HABANA HARLEM 5.1.13

Host: Onel Mulet

With Special Guest:

Master percussionist, scholar and composer Román Díaz is regarded as a “living repository”  of Afro Cuban  music. Having performed and recorded with the likes of Merceditas Valdes, Raices Profundas, Los Marqueses de Atares,Jane Bunett, Juan Carlos Formell, Orlando “Puntilla” Rios, Paquito D’Rivera, Oriente Lopez, Giovanni Hidalgo As a member of the seminal rumba ensemble Yoruba Andabo, he aided in the creation of the sound that has defined rumba since the 1980’s in Cuba and all around the world. The evolution of Guarapachangeo incorporating Bata and the once archaic cajón  into modern rumba is the legacy of the late Pancho Quinto (founder of Yoruba Andabo). It is piously carried on by Román Díaz. He has brought together some of the finest interpreters of Rumba from the island as documented on the CD, Wemilere.

Román Díaz left Cuba in 1999 to come to New York city. Since then he has been featured alongside Orlando “Puntilla” Rios in the critically acclaimed documentary  Calle 54, and in ‘Dame La Mano’ the film that documents the life and times of Union City’s Esquina Habanera,  the Grammy nominated rumba ensemble Raíces Habanera and their followers.