Isaac Oviedo (July 6, 1902 – June 16, 1992) was a Cuban
tres
Tres may refer to:
* Tres (instrument), a Cuban musical instrument
* Tres, Trentino, municipality in Italy
* ''Tres'' (2014 film), a Filipino anthology drama film based on short stories
* "Tres" (song) by Juanes
*"Tres", a song by Líbido from thei ...
player, singer and songwriter. He was the founder and leader of the Septeto Matancero for over 50 years, and the author of many famous '' sones'' such as "Engancha carretero". Throughout his long career Oviedo only recorded a handful of sessions, mostly for American record labels. He has been called "one of the greatest Cuban tres players" by other musicians such as
Efraín Ríos Efraín is a masculine Spanish given name, a cognate of Ephraim (given name), Ephraim. Notable people with the name include:
* Efrain Chacurian (1924–2019), Argentine-born naturalised American soccer player
* Efraín Cortés (born 1984), Colombia ...
and
Pancho Amat
Francisco Amat Rodríguez (born April 22, 1950), better known as Pancho Amat, is a Cuban musician specialized in the Tres (musical instrument), tres. In 1971, he became a founding member of Manguaré, which would become one of the leading ensemble ...
. According to the latter, Oviedo was the pioneering and most influential ''tresero'' of the ''septeto'' format (the major type of son ensemble of the 1920s and '30s). His technical innovations include the ''alzapúa'' thumb stroke and the use of the pinky finger.
His son Ernesto played in his band since the 1940s and became a successful
bolero
Bolero is a genre of song which originated in eastern Cuba in the late 19th century as part of the trova tradition. Unrelated to the older Spanish dance of the same name, bolero is characterized by sophisticated lyrics dealing with love. It h ...
Isaac Oviedo was born on July 6, 1902, in the village of Sabanilla del Encomendador (now known as Juan Gualberto Gómez) in the municipality of
Unión de Reyes
Unión de Reyes is a municipality and town in the Matanzas Province of Cuba. It is located in the western part of the province, south of Matanzas, Cuba, Matanzas, the provincial capital.
History
Unión de Reyes was founded in 1844, and it was es ...
,
Matanzas
Matanzas (Cuban ; ) is the capital of the Cuban province of Matanzas Province, Matanzas. Known for its poets, culture, and Afro-American religions, Afro-Cuban folklore, it is located on the northern shore of the island of Cuba, on the Bay of Mat ...
, Cuba. His family was poor and his mother worked as a sugarcane cutter. From an early age he taught himself to play the guitar. At age 11 he learned to play the tres from a musician from
Santiago de Cuba
Santiago de Cuba is the second-largest city in Cuba and the capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province. It lies in the southeastern area of the island, some southeast of the Cuban capital of Havana.
The municipality extends over , and contains t ...
who had relocated to Matanzas after the
War of Independence
Wars of national liberation, also called wars of independence or wars of liberation, are conflicts fought by nations to gain independence. The term is used in conjunction with wars against foreign powers (or at least those perceived as foreign) ...
.''Roots of Rhythm''. New York, NY: New Video Group VG-9476 2001. By his late teens he was playing in Pepito López's orchestra, and also formed his own band, Los Unionenses. He played at the Sauto Theater, and in 1922 founded the Sexteto Matancero alongside guitarist Julio Govín. He then took his group to
Havana
Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. Between 1926 and 1928 he played at various bars and cabarets in Marianao, the most touristic seaside neighbourhood of Havana. In this period Graciano Gómez joined the band on guitar and
Barbarito Díez
Barbarito Díez (December 4, 1910 – May 6, 1995) was a Cuban singer who specialized in danzón.Orovio, Helio (2004). ''Cuban Music from A to Z-CL''. Duke University Press Books. . He began his career as the singer for Graciano Gómez and Isaac ...
became the lead singer. With them, the Sexteto Matancero held its first recording sessions on February 7, 1928, for Victor. They recorded "Engancha carretero", Oviedo's most successful and critically acclaimed song, noted for its creole character.
In 1929, Oviedo toured Puerto Rico with Gómez co-directing the Quinteto Típico Gómez-Oviedo. During their stay, Oviedo taught Guillermo "Piliche" Ayala how to play the tres, thus becoming the first Puerto Rican tres player. Back in Havana the Sexteto Matancero became a ''septeto'' with the addition of cornettist Serafín Terry and recorded four songs in June 1930 for Brunswick. Oviedo, Gómez and Díez continued playing together with a varying lineup (''cuarteto'', ''quinteto'', ''sexteto'', etc.). The Quinteto Típico became the Quinteto Selecto, and in 1941 they recorded a single for Victor as Cuarteto Selecto. The association between Oviedo and Gómez under various names (Matancero, Típico, Selecto) lasted until the early 1970s, when Gómez retired. Oviedo continued to perform, recording an album for Areito in 1984. Between 1962 and 1968, Oviedo performed with Los Tutankamén, a live band organized by Alfredo González Suazo "Sirique" at his ''peña''.
Despite his lasting impact in the music of Cuba, and to a lesser extent Puerto Rico, Oviedo remained virtually unknown to international audiences until 1989, when he was featured in the
Latin music
Latin music (Portuguese language, Portuguese and ) is a term used by the music industry as a catch-all category for various styles of music from Ibero-America, which encompasses Music of Latin America, Latin America, Music of Spain, Spain, Mu ...
documentary ''Routes of Rhythm'', presented by
Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte ( ; born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927 – April 25, 2023) was an American singer, actor, and civil rights activist who popularized calypso music with international audiences in the 1950s and 1960s. Belafonte ...
, which explored the historical development of some Afro-Cuban musical traditions. The documentary, filmed in 1984, was broadcast by
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
and accompanied by the release of three CDs. While Oviedo appears only in one track on each of the first two volumes (released in 1990), the final volume (released in 1992) consists entirely of his music. The "rediscovery" of Oviedo's music was however followed by his death on June 16, 1992, aged 89. The documentary was released on DVD in 2001 under the title ''Roots of Rhythm''.
Style and technique
Oviedo is considered one of the earliest innovators of the tres, developing a series of techniques that increased the timbral and melodic possibilities of the instrument. Most importantly, he pioneered the thumb stroke known as ''alzapúa'' (a technique already used by mandolinists and nowadays common in
flamenco
Flamenco () is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the Gitanos, gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and Region of Murcia, ...
), as well as the use of the pinky finger. Although sometimes described as "traditionalist" in comparison to ''treseros'' from later decades, Oviedo is considered the first
virtuoso
A virtuoso (from Italian ''virtuoso'', or ; Late Latin ''virtuosus''; Latin ''virtus''; 'virtue', 'excellence' or 'skill') is an individual who possesses outstanding talent and technical ability in a particular art or field such as fine arts, ...
of the tres due to his varied and complex style, which was imitated by many. Oviedo's preferred tuning was that of a D-major chord, A–D–F#, the same that
Arsenio Rodríguez
Arsenio Rodríguez (born Ignacio Arsenio Travieso Scull; August 31, 1911 – December 30, 1970)Giro, Radamés 2007. ''Diccionario enciclopédico de la música en Cuba''. La Habana, v. 4, p. 45 et seq. was a Cuban musician, composer and bandl ...
would use years later.Sublette (2004) p. 338.
Discography
;Studio albums
*''Isaac Oviedo y los Timberos del Caribe'' (Areito, 1984)
*''Routes of Rhythm Vol. 3'' (Rounder, 1992)