Chapter 6. La Conga De Los Hoyos: La Conga de Cuba^[1]

Introduction

When I mentioned my interest in conga to Santiago residents, most of them quickly mentioned La Conga de Los Hoyos, Santiago’s (and perhaps Cuba's) most famous and prestigious comparsa. Lázaro Bandera Malet, musical director of the group for over a decade and son of director Félix Bandera Bles (“Bandera”) has been my good friend, teacher and collaborator since 2019; he is very proud of the group’s illustrious history.

Because of Los Hoyos' fame, it has received a great deal of attention from media outlets and academics. While I initially planned to address this imbalance by focusing on other groups, Los Hoyos' unique history, multifaceted identity, and my friendship with Lázaro, Bandera, and the group's other members have caused this chapter to be more extensive than those which discuss Paso Franco and San Agustín.

Deep Roots: Recordando Viejos Tiempos (Remembering Old Times)

La Conga de Los Hoyos' reputation and identity have been built upon enduring ties to the historically Black neighborhood it represents (Los Hoyos) and this community's longstanding status as an epicenter of Afro-Cuban culture with a historic tradition of patriotic rebellion.^[2] This reputation is maintained and disseminated through song, imagery and narrative. Los Hoyos maintains a unique connection to its past that sustains the strongest institutional memory of Santiago's congas.

El Foco: Community Memory on Display

La Conga de Los Hoyos' foco cultural (headquarters, clubhouse, or rehearsal hall) is a “site of memory” where the group's illustrious past is on display.^[3] French Historian Pierre Nora defines a lieu de mémoire (site of memory) as “any significant entity, whether material or non-material in nature, which by dint of human will or the work of time has become a symbolic element of the memorial heritage of any community.”

The foco is located at the corner of Martí and Moncada, two streets named for iconic leaders of Cuba’s 19^th-century independence movement. According to Lázaro, the foco's primary purpose is “to maintain the tradition” (Bandera Malet 15 May 2022). To achieve this, the space variously functions as a clubhouse, headquarters, and cultural center. One of its most practical purposes is to store instruments (see Figure 6.1).

Figure 6.2. Performance for foreign visitors, 1999; Félix Bandera Bles (in white shirt), musical director; Sebastian Herrera Zapata “Chan” (standing next to pillar), director; Lázaro Bandera Malet (next to Bandera Bles), bell; statue of Eleguá in lower left corner. Photo by Daniel Chatelain, Ritmacuba.com.

When the foco is open to the public, the items on display exhibit the community's collective memory.^[4] Upon my first visit to the foco in June 2019, my attention was focused on the instruments for the first rehearsal of carnival season, many of which employed a Cuban flag design. I also noticed and photographed a huge abstract mural of a conga parade, a large painting of Sebastian “Chan” Herrera, banners from past carnivals, a Cuban flag, and banners with revolutionary slogans.

La Invasión: Continuity, Local Identity and Prestige

The biggest single image on display is a brightly colored painting (see Figure 6.3).

Figure 6.3. La Invasión (The Invasion) by Alberto Lescay. Photo by Lázaro Bandera Malet.

At first glance, it was clear to me that this was a depiction of a conga parade; it was only much later that I became aware of its title, which ties it to a specific tradition and gives it a more site-specific meaning: La Invasión (The Invasion) . This painting is colorful and chaotic, depicting what Kristina Wirtz calls “the emblematic carnivalesque moment in Santiago’s carnival” (125). To better understand this image, it is necessary to elucidate the meaning and context of the unique ritual it depicts.

The Invasion is an annual homage to the mambises (rebel freedom fighters) from Oriente who marched westward in 1895. In this massive musical mobilization which dates to at least the 1920s, the conga leads as many as 30,000 people through Santiago’s sweltering hilly streets to visit four rival congas (Alto Pino, El Guayabito, San Agustín, and Paso Franco) before returning to its home base, the foco (Galis 196; Bandera 15 May 2022; see Chapter 2 for a discussion of The Invasion's origins). Millet, et al. depict The Invasion as a moment where the neighborhood strongly affirms its identity before the rest of the city; unlike the “official” parade before a panel of judges, The Invasion has its own natural arbiters: the neighborhoods (20, 156).

Much of the prestige of The Invasion lies in its uniqueness. While all of Santiago’s conga ensembles conduct visitas (“visits,” processions where one group visits another), The Invasion is a unique tradition.^[5] By evoking the nation’s war of independence, The Invasion affirms the conga’s reputation as a patriotic and rebellious Cuban institution—it is a mobile site of memory. The Invasion also represents racial, national, regional and local pride by remembering the heroic anti-colonial efforts of people of color from Oriente, including the revered generals Antonio and José Maceo, Quintin Bandera, and Guillermón Moncada, all of whom were from Los Hoyos.

On December 27, 1997, the Cuban government and La Conga de Los Hoyos instituted a new tradition: El recorrido de la Victoria (The Victory Parade), informally known as the December Invasion. The impetus for this annual procession came from Juan Carlos Robinson, First Secretary of the Provincial Committee of the Cuban Communist Party in Santiago (Bandera Malet 19 December 2025). The “official” reason for the parade is to commemorate the 1959 triumph of the Cuban Revolution. By invoking the July Invasion and its homage to 19^th-century freedom fighters, El recorrido reinforces the perennial revolutionary discourse asserting the rebeldes' (Fidel Castro's band of rebels) heroic role as true heirs to the mambises.^[6] In practice, it is widely treated as a holiday celebration.

Guillermón Moncada: Local and National Hero

Guillermón Moncada is memorialized with a statue near the entrance to the foco (see Figure 6.4).

The legend of Moncada, like The Invasion, is a source of local, national, and racial pride. Moncada was born free in Los Hoyos in 1841 and in his youth become known for his adamant opposition to slavery and Spanish rule (Ferrer 84–85). During the 1860s, he performed as primer bastonero (lead macebearer or stick fighter) in the patriotic neighborhood comparsa Los Brujos de Limones, an act that is sometimes interpreted as making him the founder of La Conga de Los Hoyos (see Chapter 1). Moncada fought bravely in the Ten Years’ War between 1868 and 1878, rising to the rank of General. In 1878, he took part in the Protest of Baraguá, where a group of rebel leaders of color rejected a peace treaty with Spain because it failed to abolish slavery or grant Cuba its independence. Moncada then served as commander of the Eastern army in the 1879–1880 “Little War'' and a general in the 1895 rebellion before his death that year.

Because of Moncada’s uncompromising dedication to Black liberation and Cuban independence, he serves as a moral example: a valiant and patriotic Black rebel from Los Hoyos, and a martyr for Cuba. His memorialization firmly ties the conga and its community to Black liberation and the birth of the Cuban nation.^[7] Moncada's home is a five-minute walk from the foco.

The West Wall: Revolution and Nation

When I visited the foco in 2019, the west wall was mostly dedicated to items with patriotic and revolutionary content: a Cuban flag, a 26 Julio flag, a banner commemorating The Invasion and wishing Fidel Castro a happy birthday (“the Fidel banner”), and four banners with relatively small text (see Figure 6.5).[8] While these banners and others like them seem to be temporary, the presence of revolutionary/patriotic phrases in the foco has been consistent.^[9] State-sponsored media consistently extolls the group’s role as a bearer of tradition and its links to rebellion and patriotism. (Hernández Fusté; López Jiménez “La Invasion,” “Los Hoyos”).

The Fidel banner's most prominent facet is the word Invasión on a red background; this evokes the conga’s uniqueness and the island’s bloody struggle for independence. Below is a greeting: “2016 We salute/acknowledge Fidel’s 90th birthday.” The two biggest words are “Invasión and “Fidel.” This banner links the conga to struggle, prestige, history, and loyalty to the Cuban state.

The top section of the banner reads: Conga Los Hoyos 1902 Pride of Cuba. This text affirms the group's status as a national icon and its prestige as Santiago’s oldest conga, founded in 1902. Like all monumental dates, 1902 has risen to prominence because of efforts to promote a specific narrative.^[10]

While Galis makes a strong case for 1914 as the year of the conga's founding, the year 1902 has been thoroughly disseminated and amplified since at least 2002, the year that La Conga de Los Hoyos celebrated its anniversary with the comparsa theme Su Centenario (Their Centennial). In most earlier written accounts, the group's origin story mentioned Moncada, the Cocoyé society and other 19^th-century predecessors, but rarely included a specific date (Bettelheim “Carnival,” 130; Brea “Un dia” 64; Millet and Brea 48–49; Nicot 46). Millet et al.'s 1997 book Barrio, which features extended interviews with director Sebastian Herrera Zapata “Chan” and other elders, never mentions 1902. A 1982 article in Granma mentions 1902, 1904 and 1915 as equally likely founding dates (Pelaez). These texts suggest that the 1902 date had not yet been firmly established, or that its dissemination was not a high priority for Los Hoyos' leadership.

Under Félix Bandera's leadership, which began in 1999, La Conga de Los Hoyos has consistently disseminated and celebrated a highly specific founding date: July 25, 1902, the first dia de Santiago of the newly independent Cuban republic. As is the case with Paso Franco and El Tivolí, an exact date allows for commemoration. This is thoroughly consistent with Cuban state institutions' strong affinity for anniversary celebrations.^[11] My point here is not to challenge the veracity of this date, but to show how it, like all monumental dates, is part of a specific narrative. The 1902 founding date has been intentionally amplified by Los Hoyos' leadership and Cuban media; as is the case with Paso Franco, community memory has been incorporated into official memory.^[12]

Regardless of whether La Conga de Los Hoyos was founded in 1867, 1902, or 1914, it is clearly the conga with the longest continuous presence in the same community. Even those who accept Paso Franco's origin story equating it with La Conga del Tivolí must concede that the group abandoned its original neighborhood and adapted Los Hoyos' pilón groove when it moved its home base. Los Hoyos' claim of originality and superior longevity is backed by its long-standing tradition of rehearsing within a few blocks of its current headquarters since at least 1914.

Mafifa and Chan: remembering exemplary Hoyeros

Besides Moncada, there are two other individuals memorialized in the foco: Sebastian Herrera Zapata “Chan” (1/20/1920–5/9/1999), and Gladys Esther Linares Acuña (c. 1929–1980), a.k.a Mafifa, La Campanera Mayor (“The Greatest Bell Player”), La Niña (“The Girl”) or La Dama de la calle (“The Lady of The Street”).

Gladys Linares “Mafifa” is likely the most prominent conga musician in Santiago's collective memory; her life and untimely death are commemorated in scholarly and journalistic accounts, a play and a film. One of the conga’s few female musicians, she played a 1956 Chevrolet brake drum for about twenty-five years until her untimely death in 1980; she is memorialized in the foco with a framed photograph and a banner (see Figures 6.6 and 6.7).

Linares was skilled at several percussion instruments including drums, something that was quite uncommon and discouraged for Cuban women at that time. Accounts of Gladys reflect expectations of citizenship, gender and sexuality: she is variously remembered as an exemplary Cuban worker who impressed El Comandante (Fidel Castro) with her virtuosity, a lesbian, a virgin, delicate and feminine, or strong and masculine, at home in the pinnacle of machismo and guapería (masculine bravado): La Conga de Los Hoyos.^[13] Many of these images come together in Vivian Martínez Tabares' description:

. . .una mujer que vivió como hombre para poder ejercer el papel deseado en la Conga, que fumaba tabaco y bebía aguardiente, y que murió virgen.

[. . .a woman who lived like a man to play the desired role in the Conga, who smoked cigars, drank aguardiente (unrefined rum), and died a virgin.] (ii)

Mafifa was so beloved in the community that her funeral procession was led by the conga; this unprecedented occurrence became a tradition for honoring group members (Millet et al. 100). She is remembered by her niece Bertha Armiñan in this interview:

Chan: The Conga's Golden Age

Like many conga innovators, Sebastian Herrera Zapata, “Chan” is from a familia congueristica.[14] His father was José Basilio Herrera “Negrito,” a musician and comparsa organizer. Chan began playing quinto in the conga in his teens and eventually served as the group’s director for many years until his death in 1999 (Millet et al. 188–218). He is memorialized in the foco with a painting and two banners (Figures 6.8–6.10):

One of Herrera’s best-known contributions was the 1947 comparsa which he co-created, Los hijos del Cocoyé (“The Children of Cocoyé”), a tribute to the legendary Cocoyé tumba francesa society whose headquarters was a block away from Los Hoyos' current foco (see Chapter 1). This prize-winning performance is remembered for its innovative inclusion of tumba francesa drumming, singing, and dance. While several accounts mention the leadership of a multi-member committee, Chan is most prominently remembered as the director of that year's comparsa.

With “Los Hijos del Cocoyé,” the conga asserted its deep connection to local Black tradition and heritage. The period of Herrera’s leadership is a key component of the conga's “golden era” of legendary musicians and epic victories. Although he is best described as a local hero, the 1947 performance that Herrera co-directed gave the conga national recognition and inspired the group’s nickname which continues to cement its reputation as an heir to tradition: “El Cocoyé.”

The 19^th-century “Cocoyé craze” (see Chapter 1) was mostly generated by Casamitjana's representation “from above,” its acceptance into the “refined” world of ballroom dancing and “highbrow” music, and historical accounts of these events. With the 1947 comparsa, the Black community of Los Hoyos reclaimed ownership of the term “Cocoyé” and its cachet. The redeployment of this powerful metonym is further discussed below.

Creation of the Foco

The story of the foco’s establishment illuminates the conga’s relationship with the state. The space was a bakery owned by Cubans of Chinese descent until it was confiscated during the 1968 Revolutionary Offensive, an island-wide campaign to nationalize remaining private businesses (Bandera Malet 15 May 2022; Zaldivar). In 1973, a smaller version of the foco was created, in part due to the efforts of Andrés Hechavarría, one of the first communists in the neighborhood and one of the leaders of the conga (Zaldivar). In 1980, the Ministry of Culture provided the group with a larger space which continues to serve as its headquarters. Los Hoyos' ongoing relationship with the state is not unique; all six of Santiago's traditional conga ensembles have focos provided by the Ministry of Culture.

Los Hoyos' foco cultural displays memory in ways that inextricably link the conga to the local community and the Cuban nation. The emphasis on continuity, rebellion, and tradition reflects a deep reverence for the past that is a key component of Los Hoyos' identity. By making these connections, the foco firmly centers the Los Hoyos community, and by extension, Cubans of African descent, in the revolutionary nation-building project.

El Cocoyé invades and occupies Havana

Es por esa comparsa que a esta conga se le conoce en toda la Isla como El Cocoyé y así quedó sembrado en toda la isla ese legendario nombre.

[It's because of that comparsa that this conga is known throughout the island as El Cocoyé, and that's how the legendary name took root throughout the island.]

– Eutímides Sandó Hechavarría, co-director, “Los Hijos del Cocoyé,” (quoted in Millet et al., 112).

The 1947 “Hijos del Cocoyé” comparsa catapulted La Conga de Los Hoyos to national fame. The group began to serve as the authentic representation of Santiago's carnival on national and international stages. In 1950, Pepín Bosch (discussed in Chapter 4) brought the group to Havana where they held public rehearsals and huge crowds joined their parades.

Around this time, La Conga de Los Hoyos and its groove became known in the capital as “El Cocoyé” or “El Cucuyé.” In press accounts and some editions of the 1963 film Nosotros, La Música, La Conga Los Hoyos is referred to as “Comparsa el Cocoyé,” “El Cocoyé,” “El Cucuyé,” etc. These terms became prominent in mass media and popular culture as metonyms for Oriente, its legendary Carnival, and a vaguely exotic “Haitian” or “French” variety of Black Cuban rhythm. Several songs and groups deploy “Cocoyé” to capitalize on the term's cachet and evoke Oriente. With fame and prestige came imitators: in 1959, The tumba francesa societies Cocoyé and Caridad de Oriente prevailed upon journalist Alberto Garcia Torres to denounce an “illegitimate” Havana-based “Cocoyé” comparsa in the pages of Diario de La Marina.^[15] The Cocoyé “nickname” has persisted to the present day, and Los Hoyos' banners proudly assert the group's authenticity (see Figure 6.11).

Los Hoyos' Groove: Inconfundible

In Barrio, many of the musicians interviewed describe Los Hoyos' sound as inconfundible (unmistakeable). The group asserts its sonic identity through songs, drum and bell phrases, and the consistent performance of the pilón–columbia–masón cycle.

The Pilón–Columbia–Masón Cycle

This brief rhythmic cycle has been an essential part of Los Hoyos' sonic identity since at least the 1930's (Galis 202). This cycle lasts less than five minutes and is always played in the following order: pilón, columbia, masón, pilón. The only instruments whose patterns always change are the low-pitched can/un solo golpe bell, the pilón, and the two tamboras.  The requinto, most of the bokús, and the other two bells maintain the same patterns for pilón, columbia and masón.

As discussed in Chapter 2, the columbia groove first appeared in Santiago as La Conga del Tivolí's adaptation of the Western Cuban conga. In the 1930s and 1940s, sartenes were replaced with campanas (brake drums) and the “modern” columbia emerged.^[16] A partial transcription of modern columbia as played by Los Hoyos and others is provided in Musical Example 6.1:

The can bell pattern is a “truncated” version of the one from Western Conga; both patterns include the 2a 3e sequence which builds up to the bombo accent on 3a (see Musical Example 6.2).^[17]

The masón groove, created in Los Hoyos in the 1930s, is an adaptation of the masón of the tumba francesa.^[18] While Milstein states that the masón was “taken directly” from tumba francesa, it is best described as an adaptation or sonic tribute; it has much more in common with the conga-pilón rhythm than with the masón of the tumba francesa (Milstein “Toward” article, 234). The “truncated tresillo” pilón and tambora pattern shown in Musical Example 6.3 [...x..o.] is the same as the one played by the tambora in the tumba francesa's masón and is almost identical to that of tajona; the “can” bell marks the pulse, and other instruments usually play the same patterns as in conga-pilón. Los Hoyos' masón is deliberately “laid back:” it is played slightly slower and at medium volume, setting up an intense and dramatic return to the pilón groove heralded by the corneta china's clarion call. The musical signals used for the pilón–columbia–masón cycle are addressed in a video by cineVillon, this blog post, and Opheim (57–58).

While Opheim and Milstein claim that the full pilón–columbia–masón cycle is played by all of Santiago's conga ensembles, Los Hoyos has by far the strongest and oldest tradition of playing it. I have only been able to verify the performance of the full cycle by Los Hoyos and Paso Franco; a review of street and studio recordings shows Los Hoyos playing this cycle much more consistently than Paso Franco. The significance of the cycle lies not only in its performance but in Los Hoyos' consistent and largely undisputed assertion of authorship and ownership. Galis, Lázaro, Bandera and numerous elders interviewed in Barrio praise it as unique and fundamental to the group's sound.

Tambora

The “five stroke basic” tambora pattern shown in Musical Example 4.6 is, according to Lázaro Bandera, characteristic of Los Hoyos, but I also observed Raúl López of Conga San Agustín and others playing it. Lázaro also describes certain tambora recursos (literally “resources,” better translated as “licks” or variations) as being essential to Los Hoyos' sound; many of these appear in Musical Example 6.8. He also stressed the importance of bare hand slaps, touches and open tones to provide a fuller sound.

Quinto: Monguito's Musical Legacy

While this project does not offer a thorough analysis of quinto improvisation, I will briefly address a golpe (“lick” or cell) that has become part of La Conga de Los Hoyos' sound. As mentioned above, José Ramon “Monguito” Camacho played quinto for over thirty years with Paso Franco before joining Los Hoyos around 1990. Many players in Los Hoyos remember Monguito’s use of a recurring basic pattern or “ride,” which I will call the “the Monguito cell” (see Musical Example 6.4).

Recent quinto players from Los Hoyos such as Lázaro Bandera, Lázaro Merino and Kiki Ferrera continue to incorporate this cell, which they often articulate with combinations of slaps and tones.^[19] When Lázaro showed me this phrase in 2019, he described it as an “answer” to the “paan” tambora accent. This tambora/quinto combination, shown in Musical Examples 6.5 (a)–(c), alludes to displaced triplets/tresillos in the space between beat four and beat two of the following measure, resolving on beat two. While this phrase could also be framed in terms in terms of displaced tresillos starting on 1e (Example 6.5[a]), the relationship to displaced triplets is easier to see when we allow for ternary interpretation of the tambora/quinto combination, a modification which I believe to be relevant and consistent with the aesthetics of the genre (Example 6.5[b]). The “skeletal” version of the Monguito cell (Example 6.5[c]), which I have heard used as a substitute for the “full” version, makes this relationship even clearer.^[20]

Bells

Un y Dos

Los Hoyos' musicians sometimes play a pattern on the middle pitched “un y dos” bell that is subtly different from the one in the model groove (see Musical Example 6.6.).

Bell improvisation: Un Solo Golpe

The group's bell players rarely stray from the basic pattern and variations shown in Musical Example 6.7 when they improvise on the lowest pitched bell (known as un solo golpe (“just one hit”), “can” or “chan”). Lázaro described these straightforward phrases as an essential part of the group's sound, contrasting them with other conga ensembles whose bell players improvise more freely. Musicians in all of Santiago's conga ensembles tend to reinforce the pulse when playing this bell.

Anthems: Singing Identities

El Cocoyé: No Hay Dos (There’s Only One)

Los Hoyos' anthems affirm the group's prestige and illustrious history to reinforce its multifaceted identity. Probably the most famous of these is “Abre que ahí viene El Cocoyé,” a chant that probably dates to the famous 1947 comparsa described above (see Musical Example 4.8). This song's simple refrain advises: “open up (i.e. look out, clear the way!), El Cocoyé is coming through.” In one printed version, the phrase “cuidao que te arrollo (careful, I'm gonna strut/roll right over you)” appears, evoking the sheer physical force of a coming invasion. As the group's most famous and emblematic song, it is often played during short performances to assert Los' Hoyos' unique presence.

In Daniel Mirabeau's transcription, he credits this song to “Juan Casamitjana, 1836” (23). I point this out not to discredit his rigorous work, but to illustrate the persistence of the Casamitjana legend (see Chapter 1). The impact of this composer's transcription is thoroughly embedded in the written historical record but largely absent from the Los Hoyos' collective memory. As a result, Mirabeau, thoroughly versed in the written record, credits Casamitjana with authorship of a refrain created decades after his death by people asserting their profound connection to the cabildo whose music he adapted. If “Abre que ahí viene El Cocoyé” has an author, it is the community of Los Hoyos and its conga.

Recordando Viejos Tiempos: Los Hoyos as Living Memory

Venimos recordando viejos tiempos (2x)

Que ibamos invadiendo El Tivolí (2x)

La Conga de los Hoyos es conocida

Popular en el país (2x)

[We keep remembering the old days (2x)

When we used to invade El Tivolí (2x)

The Conga de Los Hoyos is well-known,

beloved throughout the country] (2x)

This song encapsulates memory, prominence and prestige as central to Los Hoyos' identity. The first line asserts the importance of remembering: while all of Santiago's comparsas have institutional memories and fond recollections the past, Los Hoyos' connection to past generations is omnipresent and definitional.^[21] Invasions are acts of remembering, evoking the Black mambises from Los Hoyos and over one hundred years of musical mobilizations. The mention of El Tivolí reminds us of Los Hoyos' foundational rivalry with a comparsa from the past: regardless of who came first, La Conga del Tivolí belongs entirely to “the old days.” The last two lines assert the La Conga de Los Hoyos' unique status as Santiago's most famous comparsa, the only one that enjoys widespread national recognition. Recordando viejos tiempos (remembering old times) comes naturally in Los Hoyos.

La Epoca de Oro (Los Hoyos' Golden Age)

In carnivals between 1945 and 1951, La Conga de Los Hoyos won first prize every year, ushering in what many remember as a “golden age” which lasted until roughly 1970. During this period, legendary virtuosos such as Gladys Linares “Mafifa”, Juan Echavarria “Pililí,” Edenio Betancourt “Neno,” and Hugo Napolés “Cuquito” shaped the group's identity. Several of these players are honored in “Recordando a los ases del ritmo / Remembering the Rhythm Aces:”

Video Example 6.2. “Recordando a los ases del ritmo / Remembering the Rhythm Aces.” Video by author.

Familias Congueristicas (Conga Families)

Throughout Santiago, interwoven family networks have continually enriched and strengthened Afro-Cuban traditions. Many of these creative families have had huge impacts on the history of conga and carnival. A few of Los Hoyos' most celebrated lineages are described below.

Los Makindó (Hechavarría)

This family owes its nickname to José Guadalupe Hechavarría, a stevedore who invented a machine (maquina) to lift sacks when unloading ships at Santiago's port.^[22] José and his family were involved in Los Hoyos' tumba francesa and comparsas. They collaborated with Julián Garbey “Suñita” (see below) and others to organize Los Hijos de Quirina, the group that debuted the pilón groove in 1914 (Galis 188).

Alberto Hechavarría “Albertico Makindó” was a virtuosic and influential quinto player in the conga in the 1940s; he was a blacksmith by trade and built some of group's first lug-tuned boku drums . ^[23] Galis credits him with establishing a vocabulary of quinto phrases including the one shown in Musical Example 5.2 (214).

Eutimides Sandó Hechavarría (1920–c. 1995) played quinto with Los Hoyos for several years. He was part of the group's leadership in the 1940s and 1950s and contributed to the success of Los Hijos del Cocoyé and other winning comparsas (Millet et al., 259).

Andrés Hechavarría Riera, El Maestro de Panaderia (“The Maestro from the Bakery”) (2/4/1913–c. 2017) began his involvement in the Cuban labor movement and the Communist Party in the 1930s. He was a key part of Los Hoyos' leadership in the 1940s and 1970s and is remembered for his dedication and strictness as a comparsa director (Beltran Carvajal; Álvarez Suárez). At the age of 102, he was still arrollando.

Fidel Estrada (1925–c. 2010) does not bear the Hechavarría name but cites many of Los Makindó as relatives. He played quinto and tambora in Los Hoyos for decades while earning a living as a stevedore. After forming one of Santiago's first rumba groups in the 1950s, he co-founded Conjunto Folklorico de Oriente in 1959. He built chekerés (gourd rattles) for Los Tambores de Enrique Bonne in the 1960s; these were some of the first to be used in a secular performance (Solórzano Benítez 14 March 2026).

Fidel's son Jesús Estrada (c. 1950–) performed with Los Hoyos and Los Tambores de Enrique Bonne during the 1960s and 1970s. Jesús' brother Americo Estrada “Ameriquito” (c. 1963–) also played quinto in the 1990s; he was the one of the first to add the “caballito” pattern ([..xx..oo]) to Los Hoyos' pilón groove (Bandera Malet 19 December 2025).

Víctor Hechavarría “Víctor Makindó,” mentioned in Chapter 3, was recruited by Conga Paso Franco de be its first musical director in 1938 (Galis 204).

Juan Jona Hechavarría Magdariaga “Pililí” (c. 1915–1972), possibly Albertico's cousin, was one of La Conga de Los Hoyos' most legendary innovators. His musical legacy is further discussed below.

Los Garbey (The Garbey Family)

Julian Garbey “Juliancito” directed several tajona ensembles in the early twentieth century, including the tajona ensemble Los Songolotinos which lost to El Tivolí's Matanceros in 1913 (see Chapter 3).

Juliancito's son Julián Garbey Fuentes “Suñita” (c. 1890–c. 1970), directed Los Hijos de Quirina (“Children of Quirina”), the comparsa that debuted Los Hoyos' conga-pilón groove in 1914, and Los Nietos de Quirina (“Grandchildren of Quirina”) in 1915. Galís' 1963 interview with Suñita is the main source for his transcription of the 1914 pilón groove. Comparsa directors of later generations such as Chan and Andrés Hechavarría visited Suñita in Guantanamo for advice.

Luis Mariano Garbey “Nené” (c. 1930–6/16/2012), Suñita's nephew, composed and sang lead on the track “Para Francia Flores (y Para Cuba También),” an innovative rumba-conga descarga (jam) inspired by Los Hoyos' 1994 visit to France; it was recorded by the group in 1996 with pianist Alfredo Rodriguez  (1936–2005). This track was the first “conga-fusion” recording to include a full conga ensemble.

Aristedes Garbey Duruneaux “Salchivo,” a.k.a. “El Conde (The Count)” (8/15/1921–c. 2000), Nené's brother, started out playing campana with Los Hoyos in 1937. A few years later he switched to requinto and played this instrument for over fifty years, mentoring several younger players including Luisito Beltrán and Lázaro.

Germanico Sanchez Aguilar “Tentén” a.k.a “The Historian“ (1/8/1938–2/4/2022), was a son of two of Los Hoyos' “royal families:” Los Makindó and Los Garbey. His maternal grandfather was the legendary Suñita and his father Romárico Sánchez played a tumba francesa drum in Los Hijos de Cocoyé. Tentén's relatives from the Makindó family include his cousins Albertico Makindó and Fidel Estrada, as well as Pililí.

After starting out as a salidor (parade performer) in legendary comparsas like Los Hijos del Cocoyé, he joined the conga in 1963 and played several instruments including the Pilón, his specialty. In 2015, Lázaro brought the conga to Tentén's home for a moving tribute in recognition of his dedication.

Los Bandera: Defending the tradition

Evelio Bandera (c. 1920–c. 2000) played the pilón drum between roughly 1950 and 1985. Luis Beltrán cites him as a strict and influential mentor in “Remembering the Rhythm Aces.”

Félix Bandera Bles “Bandera” (b. 1949), Evelio's nephew, has a long and illustrious history of dedication to the conga. He began performing in the comparsa as a child before becoming a choreographer and contributing to the prize winning 1973 comparsa Ritmo baile y fantasia (Rhythm, Dance and Fantasy). Bandera played requinto and then became musical director under Chan, taking over the leadership after Chan's death in 1999. Since then, he has tirelessly defended La Conga de Los Hoyos' role as a bearer of Black traditions with a deep connection to Cuban history. Félix' cousin Pastor Bandera played pilón in Conga Paso Franco for many years.

Félix Bandera Malet “Pupi” (b. 1980), Bandera's oldest son, has excelled at tambora since his teens. In this informal recording, he proves that he is a “one man conga.”

Lázaro Bandera Malet (b. 1981) began performing in carnival at the age of 7 and joined Los Hoyos as a percussionist at the age of 15, winning several awards for best quinto performance before becoming the group's musical director in 2009. He has performed, recorded, and toured internationally with many artists including Rumberos de Hoy, Tiempo Joven, and Jane Bunnett. Lázaro recorded quinto with on Ricardo Leyva and Sur Caribe's 2006 hit “Añoranza por La Conga,” which is La Conga de Los Hoyos' best-known collaboration and the 21st century's most celebrated conga recording.^[24]

Los Trillizos (The Bandera triplets), Lázaro's sons Yankiel David Bandera Danger, Lázaro Williams Bandera Danger, and Ruben Félix Bandera Danger were born in 2012 and started drumming before they could walk. They currently perform with Corazón de Los Hoyos, a project devoted to providing positive activities for the children of the community. El relevo está asegurado (The future of the conga is in good hands).

Los Ases Del Ritmo (The Rhythm Aces): the Masters^[25]

For centuries, Santiago has nurtured hundreds of creative and innovative musicians. The following biographies recognize and honor a few of Los Hoyos' most revered players.

Corneta China

In 1916, in response to El Tivolí's successful debut of the corneta china the previous year, La Conga de Los Hoyos included its first two corneta players: Augustín Vera and Emiliano Garcia; both were professional clarinetists.^[26] Vera continued with the group until 1945 and is remembered as an outstanding player.

Edenio Betancourt Derival “Neno” (1/16/22–6/17/99), a disciple of Vera, joined Los Hoyos in 1954 and performed with them until around 1990. A carpenter by trade, Neno was an innovative virtuoso who has been widely recognized as Santiago's best corneta player. In “ Si de corneta se trata... / If We're Talking Corneta...” Neno's protégés pay their respects:

Valentín Serrano Pozo (12/16/41–6/20/2019) played corneta china with La Conga de Los Hoyos between roughly 1972 and 2000 and is remembered as one of the group's best players. His playing is well documented; he can be heard on several recordings, including “Ases del ritmo en la calle,” “Para Francia Flores (Y Para Cuba También),” and Jane Bunnett's Alma de Santiago. Valentin's great nephew Raidel Salazar also plays corneta china (Pérez Fernández 74).

David Mesa Ibarra “Guaraní” (b. 1944) worked for years as a professional saxophone and clarinet player before taking up corneta china at Chan's urging. He performed with Los Hoyos from 1983 to roughly 2010 and recorded on Calles y Congas and Carnival Music Of Eastern Cuba.

Vladimir Ibarra Paisán (b. 1977) started out playing pilón in Los Hoyos' children's group before learning corneta china as a teenager. He spent quality time with the revered Neno Betancourt, who he cites as an important mentor. In 2005, Vladimir recorded the stirring introduction to “Añoranza por la conga.” He is currently director of Rumberos de Hoy.

Bells

In addition to the beloved Mafifa, discussed above, several revered campaneros (bell players) have performed with Los Hoyos over the years.

Hugo Napoles “Cuquito” (c. 1930–2012) is fondly remembered as a versatile and virtuosic singer, dancer and percussionist. He played in Los Hoyos from roughly 1960 to 2000 and became famous for playing while marching with the brake drum balanced on his head. Some credit him with creating the vocabulary of variations for the un solo golpe bell. He was a member of CFO and Grupo Folkloyuma for many years.

Luis Fernandez Rodríguez “Toto” (b. 1967) began learning percussion as a child; after being mentored and encouraged by Mafifa, he joined Los Hoyos in the 1980s and played maní tostao for over thirty years. He is currently a member of Los Tambores de Enrique Bonne. Toto and Luisito are the two youngest musicians interviewed in Barrio.

Bokú

Mariano Duharte “Uiuí” is remembered by many as an exceptional bokú player. He played fondo salidor and other bokús in Los Hoyos from roughly 1955 to 1980 (see example 4.4).

Pilón

Chino Negro is remembered for his mastery of the Los Hoyos formidable 32-pound pilón bass drum during the group's golden era. He was a regular member of the group from around 1950 to 1980.

Luis Alberto Beltrán Carvajal “Luisito” (1966–) was born on Callejuela Street, near The Invasion's traditional starting point. He began his conga career in the 1970s, playing in children's groups and carrying newspapers in conga processions for his uncle Algínes to burn and fire-tune his bokú. After joining the adult group as a teenager, he spent over thirty years as Los Hoyos' pilonero. Widely respected as one of Santiago's most resilient drummers, Luis is a current member of Tambores de Bonne and still performs with Los Hoyos on occasion. Luisito has been a great friend and collaborator for this project, introducing me to elders such as Joaquin Solórzano Benítez (b. 1950), Enrique Bonne Castillo (1926–2025), and Juan Argelio Portuondo Martís (b. 1935). Luis' late brother Miguel Beltran Carvajal (1953–2008) played bokú and pilón in Los Hoyos for many years.

In “Mi pilón y yo / Me and My Drum” Luis expounds upon his lifelong bond with the pilón drum and fondly recalls Salchivo's endurance and dedication.

Tamboras

Around 1945, the innovative and influential tambora player Juan Echevarría “Pililí” joined La Conga de Los Hoyos. Pililí created a vocabulary of phrases for this instrument and is remembered as an outstanding and legendary improviser. Unfortunately, he may have never recorded; one of his variations as transcribed by Galis is in Musical Example 6.8. Pilili's style has served as a model for future generations of tambora players such as Ángel Luis Vera Ferrer “Bebo Isaac,” Juan Palacios Duany “Maño,” Jesús Milanés and others.

The following mini documentary, “Lo Máximo: Recordando a Pililí / Remembering Pililí” draws on personal and musical memories to honor his lasting contribution:

Pililí's frequent colleague on the tambora was Ibrahín Hechavarría Roca (1931–1999). These two Hechavarrías were probably not related, but Ibrahín does mention in Barrio that Eutímides Sandó Hechavarría (see above) was “practically” his cousin (273). Ibrahín performed with Tambores de Bonne and CFO for many years.

Ibrahín's grandson Adonis Hechavarría González (b. 1980) started his drumming career with Conga San Pedrito's conga infantil (children's group). He has played tambora in La Conga de Los Hoyos since the 1990s and is currently a member of Rumberos de Hoy. Adonis testifies on his spiritual connection with ancestral congueros in “Lo Maximo.”

Pilili's disciples

Many of Los Hoyos' older players remember Pililí as an exacting taskmaster with a finely attuned musical ear. In rehearsals he strove for perfection and was put in charge of auditioning and mentoring new players; he played a similar role in Los Tambores de Enrique Bonne during the 1960s. I was lucky enough to interview a few of his followers, virtuosic drummers who have honored his memory by emulating his dedication in dozens of invasions and international tours.

Angel Luis Vera Ferrer “Bebo Isaac” (b. 1945) grew up in a musical family: his father Isaac Vera played with several comparsas and built Los Hoyos' drums for decades. Bebo is also related to the legendary corneta player Augustín Vera and pilonero Evelio Bandera. He began playing at age nine and joined Tambores de Bonne as a founding member in 1960, playing quinto and catá for several years. Around this time, he joined Los Hoyos on quinto before switching to tambora in 1967.

Bebo Isaac is widely considered to be one of Los Hoyos' best tambora players; influenced by Pililí, he and Ibrahín Echevarria would sometimes improvise with two mallets, an extremely uncommon practice. He may be the only living tamborero to use this technique.

In the following clip, Bebo demonstrates his endless repertoire of imaginative variations:

Jesús Milanés Romero was born in 1950. He began playing tambora in the 1960s with Conga San Pedrito before joining Los Hoyos around 1979; he cites Pililí as a mentor. Musical Example 6.9 is a transcription of Jesús' playing in Video Example 6.7:

While this duo setting is far removed from a street procession, it allowed for clear footage of Jesús' significant use of his bare left hand on the drum's bottom skin. The transcription includes left hand strokes which are important to the passage's melorhythmic contour but omits some grace notes. Jesús, like many tambora players, punctuates his variations with a cadential cell ([x.x.x..o] or a close variation) which resolves to the “paan” on 4a and returns to a steady basic pattern. Variation 5 (in measure 40) is a Los Hoyos “classic” but can be heard in other ensembles (Bandera Malet 21 December 2023).

Juan Palacios Duany “Maño” (1951–2024) was born at the outset of carnival on el día de San Juan (St. John's Day), June 24, 1951. After absorbing much of Pililí's musical vocabulary, he joined Los Hoyos in the mid-1970s, performing alongside Jesús Milanés for over forty years and achieving wide recognition in the community. He traveled internationally with the ensemble and took part in several studio recordings, including Cuba Linda, Carnival Music of Eastern Cuba, and Calles y Congas.

Conclusion: La Conga Madre

Despite occasional quibbles over its founding date, La Conga de Los Hoyos is deeply respected by Santiago's other ensembles as the creator of the conga santiaguera groove and is known as La Conga Madre (“The mother of all congas”). The group maintains a unique connection to its past that cements its status as La Conga de Cuba.

1. “Cuba's Conga;” this is the title of a 2021 CD on the state-owned EGREM label.

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2. Alexandra Gelbard insightfully uses the term “epicenter of the African Diaspora” to describe the Los Hoyos community (“Socio-Interactive Musical Experience,” 1). ↑

3. The term foco cultural (literally “cultural focal point”) alludes to Che Guevara’s “foco theory” which posits that a small rural army (“foco” or focal point, such as Fidel Castro’s band of guerillas) can ignite a successful socialist revolution.

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4. Historian Ana Lucia Araujo describes collective memory as a conglomeration of individual memories, passed down over generations within a given group such as a family, community or nation (ch. 1). I use “Community Memory” to refer to a community's collective memory. See White Paper, p. 6–7.

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5. While some authors and rival conga members indiscriminately refer to all visits as invasions, I believe it is more accurate to distinguish other visits from The Invasion. As one of their refrains says, “Como Los Hoyos no hay dos” (There is only one Los Hoyos). ↑

6. This analysis draws on the work of Louis Pérez, Jr. and others who have identified broad themes in Cuban history such as the connection between 19^th- and 20^th-century revolutionaries. See White Paper, p. 5-6.

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7. Moncada is also memorialized in Santiago's baseball stadium, the Moncada military barracks (site of Fidel Castro's 1953 attempt to overthrow the Batista regime) and Grupo Folklorico Guillermón Moncada, led for many years by Walfrido Valerino Giro (see Chapter 7).

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8. The 26 de Julio (26th of July) movement is the revolutionary faction led by Fidel Castro that came to power in 1959. It is so named because of a celebrated (but failed) attack on the Moncada barracks on July 26, 1953, during the culmination of Santiago’s carnival. These barracks are about a half mile from the foco; several musicians from Los Hoyos recall the Moncada attack in Barrio, Comparsa, and Carnaval Santiaguero.

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9. All the focos culturales that I visited had patriotic/revolutionary content on display. While the political aspects of the conga are not the focus of this project, it is easy to interpret many of these banners as what Michael Bustamante calls “pro-forma patriotism” (220).

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10. Similarly, Michel-Rolph Trouillot deconstructs the creation of Columbus Day in Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History: “It took centuries of battles—both petty and grandiose—and quite a bit of luck to turn it [Columbus Day] into a significant date” (ch. 4).

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11. See Bustamante, “Anniversary Overload? Memory Fatigue At Cuba’s Socialist Apex” in The Revolution from Within; Cuba, 1959–1980,” Michael J. Bustamante and Jennifer L. Lambe, Eds.

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12. According to some sources, the Cocoyé society and the Cabildo Congo both converted to mutual aid societies in 1902 (Calderón 65, Larduet 77–79). Rodríguez Lamarque cites 1905 for the Cabildo Congo. These conversions were probably done to comply with the 1888 edict (see Chapter 1).

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13. Judith Bettelheim discusses the prescribed roles of women in Santiago's carnival and the legend surrounding Mafifa in “Ethnicity, Gender, and Power: Carnaval in Santiago de Cuba.” She notes that Gladys González Bueno “La India”, a scholar of Afro-Cuban culture and good friend of the conga, formed an all-female conga group in the early 1980s that disbanded due to community pressure (189–191).

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14. “Conga-istic family;” this term was coined by Adonis Hechavarría, one of Los Hoyos' drummers.

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15. Garcia Torres, a longtime member of Santiago's Carnival organizing committee, is interviewed at length in Barrio (219–235).

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16. Galis's first transcription of modern columbia is Paso Franco's 1939 version, but he believes Los Hoyos probably played this groove before that date when it visited La Conga del Tivolí, presumably with campanas.

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17. Bombo players in Western Cuba also play more syncopated patterns.

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18. Tumba francesa is discussed in Chapter 1.

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19. With Kiki's move from Los Hoyos to Paso Franco in 2015, this phrase again became a prominent element of Paso Franco's sound, as it had been for Monguito's long tenure with the group. I include the analysis in this chapter because Lázaro taught me this phrase as part of Los Hoyos' sound.

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20. This skeletal cell, [.x..x...] or [.x.x..] in its ternary version, is often used by lead drummers in two Afro-Cuban styles which predate the conga in Santiago: the masón of tumba francesa, and the tajona. This is consistent with Galis' hypothesis that quinto phrasing in the conga “comes from” tajona lead drumming (Galis 12 December 2023).

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21. See for example, “Lo Maximo: Remembering Pililí,” and “Remembering the Rhythm Aces.

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22. Hechavarría is one of many port workers that have enriched Santiago's musical culture. Several members of La Conga del Tivolí, Los Tambores de Enrique Bonne, Grupo Folkloyuma, and Grupo Folklorico Guillermón Moncada earned a living as stevedores. There is also a strong historic connection between Black stevedores in Havana and Matanzas, the abakuá secret society, and rumba.

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23. Bokús with tacked on skins which had to be tuned with fire were used in Santiago as late as the 1970s.

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24. “Añoranza” was a source of enormous pride for Los Hoyos and Santiagueros; it put the conga in the spotlight and was widely accepted as a symbol of Oriente's contribution to Cuban identity. See Milstein “La Conga,” for further discussion of this iconic song.

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25. Los Ases del Ritmo was Los Hoyos' comparsa title in 1946.

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26. According to Galís, Garcia played a clarín chino, probably a high pitched suona.

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