Anga DÃaz
Miguel " Anga " Diaz Zayas ( born June 15, 1961 in San Juan y Martínez Miguel Aurelio Díaz Zayas; † 9 August, 2006 Sant Sadurní d' Anoia (Spain ) ) was a Cuban percussionist and conga player.
Life
Díaz grew up in a musical family, his father was a saxophonist and clarinetist, his brother Juan ( " El Indio " ) is a guitarist. His nickname " anga ", by which he was known, he inherited from his father. Díaz learned the conga playing first from a teacher who played regularly in the neighborhood. At the age of 10 he left his home town of San Juan y Martinez in Pinar del Río, since he was chosen for his exceptional talent to the professional education of musicians in the capital, Havana. As a teenager he studied at the Faculty of Music of the National School of Arts. Díaz played first with the Latin Jazz Band Opus 13 and entered the international stage in 1987 when he was inducted into the pianist Chucho Valdés, led by the band Irakere. In 1994 he recorded together with the Conga veteran Tata Güines ( 1930-2008 ) in Havana on the album Pasaporte, which was awarded the Gran Premio EGREM state music label as the best album of the year.
In 1995, he left Cuba and settled first in Paris in 2003 he moved to the vicinity of Barcelona. In 1998 he won with the band Roy Hargrove 's Crisol international music award " Grammy " for the album Habana in the category "Best Latin Jazz performance". He worked together with several prominent musicians, including Herbie Hancock, Tito Puente, Steve Coleman, Omar Sosa, Rubén González, Ibrahim Ferrer, Ry Cooder, Omara Portuondo, Orlando " Cachaíto " López and the bands Afro - Cuban All Stars, Cubanismo, Orishas and Buena Vista Social Club.
In 2005 he published on the world music label World Circuit with Echu Mingua his first solo album. In 2006 he started a project in which he played with artists from the fields of hip-hop, jazz and funk together.
His last solo is on the CD Rumba pa hear ' anga. The band Companyia Catalana de Latin jazz trumpeter / arranger Esteve Molero had Anga and his brother Juan invited as guest musicians and recorded several pieces with them. Shortly after the shooting died ANGA of a heart attack in his home in Sant Sadurní d' Anoia near Barcelona.