PERCUSSIONIST CANDIDO CAMERO HAS DIED

​Cuba lost one of her sons yesterday who changed Cuban music forever. Cándido de Guerra Camero died in NYC on November 7, 2020. He was 99 years old. Prior to Cándido only one congo drum was played at a time, and he changed that playing three congas with different tuning.
His influence on music over the past 79 years is striking. Diario Las Americas summarized his early years as follows: Born in the Havana neighborhood of El Cerro on April 22, 1921, Cándido began playing the bongo at age 4, made his professional debut at age 14 and settled in the United States at 25. He was quickly hired by the pianist Billy Taylor, later by the trumpeter and composer Dizzy Gillespie, he was a soloist in Stan Kenton's big band, and he traveled successfully through prestigious music venues in the country accompanied by his guiro and introducing the use of three congas across the United States. One of his last albums was, The Master, from 2014.
Cándido Camero, moved from Cuba to New York City in the 1940s and avoided the censorship visited on other artists who fled the dictatorship of the Castro brothers. He would play with many of them such as Israel Cachao López, Mario Bauzá and Arsenio Rodriguez, who had all suffered the wrath of the communist dictatorship. Along with other artists such as Celia Cruz and Olga Guillot.
Cándido also had a great influence on another great percussionist and Cuban, born in Havana, Ramón "Mongo" Santamaría Rodríguez. They were also bandmates.