Marcelino Guerra

Affectionately nicknamed "Rapindey," Marcelino Guerra enjoyed tremendous longevity as one of the premier segunda voz (second voice, or harmony) singers in Cuban music. What's more, his numerous song compositions (chiefly in the bolero and son forms) helped give rise to filin, a style which bridged the gap between Cuban popular music and the more complex harmonic vocabulary of American jazz as it pushed from swing and stride into bebop. Guerra was born into a poor family in Cienfuegos, Cuba, circa 1914; he was orphaned at the age of five and raised by his maternal grandmother, ...