Cuba's Orquesta Revé

Havana, March 19 (RHC)-- Cuba’s Orquesta Revé will celebrate its 65th anniversary this year with the release of a new album entitled Evolution 6.5.

In statements to Cuban television, the band leader Elito Revé said the album reflects the band’s evolution over the past 6 and a half decades of uninterrupted work. Evolution 6.5. includes new, more contemporary versions of iconic tunes from the band’s vast repertoire.

He mentioned some of the invited artists, among them Alexander Abreu, Alain Pérez, Brenda Navarrete, Robertón, singer of Los Van Van. He said that some foreign musicians collaborate also in the album but refused to give names.

Elito Revé said the new musical production, under EGREM label is a tribute to his father, the late Elio Revé Matos, who founded the band in 1956.

Elio Revé-Matos was a percussionist, composer and relevant figure of Cuban music and his band, popularly known as ‹‹El Charangon››, promptly became one of the most famous bands in Cuba and other parts of the world.

Among his contributions, he was the first to use five-key kettledrums in the charanga format. He also introduced trombones in his arrangements and specifically introduced the use of Batá drums, typical of the Yoruba religion, in his band.

Experts say his greatest contribution though was to conceive Changüi as an open genre that would allow merging with other musical forms and rhythms, such as Changüi-shake, Changüi-pachanga, Changüi-guaguanco and Changüi-Timba.

Elio Revé-Matos died in a car accident on July 23, 1997. He has gone down in the history of Cuban music as the King of Changüi.