Elio Revé Matos

Percussionist and composer. He left a solid legacy to the Cuban musical landscape when in 1956 he founded one of the most respectable orchestras in Cuba, the "Orquesta Revé". Musicians of the caliber of the late vocalist Ibrahim Ferrer and other pillars of current Cuban popular music such as Chucho Valdés, Juan Formell, César -Pupy- Pedroso, Moisés Valle -Yumurí- and Juan Carlos Alfonso passed through its music stands. He drew from changüí, an eminently rural rhythm, taking Cuban music to several continents.

He was born in El Caró de Limones, a place located in the municipality of El Salvador, Guantánamo, a locality where his mother and grandmother moved to run a food establishment that they set up during sugar cane harvest season, although his father Ezequiel Revé Naranjo registered him in the Civil Registry of Caimanera as born in the Los Indios neighborhood on June 23, 1930.

His childhood took place in Loma del Chivo. Given the prevailing situation, he had to work from an early age cleaning shoes, selling nougat, hard candies and serving as a guide to Americans who visited the neighborhood.

He began his artistic career as a musician in 1949, with the Armonía orchestra (Guantánamo), worked as a timbal player for Enrique Arredondo's Company, which performed at the Fausto theater; played quinto in the comparsa La Arrolladora and bass drum of the French drum.

Later he settled in Havana, where he was part of the Almendra orchestras, by Abelardito Valdés, Nueva América, by Pao Dominic and Silver Star. In the capital, in 1956 he founded the orchestra bearing his name, with which he performed at the Aloy Club.

He alternated with Benny Moré's Banda Gigante, the singer Xiomara Alfaro and the group Patumba do Río, from Brazil, Van Van and Elena Burke. From the capital he spread changüí throughout the island and abroad.

With his orchestra have worked Juan Formell, double bass, composer and orchestrator; Juan Carlos Alfonso, piano, composer and orchestrator; Elio Revé (son, who currently directs the orchestra), and Antonio Gómez Rodríguez, piano; Odelquis Revé, bongos, batá drums and chorus; Adonis Benítez, tumbadora; Raúl Martínez, guiro; Gilberto Oviedo, tres, Gonzalo Noroña, bass; José Antonio Moya and Vicente Rojas, violin; Fidel Lanier (Camué), Marcelo Cruz and Romil Travieso, trombone; William Padrino, Valentín Arrondo, Alfonso Contreras, Moisés Valle (Yumurí), Juan Miguel Díaz, singers.

In 1967, the Revé achieved great popularity due to the innovative orchestrations of Juan Formell, with elements of changüí, cha-cha-cha and other traditional forms of popular dance music, mixed with elements of music from other countries.

In 1970 he tours Brussels, Belgium, where he performs at the Teatro du Pavía, in the Commune of Saint Gilles, on the occasion of the Quintet of Cuba, sponsored by that theater and the Society of Friends of Cuba; he also did so on Belgian television and on Radio Luxembourg in Sacha Distel's program, the Belgian House of Culture, and at the Theater of the University of Liège.

In Spain, he performed at the San Juan Festival, Gran Canaria and in Tenerife.

In 1976, he travels with his orchestra to the People's Republic of Angola and among the accompanying artists is "La Musicalísima" Beatriz Márquez.

In 1987 he travels to Peru, an occasion on which the newspaper Actualidades reports: «The famous Cuban Elio Revé, considered by international critics as "The father of salsa", will come to Lima to enliven the New Year's party with his orchestra at the Tropical Garden of the Crillón Hotel. Currently Revé and his orchestra is a first-rate musical group in popularity in various countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, where their performances on radio and television are frequent.» On this occasion he alternated with the group Las Estrellas de Máquina. In Cuba he has performed at the Benny Moré Festival, Son Festival, Varadero Festival.

In London, England, he participated in the WOMAD festival, The World of Music and Dance, with performances in France, Denmark and Finland.

In Japan he performed at the Sapporo Zoo and at the Zhibuys On Air and Club Mambo, and shared the stage with Orquesta de La Luz and Las Chicas Bon.

In 1986, 1987 and 1988, he received the EGREM Award, and in 1991, the Gold Record awarded by Video Stock, presented by its director Daniel Cuxac, for his popularity in West Africa.

In 1993, he performed at the Latino Bar alongside Juan Carlos Alfonso and his Dan Den. In New York, United States, he performed at the Hostos Center for the Arts and Culture, at S.O.B.'s, in the Soho area, Club Copacabana and at the Latin Quarter.

With his orchestra he appears on the soundtrack of the film Concierto barroco, a Cuban-Mexican-Spanish production, based on the homonymous novel by Alejo Carpentier.

He dies as a victim of an automobile accident in Limonar, Matanzas, on July 23, 1997, leaving hundreds of works registered and recorded in national and international radio broadcasting, remaining as the King of Changüí.

He toured Chile, Peru, Panama, Puerto Rico, Canada, United States, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Rome, Germany, France, England, Scotland, Italy, Greece, Soviet Union, Spain, Japan.

Works

Anota Flora
Barceló
Changüí campanero
Changüí clave
Juaniquita
La boda en bicicleta
La eliminación de los feos
María Belén
Mi salsa tiene sandunga
Plusvalía y la democracia representativa
Ponte pa'las cosas mi compay
¡Qué cuento es ese!
Rumberos latinoamericanos
Salgado
Samá
Yateras
Yo sé que tú sabes que yo sé