Cuba is in mourning, Adalberto Álvarez, the Knight of Son, has died

September 1, 2021

The Cuban Institute of Music reported that Adalberto Álvarez's death occurred in the early morning of September first after several days of being treated at the Instituto Pedro Kourí for multiple organ dysfunction, as a result of pneumonia derived from Covid-19.

This great Cuban composer and orchestrator, who remained for more than four decades in the preference of the dancing public, is the author of several pieces considered classics of the national popular repertoire. Various works of his authorship have been performed by major international figures in danceable music.

The Knight of Son, as he was also known among all Cubans, was the founder of two of the most successful Cuban bands of all time: Son 14 and Adalberto Álvarez y su Son.

He studied at the National School of Art (ENA) from 1966 to 1972. He was a professor of Musical Literature at the Provincial School of Art in Camagüey from 1973 to 1978.

He began his artistic career as a timpani player in 1957. Later he was an arranger and director of his father's ensemble, Enrique Fortunato Álvarez (Nené), Avance Juvenil, in Camagüey. The Rumbavana ensemble popularized one of his first compositions: Con un besito mi amor (1971).

In 1978, at the proposal of Santiago composer Rodulfo Vaillant, he founded the group Son 14, which debuted in Santiago de Cuba on November 11 of that same year.

On February 25, 1984, his second group debuted in Santiago de las Vegas: Adalberto Álvarez y su Son.

He represented Cuba in various national and international festivals and venues, where he always championed Cuban Son, a passion that his colleagues and spectators reciprocated by calling him The Knight of Son. He was the principal organizer of the work to declare Son Day in Cuba, celebrated for the first time on May 8.

Winner of the National Prize for Music in 2008, he was also recipient of the Distinction for National Culture and the Félix Varela Order and received on several occasions the Cubadisco Award, among other distinctions that express the quality and innovative character of his prolific work. Elected by the municipality of Camagüey, he was a deputy to the National Assembly of People's Power between 2013 and 2018.

With the physical departure of this great creator, Cuban popular music loses one of its most genuine exponents and the dancing public loses one of its most beloved artists.

By family decision, his body will be laid out in a private ceremony.