Pérez Prado's Birthday Remembered in Matanzas

December 12, 2020

To the famous creator of mambo, the great Cuban musician Dámaso Pérez Prado, tribute was paid on Friday, in the city of Matanzas, where he was born exactly on December 11, 1917.

The birthday of the King of Mambo was celebrated by artists and writers from this locality, with a rich musical tradition and where the charismatic pianist, composer and orchestra conductor was trained and began his creative career, joining the charanga of Senén Suárez.

In front of the birthplace of Cara de Foca, on the central Río street, where a plaque is placed, the Atenas Brass Ensemble wind quintet performed emblematic pieces by Pérez Prado.

Likewise, the book Yo soy el Rey del mambo, a dramatic piece by Ulises Rodríguez Febles, published by Ediciones Matanzas and brought to the stage by the Mexican group Conjuro Teatro, under the direction of Dana Stella Aguilar, was presented.

"What Pérez Prado did is something great, a musical work that is very Cuban and very universal, innovative and transcendent to the point that it continues to accompany us, conveying to us his energy, his liveliness," Rodríguez Febles told this digital site.

Promoter and organizer of the successful international colloquium for the centennial of the musician held in Matanzas in 2017, Ulises also prepared, together with writer Yanira Marimón, another book dedicated to the brilliant artist: Mambo, qué rico e', e', e' (Ediciones Matanzas, 2015), a selection of texts about his life and artistic work.