Willy Chirino Reunites with Paquito D'Rivera: "Monster Among Monsters"

November 4, 2023

Cuban singer-songwriter Willy Chirino ran into his compatriot, the legendary clarinetist and saxophonist Paquito d' Rivera, for whom he feels great affection and admiration.

The encounter took place Friday night at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, one of Miami's main cultural venues, where Willy attended with his wife Lissette Álvarez.

"Friday night at the Arsht Center. América Viva with the Pac Man. Monster among monsters, Paquito d' Rivera. What a pleasure to reunite," he expressed on his Facebook profile where he shared a photo of the three of them.

Both artists are considered icons of the Cuban exile in Miami and are among the most excellent representatives of Cuban art.

Furthermore, they are united by a long friendship.

Last March, on the occasion of Willy's 50 years of career, Paquito shared an old photograph in which the two of them appear, along with comedian Guillermo Álvarez Guedes and singer Rolando Lasserie, both now deceased.

"Dear Willy, Brenda and I congratulate you on your first half-century of career, and I wish you celebrate it with the success you have always deserved for being a good artist and a better Cuban. (And I am sure that Álvarez Guedes and Lasserie wish the same for you from heaven)," Pac Man said to the author and performer of Ya viene llegando.