Eduardo Ricardo Egües Martínez

The most famous of Cuban popular flutists. Composer of danzones and cha cha chá. One of the pillars of the renowned Orquesta Aragón.

He was born in Cruces, a town in the former province of Las Villas. He received his first musical instruction from his father, Eduardo Egües, who directed the Municipal Band of Cruces. He began by studying clarinet, then saxophone, and subsequently piano.

He made his musical debut as a child, playing cymbals, bass drum, and timpani in the Band of the town of Ranchuelo, where his family came to reside.

While very young, he was a clarinetist with the Municipal Band of Manicaragua and that of Santa Clara. He joined the Monterrey orchestra as a saxophonist, directed by his father, and the Santa Clara group Ritmo y Alegría, as a pianist. In that city he also played for a time with the jazz band Hermanos García.

Around 1947 he began studying flute, an instrument at which he became a virtuoso. His first professional work as a flutist was with the Municipal Orchestra of the city of Santa Clara.

Beginning in 1951, he began substituting as flutist in the Orquesta Aragón, which was based in the city of Cienfuegos and played mainly danzones.

In 1954 he joined the orchestra's payroll as a replacement for Rolando Lozano, who in turn went on to play with Ninón Mondéjar's América orchestra, a group that had introduced the Cha cha chá in the early part of the decade.

In 1955, when the Aragón was already among the most popular dance orchestras in the country and contracts to perform in the capital were abundant, Egües settled permanently in La Habana.

That same year he made his first recordings with the charanga, which included his cha cha chá Picando de vicio, and began working as an arranger. Also in 1955 he introduced one of his most popular works, El bodeguero, which has not stopped being recorded since then in Cuba and abroad. One of the most widely distributed versions of this cha cha chá, considered one of the classics of the genre, was performed by American performer Nat King Cole in 1958.

With the arrangements and compositions of Richard Egües and Rafael Lay (father), the Orquesta Aragón achieved a sound and character of its own, which distinguished it from the rest. His flute improvisations became so famous that almost all the flutists of typical orchestras, both in Cuba and abroad, began to imitate him.

Initially he played a five-key wooden flute, and switched to a metal flute in the late 1970s.

Among Egües's highly successful creations in the 1950s are El trago and Por esta adoración, Bombón chá—in collaboration with Rafael Ortiz—(1956), La cantina, Maloja, Los sabrosones, and Chachachá el satélite (1957)—in collaboration with Rafael Lay.

In 1957 composer Víctor Marín dedicated a piece to him that immediately became part of the orchestra's repertoire: Que suene la flauta.

In 1959 the Aragón recorded other successful works by Richard Egües, such as the danzón Cero penas and the son montuno La muela. The following year he introduced Bella muñequita and the danzón Gladys, dedicated to his daughter on her fifteenth birthday. In June 1961 the orchestra recorded El cuini tiene bandera (guaracha-cha), which became one of the biggest hits of the decade.

In 1963 a new long-playing record by the Orquesta Aragón was released with his work Que viva el chachachá, a danzón-chá in which he paid tribute to the rhythm created by Enrique Jorrín.

In the following years he composed the guajira-cha Guajira para ti, El cerquillo—identified as "ritmo guachipupa"—, the chottis-cha Españolita, and other pieces that achieved great popularity.

His last compositions recorded with the Orquesta Aragón were captured on record from live performances under his direction, held in France in 1984: Aguardiente de caña (son-cha), En el cachumbambé (merengue), and El son merengue (son-cha).

That year he left the orchestra, and his vacancy was filled by flutist René Lorente. He founded his own group with formidable musicians, also in the charanga format, but it was almost impossible for the public not to link him with the Aragón.

In his later years he ventured successfully into symphonic music, and was continuously sought after to record anthological pieces of Cuban popular dance music, on several occasions in the company of Chucho Valdés and other outstanding musicians. His sound shone once more with the success of the Buena Vista Social Club, when he offered a brilliant flute improvisation in the recording of Tres lindas cubanas, a son by Guillermo Castillo, in danzón version by Antonio María Romeu.

His solid musical training allowed him to perform works by classical composers—Mozart, Haydn, among others—and to make recordings as a symphonic flutist. In 1981, before leaving the Aragón, he recorded for the Areito label, with accompaniment by Esther Ferrer on piano, compositions and arrangements of his own and works by Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, and other great composers.

He participated in symphonic concerts with the Popular Concert Orchestra, directed by Alfredo Diez Nieto.

In 1999 he recorded a CD titled Richard Egües & Friends: Cuban Sessions 1999 (Latin World) with an all-star cast under his direction. It included new versions of some of his most popular numbers (Tan sabrosona—composed in collaboration with Rafael Lay—, Bombón cha, Gladys, El cerquillo, El Cuini, and El bodeguero), along with famous pieces by other Cuban composers such as Ernesto Lecuona, Moisés Simons, and Joseíto Fernández.

For years, now officially retired from music, maestro Egües taught piano, flute, and repertoire classes in his residence to young musicians who came to benefit from his experience and talent.

Richard Egües died in La Habana on September 1, 2006.