Bienvenido Granda


Bienvenido Granda, born Rosendo Bienvenido Granda Aguilera, was a Cuban vocalist/musician, singing boleros, son montunos, guarachas and other Cuban rhythms.
For sporting a prodigious mustache, he was nicknamed El bigote que canta.

Biography

Bienvenido Granda was orphaned at six years of age. He discovered his talent for singing various Cuban rhythms and tango as a child when he sang for spare change on buses in Cuba.
He began his professional career in the 1930s, making his first recordings in 1936 with the Septeto Nacional de Ignacio Piñeiro. Bienvenido Granda made several appearances on Cuban radio stations such as Radio Cadena Azul, Radio Cadena Suaritos, Radio Progreso, Radio CMQ, and RHC Radio as a way of gaining wider exposure.
In 1942, he became the lead singer with one of the most popular bands of all Cuban/Afro-Cuban bands, the legendary Conjunto Sonora Matancera. He performed, recorded and achieved his greatest success with La Sonora Matancera until 1954, the year in which he began his solo career, having left the group after a bitter argument with Rogelio Martínez, its director, over money. El bigote que canta wanted to be paid more than his fellow band members even though La Sonora was a cooperative. Bienvenido Granda performed in several Latin American countries. He settled in Mexico City as a result of
the Cuban Revolution. Bienvenido Granda sang several of the different musical genres created in Cuba, being especially proficient in the guaracha. He was also a fine bolero singer.

Discography

These songs, all recorded with the immortal Sonora Matancera, are among his greatest successes: