Rumba for Tata in Güines

June 17, 2020

Tata Güines will be remembered this month in his birthplace, Güines, on the 90th anniversary of his birth.

In the Leguina neighborhood, on June 30, the National Center for Popular Music and the Provincial Department of Culture in Mayabeque have organized the first Cuba Rumba Tata Güines In Memoriam Festival, which will take place between June 28 and 30, 2020.

The tribute, which will be broadcast through Instagram and Facebook, will include the presentation of scientific works, interviews, internet concerts, video selections and other audiovisual proposals.

The groups Orisha Oko, Obanwala, Kaidara, Tambores de Bejucal and Rumberos de Mayabeque will participate, and under the direction of Raúl Jesús Cabrera León "El Gallo," they will be in charge of closing the event through a digital mini-concert on the 30th at 3:00 p.m.

Other actions with which tribute will be paid to the King of the drum are a display of 90 photographs of the musician, which will be inaugurated at the Raúl Gómez García Provincial Library, in Güines itself, on the afternoon of June 29, to which Telemayabeque is added, through a special informative magazine.
A floral offering will also be placed at the niche that holds his remains in the local Cemetery and the launch of the video Quinto por el mundo online, in coordination with musicians from other countries (both on June 30).

Also remembered as the King of the congas, Federico Arístides Soto Alejo (June 30, 1930-Havana, February 4, 2008), creator of a very personal style in the execution of drums, founded his own group in 1964: Tata Guïnes y los Tatagüinitos. He traveled the world and shared with the best musicians on the planet, but never stopped returning to his country, and even less to his small homeland, where he will always be venerated.