Percussionists Musicians – Artists

The drummers and percussionists who carry the African rhythmic heart of Cuban music — congueros, timbaleros, and drummers whose hands built the foundation everything else rests on.

Percussion is where African tradition is most directly present in Cuban music. The conga, batá, bongó, and timbales are not accompaniment — they are the music. These are the players who mastered those instruments and, in doing so, defined the rhythmic vocabulary that dancers respond to.

• Amadito Valdés — Timbales (1946)
  Timbales player for the Buena Vista Social Club — Amadito Valdés brought the elegant, understated timbales playing of the son and danzón tradition to global audiences…
• Chano Pozo — Conguero, dancer, composer (1915–1948)
  Chano Pozo (1915–1948), Cuban conguero, rumbero and composer: from the comparsas of Havana to Dizzy Gillespie, Manteca and Carnegie Hall.
• David Peñalosa — Percussionist, educator, author
  Author of The Clave Matrix (2009), according to timba.com the most comprehensive work to date on clave. David Peñalosa is a percussionist, batá drummer and teacher,…
• Giovanni Hidalgo — Conguero (1963)
  The most technically advanced conga player alive — Giovanni Hidalgo extended what is possible on the conga drum with a combination of Afro-Cuban rhythmic knowledge…
• Giraldo Piloto — Drummer, bandleader (1968)
  One of the key drummers in timba's development — Giraldo Piloto brought the drum set into timba with a fluency that matched Changuito's songo innovations, and later…
• Changuito — Drummer, percussionist (1948)
  The creator of songo drumming — Changuito, as drummer for Los Van Van, developed the songo style that merged drum set and timbales into a new percussive vocabulary…
• Miguel "Angá" Díaz — Percussionist (1961–2006)
  Miguel "Angá" Díaz, conga player and key figure in timba: his Afro-Cuban religious background shaped the percussion of the groups he played with.
• Mongo Santamaría — Conguero, bandleader (1917–2003)
  One of the great Cuban congueros — Mongo Santamaría brought Afro-Cuban percussion into jazz and popular music, and his composition Afro Blue became a jazz standard…
• Pello el Afrokán — Percussionist, bandleader (1933–2000)
  Pello el Afrokán (1933–2000), Cuban percussionist who created the mozambique in 1963: drums, bombo, bells and trombones, and María Caracoles.
• Tata Güines — Conguero (1930–2008)
  Tata Güines, Cuba's most celebrated conga player: he took the conga from religious ceremonies to jazz, popular music and the concert stage.
• Tito Puente — Timbales, bandleader, composer (1923–2000)
  The "King of Latin Music" — Tito Puente dominated New York's Latin dance scene for five decades, bringing Cuban-rooted rhythms to American concert halls and dance…