FRANCISCO AGUABELLA

Francisco Aguabella (1925–2010) was an Afro-Cuban master percussionist whose career spanned folkloric traditions, popular dance bands, and jazz. He was born in Matanzas, Cuba on October 10, 1925 and died in Los Angeles, California on May 7, 2010. Aguabella was born in Matanzas, Cuba. He demonstrated a special aptitude for drumming at an early age, and was initiated into several Afro-Cuban drumming traditions, including batá, iyesá, arará, olokún, and abakuá. Aguabella also grew up with rumba. In the 1950s, he left Cuba to perform with Katherine Dunham in the Shelley Winters film Mambo filmed in Italy. After touring with Katherine Dunham he came to the United States and performed and toured with Peggy Lee for the next seven years. Francisco Aguabella is one of a handful of Cuban percussionists who came to the United States in the 1940s and 50s. Other notable Cuban percussionists who came to the U.S. during that time read more...