Yoel Martínez Rodríguez

Yoel is a guitarist, arranger, and second vocalist of the Duo Buena Fe.

He comes from a family with a musical tradition. His father was a musician and at some point a member of the trio Taíno, so Yoel from his childhood was inevitably immersed in this world of music and Cuban trova. Thus he decided to participate in it and developed his vocation at the Escuela de Arte de Guantánamo, achieving an intermediate level in his studies in classical guitar.

Over the years, Yoel sang and played guitar in bars and restaurants in the city, but not satisfied with what he was doing, there remained in him a constant yearning to go even further.

In 1999 chance had it that these two young men Israel and Yoel met when at the Escuela de Arte de Guantánamo Israel, in front of a piano, was trying to find the melody of a song he had written.

Yoel, with his peculiar humor, proposed to him to be the "madman" who could help him. From that moment on, a complicity of intentions and objectives arose between them. As they accompanied each other, they realized that they functioned well as a duet and it was this way that at the end of that year the Duo Buena Fe emerged.

This is how they began the dream, Israel in the lyrical and melodic part and Yoel doing the arrangements and harmonies. They had the desire to mix different rhythms, different from what is characteristic of Cuban music such as trova and salsa. They knew it would not be easy. The strategy was "to start as troubadours, to be part of this movement, to make ourselves known and little by little to experiment and become a logical continuation of the best exponents of Cuban popular music."

The musical genres that identify them are pop, rock, and trova.

Yoel is a Christian and in an interview given to Cubadebate stated: "All human beings need to believe in something. Particularly I believe in God, in that supreme being, which all human beings at some point acclaim his name. When I was a child and I gathered at the Baptist Church, I was always struck by how Christians, in addition to gathering, believe that faith is much stronger than one can imagine. There are even songs, biblical texts in which it is said that if I had faith like a grain of sand I would move mountains. If you truly have faith you can achieve incredible things."

"At a moment in my childhood and adolescence I was a Christian who went to church where I found many people who looked down on, for example, someone singing songs outside of church. It was only okay if you sang for God.

Personally I don't think that way; outside of churches there are audiences and people who absolutely believe in God and deserve to also be sung to. Among those people I knew there were some who were fanatics of God and I don't think that with that fanaticism they would do harm. It is simply their choice and they think that above their belief there is nothing else. I don't think having faith can become a nightmare or something that can cause harm to others. It is always necessary to believe in what you do, in your projects, in yourself."

Yoel is very committed to Cuba, to Buena Fe, to his companions, to his family, to everything around him, to everything that generates change in favor of the majority, of those who need it most, of those who need to speak and have no voice; of those people who go to concerts seeking relief because they need a song that allows them to reflect. As Israel says in El eco de las plazas my commitment begins in the smile of the people."

Those who have followed closely the history and development of the duet affirm that the secret of success and popularity is the very close relationship and excellent communication between Israel and Yoel, that from the moment they emerged as Buena Fe, they have been not only accomplices, but also best friends, companions, compadres, and bearers of a voice that has managed to revolutionize the most current Cuban musical history.