Julio Cueva was a Cuban trumpeter, composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 and band leader. He was an important figure in the spread of Cuban popular music in the 1930s.

Life and career

Cueva played cornet

Cornet

The cornet is a brass instrument very similar to the trumpet, distinguished by its conical bore, compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. It is not related to the renaissance and early baroque cornett or cornetto.-History:The cornet was...

 in the local children's band at ten, and soon composed a number of danzon

Danzón

Danzón is the official dance of Cuba. It is also an active musical form in Mexico and is still beloved in Puerto Rico where Verdeluz, a modern danzón by Puerto Rican composer Antonio Cabán Vale is considered the unofficial national anthem...

es. In 1916 he became the clarinet

Clarinet

The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...

ist of the Santa Clara

Santa Clara, Cuba

Santa Clara is the capital city of the Cuban province of Villa Clara. It is located in the most central region of the province and almost in the most central region of the country.- History :Santa Clara was founded by 175 people on July 15th, 1689...

 municipal band. He joined Arquimedes Pous' theatre company, which toured the island regularly. In 1923 he founded and directed the municipal band of Trinidad

Trinidad, Cuba

-External links:* , Online travel guide to Trinidad* , Selected photos of Trinidad* , Photos of Trinidad...

. In 1929 he moved to Havana and played with Moises Simons

Moisés Simons

Moisés Simons , was a leading Cuban composer, pianist and orchestra leader. He was the composer of the Peanut Vendor, possibly the most famous piece of music created by a Cuban musician...

 and also with the Hermanos Palau

Orquesta Hermanos Palau

The Orquesta Hermanos Palau was one of the most renowned dance bands in Cuba during the early 1930s and late 1940s, following the tradition of local jazz bands started by the Jazz Band Sagua in 1914...

 orchestra.

Cueva's big break came when Don Azpiazú

Don Azpiazu

Don Azpiazú was a leading Cuban orchestral director in the 1920s and 30s. His band introduced authentic Cuban dance music and Cuban musical instruments to a wide audience in the USA...

 formed a band to tour Europe after the success of the Peanut Vendor. After the band returned, Cueva stayed in Europe for ten years as a trumoeter and band leader. He signed a contract with a Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

ian nightclub, which promptly renamed itself La Cueva. Sublette says that it was in this club that Cueva and Eliseo Grenet

Eliseo Grenet

Eliseo Grenet Sánchez was a Cuban pianist and a leading composer/arranger of the day. He composed music for stage shows and films, and some famous Cuban dance music. Eliseo was one of three musical brothers, all composers, the others being Emilio and Ernesto...

 launched the conga

Conga (comparsa)

Congas and comparsas are different parts of the carnivals of Santiago de Cuba., and by extension, similar groups may be found in carnivals in Havana. The congas are formed by a cornet china and a group of percussionists, playing drums and other instruments, together with the people who move to...

 as a salon dance. However, the Lecuona Cuban Boys

Lecuona Cuban Boys

The Lecuona Cuban Boys was a popular Cuban orchestra which toured the world for over forty years.The band was founded by Ernesto Lecuona, whose role was that of a patron-entrepreneur. He did not actually play with the band, but sometimes gave a piano recital before the band played. The core of the...

 were playing it at the same time.

He was in Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

 when the Spanish Civil War

Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...

 started, and promptly joined the Republican

Second Spanish Republic

The Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco....

 side. He directed the 4th division's band on the battlefield. When the republicans were defeated, he left for Paris but was intercepted and briefly imprisoned.

Cueva returned to Cuba in 1940 and founded his own band, which became popular and performed on radio CMHI (later Cadena Azul, later still RHC-Cadena Azul) as Orquesta Montecarlo. This was a top-class outfit with several young members who later became famous, such as trumpeter Remberto Lara, with Tito Gómez and Cascarita

Cascarita

Orlando Guerra [gayr'-rah] was a popular Cuban singer specialized in native musical forms such as guaracha, pregón and son montuno. Affectively nicknamed Cascarita, he was born on September 14, 1920 in Camagüey, the third largest city of Cuba and the capital of Camagüey Province.Guerra started his...

 (Orlando Guerra) on vocals. Cueva finally left the band and rejoined the Hermanos Palau orchestra, where he met the young pianist-arranger René Hernández.