Arsenio Rodríguez

El Ciego Maravilloso — Established the conjunto format and developed son montuno, the template of modern salsa; added congas and a second/third trumpet, and...

Blind from age seven, the Cuban tres player, composer and bandleader Arsenio Rodríguez (1911-1970) reshaped Afro-Cuban music in the 1940s by building the conjunto format and deepening the son into son montuno. He added a second and third trumpet and the conga drum, brought in piano alongside the tres he kept and featured, and wrote nearly two hundred songs steeped in his Congo heritage. Nicknamed 'El Ciego Maravilloso', he moved to New York in 1952 and influenced everything that became salsa.

Role

bandleader, composer, sonero

Era

Son & Trova

Genre

Son montuno / conjunto

Origin

Güira de Macurijes, Matanzas, Cuba