Artist description Carlos G. Rodriguez Martin ("El Grillo" – "The Cricket") was born to a farming family in the countryside near Santa Clara, near the center of Cuba. His father and uncles used to play the guitar and to sing traditional and Cuban folk music, and he started learning when he was very young. El Grillo studied guitar at the School of Art in Santa Clara. Later, he attended the National Art School of Havana, where he graduated as a guitar professor in 1982. He earned his nickname of El Grillo (the "Cricket") because he used to play the guitar in the middle of the night. El Grillo’s school had only 2 guitars for more than 40 students! This created a lot of competition and fighting over the 2 guitars to practice the lessons. El Grillo’s big opportunity came at night when the other students were sleeping, and they used to yell at him "quiet cricket!". The nickname stuck.El Grillo likes to play classical and flamenco music. He worked as a professor for 16 years at the art school of Santa Clara. For many years, he also worked as a guitar luthier, handcrafitng and repairing classical guitars. He plays guitars he handcrafted on his first Album, Classico Naturales. El Grillo was motivated by the scarcity of high quality classical guitars to lovingly build them by hand. He built his first guitar, to his exacting standards of quality, when he was only 22 years old. He has handcrafted and sold over 100 guitars.He continues to study music in his free time, and true to his nickname, almost always at night…

Music Style Classical and Flamenco

Musical Influences Andres Segovia, Paco de Lucia

Similar Artists Andres Segovia, Paco de Lucia

Instruments Self-made Classical Guitars

Albums Romantico Naturales

Location Santa Clara, Santa Clara - Cuba

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