History

William Vivanco is a Cuban composer and musician. Vivanco was born in 1975 in Santiago

Santiago de Cuba

Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city of Cuba and capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province in the south-eastern area of the island, some south-east of the Cuban capital of Havana....

, Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

, and learned to play guitar by frequenting Casa de la Trova on Calle Heredia, "stealing chords". He busked in the streets, and also performed with a professional children's choir. He trained his voice, learning the techniques that would enable him to develop his distinctively percussive vocal style. He also played day-long romerias and at the Festival of Singers of the Americas in Guantanamo

Guantánamo

Guantánamo is a municipality and city in southeast Cuba and capital of Guantánamo Province.Guantánamo is served by the Caimanera port and the site of a famous U.S. Naval base. The area produces sugarcane and cotton wool...

.

Vivanco first came to Havana

Havana

Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...

 when he was 23 years old. The Bis Music label at the Santa Clara song festival spotted him and offered him the possibility to make his first solo album in 2002 called Lo Tengo To' Pensa'o a mix of Brazilian music, pop

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 and reggae

Reggae

Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...

. His song and the accompanying video clip "Cimarrón" became popular. "Cimarrón" (literally, "one who lives on mountaintops") refers to African slaves who ran away from their Spanish masters.

In 2006, Vivanco recorded his second solo album, La Isla Milagrosa, produced by Descemer Bueno

Descemer Bueno

Descemer Bueno is a Cuban singer, composer, and producer. His first professional gigs were playing bass with Santiago Feliú, one of Cuba’s greatest troubadours.-Early life:...

 and Roberto Carcassés

Roberto Carcassés

Robert Carcassés is a Cuban jazz pianist. He was born on May 19, 1972, in Havana, Cuba. He has collaborated with many musicians, such as Chucho Valdés, Changuito, Wynton Marsalis, George Benson, and Descemer Bueno...

. In recent times Vivanco has started to distance himself from his funkier, poppier tunes in favour of music that is more "Santiaguera" (from Santiago), more Cuban, more rhythmic – more traditional.

Vivanco has performed in France. In 2003 he performed at Les Transmusicales de Rennes festival, then in 2004 at the Paleo Festival de Nyon, at the Cuban night of Les Nuits de Fourvière de Lyon, and in August 2005 he played at the Vence festival Les Nuits du Sud.

Discography

• 2002: Lo Tengo To' Pensa'o
• 2006: La Isla Milagrosa
• 2009: El Mundo Está Cambia'o

External links

• http://www.planete-aurora.com/en-vivanco/a.php
• http://www.myspace.com/williamvivanco
• http://www.nme.com/video/id/kYyewB0iMyc/search/vivanco
• http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4by5d_william-vivanco-el-pilon_music
• http://www.cubaabsolutely.com/music/contemporary.htm