Raimundo Valenzuela - Life & Career

Life & Career

Valenzuela studied music under his father, Lucas: he learnt piano, viola, percussion, but was first employed by Orquesta Flor de Cuba as a trombonist. He was playing for La Flor in the Alhambra theatre in Havana in 1869, when a group of Spanish anti-revolutionary volunteers attacked the theatre and its patrons. That night the theatre had been performing anti-colonial works for the benefit of rebels declaring Cuban independence, in what became known as the Ten Years' War.

He established his band from the remains of Flor de Cuba after the death of its leader, Juan de Dios Alfonso. Like its forebear, the orchestra was a típica in format, based mostly on wind instruments. It was, like Flor de Cuba, the most popular típica of its day. Valenzuela's bands played everywhere in Havana. They played for balls, the theatre, carnavals, and for all racial groups and all levels of society.

Raimundo contributed financially and personally to the development of the Cuban War of Independence in 1895. When Raimundo died in 1905, his brother Pablo Valenzuela became Director of the orchestra.

Valenzuela's compositions were mostly danzones, such as El negro bueno, María Belen, Los empleados de Tacón; and the zarzuela La mulata María.