Buena Vista Social Club legend Manuel “Guajiro” Mirabal dies aged 91

Manuel “Guajiro” Mirabal, trumpeter with the Buena Vista Social Club, has died aged 91.  

The Cuban Institute of Music confirmed the news, stating that Mirabal was “one of the greatest trumpet players in Cuba and the world” and that his death “represents an immense loss for Cuban music and culture.” 

Born on 5 May 1933 in Melena del Sur, some 50km from the Cuban capital, Mirabal played the trumpet for over 70 years. He was a member of major Cuban orchestras such as the Conjunto Rumbahabana, Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna and the Riverside Orchestra.  

In the late 1990s, Cuban star Juan de Marcos González and American guitarist Ry Cooder persuaded former glories of the golden age of Cuban music to reunite and return to the stage. The album, recorded in six days and named Buena Vista Social Club after a private club in Havana that closed after the Cuban revolution, was a worldwide hit. It won a Grammy Award in 1998 and is the best-selling Cuban album of all time.

Mirabal was one of the last survivors of this legendary Cuban band, which was immortalized on film by Wim Wenders in 1999.

Additional sources • AFP