Enrique Jorrín

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Enrique Jorrín was a Cuban violinist, composer and bandleader, born in 1926 in Candelaria, in the province of Pinar del Río. As a child he moved with his family to the Havana district of El Cerro, where he lived for the rest of his life. At the age of twelve he chose the violin and studied at the municipal conservatory of Havana. He played in the orchestra of the National Institute of Music, in 1941 in the danzonera of the Hermanos Contreras, and later in the charanga of Antonio Arcaño y sus Maravillas.

Music and breakthrough

In the early 1950s he played in the Orquesta América of Ninón Mondéjar. There he devised a new dance style that became known as the cha-cha-chá and grew out of the danzón. Jorrín is therefore regarded as the inventor of the genre. From 1954 to 1958 he lived in Mexico, in 1964 he toured Africa and Europe with his own orchestra, and from that year he recorded extensively for the Cuban label EGREM. His compositions include the danzones Hilda and Silver Star and the cha-cha-chás La engañadora, El túnel and Nada para ti.

Influence

The charanga, with violin, flute and rhythm section, gave his music a light, danceable sound. Jorrín made the rhythm simpler than that of the danzón, so that even beginner dancers could join in. In this way he carried a Cuban form into ballrooms all over the world. In 1974 he founded a new charanga with the singer Tito Gómez and the pianist Rubén González. Jorrín died in Havana in 1987, but many of his songs are still in the repertoire of his orchestra.

Listening

Mentioned in other articles

• Cha-cha-chá GenreThe cha-cha-chá is a slower and easier-to-dance offshoot of the mambo, devised by the violinist Enrique Jorrín of the Orquesta América in Havana.