Ernesto Abelardo Valdés

Composer and conductor of a Charanga-type orchestra.

As a child he studied music theory and flute with professor José María Arieta Bambiteli, but due to health complications he had to give up the instrument at age ten. Over time he learned to play the violin, but the double bass became his greatest interest. .

He gave his first lessons in Music Theory, Theory and Flute with Jose M. Arriete, but began playing the güiro in dance orchestras, including that of Luis Carrillo, where his father, Abelardo Valdés, played the double bass. He was also in the charangas of Tata Pereira, Tata Alfonso, López-Barroso, and, as a bassist, in that of the Contreras brothers.

In 1938 he composed his famous danzón "Almendra". In 1940 he founded his orchestra Almendra, leading which he traveled to Colombia, Dominican Republic, and other Latin American countries.

Author, moreover, of the danzones "Horchata", "Salvaje", "Penicilina", and others.

He died at age 47 as the musician who made the danzón known to the world