Manuel Hilario Galbán Torralba

Cuban musician known as the guitarist and musical director of the renowned vocal group Los Zafiros, also as director of the group Batey, member of the Vieja Trova Santiaguera, and finally, guitarist of the Buena Vista Social Club.

He was born in Gibara, Holguín, Oriente. Coming from a musical family, he studied music theory with Gerardo Fernández Remón, and guitar with Quesada.

In 1944 and 1956, he was part of the Villablanca orchestra. That latter year he moved to La Habana, where he worked as a pianist and guitarist in various groups; between 1963 and 1973 he was guitarist of the vocal quartet Los Zafiros. This turned out to be one of the most successful Cuban groups of the era, and in a short time they generated a wealth of hits. Galbán contributed so much to the sound of Los Zafiros that once pianist Peruchín said that to replace Galbán they would need two guitars. His role was fundamental in the founding and conception of this group.

In 1974 he founded the group Batey, made up of Manuel Galbán, director and electric guitar; Bernardo García, lead singer and percussionist; Luis Palau, paila, and Luis Rodríguez, bass guitar; they performed basically Cuban music, although their repertoire included works from other Latin American countries, as well as Canarian polka.

They toured several Italian cities, including Génova, Pisa, Collegno, Turín, Alassio, Catania, Gensano. They also performed at the Atlantic Fair in Las Palmas de Islas Canarias; at the Génova'78 Festival of the newspaper L'Unitá, Italy; at the party of the newspaper L'Humanité in París, France, and at the annual party of the Communist Party of Spain in Madrid; in 1997 the group disbanded.

Later he was part of the Vieja Trova Santiaguera, directed by composer and tres player Reinaldo Hierrezuelo (Rey Caney) and was part of the "Afrocuban All Stars". During his time with the Vieja Trova Santiaguera he combined his work with tours and recordings of the Buena Vista Social Club, playing guitar on the recordings of Ibrahim Ferrer and Orlando López (Cachaíto).

During this period with Buena Vista he developed a rich musical exchange with American guitarist Ry Cooder, and from this creative dialogue came the album "Mambo Sinuendo", winner of the Latin Grammy Award in the category of best instrumental pop album in 2003.

Regarding this, Cooder said: Galbán and I felt that there was a sound that had not been explored, a sound of Cuban groups performed by electric guitar that could recover the atmosphere of the 1950s with beauty, uniqueness and simplicity (...)

As a guitarist he combines fast passages in the high notes with arpeggios, while making proper use of the bass notes, which gives the sensation of listening to an orchestra. This is easy to notice when listening to any Los Zafiros album and even those of Afrocuban All Stars.

He died in Ciudad de La Habana at the age of 80.

Works
Hoy brilla el sol
Oye Nicolás
Por muy lejos.