Rachid López Gómez

Rachid López Gómez guitarist and composer.

Rachid was born in Santa Clara in the province of Villa Clara. This artist's first musical contacts were made through his family, as his father played clarinet and guitar. Rey Guerra and Elías Barreiro visited his house and in 1980 he began his guitar studies at the Provincial School of Art in Santa Clara with Rolando Moreno.

In 1993 he entered the Superior Institute of Art, where he was a student of Rey Guerra and Argentine guitarist Víctor Pellegrini, the latter, due to his technical and interpretive mastery, set very important guidelines in his life.

He began his professional career in 1987 in Las Tunas. In 1991 he returned to Santa Clara, and here he gave a concert at the Museum of Decorative Arts on May 25th, from then on he developed important work as a composer and performer and alternated with prestigious figures, while also working as a guitarist with the symphonic orchestras of Villa Clara and Santiago de Cuba. He also participated in the Ibero-American Festival, 1994.

He has participated in the International Guitar Festival of La Habana, one of the most prestigious events of its kind in Hispanic America, as well as in countless competitions and festivals that have taken place in his country.

Between 1995 and 1996 he offered several concerts with concert pianist Rafael Balmaceda, and two years later he made his first international tour to Mexico accompanying troubadour Vicente Feliú; he returned to that country in 2000 to perform with troubadours Pedro Guerra, from Spain, and Alejandro Filio, from Mexico, performing at important theaters such as the Degollado in Guadalajara, and the Mirach in Puebla, as well as in several universities in the State of Hidalgo, among other venues.

In 1997 he began working on a recording project and in 1999 his first album, "Trovarroco," came out with the record label Disc Music, in which he fused classical music with roots trova and nueva trova, with which he obtained two nominations at Cubadisco 2000: Best Concert Music Album and prize for Opera Prima.

He was founder and director of the Trovarroco trio (formerly String Trio, Art and Style) with Maykel Elizalde and César Bacaró, which comprises guitar, tres, and double bass. As a performer, his solid technical training allows him to cover a repertoire of a wide stylistic spectrum: baroque, classical, romantic and contemporary, as well as pieces of Cuban and Latin American popular music.

He accompanied several voices from his native city, including María de los Angeles Santos.

He then formed the group Cuba Añejo Son (which had vocalists María de los Angeles Santos and Mayelín Pérez (ex-Evocación). He was also creator of the project Maykel's Quartet.
His works: Tribute to Paco de Lucía, Evocation of Bach, Your Arrival, Motifs of Montuno, Tribute to Troubadours and Son Singers, Dream of an Awakening, Your Arrival, Transparent Green and others.

In November 2003 Trovarroco recorded their second CD called Oath.

Although Trovarroco continues to be active and vital in its more than ten years of existence, new projects with different sounds but the same talent have emerged from it.
Maykel's Quartet is a creation of tres player Maykel Elizarde, a young prodigy of Cuban music who exploits here the infinite possibilities of his instrument in a more jazzy format. In this quartet also joins, on bass, César Bacaró, a member of Trovarroco.

On the other hand there is Cuba Añejo Son, a traditional septet by maestro Rachid López, of which Maykel Elizarde is also a member, with an extensive and varied repertoire.

In 2009, the three groups came together in a Grand Concert for the Ten Years of the Trovarroco Trio.

Since August 2004, when they were invited by the renowned troubadour Silvio Rodríguez to do joint work to launch in Spain, in the month of September, his latest recording production Date with Angels. Thus they made their first presentation on August 29th and 30th at the Havana theater Karl Marx.

Between September 7th and 17th they conducted a tour of several Spanish cities accompanying singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez.

In December 2004 Trovarroco departed for Germany to conduct a tour as part of the Live from Buena Vista Havana Lounge project with which they visited 13 German cities and 2 in Austria.

In February 2005 they conducted a tour through Cuba with troubadour Silvio Rodríguez to promote his latest recording project and under the motto For a Culture of Nature. On this tour they gave concerts in 7 cities in the country.

In April of that year they traveled to Chile and Argentina with Silvio. In Chile they performed at the Movistar Arena on May 20th, 22nd and 23rd with a total of 36 thousand people at the 3 concerts and in Argentina at the Luna Park.

In May they traveled to Mexico with the troubadour and performed at the National Auditorium and the Zócalo. In July they traveled to Spain with Silvio and performed in Córdoba and Barcelona.

December 2005 found them again as part of the Buena Vista Havana Lounge project with which they toured ten German cities, one Dutch city and three Swiss cities.

In April 2006 they traveled to the Dominican Republic and held three concerts with troubadour Silvio Rodríguez, two at the National Theater of Santo Domingo and one in Santiago de los Caballeros.

In May again as part of the Buena Vista Havana Lounge they visited Italy, Austria, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Romania.

In June they departed for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to perform two concerts at the Banco do Brasil cultural center.

In August and September of this year they conducted a tour with Silvio Rodríguez through Spain and England. This project with the troubadour extended until 2020.