Eladio Severino Terry González

Musician born in the municipality of Florida in the province of Camagüey, on the island of Cuba. He was founder of the Orquesta Maravillas de Florida". He has been awarded the Latin Grammy for the albums "La rumba soy yo", and "Lágrimas negras".

Biographical Summary
Eladio Severino Terry González, better known as Pancho Terry, was born in Florida, Camagüey on January 8, 1940. He was born as Don Pancho, perhaps it was a premonition of his parents who saw in him the musician he became. He did not know his real name until he was twelve years old, when he entered a public school for the first time, although already in fifth grade, they told him that Don Pancho was not a name.

Professional Life
Although it is rare to combine the work of construction and music, Pancho Terry is always singing or whistling some well-known tune, or one he is about to compose. Since very young he began working in masonry. He recounts that one day he was tiling with a flute-playing friend from the Camagüey orchestra, who heard him whistle and asked him if he knew anything about music, to which Terry answered that he did not. He did not believe him and urged him to study music, and that is how he began studying at the Music Academy of Camagüey. Later he studied violin at the Conservatorio Alejandro García Caturla, then directed by Juan Elósegui, and he was founder of the Orquesta Maravillas de Florida, with which he remained for twenty-nine years.

Subsequently he directed the Orquesta Tínima, was part of the Sinfónica Orchestra of Camagüey, later moved to the Orquesta Ritmo Oriental. At Lincoln Center in New York, he performed as a chekeré player alongside American trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, and at the Teatro Karl Marx with Puerto Rican singer Danny Rivera. He has recorded with groups such as: Van Van, the Sinfónica Orchestra of Matanzas, Manolito Simonet y su trabuco, on Sergio Vitier's CD, Salmo de las Américas, on the albums "La rumba soy yo", and "Lágrimas negras", both Latin Grammys.

He also made the CD Los Terry with his family, which occupied the top positions of the hit parades in several cities in the United States. About the chékere, Don Pancho Terry says:

"It is a very striking instrument, of vegetable origin, from a variety they call güira amarga. It carries on the outside a mesh with beads or with seeds that when struck against the hard bark produces a unique sound. It is said that during slavery, sometimes the masters prohibited parties for the enslaved people in order for them to work more. Then they substituted the drum for the chekeré because it made less noise, and in the end they had the party and it was even more magnificent. Most of those who play it learn it in the folklore context. It is an instrument with broad rhythmic possibilities. The day that musicians know and understand all those possibilities it will be used more."
He worked with Ernán López Nussa on the Habana Report project, in minor percussion, where he also sings and recites.

He passed away on July 24, 2018 at the age of 78, victim of acute renal failure.