Cuban Online Community Gifts Drum Kit to Young Musician with Disabilities in Santiago de Cuba

August 30, 2026

Jonathan Pellegrín Fonseca, a young musician from the La Perla neighborhood of Santiago de Cuba and a music teacher at the Marina Muñoz Romero elementary school, received an acoustic drum kit on August 29, 2026, thanks to a fundraising campaign organized by content creator Freddy King Flow among his social media followers.

Pellegrín has been visually impaired since birth, with only partial vision in his right eye, and lost his left hand at age 11 in an accidental explosion of leftover TNT, which also left him with deep burns on his face and chest. Despite these limitations, the young man plays guitar and percussion while singing at the same time, using instruments he has adapted himself from available materials, including a guitar modified with bicycle brake cables and a makeshift drum made from a bucket.

Videos of his performances went viral on Instagram and TikTok in late August 2026, prompting Freddy King Flow to rally his online community to raise funds for an acoustic drum kit by the brand AODSK, in metallic blue, worth roughly 180 dollars — a substantial sum for Cuban families amid the island's ongoing economic crisis. "Thanks to each one of you who contributed your grain of sand and trusted us, today Jonathan has his own instruments," the content creator wrote when announcing the delivery.

The story, reported by Periódico Cubano, adds to a string of solidarity gestures by Cuban social media users toward self-taught artists on the island who face material hardship in developing their talent.