Nico Rojas

Guitarist and composer Ñico Rojas was the premier exponent of the Cuban filin movement, which fused traditional bolero rhythms with American jazz harmonies and melodies to reinvent the island's musical culture. Born José Antonio Rojas Beoto in Havana on August 3, 1921, he was the son of an architect and thus encouraged to pursue his interest in the arts, receiving his first guitar at age 13. Rojas' interest in formal musical training proved negligible, however, but while studying civil engineering at the University of Havana he returned to the guitar, teaching himself to play and befriending the group of aspiring composers with whom he co-founded the filin ("feeling") movement in 1942.

Individually and collaboratively, the filin group produced a series of songs — including "Mi Ayer," "Ahora Si Sé Que Te Quiero," and "Se Consciente" — later recorded by artists such as Pepe Reyes, Orlando Vallejo, and Miguelito Valdés. Despite encouraging his compatriots to pursue careers in music, Rojas himself nevertheless took a job as a hydraulic engineer, relocating to nearby Matanzas and designing many of the area's bridges and viaducts, including the Via Blanca highway bridge that connects Havana and the tourist resort of Varadero. Rojas continued composing, however, citing Matanzas and his growing family as the inspiration behind the more than 50 instrumentals he wrote during the late '40s and early '50s — his songs were later covered by acts ranging from Omara Portuondo to Pablo Milanés.

With engineering remaining his primary vocational focus, Rojas did not record his first album, the EGREM label release Suite Cubana Para Guitarra, until 1964. For the most part, his profile as a musician was limited to annual recitals at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de la Habana, which proved first and foremost to his prodigious improvisational skills, drawing on influences spanning from traditional Cuban strains like trova and rhumba as well as classical composers like Chopin. After retiring from his engineering position, Rojas experienced a new burst of creative energy, and during the mid-'80s he composed a wealth of new material, capped off by the acclaimed suite "Homenaje al Filin." His stature also grew thanks to renewed interest in his pre-revolutionary efforts, with covers from talents as diverse as Jane Bunnett and Frank Emilio Flynn.

Arthritis limited Rojas' skills during his final years, but in 1998 he flew to New York City to perform alongside Flynn, Buena Vista Social Club bassist Orlando "Cachaito" López, and jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis for a performance at the famed Lincoln Center. During an appearance at the Havana International Guitar Festival in 2000, Rojas befriended young guitarist Ahmed Dickinson Cárdenas, who transcribed close to three dozen of Rojas' classic songs upon discovering that the aging master could not read music — the transcriptions later formed the basis of the Cubafilm LP Ahmed Dickinson Plays Ñico Rojas, issued just months prior to Rojas' death on November 22, 2008.