Cándido Camero Guerra was a Cuban conga and bongo player, considered as the Father of Latin Jazz and a pioneer of Afro-Cuban jazz, and an innovator in conga drumming. Camero was known for developing tunable conga sets and the combination of bongos and congas with other instruments.
Camero first began making music as a young child, beating rhythms on empty condensed milk cans in place of bongos. He worked for six years with the CMQ Radio Orchestra and at the famed Cabaret Tropicana. He began to ... moreCándido Camero Guerra was a Cuban conga and bongo player, considered as the Father of Latin Jazz and a pioneer of Afro-Cuban jazz, and an innovator in conga drumming. Camero was known for developing tunable conga sets and the combination of bongos and congas with other instruments.
Camero first began making music as a young child, beating rhythms on empty condensed milk cans in place of bongos. He worked for six years with the CMQ Radio Orchestra and at the famed Cabaret Tropicana. He began to play tres professionally In 1935, at the age of 14, and played for 6 years as conguero and bongosero for the Cuba radio station and another 6 years for the Tropicana Club.
In 1948, Camero made his first US recording and by the early 1950s, Camero was a featured soloist with the Stan Kenton Orchestra, with whom he toured the U.S. playing three congas (at a time when other congueros were playing only one) in addition to a cowbell and guiro (a fluted gourd played with strokes from a stick). He created another unique playing style by tuning his congas to specific pitches so that he could play melodies like a pianist. He became one of the best known congueros in the country, appearing on such television shows as the Ed Sullivan Show and the Jackie Gleason Show. Camero earned a Grammy Award nomination for Best Latin Album (2004) , received Latin Jazz USA Lifetime Achievement Award (2001) and a special achievement award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers as a "Legend of Jazz" (2005). Camero was the subject of the 2006 documentary, Candido: Hands of Fire. Camero breathed his last at the age of 99 on 7 November 2020, at his home in New York.
