César "Pupy" Pedroso, director of the Pupy y Los que Son Son orchestra, died in Havana on Sunday.

Havana, July 17 (RHC)-- César "Pupy" Pedroso, director of the Pupy y Los que Son Son orchestra, died in Havana on Sunday.

Pupy, pianist, arranger and composer, came from a family of musicians. His father, César "Nene" Pedroso, was a pianist who played with Chapottín and other ensembles, his grandfather Julio was director of the Cuba orchestra, his uncle, known by Pío Escaparate was güirero of Arcaño y sus Maravillas, Víctor Herrera, brother, is director of Sensación and Julio Saldívar, his other brother, plays with Osmundo Calzado's orchestra.

He integrated the groups Fascinación, Sensación, Revé and Conjunto Bolero; in 1969 he founded, with Juan Formell, Los Van Van, a group with which he remained until 2001, when he founded his own group, Pupy y Los que Son, Son.

He had transcendence in the Cuban musical history as pianist, arranger and composer of the legendary charanga Los Van Van for 32 years, period in which he became responsible for several numbers of decisive success in the trajectory of the orchestra such as "Hoy se cumplen seis semanas", "El buena gente", "Eso está bueno", "Disco Azúcar", "La fruta", "Ni bombones ni caramelos", "Temba, tumba, timba" and "El negro está cocinando", among others.

With his band, Los que Son Son, Pupy set out to break schemes, differentiate himself in timbre and constantly renew himself.

Among the defining elements that characterize the orchestra are the freshness of his lyrics and not ignoring traditional rhythms such as those that come from son and salsa, forming a fiery mix that makes even the lousiest dancer move.

Pupy was a creator of a singular and vigorous sound within our current music, with a personal treatment of the tumbaos and very modern orchestrations that oriented the way towards the new style of Timba. As a composer, César Pedroso had to his credit more than 150 works, many of which have had great acceptance.  We will find an excellent sense of humor in his lyrics, fresh and contemporary sonorities, abundant polyrhythms reinforced with the batá and magnificent tumbaos on the piano.

Internationally, his songs were also recorded in the voices of Celia Cruz, with the song "Azúcar", Adalberto Santiago, Alfredo de la Fe (El violín charanguero) and others.

He made dissimilar and successful presentations abroad, in many of which he has been accompanied by renowned musicians, for example: Giovanni Hidalgo, Danilo Pérez, Papo Luccas, Gonzalito Rubalcaba, Gilberto Santa Rosa, José Alberto "El canario", among others.