René Baños Pascual

René Baños is the founding director of the Vocal Sampling ensemble, and is also the Musical Director of La Colmena TV and host of the television program Nota a Nota.

The Vocal Sampling ensemble directed by René Baños was founded in 1989 by six career instrumental musicians. What distinguishes Vocal Sampling is the ability to reproduce "a capella" — that is, using only their voices and hands, without the use of any synthesizer — the sound of a complete orchestra.

René began studying violin at age eight and later switched to piano, graduating at the Intermediate Level and then studying composition. When one trains as an instrumental musician, you have a different way of creating than that of a composer or a singer, and the group has allowed him to blend these worlds, enter into them and embrace them. Furthermore, Sampling has been basically the only job he has had for over 30 years and has meant a unique opportunity to experience new things.

"Being born in Cuba and being Cuban is a privilege with all the good, fair, or bad things that our country may have. Being Cuban gives you the opportunity to face challenges and fight for something important to which you must dedicate your time and effort. If everything were at hand and it were so easy to achieve, then it wouldn't be so valued. It is also a privilege to be Cuban because of the joy of the people, because of how we have learned to live independently of what is trivial."

The success of Vocal Sampling lies in taking the work of the voice not only with the mere mentality of a singer, but as instrumental musicians. It's no wonder they are known as "the human instruments." Their histrionic and musical qualities have positioned them for 30 years in the sound landscape of the Island.

According to them, through the development of their work they have gradually ventured into jazz, symphonic and chamber music, and also concert music.

For René Baños, director of the renowned Vocal Sampling group, the documentary Esencias is his second experience composing to accompany images: "Sampling has been, is, an important project, but what he really studied at the National School of Art was musical composition. With the film Habanastation, by Ián Padrón, he made his first foray into musical composition for film and this is the second time—he was fascinated! After more than 20 years, he put into practice—on a larger scale—the knowledge acquired during his studies and there is a great element of enchantment with this work because he was using resources he had stored away."

Discography
Una Forma Mas (April 1995)
De Vacaciones (July 1997)
Live in Berlin (1998)[3]
Cambio de Tiempo (April 2002)
Akapelleando (January 2008)