Tito y su Son de Cuba

Saturday, August 13, 2011 | Kaiser Permanente Salsa Stage | 12pm

Heriberto "Tito" Gonzalez, "El Trecero mayor,” arrived in the Bay Area in the summer of 2000. Tito is a fisherman turned cab driver whose participation in a cabbie band brought him television exposure as a musician. His music is primarily "El Son," the music you know from The Buena Vista Social Club. Tito plays a Cuban instrument similar to the guitar, called the Tres, and studied with Tres master Papi Oviedo of the Buena Vista Social Club followed by the greatest guitarist in Cuba, Octavio Sanchez Cotán.

Before leaving Havana, Tito founded and played with the Nuevo Conjunto de Arsenio Rodriguez, a group carefully structured to represent the music of the famous Cuban tresero Arsenio Rodriguez. This group was assembled by Arsenio's daugther, Regla Rodriguez Travieso. She thought long and hard as to who should represent and play her father's music, and she chose Tito Gonzalez, a great honor.

He has played with such famous Cuban groups as Conjunto Estrellas de Chocolate, Aribu Quartet and Chapotin y sus estrellas, and since his arrival in the US, he has had the honor of playing with such greats as Oscar De Leon, Larry Harlow and Orestes Vilato to name a few. Tito also plays internationally, and was recently requested to play for the King’s Coronation on the Island of Tonga.  His most recent album is the eponymous Tito y Su Son de Cuba: Traditional Cuban Music, Rumba, Guaracha y Son.

titoysusondecuba.com