Rafael Bergaza Zerquera

Composer and pianist. Born in Trinidad, on Carmen Street No. 43, today Frank País No. 525. His parents were Josefa and Francisco.

In Trinidad, where he left at age 14, are all his memories. His artistic history is closely tied to his native city.

At age 6 he was already studying violin and at 10, accompanied by his father, he was a performer in an orchestra.

Later he studied solfège, music theory and piano with María Arcís. In 1931 he performed on a program of the Cuban Telephone Company radio station, in the upper floors of the Hotel Plaza in Havana, where Ernesto Lecuona, Ernestina Lecuona and Esther Borja performed.

He was pianist for the "Yemayá" orchestra and in 1938 he joined "La Montecarlo", directed by composer and trumpeter Julio Cueva and which performed on the "Cadena Azul" radio station in Santa Clara, belonging to Amado Trinidad Velazco.

In 1939 he moved to Havana, where he worked as accompanist pianist for Rita Montaner on the COCO radio station. Later, he was appointed musical director and pianist of the Cuban Bufos Company, directed by singer Ramiro Gómez Kemp, with which he toured the Dominican Republic and Haiti. During this period he worked as accompanist pianist for tenor René Cabel and on the RHC Cadena Azul, CMQ, Mil Diez and Radiodifusión O'Shea radio stations and also at the Eden Concert Cabaret, the Garrido and Piñero Company, Julio Richards shows and the "El Patio" restaurant.

He dedicated himself to music when maestro Ernesto Lecuona introduced him at his fabulous concerts in the Auditórium theaters (current Teatro Aditórium "Amadeo Roldán"), "Encanto" and "América", where he made dynamic piano duets with Orlando de la Rosa and participated in large piano ensembles (up to twelve on stage) which were made up of the most virtuoso popular music pianists of those years.

Towards the end of the 1940s he traveled to Puerto Rico, where he fulfilled a one-year contract to work at the "Nilo" Cabaret. There he performed with American singer Francés Langford and comedian actor Bob Hope; he also offered two-piano concerts with Eddy Duchin.

He toured several times through the Lesser Antilles and the United States, where he performed in New York theaters with comedian actor Carlos Pous and singer Rita Montaner.

From 1951 to 1958, he was part of a piano duo with Juan Bruno Tarraza, which performed in Mexico at the "Blanquita" theater with the companies of Tina de Mola and Mexican soprano Esperanza Iris.

In 1952 they were heard at the "Chateau de Madrid", the "Roxy" theater and on NBC television programs. Pepe Hernández, theater director, presented the Bergaza – Tarraza duo at the "Margo" theater in Mexico City alongside the Los Panchos trio and singers María Victoria, Chucho Martínez Gil, Tony Gari, dancer Chelo la Rue, the orchestras of Dámaso Pérez Prado and Ismael Díaz and composer Agustín Lara. The duo toured almost all countries in the Americas, France, Italy, Spain, the Middle East and North Africa.

In 1958 Felo Bergaza returned to Cuba where he worked until 1967 at the Tropicana Cabaret as composer and performer. For this venue's shows he created various pieces using resources from musical comedy and variety theater that he knew so well, with picaresque texts and varied rhythms, which stand out for their Cubanness. At the same time, he formed a group with Carlos Emilio (guitar), Felo Hernández (double bass), Panchito Bejerano (Cuban percussion), Armando Zequeira (drums) and Felo Bergaza (piano).

He recorded works by Debussy, Liszt, Ernesto Lecuona, Moisés Simons, Ignacio Cervantes, Agustín Lara and Rafael Hernández.

Source: Radio Trinidad Digital