Pancho Quinto

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World Music Network News Catalogue Listen Network Pancho Quinto: Rumbero Sin Fronteras In Memory of Pancho QuintoFrancisco Mora, better known as Pancho Quinto, passed away on 11 February 2005, from complications resulting from several strokes he had suffered in recent days. Pancho will be remembered as a pioneer in Cuban music for his innovations in the use of traditional instruments and rhythms. His career spanned six decades, and he started as an apprentice drummer studying the traditional rhythms and songs played on the bata drums from the Yoruba tradition, retained and passed on in Cuba over centuries. Pancho ultimately attained the status of a master drummer or ‘Olubata’. His spiritual and musical expertise allowed him to play the sacred bata drums in religious ceremonies, and he taught hundreds of others complex drumming and the traditional methods of making drums. Later he was instrumental in sparking a rumba renaissance in the late 1980s in Cuba and collaborating and working with many of the new emerging groups such as Clave Y Guaguanco, Raices Profundas and Yoruba Andabo.A veteran dockworker, Pancho was very proud of his work as a skilled crane operator in the Havana port, where he and his fellow dockworkers/musicians played drums, sang and danced as they waited in between ships. Workers from different neighbourhoods both competed and shared their knowledge with each other on the Havana docks, which were a hotbed of musical activity during the 1940s and 1950s. Pancho participated in many of the carnival groups that paraded down the Prado in Old Havana with vibrant costumes, drawing inspiration from African traditions. In the early 1950s, Pancho recorded the classic song ‘Nuevo Ritmo Omelenco’ with Celia Cruz and Sonora Matancera, one of the first popular recordings to feature bata drums. He frequently performed impromptu rumbas in the solares of Havana and was the bata drummer of choice for many powerful santeros.After the Cuban Revolution in 1959, Pancho Quinto was chosen as one of the founding members of the newly formed Conjunto Folkloric Nacional in the early 1960s. He left shortly after, as the institutional nature of the group didn’t sit well with his restless personality. Back on the docks, he became part of percussion groups organized through the Dock Workers Union and performed frequently with Merceditas Valdes, one of Cuba’s most prolific performers of traditional Yoruba music. Pancho mastered many of the different rhythmic traditions associated with the variety of African religions in Cuba-Abacua, Palo Monte and Arara. He became one of the innovators in the ever-evolving rumba tradition that blended many of these religious music forms with popular music. He was a pioneer in the incorporation of bata drums into the rumba along with many other rhythmic elements in a style called guarapchangueo. He also pioneered the use of the cajón, a wooden box used by dockworkers and neighbourhood percussion groups as a drum in rumba jam sessions. The group Yoruba Andabo, which emerged in the late 1980’s accompanying Merceditas Valdes, made this style popular.In the 1990s, Pancho began performing in many new musical contexts, collaborating and touring with Canadian saxophonist Jane Bunnett, Cuban flautist Maraca and many other new percussion ensembles that emerged in Cuba. Generous with his knowledge, Pancho Quinto taught thousands of Cubans and many foreigners, who had sought him out from Germany, Spain, Mexico and other places. Pancho Quinto: Rumbero Sin FronterasIn 1995, Robert Leaver and Greg Landau invited Pancho to record his first solo record with his own dream team of percussionists and singers. This recording highlighted his percussion innovations and his fusion of many different styles and influences. In 1998, he toured the United States with his group performing in New York, New Orleans, Lafayette and California. During the tour, he recorded an album for Leaver and Landau – Rumba Sin Fronteras (‘Rumba Without Borders’) – that brought together John Santos, Omar Sosa and Octavio Rodriguez in a ground breaking fusion of rhythms and musical styles from the African Diaspora. ‘La Gorra’, featured on Rumba Sin Fronteras, is a unique combination of funk and Pancho’s guarapachangueo. His many recordings with Jane Bunnett also highlight the virtuosity and innovation in Pancho’s playing and the rhythmic concepts he introduced into Cuban music.Pancho Quinto will be missed for his positive spirit, his generosity and his groundbreaking contributions to Cuban percussion. His work should stand with other musical pioneers such as Charlie Parker, Chano Pozo and Miles Davis, who brought fresh musical concepts to the world.Greg Landau Back to top Back to main page© World Music Network 2000 Main page Features & interviews New releases Quiz Special offers Subscribe to e-news Touring details Vacancies Main page Africa Asia & Middle East Europe Latin America & Caribbean North America & Pacific World Boxsets Introducing New releases Riverboat Records A-Z listing Main page MP3 listening page Rough Guide Radio Radio interviews Video interviews & clips Main page Company information Contact us Desktop features Links Press quotes Subscribe to e-news Trade site