In Cuba, Delgado lived comfortably in the leafy Miramar residential district and drove a Mercedes-Benz, a rare privilege for Cubans, neighbors said. He has frequently toured outside Cuba with his own group since 1991 and is popular in Mexico.ĭelgado was one of the few musicians living in Cuba who managed to cross political barriers and perform in Miami, where the exile community has long blacklisted artists who had not defected from Cuba under President Fidel Castro's government. The son of a tailor and a dancer, Delgado started out in the band of Latin jazz piano virtuoso Gonzalo Rubalcaba in 1980. His 11-member band, Issac Delgado y su Orquesta, which stayed in Cuba, has changed its name and has a new singer, Escalona said. The singer moved with his family to Tampa, Fla., late last year, his former representative in Havana, Raul Escalona, said.
His 1999 recording of salsa queen Celia Cruz's song "La Vida es un Carnaval" was a major hit in Cuba. 26).ĭelgado, 44, is the biggest name in Cuban music to leave the communist-run island nation in years. Issac Delgado, one of Cuba's most popular salsa bandleaders, has defected to the United States to pursue an international career, a former associate said today (Jan. He's got more of a mainstream salsa crossover audience for one thing, and I'd say he's a more talented vocalist as well. (Again, thinking back to that thread where Matt and I got off on a tangent about Cuban music, I'm not sure how that sort of thing works out in relation to the embargo, but somehow it does.) I imagine he will have more success as an artist in the US than Manolin has. Also, he has frequently recorded in a style I would consider to be strictly salsa, and not timba.
I'm not particularly a fan, but he's definitely a major figure in contemporary Cuban music. There were lots of rumors about him defecting, but last I heard, he was back in Cuba and he had only been on an extended vacation in Florida.
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