It means a very hard blow for the Cuban music train and the fanatical admirers. At the age of 59, the Cuban bassist, guitarist and composer Juan Carlos Formell Alfonso (1964), son of the founder of Los Van Van and eternal Master of Cuban music Juan Formell, died on the night of May 26.
In full concert in New York he began to have a heart attack and withdrew from the stage of the Lehman Center for the Performing Arts in The Bronx.
A video shows how the musicians became aware of the situation and came out to help him. Although he received medical attention, Formell Alfonso, who had lived in New York since 1993, passed away.
Juan Carlos Formell was trained in Cuba as a musician at all levels of artistic education. He stood out as an instrumentalist accompanying several Cuban jazz figures such as Emiliano Salvador, Guillermo Fragoso and Joseíto González.
He was nominated for a Grammy for his debut album. Songs from a Little Blue House, in 1999. In total he recorded five albums.
In recent years he joined Los Van Van, where he served as bassist, like his father, until the moment of his death.
