Trio Matamoros

Trio Matamoros emerged in 1925 when Miguel Matamoros joined percussionist Siro Rodriguez and guitar player Rafael Cueto, quickly establishing itself as one of the most popular and influential Cuban ensembles of the 1920s and 1930s. The group remained active until its dissolution in 1969, reaching multiple creative high points during those decades. Right from its debut, the trio distinguished itself through the bolero-son, a sound that fused the son’s driving rhythm with the bolero’s romantic sensibility and layered vocal harmonies. Over its long career the lineup shifted repeatedly, appearing at various times as a trio, a septet, an orchestra, or a conjunto.

By the 1940s Miguel Matamoros’s voice had weakened, prompting him to bring in substitute vocalists. Between 1945 and 1947 Beny Moré performed with the band, initially supplying missing harmony parts before assuming a more prominent role. Across the years the musicians absorbed influences from swing, mambo, and rhumba, an evolution that aligned with the mambo surge in the United States during the 1950s and led them to adopt a large-ensemble format well suited to the dance craze then sweeping America.