Einar Nuñez performs in a collaboration in Scotland. Photo: Deborah Jaffe.
Einar “Tito” Leliebre Nuñez
Afro-Cuban folkloric music, including rumba
Afro-Cuban folkloric music, including rumba
Einar “Tito” Leliebre Nuñez is from Santiago de Cuba, the most important city in Cuba for the cradle of son, where there are influences from Haiti, France, Africa and Spain. When he was eight, he began learning from Luis Quintana Palacio, a member of the Ballet Folklórico del Oriente and a commission to evaluate musicians. When Nuñez was ten, he was chosen to begin formal studies in music at Jose Maria Heredia Vocational Art School in Santiago de Cuba. His main teacher was his father, Hector Leliebre Borja: a top-level musician who worked with the Ballet Folklorico Cutumba and the Ballet Folklorico del Oriente. Nuñez also learned from Pachi Israel Rodriguez, the director of Obba Tuke, a group dedicated to preserving the Cuban rumba genre. Since 2003, Nuñez has been a musical director with the national company Teatro del Danza de Caribe.
Nuñez and his band, Obbatuké, at Castlesound Studios in Edinburgh, 2016.
Living Cultures Grant
2023
La Rumba Me Llama: Rumba Afro-Cubana
Nuñez will produce, curate, serve as music director and perform at a public event of Afro-Cuban music for all ages, in the tradition of a Cuban rumba, along with two free open-level music classes (one for adults and another for children). He will host the event at La Peña Cultural Center in Berkeley, an important community space dedicated to supporting Latino-Caribbean culture.
The rumba is a place where community is created; joy is celebrated in the midst of difficulties.” – Einar “Tito” Leliebre Nuñez
