We have no excusese why have taken a long time to create an Orquesta Revé article, it has not been because we don’t consider them to play Timba, but rather because this orchestra has such a long and important role in the history of contemporary Cuban dance music that creating a section that will do them justice is a difficult task. I’m sure that I shall fall short here, but you have to start somewhere. Let me start with the question: In Cuba you can hear people refer to Elio Revé as the “father of changüí” and the “father of salsa”, why?

Elio Revé Matos was born in Guantánamo, the home of changüí, in 1930. He became an accomplished timbalero at an early age. In the mid-1950s he went to Havana to start his own group, and in 1956 Elio Revé y su Charangón was born. Unlike son, which had moved from the Oriente province to Havana and taken the country by storm in the 1920s, changüí remained music of eastern Cuba until Revé’s arrival in Havana.

Revé experimented with the music. He changed the format of the orchestra to add certain element of the charanga such as violins and elements of son instrumentation such as the trombone. He maintained the special rhythm played by the changüí bongocero but moved it to the timbales, thus maintaining certain essential attributes of changüí while modernizing the format and arrangements to create an “urban” changüí. This new musical style was very well received and finally the changüí had reached national popularity. Thus he is called the “father of changüí”

Elio Reve y Su Charangon are currently touring US click here for their entire tour so far.

Elio Reve y Su Charangon at SOB’s New York | 17 July 2010 | Tickets