When César Pupy Pedroso founded the orchestra Pupy y Los que Son Son in 2001, there were people who thought it would be difficult for the musician to go back on track with the prestigious career he had previously led in his long and fruitful tenure in Los Van Van. Two decades later, time has proved Pupy's tenacity, drive and creative capacity right, and has also cemented his place among the indispensable artists of Cuban son, of which he became one of the standards at the top of the genre that best defines our way of being.
This irrefutable certainty is the legacy that Pupy left when he passed away at the age of 75 on July 17 due to complications from a surgery.
Pianist, composer, arranger and undisputed leader of his group, Pupy was born in the neighborhood of La Timba and raised in Pogolotti, Havana enclaves of popular lineage to which he sung in an album released in 2003, the sounds of childhood and family example favored his vocation.
His grandfather Julio led the Cuba orchestra, and his father Nene Pedroso is remembered as one of the most confident pianists of the ensemble era in the 1950’s. Nene taught him the secrets of the Son tumbao's on the piano, but also encouraged him to pursue a formal musical education and study at the Amadeo Roldan conservatory, and absorb the teaching of Odilio Urfé and Jesus Lopez, pianist of Arcaño y sus Maravillas.
A very young Pupy was professionally trained, replacing his father in the Chapottin’s group and in the Sensación orchestra, in the line-ups of Cuba Nueva, which accompanied bolero singer Fernando Álvarez, and Fascinación, until he was called by Elio Revé Matos to join the Charangón, a step that proved defining because it was there where he identified himself with the innovative proposals of Juan Formell, who recruited him for Los Van Van.
In Los Van Van, he grew up and spread his wings as one of the pillars of Formell's style and of the timba revolution. Seis semanas, Después que te casaste, Tranquilo Mota, Azúcar, El buena gente, El bate de aluminio, El negro está cocinando and many other son masterpieces that have been danced to and enjoyed infinitely. Ever since the debut of his orchestra Los que Son Son until today, his albums have displayed the flavor, the distinction and the strength of each of his recordings, from Timba, la nueva generación de la música latina (2001) to Re-percusión (2021)?
Awarded the 2013 National Music Award and the UNEAC Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020, and the status of Maestro de Juventudes by the Hermanos Saíz Association, César Pedroso was faithful to his roots, to his people, to the Homeland. To the young people he asked: "Cuban citizenship goes inside, you just have to cultivate it, that is in your hands, in your creations, in your mind and heart."
Translated by ESTI
