Biography
Marcelino Guerra, known throughout his life by the affectionate nickname Rapindey, sustained an exceptionally long career as one of Cuban music’s leading segunda voz singers. His own compositions, written primarily in bolero and son forms, played a central role in the emergence of filin, the genre that connected traditional Cuban popular song with the richer harmonic language of American jazz as it evolved from swing and stride toward bebop. Born into poverty in Cienfuegos around 1914, he lost both parents at age five and was raised by his maternal grandmother, who bestowed upon him the name Rapindey that stayed with him forever. He relocated to Havana in 1931; two years later he entered Ignacio Pineiro’s celebrated Septeto Nacional as second vocalist while simultaneously studying guitar under Rafael Rebuifero. Following stints with additional ensembles in the capital, he became a member of Arsenio Rodriguez’s orchestra in 1938, and the group’s steady radio broadcasts soon carried his voice across the entire country. In 1944 Guerra journeyed to New York to cut recordings, chose to remain permanently, and never again set foot in Cuba. He took the second-vocalist chair in Machito’s pioneering Afro-Cuban Orchestra—the first authentic Latin jazz ensemble—and the band went on to document several of his songs, the earliest of many New York orchestras to do so. After working with still more groups he formed his own, releasing material through the late 1940s and 1950s. During the 1960s he stepped away from professional music altogether and found employment as a merchant marine. Persuaded in part by producer René Lopez, he reentered the scene in the mid-1970s and collaborated with key participants in the New York salsa movement who valued his historical contributions, among them pianist Eddie Palmieri and singer Ruben Blades, the latter featuring him on the Grupo Folklorico y Experimental Nuevayorquino project. Eventually he retired to Spain, settling in Alicante and marrying Julia Nunez. In the 1990s musicologist Tony Evora encouraged the octogenarian to return to the studio; the summer 1995 sessions included numerous guest artists—among them longtime associates Compay Segundo and Omara Portuondo, both soon to gain renown with the Buena Vista Social Club—who welcomed the chance to perform alongside him in tribute. The resulting album, Rapindey, appeared in 1996, the same year Guerra died. His standing as a founding figure of the Latin-jazz precursor filin was matched only by that of Omara Portuondo; because he never returned to his native land, he did not receive the broad recognition later granted to Buena Vista Social Club participants, yet his identity as an innovator among them has remained secure.
Albums
Singles
