David Torrens

Native of Guanabacoa (municipality of Ciudad de La Habana).

David Torrens―like Ernesto Lecuona, Ignacio Villa (Bola de Nieve) and Rita Montaner―grew up in a unique environment, full of mixtures of religions and African cultures present in Guanabacoa, which greatly enriched the artist's spirit.

From a young age he began musical studies at the Guillermo Tomás Elementary School of Art (in Guanabacoa) through 9th grade. By that time music was already his main hobby.

He continued pre-university studies at the Camilo Cienfuegos Military School. After finishing high school he attended university and graduated as an engineer in Mechanical Design, never letting go of his guitar.

He began his work in the second half of the 1980s, when he was only 15 years old, when he started as a keyboardist in the group Canto Libre, where his first compositions emerged to be performed by César Regueiro, the band's director, and later by David himself. Already away from Canto Libre, he became part of the Guanabacoa phenomenon, a unique movement of poets, painters and troubadours in the 1990s.

He listened to a lot of Argentine music, rock, Cuban and Brazilian trova. He has also expressed his taste for Benny Moré and Bola de Nieve. He is considered part of a group of creators that we now know as the Generation of 13 and 8, although he never attended that famous address in Vedado where the usual gatherings took place, but his music, already by then, was heading in the same direction.

In 1995, the singer signed a contract with the record company EMI Music of Mexico, which is why he moved to reside in Ciudad de México.

Mi poquita fé, is the title of his first album, which came out in 1998. His music has strong characteristics of Latin Pop and somewhat commercial. One of his songs, Sentimientos ajenos, received the ERES award for the most requested song of the year.

Also the music video for this song, directed by Ernesto Fundora, won the award for best music video at the Cuban Video Clip Festival Lucas Awards. This allowed David Torrens to enter Cuba and be back in La Habana and be able to perform some concerts.

David sang with Habana Abierta at the only concert they gave at the Salón Rosado de La Tropical. From this recording production David is seen professionally linked to artists such as Tania Libertad, Mexican singers Susana Zabaleta and Diego Schoening, the Cuban rock group Habana and fellow Cubans Amaury Gutiérrez and Francisco Céspedes, with whom he travels throughout Mexico working.

Three years later in 2001, he releases his second album, Ni de aquí ni de allá, licensed for Cuba to the Bella Isla label. This album in an original way fuses pop more with other rhythms such as rap, rock, son, bolero, ballad and others.

The video for the song Quién me quiere a mí, also had a very good reception in Cuba. It was then that David's songs began to be broadcast quite a bit at the national level. Pamela, is dedicated to his daughter. David has said that it is not a children's song, as such creations are "Children's feelings". That is, so that children understand it you have to feel what they feel.

After spending more than 15 years working in Mexico, Torrens constantly bets on fusion with other genres and incorporates innovative expressive resources: Cuba is my house, my everything. After some years in which I was away due to work matters, the moment came when I said to myself: "now I must return". Cuba is the place where I can compose, where things really move me. Indeed, although I don't set out to do so, in my songs―which are generally about love―I cannot escape the social or political reality of the country and how those things can affect the individual. I don't set out to make a political song, but I can't escape it. I normally say that what I do is Rockason, and through there we go through whatever there is, I try not to limit myself, to do what occurs to me, as long as it is something authentic.

Currently his life takes place between Mexico and Cuba, as he still travels occasionally to work in the Aztec land.

Razones was born as his first album released in his homeland, third of his career, produced by the record label Bis Music of the Cuban company ARTex. This phonogram has been nominated for the Cubadisco Award 2010, in the Fusion category. The song Razones was composed in co-authorship with Kelvis Ochoa, the rest of the songs are by David Torrens.

This production is 100% made in Cuba, fuses rhythms that range through the danzón, pop, trova, bolero, ballad, conga, rock, however, David can no longer shed the influences of jazz, cumbia, Central American and tropical music as a result of his experiences in Mexico, this gave the album a mark, as they let songs like Tú, Conga triste #1, Conga triste #2, Conga triste #3 be heard.

Participating in this production, as guest artists, Pablo Milanés (vocals) and Miguel Nuñez (piano) in Déjame ver, Kelvis Ochoa (co-authorship, vocals) in Razones and Alfredo Pino (trumpet) in Conga Triste #2. Choruses: Lázaro Ferrerio, Alexander Díaz, Diana Fuentes, Joel Hernández, Rachel Pastor, Ivón Sosa and children Simón Ibáñez (son of Polito Ibáñez) and Estafanía Núñez (daughter of pianist Miguel Núñez).

Pablo Milanés (vocals) and Miguel Nuñez (piano) in Déjame ver, Kelvis Ochoa (co-authorship, vocals) in Razones and Alfredo Pino (trumpet) in Conga Triste #2. Choruses: Lázaro Ferrerio, Alexander Díaz, Diana Fuentes, Joel Hernández, Rachel Pastor, Ivón Sosa and children Simón Ibáñez (son of Polito Ibáñez) and Estafanía Núñez (daughter of pianist Miguel Núñez).

Brass
Trumpet: Isidro Martínez
Trombone: Esteban Rivera
Baritone Sax: Delfino Tlascalteca
Alto and Tenor Sax: Fernando Acosta
Flute: Reinaldo Pérez Cruz
Percussion: Lázaro Ferreiro, Juan Carlos Vázquez and David Hernández
Choruses: Children's choir: Simón Ibáñez and Estefanía Núñez
Electric guitars: Amed Medina and Felipe Souza
Acoustic guitars, cuatro, charango and tres: David Torrens
Drums: Waldo S. Madera
Violins and Violas: Williams Rabelo
Bass: Joan Smith
Guest artists: Pablo Milanés in Déjame ver, Kelvis Ochoa in Razones, Miguel Nuñez, on piano in Déjame ver Alfredo Pino on the trumpet in Conga Triste # 2.

Discography
Year Title Record Label

1998 Mi poquita fe EMI Music
2002 Ni de aquí ni de allá EMI Music
2010 Razones Bis Music de ARTex

Videography
1998 - Sentimientos ajenos (Mi poquita fe). Dir. Ernesto Fundora.
2001 - Quién me quiere a mí (Ni de aquí ni de allá).
2008 - Mis impulsos sobre ti (theme from the film Los Dioses Rotos).

Collaborations
No pasa nada – Francisco Céspedes from the album Ay Corazón (2002). David_Torrens, composed the lyrics.
Rumba contigo – Interactive from the album Cubanos por el mundo (2010).
El sol y el cielo – Raúl Torres on the album Ala de luz. In an interview with Raúl Torres.[8]

Awards
1998: ERES Award (Mexico) for the most requested song of the year «Sentimientos ajenos».
1998: Lucas Awards, Cuba: Best music video: «Sentimientos ajenos».
2010: Cubadisco Awards: Best fusion album: Razones. Musical composition (soundtrack).[9]
2008: Mis impulsos sobre ti, theme from the film "Los dioses rotos" directed by Ernesto Daranas.