Antonio María Romeu [SEP] country of citizenship
Antonio María Romeu
Antonio María Romeu Marrero (11 September 1876 – 18 January 1955) was a Cuban pianist, composer and bandleader. His orchestra was Cuba's leading charanga for over thirty years, specializing in the danzón. Throughout his career he was popularly known as "El Mago de las Teclas" (The Keyboard Magician).
Life and career.
Romeu studied music in 1884 with Joaquín Mariano Martínez, and practiced the piano at a local church by the beach in Jibacoa. At twelve he played at his
career.
As a result, Diez established himself as a well-respected, professional performer in his Oriente province home at the age of fourteen. He then moved to Havana in 1930, in search of better working conditions and remuneration. Even though he formed a successful guitar trio along with Graciano Gómez and Isaac Oviedo a year later, Diez received an invitation from pianist and composer Antonio María Romeu to join his dance band in 1935, where he continued thereafter as its main soloist. After Romeu died in 1955, the