Ricardo Díaz Fresneda

Born in Ciudad de La Habana, he grew up between El Cerro, San José de las Lajas and the Pogolotti neighborhood.

He was able to achieve academic musical instruction for a very brief period, studying at the Conservatorio de la Habana.

For this reason it can be said that his artistic development is the work of natural talent, his intuitive capacity and his keen powers of observation, which allowed him to feed intensely and increasingly from the musicians he encountered in various places throughout the Cuban capital. "Los Muchachos del Feeling", the members of Cuarteto D'Aida, Tania Castellanos, maestro Adolfo Guzmán… He played percussion in several musical groups.

Being very young he began to be very well known in the city as author and interpreter of rumba. To such a point that no one could have imagined then that he was going to leave his mark on many other genres of our music. According to researcher and musicographer Helio Orovio (2007) "His first great success was the bolero Cuando comienza el amor, recorded by the excellent eastern songwriter Pepe Reyes (later it had another extraordinary version in the voice of Orlando Vallejo". From that milestone on, the composer began a significant creative career, which continues to this day, when he has just turned eighty-one years old, displaying a contagious vitality that many would wish for.

Author of the boleros: "Cuando comienza el amor", "Dime en qué momento", "Pocas veces se dice la verdad", and "Muchas veces"; of the bolero-mambo "En el juego del amor"; of the rhythmic bolero "Tú no sabes de amor"; of the guarachas "Domitila", "A bailar pachanga", "Malembe", "Quítate el chaquetón"; of the rumbas "Fiesta brava", "A la pelota con Carlota" and "Ese atrevimiento", and of other popular pieces. He is a very versatile author who moved through various genres of Cuban music.

Ricardo belongs to those who defined the songs that our fathers and grandfathers danced to; his compositions were and are part of those that, in some way, marked the fifties and today participate in the "revival" of traditional Cuban music starting with the Buenavista Social Club. For this reason in various parts of the world Ricardo Díaz is a composer in fashion, whose songs are broadcast and to whom it should not surprise us that homages are paid.

Other popular numbers were: Dónde vas Domitila (Orlando Laserie), A la quimbamba (Rolo Martínez), A bailar Pachanga (Rolo, Fajardo y sus Estrellas), A la pelota con Carlota (Los Hermanos Bravo) Fiesta brava (rumba, Celeste Mendoza); Malembe (Pio Leyva) Quítate el chaquetón (Miguelito Cuní accompanied by Conjunto Chapottín y sus Estrellas); En el juego del amor (bolero-mambo performed by Alfonsín Quintana with Los Jóvenes del Cayo), Tu no sabes de amor (Orquesta Aragón and the version by Graciela with Machito in New York with arrangement by Mario Bauzá)-

Others who sang his creations were Los Záfiros (Muchas veces) Pacho Alonso (No seas imprudente and Pocas veces se dice la verdad), Roberto Sánchez (the romantic bolero I am) and the rumbas Quítala del rincón (Carlos Embalé), Rumba en tv (Los Papines) Ese atrevimiento (Oscar Valdés with Irakere), among others.

Under the title of ¿Dónde vas Domitila?, a tribute album to this author came out where performing his compositions are the voices of Orlando Vallejo, Raúl Planas, Los Záfiros, Rolo Martínez and others, as a tribute to his eightieth birthday, a true gem for lovers of good Cuban music.

He received the Nicolás Guillén recognition diploma, which the Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba awards to its members of very distinguished trajectory.