By Eugenio Amézquita Velasco
Translation: Metro News Mx
The group Manglares de Cuba will celebrate more than two decades of its career in Celaya as one of the most solid platforms for the preservation of traditional Cuban music in Mexico. Founded in Querétaro in the year 2000, the project was born with the purpose of keeping the island's musical culture alive and has since brought together generations of performers who have made bolero, son, feeling, and trova a bridge between Cuba and Mexico.
This Cuban group will perform next Friday, November 28, 2025, at 8:30 PM; Hotel Mary in Celaya will also open its doors to welcome one of the most versatile and recognized Cuban pianists of his generation: Daniel Antonio Herrera Cárdenas. With his grand piano, Herrera will offer a sonic journey that will travel between feeling, bolero, and son, accompanied by the guest group Manglares de Cuba, which arrives directly from Havana to join this evening that promises to be a meeting of roots and modernity.
The group began with three highly talented Cuban musicians: Bernardo Hidalgo Ríos, classical guitarist; Fermín Alberto Morales Quintana, a now-deceased guitarist; and Erik Pi Fernández, percussionist and manager. They started a journey that soon was enriched with collaborations from beloved figures such as Alfonso “Poncho,” singer and guitarist; Don Emilio, tresero (three-string guitarist), singer, and composer; and other artists who left their mark on the project.
Throughout the years, Manglares de Cuba became a meeting place for musicians such as Juan Carlos Rosello, guitarist, tresero, and singer; Dany Centelles, singer; Jackeline “La China", a female vocalist of great power; Yamil Vázquez, pianist and arranger; Dairon Vázquez, percussionist, pianist, and singer; Yaser, trumpeter; Niko and Beto Gómez, guitarists; Hermes Nápoles, percussionist; and Julián Mendieta, percussionist and singer, among many others who have contributed their talent.
The group has known how to adapt to the needs of each stage, performing in formats ranging from the intimate duet to the octet with the character of an orchestra, always with the same essence: to offer the audience the richness of Cuban music and its dialogue with international genres. Its repertoire is broad and diverse, covering bolero, Cuban son, feeling, song, trova, cha cha chá, mambos, ballads, Latin jazz, guarachas, and other genres that are part of the cultural mosaic that Manglares de Cuba has passionately defended.
Today, 25 years after its founding, Manglares de Cuba remains a vibrant project, capable of bringing together tradition and contemporaneity, and of offering a sonic journey at every performance that connects the public with the Cuban root and the universality of music. Their presence in Celaya will be an opportunity to celebrate the permanence of a group that has made music an act of memory and identity.
The Mangrove and the Connection with "Manglares de Cuba"
Mangroves are tropical and subtropical coastal forests formed by trees and shrubs adapted to live in intertidal zones, where saltwater and freshwater mix. Red, black, and white mangroves are capable of growing in saline and waterlogged soils. They function as a natural barrier against hurricanes and storms, protect coasts from erosion, and serve as a refuge for fish, birds, crustaceans, and reptiles. In Cuba, mangroves occupy more than 70% of the coasts, which makes the country one of the territories with the largest representation of this ecosystem on the American continent. They are considered evergreen forests, unique in their direct contact with the sea, and constitute a symbol of resistance and ecological balance.
The group Manglares de Cuba chose this name as a declaration of identity. Just as mangroves intertwine their roots in difficult soils and survive in extreme conditions, the group has woven a network of musicians who preserve and disseminate traditional Cuban music outside their country but without forgetting the island homeland.
Mangroves sink their roots into earth and water; Cuban music sinks its roots into African, Spanish, and Caribbean tradition. The group recognizes itself as the heir to this cultural mix. Mangroves house great biodiversity; Manglares de Cuba brings together guitarists, percussionists, singers, and arrangers who, like a musical ecosystem, contribute a variety of genres: bolero, son, feeling, trova, cha cha chá, mambo, ballads, Latin jazz, and guarachas.
Mangroves protect the coasts and serve as a nursery for life; the group has become a platform and refuge for Cuban musicians in Mexico, offering continuity and creative space, giving life to the Cuban essence.
Just as mangroves are a symbol of resistance against climate change and erosion, Manglares de Cuba represents cultural resistance against oblivion, keeping traditional music alive on various stages. #MetroNewsMx #GuanajuatoDesconocido
