René Álvarez Beceiro was born in San Antonio de los Baños on May 18, 1918 and died in Havana on July 23, 1997. He was a composer, conductor and singer, with all the vocal qualities of a true sonero: deep timbre and strong of his voice, improviser and with an extraordinary flavor that allowed him to interpret genres of Cuban music from different eras.
In an interview conducted by this author in 1994, René narrates in a brief summary his time in recognized groups such as 40’s tunes, Arsenio Rodriguez ensemble and others that he created under his leadership. In this video that we share today, the sonero tells us emotional anecdotes.
René was recognized in life with the Gold record for his contribution to Cuban music, delivered by Abelardo Barroso, another of the great soneros and friend, just when he was spending the last years of his life working as a bus inspector in the public transport of the capital. Called “El son en persona”, there remains his voice on the vinyl LPs collected in the exclusive Collections of Cuban music.
