Peralta, Jimmy Cliff, among others.
The group with which he works the Cuban piquete, founded by him along with musicologist Sonia Pérez Cassola in 1992, possesses a guarantee of indisputable artistic quality. It carries out serious concert work with Cuban popular music and especially with rural folk music. Its original format is lute, tres, guitar, bass, Cuban percussion, trumpet and singers. Among the featured solo voices is Conchita Torres, his sister, a distinguished singer of Cuban folk music.

He is one of the stars of the Buena Vista Social Club project, with which he obtained the Grammy Award in 1998. He also participated in the successful film of the same name directed by Win Wenders, which was nominated for an Oscar in the documentary category in 1999.

He has made two record productions with his group, the first Havana Café, which has received excellent reviews from specialized critics (New York Times, Billboard, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Latin Beat, among others), and his latest production Barbarito Torres has been very well received by the public and specialized critics. It was nominated for a Grammy in 2003 in the category of Best Traditional Tropical Album.

This virtuoso instrumentalist has imposed a style in the playing of the Cuban lute, taking it for the first time out of its usual framework, the rural music ensemble, to incorporate it into any other type of Cuban popular music format. He has been the Cuban lute player who has taken this typical instrument of ours to the international arena, achieving a high level of acceptance and popular appeal.

Some CDs in which his participation stands out:
Buena Vista Social Club (produced by Ray Cooder) GRAMMY 98.
Afrocuban All Star (producer Juan de Marcos Glez GRAMMY NOMINATED 98.
Compay Segundo "The Best of Life" (produced by Luis Lázaro).
Distinct and Different (produced by Juan de Marcos González).
Buena Vista Social Club Presents Ibrahím Ferrer (produced by Ry Cooder) Grammy Nominated 99.
Atlantic Café. Cesaria Evora. (HARMONIA, LDA).
Frank Emilio. Ancestral Reflections. (BLUE NOTE).
Lowering Gervasio, by Amadito Valdés, produced by Discos Caramba, Grammy Nominated 2004.
Flower of Love, by Omara Portuondo, produced by World Circuit, in 2003.
Kyoko Sony Music, produced by Ryu Murakami.
Sounding Right There (produced by Orlando Valle (Maraca).