In addition to being part of a family of great and prestigious musicians, Álvarez was a renowned composer, arranger and violinist.
MIAMI, United States. – The Cuban composer, arranger and violinist Enrique Jesús Álvarez Navarro, founder of the Charanga Latina orchestra, died in the early hours of this Monday, November 24, in Havana, according to the Cuban Institute of Music (ICM) in a note of mourning spread on social networks and official media.
The entity highlighted the musician’s career, underlined “his prestigious artistic career” and recalled his performances as first violin of the National Symphony Orchestra and the Camagüey Symphony Orchestra, in addition to his collaborations with the orchestras of Elio Revé, Richard Egües, Guillermo Rubalcaba’s charanga and the Maravilla de Florida and América groups.
The same official note emphasized that, in addition to being part of a family of great and prestigious musicians—among them his father Enrique Baby Álvarez and his brother, the sonero Adalberto Alvarez—, the director of Charanga Latina was a “fool-proof professional who has left his mark on his children and on the new generations of Cuban violinists.”
The ICM also described Álvarez as a creator with a “high sense of Cubanness, defender and faithful exponent of Cuban music,” attributes with which it justified the place it recognizes him “within Cuban musical history and culture.”
According to the institutional note, by decision of the family, the musician’s body will be laid to rest in a private ceremony, without public access. So far, official sources have not specified the cause of death.
A central figure of contemporary charanga
Enrique Jesús Álvarez Navarro was born on September 10, 1952 in Camagüey. There he was trained within an extensive family of musicians and studied at the National School of Art (ENA), where he graduated in the specialty of viola under the guidance of the French professor Marivonne Drobache, according to the musician’s profile in the official Cuban encyclopedia Ecured.
Before founding his own orchestra, Álvarez developed an intense career as an instrumentalist: he was first violinist of the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba and the Camagüey Symphony Orchestra, in addition to being a member of the orchestras of Elio Revé and Richard Egües and the charanga of Guillermo Rubalcaba, with which he made several international tours alongside figures such as Barbarito Diez and Tito Gómez. He also directed the Florida Wonder Orchestra and the America Orchestra.
In May 1992 he created his own group, Charanga Latina, with a classic charanguero format and a repertoire that includes bolero, cha cha chá, cumbia, merengue, son, mambo and salsa. The official newspaper Rebel Youth defined in 2016 to the group as “without a doubt one of the most popular orchestras in the country” at least at that time.
The maestro’s discography includes, among other titles, the albums for my saint and The charanguero violin —the latter recorded with fellow violinist Alfredo de la Fe and Charanga Latina—, in addition to later productions such as Each madman with his theme and Look how I comereleased by the state label EGREM, which consolidated the presence of the orchestra in Cuban dance music in recent decades.
With Charanga Latina Álvarez won the Grand Prize and the Popularity Prize in the Adolfo Guzmán Cuban music television contest, one of the most important popular song contests on the Island.
In 2022, the Cubadisco record fair awarded him the Honor Award “for more than 50 years of dedication to music”, coinciding with the 30 years of his Charanga Latina, according to the magazine. Art by Excellence.
