SM: Where were you born and how did you begin your musical career?
RE: I was born in a small village called Cruces, when it was part of the former province of Las Villas. I lived there only for eight months before moving to Ranchuelo, another village. I spent my childhood there and then we went to Santa Clara. We also lived in Manicaragua where I played the piano in my father’s orchestra. Ever since I was young I have always loved music and as a boy I used to have my own little group where I sang and played the bongos. When I was ten years old I began studying music.

SM: Do you come from a musical family?
RE: Well, my father was a musician. He played the classical guitar and was the director of an orchestra. He played the clarinet in a very good band.

SM: And was he your teacher?
RE: In the beginning, of course.

SM: What other instruments do you play other than the flute?
RE: I began on the clarinet but my first instrument was the cymbals. Whilst studying the clarinet I played the saxophone and was also studying the piano. I intended to become a pianist —I spent a lot of time playing the piano in orchestras but in 1948 I began to study the flute. I studied hard and became the flute player in the municipal band of Santa Clara — a good band playing good music — and I also played the piano in the Charanga orchestras.

Richard Egües at home in Havana, 2000
photo by Sue Miller

SM: Were there many Charanga groups in Cuba at this time (in the 40s and 50s)?
RE: Oh yes, very many — this is the country of Charanga — they are indigenous to Cuba! There were so many — Antonio Maria Romeu, Arcaño y sus Maravillas, Joseito Valdes’s Orquesta Ideal, but there were many, many more.

SM: Who were the most famous flute players before you?
RE: Adrian Barrio, Antonio Arcaño.

SM: How did you meet the famous violinist from Orquesta Aragón, Rafael Lay?
RE: Aragón’s flute player, Rolando Lozano left the group for Mexico with Orquesta America and Lay came to look for me in Santa Clara to ask me to join Aragon and ultimately to move to Havana where the band had work.

SM: When did you start with Orquesta Aragon?
RE: In 1954.

SM: Can you tell me about the history of this Orquesta?
RE: The Orchestra was founded in 1939 in Cienfuegos. The founder became terminally ill and Lay became the group’s leader and the group subsequently moved to Havana. People loved the group and from there we left to tour the world. The group toured many countries — except England. We played once at the Moscow Conservatoire and they loved us there. We toured all over North America, South America, Central America, Europe, Japan, Lebanon, Egypt and many countrics in Africa. They loved us in Africa, proof of which only last week I was visited by an African Head of State in my own home.

Richard Egües at home in Havana, 2000
photo by Sue Miller

SM: How was your life when you played with Orquesta Aragón?
RE: My life? Well, normal really…

SM: No fast cars?!
RE: Lots of women and we drank a bit but we never stopped — we were always on the move, travelling and playing all over.

SM: How many recordings did you make with Orquesta Aragón? Can you give some titles of your records?
RE: I can’t remember — there were so many, a lot of Long play and singles too. We recorded a great deal.

SM: Which were the most famous ones?
RE: The most famous number was Bodeguero (The Grocer).

SM: Can you tell us a little about Charanga and the musical styles associated with it?
RE: The Charanga has distinct styles but these days there are a lot of groups calling themselves Charanga when they are not Charangas.

SM: Yes, like Charanga Habanera (which is more of a timba group).
RE: They don’t have the correct instruments of Charanga. The Charanga group has a flute and violins, sometimes amplified with microphones.

SM: Amplified acoustic violins but not electric violins.
RE: No the Charanga doesn’t sound right with those instruments, no.

SM: Can you tell us how the instruments function within a charanga arrangement?
RE: Every instrument has their part to play at certain times and in definite styles but everyone must work together to give the right sound to the Charanga.

SM: You have played many styles of music ranging from Classical, Jazz and Cuban styles, but primarily you are known as the King of Charanga and the Cuban flute style. Why did you dedicate your life to Charanga?
RE: It’s not that I like Charanga more than other styles, more that it suited me most musically. Out of the three ‘cultivators’ of the chachacha only I remain as Rafael Lay and Enrique Jorrin are now dead. We all influenced the chachacha and the danzón.

SM: As a composer which, in your opinion, is your best work?
RE: Bodeguero is my best composition as it is the most popular and is part of the Charanga canon.

SM: How is your life now in Cuba?
RE: Very peaceful as I am old. Before my life was less calm. Now I am old and my health is not the same.

SM: But at the present time you are working as a piano tuner/repairer and flute teacher as well as recording at the EGREM studios. Aren’t you retired?!
RE: No because the state won’t allow me to retire. I an 76 years old but the state keeps me on as a cultural ambassador, an ‘Emblem’ of Cuban Music if you like.

SM: What type of flutes have you played?
RE: I started studying the flute on the Boehm system flute and then I took up the five key wooden flute to play in the Charanga.

SM: What projects have you for the future?
RE: My main project is to make music and stay alive a little longer!

SM: Do you think you might come to England one day?
RE: Well, I don’t know. Perhaps I will as it’s about the only country I haven’t visited.

SM: What advice have you for Charanga del Norte?
RE: Well for Charanga del Norte they must study the Charanga a lot and always play united, work together as a team – that is the most important thing.

© Sue Miller, Leeds, April 2000SM: Where were you born and how did you begin your musical career?
RE: I was born in a small village called Cruces, when it was part of the former province of Las Villas. I lived there only for eight months before moving to Ranchuelo, another village. I spent my childhood there and then we went to Santa Clara. We also lived in Manicaragua where I played the piano in my father’s orchestra. Ever since I was young I have always loved music and as a boy I used to have my own little group where I sang and played the bongos. When I was ten years old I began studying music.

SM: Do you come from a musical family?
RE: Well, my father was a musician. He played the classical guitar and was the director of an orchestra. He played the clarinet in a very good band.

SM: And was he your teacher?
RE: In the beginning, of course.

SM: What other instruments do you play other than the flute?
RE: I began on the clarinet but my first instrument was the cymbals. Whilst studying the clarinet I played the saxophone and was also studying the piano. I intended to become a pianist —I spent a lot of time playing the piano in orchestras but in 1948 I began to study the flute. I studied hard and became the flute player in the municipal band of Santa Clara — a good band playing good music — and I also played the piano in the Charanga orchestras.

Richard Egüles at home in Havana, April 2000
Richard Egües at home in Havana, 2000
photo by Sue Miller

SM: Were there many Charanga groups in Cuba at this time (in the 40s and 50s)?
RE: Oh yes, very many — this is the country of Charanga — they are indigenous to Cuba! There were so many — Antonio Maria Romeu, Arcaño y sus Maravillas, Joseito Valdes’s Orquesta Ideal, but there were many, many more.

SM: Who were the most famous flute players before you?
RE: Adrian Barrio, Antonio Arcaño.

SM: How did you meet the famous violinist from Orquesta Aragón, Rafael Lay?
RE: Aragón’s flute player, Rolando Lozano left the group for Mexico with Orquesta America and Lay came to look for me in Santa Clara to ask me to join Aragon and ultimately to move to Havana where the band had work.

SM: When did you start with Orquesta Aragon?
RE: In 1954.

SM: Can you tell me about the history of this Orquesta?
RE: The Orchestra was founded in 1939 in Cienfuegos. The founder became terminally ill and Lay became the group’s leader and the group subsequently moved to Havana. People loved the group and from there we left to tour the world. The group toured many countries — except England. We played once at the Moscow Conservatoire and they loved us there. We toured all over North America, South America, Central America, Europe, Japan, Lebanon, Egypt and many countrics in Africa. They loved us in Africa, proof of which only last week I was visited by an African Head of State in my own home.

Richard Egüles at home in Havana, April 2000
Richard Egües at home in Havana, 2000
photo by Sue Miller

SM: How was your life when you played with Orquesta Aragón?
RE: My life? Well, normal really…

SM: No fast cars?!
RE: Lots of women and we drank a bit but we never stopped — we were always on the move, travelling and playing all over.

SM: How many recordings did you make with Orquesta Aragón? Can you give some titles of your records?
RE: I can’t remember — there were so many, a lot of Long play and singles too. We recorded a great deal.

SM: Which were the most famous ones?
RE: The most famous number was Bodeguero (The Grocer).

SM: Can you tell us a little about Charanga and the musical styles associated with it?
RE: The Charanga has distinct styles but these days there are a lot of groups calling themselves Charanga when they are not Charangas.

SM: Yes, like Charanga Habanera (which is more of a timba group).
RE: They don’t have the correct instruments of Charanga. The Charanga group has a flute and violins, sometimes amplified with microphones.

SM: Amplified acoustic violins but not electric violins.
RE: No the Charanga doesn’t sound right with those instruments, no.

SM: Can you tell us how the instruments function within a charanga arrangement?
RE: Every instrument has their part to play at certain times and in definite styles but everyone must work together to give the right sound to the Charanga.

SM: You have played many styles of music ranging from Classical, Jazz and Cuban styles, but primarily you are known as the King of Charanga and the Cuban flute style. Why did you dedicate your life to Charanga?
RE: It’s not that I like Charanga more than other styles, more that it suited me most musically. Out of the three ‘cultivators’ of the chachacha only I remain as Rafael Lay and Enrique Jorrin are now dead. We all influenced the chachacha and the danzón.

SM: As a composer which, in your opinion, is your best work?
RE: Bodeguero is my best composition as it is the most popular and is part of the Charanga canon.

SM: How is your life now in Cuba?
RE: Very peaceful as I am old. Before my life was less calm. Now I am old and my health is not the same.

SM: But at the present time you are working as a piano tuner/repairer and flute teacher as well as recording at the EGREM studios. Aren’t you retired?!
RE: No because the state won’t allow me to retire. I an 76 years old but the state keeps me on as a cultural ambassador, an ‘Emblem’ of Cuban Music if you like.

SM: What type of flutes have you played?
RE: I started studying the flute on the Boehm system flute and then I took up the five key wooden flute to play in the Charanga.

SM: What projects have you for the future?
RE: My main project is to make music and stay alive a little longer!

SM: Do you think you might come to England one day?
RE: Well, I don’t know. Perhaps I will as it’s about the only country I haven’t visited.

SM: What advice have you for Charanga del Norte?
RE: Well for Charanga del Norte they must study the Charanga a lot and always play united, work together as a team – that is the most important thing.
© Sue Miller, Leeds, April 2000