Rafael de la Torre, Cuban musician based in Buenos Aires, died from Covid-19

April 30, 2021

On Thursday, April 29th in the morning, Rafael de la Torre, a musician born in Camagüey, Cuba, but settled in the city since 1993, passed away in Buenos Aires.

The singer and voice coach, 70 years old, had been hospitalized for several weeks with Covid-19. At the first symptoms of the illness, De la Torre had suspended an in-person show that he was supposed to perform on April 1st, with one of his various projects accompanied by local musicians playing Cuban son, bolero, and ska.

Rafa de la Torre Guerrero, musician, musicologist, and music lover, had initially trained in solfege, music theory, and violin at the González Allué conservatory in Cuba. "I wanted to look like Ringo Starr, but the only thing I had going for me was my nose. I liked the drums; I would skip violin classes and go to percussion ones. I ended up playing with a group, covering songs from that era, like 'Viento dile a la lluvia,' by Los Gatos... My generation, from the fifties, is permeated by Bob Dylan, Beatles, Rolling Stones, and at the same time, by Ñico Saquito, José Antonio Méndez," he said years ago in an interview.

In recent times, De la Torre had formed a new group to explore the fusion between Cuban music and Jamaican ska, with which he had been performing alongside other son and bolero ensembles.

The musician confessed more than once to having come to Argentina due to the influence of Fito Páez. "In 1993 I was at Silvio Rodríguez's house for his birthday and Fito Páez asked me somewhat jokingly why I didn't go to Argentina –he said in an interview with the newspaper La Nación-. And who's to say that wasn't a kind of little light: shortly after I came on tour. I arrived on December 19th, 1993 and in seven days I traveled through Córdoba, El Bolsón, San Martín de los Andes... Alone, with my guitar. I returned in June of the next year and that's when I met my wife, Patricia. Then came Santiaguito, who says 'yo' and then says 'io,' and 'cayate' and then 'caiate.' That's how it is, Buenos Aires captures you."

In the capital of Argentina, Rafael joined the Cuban and Caribbean music scene of Buenos Aires, never ceasing to appeal to his histrionic talents to accompany the sure-handed singer capable of performing sons and boleros as pieces of social content.

Once there, he knew how to display his music both as a singer-songwriter –solo with guitar and voice or in duo and trio format– as well as adapting to larger and more rhythmic formations.

About the character of his solo performances, he said without ceasing to appeal to irony: "I mix anecdotes, texts by Oliverio Girondo, songs by Silvio Rodríguez, Noel Nicola, and Augusto Blanca, I pay homage to traditional Cuban trova and also sing my own songs, in order to develop the concept of hygienic fun."

But also, the versatility and talent of the instrumentalist and performer also allowed him, for example, to be part of the album "Colores" (2019), in which he sang over the musical arrangement made by the Hermidas, Juanjo a jazz pianist and Julián a tango guitarist.