Kiki Valera, one of the best exponents of son cubano, is one of Cuba’s most beloved musical styles. This style of Cuban traditional music has been a major influence on many other music genres, including jazz, cha-cha cha and mambo. Although Cuban Son is the music that made Buena Vista Social Club stars in the late 1990s, Kiki Valera comes a long line of musicians whose involvement in Cuban son goes back decades. Kiki Valera, the oldest son of La Familia Valera Miranda’s septet from Santiago de Cuba, is a multi-generational tradition music group. La Familia Valera Miranda, a Cuban cultural institution that preserves the rich traditions of the Sierra Maestra mountain range since the 19th Century, has played an important role in Cuban culture. Their 1982 debut album, ANTOLOGIA INTEGRAL EL SON, was a catalyst for the resurgence of interest in traditional Cuban music. Kiki is like his entire family a virtuoso. A multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, sound engineer and producer, he’s best known as one of the world’s greatest players of the Cuban cuatro, a mid-size guitar with 8 strings grouped in sets of 2. Kiki learned to play the Cuban tres from Felix, his father. Kiki attended the Conservatorio Esteban Salas in Santiago de Cuba, one of the most prestigious schools for music in Cuba. He was already touring internationally at the age of 15. Kiki founded the Cuban band Septeto Turquino while he was an electronics engineering student. He played cuatro in the early 1990s.
